Making It Over the Finish Line

Today I rode my first time trial in a few years, another step in my return to (frightfully mediocre) racing. I was pretty excited at the start, and there was something of a side/headwind on the way out, so I fought my usual cautious tendencies and tried to let go a bit. In my years as a racer I've been pretty successful at getting the most out of my chronos, by holding back and pacing myself early on, not busting myself until I've reached the line.

As a cycling fan, specifically a classics fan, it's a different story. Every year I tell myself not to get completely unhinged over Het Volk...sblad, and fail miserably at this endeavor. Fortunately the Classics don't punish us for early overexuberance, instead keeping us in the game by offering bigger and better races (almost) each week. I would rather eat peach pits than try to rank the classics, but suffice to say that De Ronde, Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege -- the three northern Monuments -- are each like a 50,000 volt jolt of excitement, no matter how many posts I've written in the last two months.

And tomorrow, the curtain comes down. In time for other curtains to raise, but the Classics are utterly special. So let's crank up the Cafe again in honor of the world's greatest one-day events in the world's greatest sport, in style. One More Time.

Daft Punk - One More Time (via daftpunkalive)