Dogged and smart

I have been asked why I am not competing in triathlons. I have a few reasons, like I’m not a natural swimmer and a runner. I’m sure I could finish the Ironman 70.3 if I wanted to but I just don’t have that intangibles to do it like some of my friends have, like the ability to suffer unique to this very popular sport.

For me, I love bicycle racing because of the intangibles that are inherent to the sport. Intangibles like being dogged and racing smart are just two of the many. The most important though is the ability to shut down the perception of pain on your legs when the speed ratchets up or when the climb seems like to go on forever. A friend of mine, Ricky Ermitanio, in his younger days, was known to win a race even if he wasn’t in top shape. His body would pay for it after. Talked about mind over body. Yeah, shut up legs!

Last Saturday’s World Road Cycling Championships was a classic example of intangibles winning over talent.Frenchwoman Pauline Ferrand-Prévot wasn’t the favorite, it was his trade teammate with Rabobank-Liv, Marianne Vos, a three time world champion.

The setting for the surprised win was Ponferrada, Spain. The route was 127.4km long divided into six, 18km circuit. But for the first 122km, it was a stalemate. Yes, there were attacks, but it just didn’t stick or was simply neutralized by the strong teams of the Germans, the Dutch and the Italians.

But with 5km to go, an attack near the summit of the last climb took shape and Vos was part of the quartet that included Sweden's Emma Johansson England’s LizzyArmitstead and Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy, the cream of the crop of women’s world cycling.

I told myself that this was the move with the winner in it. On the other hand, Ferrand-Prévot was with the second group struggling to get to the tail end of the quartet. This was it, I thought, Vos was going to win his fourth WC.

But as racing and intangible goes, the leading group, which had 12sec and less than a kilometer to, stopped racing, with no one wanting to lead out. In cycling, if you’re the first to spring you’d the first to lose.

So, the peloton was “gruppocompatto” again.

It was Vos who started her sprint from the back of the 16 women group with Ferrand-Prévot behind her, just before the last 300m, so way out from the usual 200m. Normally, Vos would use her brute strength to drag her body to the line but this time, she uncharacteristically faltered. Taking advantage of Vos’s slipstream, Ferrand-Prévot powered her way to the finish line. It was so close that she gave a hesitant salute to the crowd. When it was confirmed that she won, Ferrand-Prévot burst into tears, probably out of relief and of disbelief.

Just like in cycling and in life, persistence will in the end bring you to your goals. If Ferrand-Prévotnever had that iota of intangible, then she wouldn’t have triumph. What a deserving world champion!

Finally, the Ormoc City Medical Society road race in Ormoc will be this week. It’s just a short race but tough since the last kilometers will be all climb going to Lake Danao. Good Luck to all the participants!......Hello to my friends JR, Sidro, Reyre and Zima.