Superman

Lance Armstrong...A rock solid role model

Pheeewww, some weekend this turned out to be. Dull as a Koala, and yet with millions of eyes admiring it all the way, well I'm taking the liberty to use it as an euphemism for the Tour de France for folks who really don’t know much about it . Had it been 5 years back, I wouldn’t have cared a damn, but 2003 was different. Thats when I finally decided to follow the one sport I didn’t really know much about. And what or who made me do that, well, none other than the awe-inspiring feats of Lance, Lance Armstrong. With his 7th consecutive win, he has set an unprecedented benchmark for the raw and young next-gen cyclists all over the world. He has shown the whole world that with sheer human grit, and hard work, the human mind can break the shackles that this physical world imposes.

To the naïve, Lance has defeated cancer and sprung back like a true champion. And that’s exactly what prompted me to follow this Superman doing away with his Kryptonite and to make sure that I saw Lance Armstrong win his 5th title and find out for myself what the Tour is all about. And trust me, the 3 weeks I spent following the event each year, were nothing close to what I had expected. As trivia, let me just cite the fact that these guys cover around 200 kms a day at an average speed of 40kmph (inclusive of both flat-ish and inclined stages), with tops speeds of around 70kmph and that’s averaging out through the whole tour, so that’s 3 weeks of cycling, covering 2232.7 miles, and through all kinds of terrain, plains and the craggy stretches. Now ain’t that just “In your dreams pal!!” But seriously, that’s how fast these guys are. And to make it even more interesting you have the constant jersey switching. The Maillot Jaune, i.e. the Yellow Jersey, keeps switching bikers, being worn by the current overall race leader.



Not only was it an excellent recap of my days in Europe, it was an awesome recapitulation of the physics studied long back, and the display of unselfish and strategic team planning and deployment. And why just teams, even the adversaries were more than willing to provide each other with the drag-resistance by switching bumper positions. Well, for your knowledge, when these guys ride with their bumper nearly touching (around just a few inches separating the front and back bumpers of the two riders), the drag force is reduced by 30%, and that’s a lot when you are riding on the strenuous slopes of the Pyrenees. And what happens if you happen to fall?! Well a fall is pretty much a broken collar bone. And you get to see a lot of that. But still nothing stops these guys from completing the race.

With Lance deciding to call it quits, he steps off the podium finally, to make space for others. So who is going to take over as his successor?! The scene is set for a showdown between Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso. The two chappies have to carry forward the baton, and live up to the standards that Lance has set for them.

Lance has been nothing more than inspiration ever since I started following the race, though missed out the most of it this year. Though his days with the US Postal team seem to be over now, he shall remain the role model whom I will always look up to.