Lessons from watching the Tour
Longtime readers of this blog know what July means for me: TOUR DE FRANCE, baby! I love watching the Tour. With a hearty sort of love. I missed the first day of racing (July 4th), but I've seen Stages Two and Three (yesterday and today).
Love him or hate him, Lance Armstrong makes for good Tour. As of day one, he was in 10th place overall. He held that position yesterday. Today, he held the same time differential off the leader - 40 seconds - but he moved up to third overall after catching onto a breakaway lead by Team Columbia. (Armstrong is riding for Team Astana this year.) Armstrong is 37 years old now - quite old for Tour standards. He's not the oldest man in the Tour this year - another rider is one day older than Lance. He hasn't ridden in the Tour since 2005. Yet as of tonight, he's in third - with a chance at pulling on the yellow jersey if Astana does really well in the team time trial tomorrow - largely because he rides a smart race and was clever enough to go with the leaders when they accelerated into the wind today.
Lessons learned from watching today's Stage of the Tour (you can catch it in reruns now and again, later, on VERSUS network):
1. It's been said before, but it bears repeating: GO BIG OR GO HOME. Team Columbia Highroad, sick of waiting for the Péloton to act, decided they really wanted to race, so when they rounded the bend and caught the cross-wind, they put the hammer down and took off from the front of the group, with Armstrong and two other Astana riders and a mix of others right on their wheels. George Hincapie, who now rides for Columbia, was interviewed by Versus after the finish and was decidedly ticked that so many racers were content to just take a ride, rather than going for it.
In writing, I suppose this could apply a few different ways. I think it means that one needs to show up every day, just like the racers on the Tour. But one also needs to actually put serious effort in, and not just go through the paces. Find the best way to say what you intend, don't settle for any old way. That said, to cover all those miles - er, pages - you need to keep moving forward.
2. Success is a combination of preparation and opportunity. It's not a matter of luck, unless you believe (as I do) that luck is the meeting of those two ingredients. Lance Armstrong isn't in third because he was lucky - he's in third because his experience taught him to ride near the front of the pack, and because when Columbia put the hammer down, he hopped onto the wheel of whomever was in front of him and jumped too. His teammate, Alberto Contedor, who won the Tour in 2007, started the day 20 seconds or so ahead of Armstrong, but he didn't jump across the gap with the other riders (and some riders actually credit/blame him for creating the gap by missing the acceleration - he would have been next in line, but he didn't jump onto the wheel of the rider ahead of him). Now Contador is in 4th place, behind Armstrong by 19 seconds.
3. Age is not necessarily a disadvantage. Armstrong is one of the oldest guys on the Tour. Whether he finishes the Tour or not, his performance today shows that intelligence coupled with savvy and a willingness to go for it mean a lot. Armstrong may not have ridden in the Tour since 2005, but his move today shows that he's still thinking like a contender. Here's how Armstrong summed it up: "Good positioning, experience, a little bit of luck."
I can't wait for more racing - and maybe some more lessons - when the team time trial starts tomorrow.
Love him or hate him, Lance Armstrong makes for good Tour. As of day one, he was in 10th place overall. He held that position yesterday. Today, he held the same time differential off the leader - 40 seconds - but he moved up to third overall after catching onto a breakaway lead by Team Columbia. (Armstrong is riding for Team Astana this year.) Armstrong is 37 years old now - quite old for Tour standards. He's not the oldest man in the Tour this year - another rider is one day older than Lance. He hasn't ridden in the Tour since 2005. Yet as of tonight, he's in third - with a chance at pulling on the yellow jersey if Astana does really well in the team time trial tomorrow - largely because he rides a smart race and was clever enough to go with the leaders when they accelerated into the wind today.
Lessons learned from watching today's Stage of the Tour (you can catch it in reruns now and again, later, on VERSUS network):
1. It's been said before, but it bears repeating: GO BIG OR GO HOME. Team Columbia Highroad, sick of waiting for the Péloton to act, decided they really wanted to race, so when they rounded the bend and caught the cross-wind, they put the hammer down and took off from the front of the group, with Armstrong and two other Astana riders and a mix of others right on their wheels. George Hincapie, who now rides for Columbia, was interviewed by Versus after the finish and was decidedly ticked that so many racers were content to just take a ride, rather than going for it.
In writing, I suppose this could apply a few different ways. I think it means that one needs to show up every day, just like the racers on the Tour. But one also needs to actually put serious effort in, and not just go through the paces. Find the best way to say what you intend, don't settle for any old way. That said, to cover all those miles - er, pages - you need to keep moving forward.
2. Success is a combination of preparation and opportunity. It's not a matter of luck, unless you believe (as I do) that luck is the meeting of those two ingredients. Lance Armstrong isn't in third because he was lucky - he's in third because his experience taught him to ride near the front of the pack, and because when Columbia put the hammer down, he hopped onto the wheel of whomever was in front of him and jumped too. His teammate, Alberto Contedor, who won the Tour in 2007, started the day 20 seconds or so ahead of Armstrong, but he didn't jump across the gap with the other riders (and some riders actually credit/blame him for creating the gap by missing the acceleration - he would have been next in line, but he didn't jump onto the wheel of the rider ahead of him). Now Contador is in 4th place, behind Armstrong by 19 seconds.
3. Age is not necessarily a disadvantage. Armstrong is one of the oldest guys on the Tour. Whether he finishes the Tour or not, his performance today shows that intelligence coupled with savvy and a willingness to go for it mean a lot. Armstrong may not have ridden in the Tour since 2005, but his move today shows that he's still thinking like a contender. Here's how Armstrong summed it up: "Good positioning, experience, a little bit of luck."
I can't wait for more racing - and maybe some more lessons - when the team time trial starts tomorrow.