Not a ME But a WE...

   My bike racing career was pretty short, but it did have one bright moment..

   1987 was the year..

   Tour de Mountain was the event..

   35 miles of rolling hills atop Signal Mountain just outside Chattanooga..

   And I picked up the trophy for a 3rd place finish in the 50+ category (just be sure not to ask how many were in that select group of "old" riders).

   But there is one bike race that I love to watch on TV. The Tour de France which consumes 23 days of racing, along with 2 rest days.

   2017 is the year of the 104th Tour.

   The 21 stages of races will cover 3500+ kilometers which is almost 2200 miles. The terrain varies from flat stages to sessions in the Pyrenees and the Alps.

   This is an endurance race for sure.

   There are 22 teams of 9 riders each at the beginning. As men are hurt, get sick, or disqualified, or fail to meet the time constraints of each stage, the 198 beginning riders dwindle.

   Each day of racing takes up about 4 hours on the TV channel. It is an endurance event for the viewer as well.

   But what I have enjoyed, as I watched a lot of it this year (on tape and not live so I could fast forward through the commercials), is learning about what goes on inside the race. The roles of each of the 9 riders, be it sprinter, climber, lead out, yellow jersey (winner). There are also domestique jobs on the team such as grabbing food bags and water bottles to be passed out to the others.

   On a team, there is one man whom the others are working for. He is, the hope of the team to end up in Paris as the winner of the Tour. He is the one who will end up in the yellow jersey at the end, and, although there are three other jerseys to vie for (white, green and polka dot), the yellow is the big one.

   The rest are "domestiques" helpers, servants, and they sacrifice some of their own ambition for the best of the team and its objectives.

   All of the riders on the Tour are professional cyclists. They are the cream, and the #1 on each team is the cream of the cream.

   In an interview the other day, a rider related how, when he signed on to his team he felt he was good enough to be the #1, but as the season wore on, he realized another had emerged as the best. So, as a good loyal team member, he sensed that his strength and speed made him the logical choice for lead-out. This rider explained to the interviewer that he had dedicated his riding life to being the best lead-out cyclist that he could be and thereby assist his team in their quest of glory on the road.

   Aren't there so many similarities to other sorts of teams, be they churches, businesses or other sports?

   There is not too much glory on the winner's podium for the "domestique", but this is not a "look what I did", but rather a "look what we did".

   I like that attitude.

   Wouldn't we all be better with it?