Latest on Verzbicas

[Conor Dary]

I didn't see this story on the home page, so I will post the link here, with the latest on Lukas Verzbicas comeback. Pretty dumb accident. Racing downhill on a training ride and not knowing how to put a bike down. He definitely has a long recovery to get back.

And, confirming from what I heard while he was living here nearby, his mother does sound like a complete nut.

• Verzbickiene, 50, is not frightened by the idea of having her son back on a bike, even if she said with a laugh, "We need to put him on a bike in water." She is pushing him to do more and work harder in rehab than even the therapists might demand.
  
  "I am not only a mother, I am an athlete," said Verzbickiene, a former Lithuanian record-holder at 3,000 meters. "I am an athlete for many years. My mind is different. My athlete side is more than my mother side.

PS. It is on the home page now.

[DrJay]

Re: Latest on Verzbicas

I know that curve well. I think I take it at about 20 mph, will have to see next time I ride in the Garden, and I think one could take it at 25 to 30 mph very carefully, but the sand that is too often there makes that pretty dicey. A lot of sand on the road shoulders in CO courtesy of road sanding in the winter and wash-off from roadside slopes when it rains in the summer. That's one of the few spots in the Garden of the Gods that make me nervous on that account. What makes me more nervous there is the threat of a dumbass deer running into my lane on one of the less curvy downhill sections with sheltering scrub oak right up to the roadside. Darwinian selection isn't operative in the deer universe. They're ALL candidates for the Darwin award.

I'd be very surprised if Verzbicas ever makes it back to Olympic Trials contender status, but let's hope he does.

[gh]

not that he's likely ever to have track relevance ever again, but apparently he got U.S. citizenship today.

[DoubleRBar]

In the hospital?

[26mi235]

The accident was three and a half years ago (thread is from 2012). He has run some races since; pretty good marks in general but not where he would have been as a runner, even in a tri environment, without the accident.

[cubehead]

Yes a wasted talent at this point.

[unclezadok]

not that he's likely ever to have track relevance ever again, but apparently he got U.S. citizenship today.

He didn't have it before?

[18.99s]

According to this November 2011 article, he had already applied for US citizenship back then: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2...-olympic-games

[aaronk]

Yes a wasted talent at this point.

His recent Half in 1:01:29 (Houston---1st American) was just a few seconds slower than Galen Rupp's Half in that recent Portland race!

[KevinM]

His recent Half in 1:01:29 (Houston---1st American) was just a few seconds slower than Galen Rupp's Half in that recent Portland race!

You're thinking of Luke Puskedra.

[aaronk]

You're thinking of Luke Puskedra.

OOPS!!
Thanks!!

[26mi235]

Don't feel bad, I have had more than my share of those 'duh' moments on this board.