Andrew Talansky has become a celebrity in the Tour de France, but not for a reason he’s happy with. The Tour de France is no picnic of an adventure. Participants embark on adventure spanning the country of France and a little of south England. This year’s route features a lot of mountain passes, encouraging the efforts of bicyclist more inclined to tackle inclines. To adventure through the Tour de France is to truly test a cyclist’s endurance and bravado. They travel from all around the world to compete, and the competition chews up even the most tested of them.
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BLNTD Presents: Tammy McCarley
That’s what happened to Andrew Talansky. He got chewed up and spit back out. There is no shame in dropping out of the Tour de France. America can be proud of our Andrew Talansky for his lasting as long as he did. Despite crippling back pain, he finished the 11th stage, a grueling 187.5km of track from Besançon to Oyonnax, of the 21 stage competition; half way done, something that isn’t to be scoffed off as not a valiant effort. The back pain was from two crashes Andrew Talansky had earlier on in the Tour. The American cyclist was also suffering from a chest infection.
In physical competition, we push ourselves. It’s important to keep pushing until we break past our previously conceived limitations; however, doing so we run the risk of causing irreparable damage to our bodies, so we have to be careful. When we push ourselves, our mind and body can work against each other a little with the mind saying go but the body saying stop; in endurance runs, we can’t ignore the body because it has to be ready for use the next day.
The Tour de France is a race, so the competitive aspect of participants can sometimes get the better of them and stand in the way of making the right call, the important thing is that they live to bike another day. It is the age-old dilemma of a adventure, to challenge oneself without endangering oneself. Here at ClapwayTV, we’re just glad that Andrew Talansky made the right call, and we can’t wait to see him get back out there next time.
