Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Tuesday, July 30, 2002

Lance, Part II

The Tour de France is over. The pinnacle event of cycling is in the books, though like many sports, the season continues with a number of very important events. For the fourth year in a row Lance Armstrong has won the event. His time was a somewhat dominating 7:17 faster than Joseba Beloki, the second place finisher (about 6 km in terms of distance at the Tour's average speed). In winning four of this year's Tour’s stages Lance has increased his total number of career stage wins to 15. The number of days he has worn the malliot jaune (the yellow jersey of the race leader) is now in excess of 40. He is now one of only three riders to have won the Midi Libere, the Duaphine Libre and the Tour all in the same year and he is also only one of three riders to have won four consecutive tours. The other two riders to have achieved both of these feats are cycling legends Eddy “The Cannibal” Mercxx and Miguel "Big Mig" Indurain. Both Mercxx and Indurain would go on to win five attempts of the Grande Bouche (the Big Circle as the French call the Tour).

The Nike ads run during OLN’s coverage of the Tour as well as ESPN’s updates captured an essence of Lance’s inspiration. Each message spoke to a theme: hope, perseverance, wisdom, and courage. Four qualities for to mark four Tours won. When I think of these virtues I find that the person that pursues and carries these things will find the deep joy the ancient Greek philosophers thought was the purpose of man. He or she will naturally live humbly and hold God in the proper awe as the writer of Ecclesiastes suggests as the one purpose of life. That person’s life will be marked by the incomprehensible peace the apostle Paul claims.

I’m sure Lance doesn’t have these things all the time. He’s a human being just like the rest of us. But I do think his experiences have given him a clearer vision of what these things are and what they mean. Facing death strips away the superficial, lays bare that which is truly important. Robert Fulgham once wrote a creed about what was powerful in his life that ended in the claim that he believed that love is stronger than death. I agree with him in that. I’d like to look at the four virtues above in the same way.

I believe that one act of courage is more powerful than a thousand petty slights. The slights are forgotten but courage resonates through the ages.

I believe that hope is more powerful than despair. Hope gives strength to the weak and failing and keeps the lost searching. Even the smallest hope will overcome despair.

Wisdom is a lamp in the darkness of ignorance and hate. I used to think that it was knowledge but knowledge is just a tool, though a powerful one. It is wisdom that lifts us out of the mire of smallness and resentment.

Finally, I believe that perseverance will overcome failure. We all fail. In fact, I believe we learn more from failure than we often do from success, but only if we persevere. When we carry on, we are rewarded with each of the other three virtues. Yet without the others, how can we persevere?

So again, Lance is an inspiration (through the auspices of Nike’s marketing department) to me. The story of what he does and how he lives challenges me to reevaluate what I take for granted and what I do each day. Not in relation to his accomplishments, but in light of his guiding values: courage, hope, wisdom and perseverance.

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Friday, July 19, 2002

Lance
What a guy. Unless you've been under a rock for the last few days you have probably heard that Lance Armstrong is leading the world's most grueling athletic endeavor, the mythical Tour de France. He took the yellow jersey yesterday on the climb up La Mongie. But to say it that way to to completely hide the magnitude of his accomplishment. To win at La Mongie Lance had to climb more than a mile into the Pyrrenian skies in a mere 10 miles. The average grade was 7%. How steep is 7%? The average interstate on-ramp is about 4%. At 6% they tell trucks to gear way down going up hill and to make sure they've checked their brakes before going downhill. I climb 7% grades occasionally. One hill like that I call "The Hill of Death". I take people I want to make suffer there. If you're one of my students and you want to earn my respect you ride the Hill of Death with me and you suffer...badly. Going down the Hill of Death I usually hit 40 mph. The Hill of Death is 0.75 miles long and I feel really good if I can ride it at over 12 mph. Lance rode the length of 12 Hills of Death and he did it at over 15 mph. If you've never ridden a bike up a hill like that, you have no idea how amazing what Lance did was.

Guess what? He did it again today. He won his second mountain stage in a row. When I do HoD intervals I have to recover the next day and ride easy. Lance goes out and decimates the competition. By the way, did you know that to get to the mountains Lance rode 1000 miles in 10 days? It's unbelievable. Today I did something I've never done before, I rode 1000 miles in 20 days. If you read my last blog post, you'll see how hard it was for me.

To top it all off Lance is a total sportsman. He credits his team at every turn. He lauds and praises the accomplishments of other riders in the race. He's generous and humble while not belittling himself. Not bad for a guy that 6 years ago had less than 10% chance of living though testicular cancer much less ever riding a bike for a living. He's an inspiration for me, a hero. He may crack on the Ventoux in two days or he may bury his competitors. Either way his courage calls me to greater heights in how I live. It challenges my fear and mocks the limitations I place on myself.

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Tuesday, July 09, 2002

Worn Out
When I went to bed last night, I had every intent of today being a normal day. Get up at 5:45 am, ride 20 miles, teach class and do office hours, ride 30 miles, tape the tour stage and work on my MSU course and then spend an evening with Kathy. When I woke up I relaized that my body had other ideas. It was tired. Bone tired. The 450 miles in the last eight days have added up, especially the 100 miles last Saturday. My body was feeling sick so today has become a rest day. No riding and everyhting else low key. What is usually ride time is, for today, nap time.

As my wife will tell you, days like this are hard for me. I like to go full throttle, especially when it comes to riding. If I don't take a day off, I'll dig a deep exhaustion hole for myself and I'll have to lose even more time and training later. When I think about it, I'm pretty sure that life is the same way. There are days when you go all out, days where you ride easy and days where you just have to take some time off. I look around and I see people who go all out all the time. You can see the strain on them as they won't slow down. They keep digging themselves deeper and deeper until they grind to a halt. After that, they're just going through the motions. All they do is try to get through each day and dred the next. There is a time for everything and when you get exhausted you need to rest. The world will go on without you for a short time. Friends will help out and everything will get done. That scares some people. They begin to think they're not needed or that no one will care about them and their contribution. The truth is, though, is that people will appreciate them more when they are of good cheer and when they are centered.

So its rest and recovery for me today. Tomorrow I'll be back on the bike putting in the miles and enjoying the road. Until then I'll enjoy the view from the front porch.

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