With nearly 1,300 punishing kilometers of racing scheduled for the eight-day, 2010 edition of Paris-Nice, and only 119 kilometers remaining the final day, the end was in sight.
Allow me to digress. Albert Einstein defined insanity as, “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” Clearly Al wasn’t much of a cyclist. Besides Eddy Merckx’s staggering 45 percent winning percentage in 1971, there are very few guarantees when it comes to how a race will unfold — especially a French race.
So here on the final day of Paris-Nice I found myself racing at speeds greater than 50kph … uphill. In the brief respite from pedaling I am offered in the sharp turns on the sinuously long first climb of the day, I steal glances at my PowerTap. 380 watts, 408, 415, 423, 440, 460. As the power ticks higher, so does the speed. Much to my chagrin, so does the gradient of the road. The peloton is entirely strung out one-by-one so that the first rider to last covers a seemingly impossible stretch of road.
A shadowed patch of water on the road, followed by a touch of wheels sends a dozen riders to the ground and splits the field into two. I’m among those slowed down behind the carnage and I catch my breath for no more than a moment before sprinting away in chase. One minute passes, two, then three. Thinking it was not physically possible to go any faster before the tumble, I look down and see we’re pushing 60kph and a leg searing 500-plus watts in chase. I dodge riders who pull the proverbial plug in front of me. Virtually cross-eyed from exertion, and seeing attacks flying well up the road in the front part of the bunch, I too meekly call it a day.
Cycling is a vicious sport. It’s a cruel sport. Cycling is punishing beyond belief, full of agony, indescribable sacrifice, as well as sheer and utter pain. However, like an epic tale spun over the course of roads around the world, thankfully cycling is a redemptive sport as well. It is a beautiful sport, it is fulfilling, and it offers plenty of room for triumph despite adversity.
If you’re not prepared to have bad days on the bike — and I mean wretchedly awful days — then you’re simply lying to yourself. Learning how to roll with the punches is as fundamentally part of bike racing as logging base miles.
I was popped the final day of Paris-Nice and it eats me up thinking about it. No one ever wants a DNF by his or her name, least of all me. Given the chance, Albert Einstein may have called me insane, but I can guarantee that you’ll once again find me next week pinning my number on and going out swinging, searching for redemption and fully expecting a different result.
Read more: http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/03/news/ted-king-paris-nice-insanity_108231#ixzz0iRz3OfvC
No comments:
Post a Comment