The Jets convoy was on the move. The team was headed from its residential end of the SUNY Cortland campus back to the football fields across the road for its walk through on its last Sunday in upstate New York. First came Gang Green’s police escort, then a school bus filled with players, followed by another and another. Finally, the fifth and final vehicle made its way in through the gates, carrying a piece of luggage the team would prefer to be handled with care: Kellen Winslow. That trailer car was the tight end's Venge bicycle, with Winslow peddling in the buses' wake.
Winslow on his bike became part of the routine in Cortland. When other players drove, Winslow biked. When other players walked, Winslow biked. And roughly every other day, when other players practiced, Winslow biked.
"Well it just helps keeps my muscles activated," Winslow, 30, said. "Through all the surgeries and stuff, the staph infection (in 2008), your muscles shut off. So I just have to keep them activated, that's why I ride the bike all the time."
The Tour de France becomes something of a tired joke around football training camps: it's a term used to describe the group of injured players rehabbing on the bikes during practices. It's not an enviable position to be in: stationary cycling off to the side while other players try to take their jobs.
