I know cycling is a team sport. All sorts of tactics. Domestiques grabbing water bottles from the team car. Chosen leaders shielded from harm. In the Tour de France, typically eight riders work for one with the objective to get a podium finish for the sponsors who pay the salaries. But the there’s something about the individual time trial that purifies the entire 3-week stage race. One rider. Alone, fighting the wind. Delivering wattage to the pedals in the most effiicient way possible. Body sheathed in a skinsuit, down low and topped with flying wing of a helmet. Hands close together as if in prayer. Shoes beneath shiny covers and eyes shielded behind a mask. The time trial is a study in self-inflicted pain for the benefit of one person: the strongest rider. Pure ego-driven reward. No wheels to follow and no setup 200 meters from the line. No one to credit. No one to blame. Just you. And the clock. Which is why Saturday’s Crave is the time trial. It’s the race of truth. Time to reveal yourselves, Tour contenders. Photo courtesy of Just John, who shot these 192 frames off the television during the 2008 Tour de France to assemble a cool digital collage.
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