Pedaling to the Top

The sheer physical demands of this year's 2,032 mile Tour de France boggles the mind. Steep climbs in the Pyrenees and the Alps are exhausting even to think about.

Any cyclist who finishes the race should be proud. The winner has attained his impossible dream.

For Lance Armstrong, claiming that dream for the fourth time in a row, the possibilities seem endless. He not only is perched, virtually unrivaled, atop his sport at the moment, but is clearly primed to swoop on to future triumphs – joining, and perhaps surpassing, only four other champions who've won the Tour de France a record five times.

Cycling may not be the big-time sport in the US that it is in other parts of the world, but Armstrong's achievements put him in the highest rank of American athletes. His personal story, overcoming what was thought to be a fatal illness, has added to his stature. And his style of competition, making superb use of his teammates and carefully planning his race stage by stage, is a study in self-discipline. Armstrong has said you don't "fly" up hills and mountains, as he is sometimes described as doing, you struggle. But, clearly, he has learned from and mastered the struggle.

Here's an athlete who embodies much of what makes sport compelling – minus most of the commercialism and hype so rampant today.

You've read 3 of 3 free articles. Subscribe to continue.
QR Code to Pedaling to the Top
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0730/p10s01-comv.html
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe
CSM logo

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.

The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.

Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.

Explore values journalism About us