DevilGrad on The Action Cookbook Newsletter

There's something to be said for any athletic endeavor or other activity where you can participate along with people who are really good at it, and the right frame of mind for it is to use your own participation to understand how great those folks are. That's how I feel about running road races. Nobody lets you play through behind Scottie Scheffler or drive a lap at Indy while Helio Castroneves is on the track. But you can run the same race as Meb Keflezighi (like I did at the 2009 NYC marathon) and use your own finish two hours behind him as a basis for appreciating him and the other elite athletes even more. There are package tours you can arrange in France where you watch a Tour stage and then ride the same course the next day after the pros move on. I'd have to get back into biking shape for the first time in decades, but I'd love to try it sometime. I think I'll need one of those windy days in Normandy rather than L'Alpe d'Huez, though.