A Tough Day At The Office

I've still not got used to this phenomenon of having my mood brought right down by external events. I guess it shouldn't surprise me now but it still does. A little trigger can have a huge effect. I despair at the lack of commonsense that seems to be everywhere right now.

Anyway.

The weather forecast wasn't wrong for today. Overnight I could only imagine the difficult conversations being had about the route of the Men's race in the World Champs. I wasn't surprised when I found out about the rerouting. I'm sure the riders would have coped. Us amateurs certainly would have done. But the logistics and the potential risks didn't bear thinking about. I had a thought for those folk who might have been camping out on the climb to Buttertubs, and the villages the race was no longer going to be passing through. They would have been preparing for weeks. Poor souls. Today's event was a massive advertisement for the sport but the weather was a tragedy for Yorkshire as a county. 

It would have been fun to have ridden out along the route from Ilkley up through Kettlewell to Cray. But I was in no shape for doing that in the rain. I couldn't even summon up the energy to get out to Harrogate. It was enough to watch the riders pass through town in a miserable-looking blur and then retreat home to watch the action unfold on television. I managed to catch two of the major players to the fore here, Matteo Trentin in the yellow helmet and Peter Sagan, to his side, in the white helmet. Some six hours later they were to finish 2nd and 5th respectively. 

I don't think it's possible to appreciate how tough that day was unless you've ridden a bike at a half-decent level. It must have been utterly brutal. How Mads Pederson was able to find that last bit of speed at just 23 years of age is beyond me. You had to feel a little sorry for Trentin. That was his shot at the rainbow jersey. It was his race to lose until the final few yards. Hard to imagine him ever getting another chance like that. Simply devastatingly good sport to watch. These men are Gods.