WHO'S WORLD OF FANTASY WILL YOU DIVE INTO NEXT?

I APOLOGISE FOR not having posted any articles in the last fortnight, but the truth is that as much as I wanted to not write from a fact-based approach, I ran out of ideas. My first articles were a brainstorm, and someone warned me that there would come a time when I’d start running empty, and lo, the time has come…

Another thing I realised is that with time, my writing shifted from interesting stories to almost charity-sounding articles. There’s no way you can compare CONVICTED to THE BIG QUESTION. What went astray?

Anyway, as we leave that question hanging in the air, there’s one thing I’ve very much wanted to write about the last few days but have been unable to go past half the page.

You might have heard it said that the shortest distance between any two points is a straight line, or at least I hope you have. But there’s one thing that you have probably never noticed: the shortest time taken between any two points is the time spent moving between them.

Confused?

Picture two points A and B, with a distance of 100m between them. You are standing at point A willing to get to point B. It’s a short distance, yes? And if you were really fast, you could cover it in at least 10 seconds, no?

What, however, you fail to realise is that you could take even an entire day or even a year or your entire life travelling that seemingly short distance, compared to the 10 seconds required. And the reason is simple: if one continues standing at A deliberating on how they’ll get to B, they’ll take much much much longer than the person who actually sets off from A to B.

Comparatively speaking, if it was a race, then one could argue that people would take different durations to cover the distance. That’s true, I don’t refute. But if a person was to look at only their own time, they’ll realise that they took less time getting to B than if they had stayed at A looking at B from a telescope.

In my experience, this analogy is very relevant in Time Trialing. See, when you are in that TT position and are focusing dead ahead at a spot 100m away, say a lamp post, no matter what you do, you will only get to it if you keep pedalling. There’s no way to teleport yourself to the lamp post (yet), and no matter how you will it or cuss it or command it, the lamp post will NEVER come to you.

What about when you see that rider who started a minute before you, and realise that you are gaining on them? The same applies: you will only get to to them (and overtake them) if you keep pedalling…. That’s the only way to cover the distance between the both of you, or between you and the lamp post.

And that is one of the things that makes Time Trialing really difficult especially psychologically: you will only get there if you keep pedalling. Falter a little, and it will take that much longer to cover the distance.

In a road race, however, it is different as the peleton shields you from the road ahead. Thus, it is possible to even climb a hill without realising that you were even climbing, so basically, it’s almost as if you are joyriding.

Therefore, my dear readers, keep pedalling, keep walking, keep moving, keep running if you want to cover the distance in the shortest possible time (without comparing to others’ times)… Deal?