Who are we? We are our stories.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

The Mantelope From Antelope

In the middle of the Tour Divide, Taylor has changed his name again. He now wants to be known as Mantelope. In the pre-race postings the riders set down goals for themselves, for instance " finish in 21 days". Taylor's goal was "to become a bear in two weeks". Now, with hours on the trail to think, he has restated his goal, "to become an antelope in two weeks". Whatever keeps the pedals turning.

The top riders are on record pace. I think Taylor has a real shot at winning this thing. It's not as intriguing now to look at the map. Before they drove the imaginary golden spike at the crossover, Taylor was a small dot, all alone on a big map and I could see how much he was gaining over the other north-bound riders and how close he was to the on-coming south bounders. Now he's a small dot riding against a sea of oncoming dots.

I obvious have a dog in this fight, so I want all the riders to ride free, fast and healthy ... and Taylor to nick them all at the line because he has more moral strength - more heart in his chest and steel in his legs. We shall see.

Taylor Z. call in from Del Norte

Taylor Z. call in from Rawlins

No comments: