Cycling Odysseys

It was one of those truly mythical days that are some of the greatest inspiration for why or more so how this podcast was created. Please enjoy and send to a friend!

It would be malpractice not to comment on this man's stupendous Vuelta. Please enjoy!

What a day not to miss it was. Listen to the episode to recall which day in particular.

In the 11.8th hour of the year, the end of Season 1 of the Cycling Odysseys comes out of the gates hot with a recap of an excellent Tokyo Olympics Road Race!

For the first time in a generation, we are treated to a muddy Paris-Roubaix. There was no way for such a mud fest this Queen of the Classics, the Race for The Cobble, could not live up to its HELL OF THE NORTH nickname. It was chaos on wheels, it was compelling drama, relive it here.

If you missed Worlds and want an audio replay of the last 80k, here was my first ever stab at commentary. Should I ever hone the skill to GOOD commentary in the future, let it be known that it began here with this first BAD attempt.

“It was a Tour of heroic deeds and the stuff of legend too farfetched for a cheesy sports movie. It was the Tour of the most attrition and disarray of the generation, but I survived it. It was the Tour where Young Beowulf was Crowned King—his second Yellow Jersey in Paris. It was the Tour of Vingegaard’s Revelation. It was the Tour where Poulidor’s descendant first wore the Maillot Jaune he never managed to pull on in his career. It was the Tour where that Work of Aert Swiss Army Knife showed off his Range and Versatility on every facet of the route. And most famously of all, it was the fairytale Tour where the Manx Missile returned to the peak of his powers in the very twilight of his career.”

“Froome’s whole career has been built around winning the Tour de France. It is the biggest race in the world, it is the only race that transcends the sport, he cannot be blamed for that. But what does he think seeing Pogacar, Bernal, upcoming Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quickstep), Alaphillipe, the Mighty Aces, and the countless younger talents still surely about to emerge? Is Froome impressed that they do not just peak for July—or does he think they are spreading themselves too thin? Does Froome believe or understand or acknowledge that this new generation’s greatest strength seems to be their versatility?”

“Much has been seen and accomplished, life lessons and growth has been gained, but now the ordeal is on the cusp of being over: the longed-for return to normal life is on the horizon. Now these heroes return home out of the south like the hobbits on to the edge of the Shire at the end of Return of the King.”

“I cannot contain my frustration: what have these guys been doing the past three days? For the past two mountain stages, neither got into the breakaways, and both scored at most a handful of Points combined. And because of cagey tactics, yesterday without even trying for the Polka-Dots, Pogacar got himself into contention for that competition.”