Cycling Odysseys

"Since the Arkansas Worlds were announced YEARS ago, I had marked it on my calendar as the day I would see the Mighty Aces duel it out on the biggest stage and on American soil…and I would be in attendance."

"But on Boxing Day, per tradition a World Cup Cross commenced. Surprisingly, it was not the stalwart Huesden-Zolder Cross which took place on the 27th as part of the Superprestige series, and instead it was muddy Dendermonde that was held on the 26th. Who would be in the hunt for this Boxing Day victory? Tough to say, as this was the first day the “Three Kings of Cross,” as people were terming them, would square off."

"But despite Iserbyt’s and Aerts’ exploits in late November, all Cross fans had turned their gazes to early December. For that was when Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma Wasps) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) were set to make their season debuts. "

"The trade kits were traded-out for the national team colors, and as usual, the front rows resembled a dual meet between the Belgian Powder Blues and the Dutchmen in Orange and on home soil this day. But within 2 minutes of racing, to have called this race even a dual meet would have been generous. It was 8-or-so Belgians in Powder Blue swarming and then soon strung out on the front, with only one local in Orange among them, Lars Van Der Haar."

"As an American, and once again a Midwest local, it is the pair of Waterloo and Iowa City Crosses that properly kick off the season right for me…and the later the better for these races: for Midwest hot and steamy September Crosses seem inappropriate and lame to me."

"Thus is cycling, like all the best sports, a microcosm realm of pursuits greater than one’s self. To train, to hone their race-craft, to develop the fortitude required to race a bike pushes a person out of their comfort zone where they develop and mature physically, mentally, spiritually. The preparation is difficult in itself and many are not rewarded for their efforts with prizes. But just the desire to compete, just the will to endure grueling training sessions and harrowingly hard race experiences is surely something special, surely gives a sense of higher purpose."

"Before discussing the heroes themselves, let us compare the adventures of these journeys. When one sees the route of the Grand Tours circling or sometimes zig-zagging around or across France, Italy, and Spain, does not the map of Odysseus’ plotted route around the Mediterranean quickly come to mind? Are there not similarities between the winds that blow Odysseus off course constantly compared to the crosswinds that denotate and ravage a bicycle race?"

"Ah! But this is Homer. He would only be distracted by these objects’ appearances for a few moments, then he would immediately start fathoming the well of compelling struggles these human-powered bicycle machines could provide. Understanding Man’s need for competition—for few have understood it better—surely Homer could have predicted that Men would inevitably start racing on such machines around velodromes like they raced on chariots in the hippodromes of the Roman world."

"Thirty years ago, that is to say, when we learned that Hector had been slain by Achilles. Is such a comparison too solemn, too glorious? No. What use would the so-called ‘classical studies’ be if the fragments that remained with us did not become an integral part of our humble existence?"

"Compared to teenage but now premiere Strade Bianche and even the Cult Classic Tro Bro Leon, for some reason the end-of-season Paris-Tours gravel has yet to stupendously take off. Potentially this year’s edition was a good showing for the French interior’s gravel, but it was actually the race’s finale that stole the show. "