Vive Lance

Lance is back. I’m a fan. I don’t care what other folks think of him. I’m a huge fan. I probably like the fact that he’s such a polarizing figure. Despite professional jealousies & so many trying to poke holes in his character he just keeps on winning. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened for cycling in the U.S. End of argument.

That said, I don’t worship him. He’s an imperfect mortal just like the rest of us. I probably like that about him, too. I finally got to read “his” first book in 2008, “It’s Not About the Bike, My Journey Back to Life.” http://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-About-Bike-Journey/dp/0425179613.

There are two passages in that book that I love…

In talking about his early career, “I still struggled with impatience at times. I would ride smart for a while, and then backslide. I just couldn’t seem to get it through my head that in order to win I had to ride more slowly at first. It took some time to reconcile myself to the notion that being patient was different from being weak, and that racing strategically didn’t mean giving less than all I had.” So true for all of us, regardless of ability or genetic gifts. Here enters the gap between superior fitness and superior race day execution. It takes BOTH! I, like 99% of other age group endurance athletes, have an overwhelming tendency to focus on fitness, fitness, fitness, and under estimate the importance of race execution.

Here’s another, “There is an unthinking simplicity in something so hard, which is why there’s probably some truth to the idea that all world-class athletes are actually running away from something. Once, someone asked me what pleasure I took in riding for so long. ‘Pleasure?’ I said. ‘I don’t understand the question.’ I didn’t do it for pleasure. I did it for pain.” I’d make an edit, Lance. Remove the words “world-class” and insert “ultra endurance.”