Quote Originally Posted by Zen View Post
Look no further.
There are plenty of inspirational women right here on this forum.

I find everyday people more inspiring than someone who has, in effect, become a rock star. I know he's overcome a lot and it takes a strong determined person to do that but there comes a time to retire with grace and dignity.
I am aware that there are inspirational people everywhere. I was not referring to watching Lance personally either but referring to the Tour as a whole.

And, yes, while surrounded by inspirational people (I told someone via PM yesterday about a 79 year old guy I know who rides Centuries like they're candy and grins the whole time) I gain something different from professional events like the Tour.

It is simply that the people in professional events have pushed and trained and risen to a level that many can only dream of and probably will never be able to achieve (I know I won't ever be able to ride my bike at speeds like they get). BUT, it doesn't keep me from wanting to know just how much I AM capable of achieving. So, I view it as inspirational by way of being a challenge--they can do "this" so can I achieve "that" by virtue of also pushing and challenging myself. (And, I won't get into a the whole doping thing--but it's cheating. Rather Lance has/hasn't is yet to be proven but I don't think he'd be stupid enough to try to dope up now anyway)

And, why retire if he feels he can still do it? Even if he doesn't win, he's trying, and that's to his credit in my book. I don't care if his name was Lance or Homer or Elmer or Tom, ****, or Harry. Anyone who gets out there and tries is a winner to me and thus, an inspiration. That 79 year old guy I mentioned isn't the fastest on the block but he's riding and riding thousands of miles a year at the age of 79--may God bless us all enough that we can say that when we hit 79.

This quote by Theodore Roosevelt was on my high school gym's wall. Some think it trite but it has "haunted" me for lack of better words my whole life, and I've always striven to not reach the end of my days and find myself a "cold and timid soul."

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."