A victim of his own strength

When an athlete is so good or so exceptional, his or her rival (or teams) would tend to concentrate their resources to stop this athlete. If you remember, the NBA Bad Boys of the 80’s, the Detroit Pistons, which included Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer Isaiah Thomas, had a plan of stopping Michael Jordan. The plan was called as, “the Jordan Rules”. It stopped Jordan early in his career but as Jordan was a freak of nature, he overcame it and the rest is history.

Last year, Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara was unstoppable in the one-day races especially in the classics, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. If given a few meter’s advantage, he’d make it into a kilometer in just minutes. He was so ridiculously dominant that he was accused of “bike-doping” by an Italian TV commentator, meaning, that he had a mechanical motor installed secretly within his bicycle!

This year, however, in the first three Classics (Monuments) of the season, (Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix),was different. This time, his rivals were ready. It didn’t help that Cancellara showed his strength in a race with little consequence a few days before. While the 4-time World TT champion was clearly the strongest rider in the peloton, he was frustrated by rival teams and riders who wouldn’t help him chase the breakaways. Of course, it can also be said that his team wasn’t as strong compared to last year. One of the allure of road racing is that it’s not always the strongest rider who wins but the smartest.

Unlike basketball where your team plays 5 against 5 opposing players, cycling is different. There are at least 22, 8-man teams in a classic and it would be very hard to control a race with more than 200 riders. Preparation and fitness doesn’t only play a part in how the team’s race would turn out but Lady Luck also. 3-time Paris-Roubaix winner and Cancellara’s main rival, Belgian Tom Boonen, was as good as advertised but untimely mechanicals and a crash would end up his race early.

Matt Goss, Nick Nuyens and Jan van Summeren won the MSR, ToF and P-R, respectively. Cancellara could “only” claim runners-up spot. In the NBA, this would be Eddie House winning the MVP for Miami. 

Reflections

No, this rant is not about the Lenten season but about those pesky, road reflectors whose main purpose is simply to destroy the wheels of our bicycles and our cars. Not only that, it can also be a major cause of accidents when you’re atop your two-wheeled friend.

The reason why I consider these reflectors as useless is because, 1) our drivers don’t give a hoot about it and, 2) our traffic officials don’t give a hoot to those who violate the rules of the road. These reflectors may look nice at night and may give pogi points to the city but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really serve its true purpose. When I see these reflectors, it just reminds me of the lamppost intended to beautify our city for the ASEAN Summit.

Finally, after doing most of my weekend rides southward, I decided a change of scenery would be refreshing and went north. While some parts of the roads, especially after Danao, are still sinking literally, it’s nice to know that something is being done. There is freshly laid ashphalt along some portions of the highway and even if only a small percentage is being repaired, it still can help a lot. Thank you! – THE FREEMAN