The Tour de France is considered the most important event in road race biking. For fourteen days some 120 riders trek through mostly cities, towns & country sides on winding roads of flat, steep hilly trajectories in France. Including winding up and down mountain roads that are otherwise occupied by all forms of transportation. Each day an "etappe" is planned for teams of the world's best professional riders in colorful outfits and equipped with state of the art bikes. Accompanied by teams of coaches, medical & technical staff. The many following automobiles pasted full with all kinds of advertising as well as spare bikes & equipment. Riders on motor bikes with camera men on the back seats, take pictures while the motor bike riders seem to maintain the loud noise from the always engaged horns & claxons, piercing the ears of everyone. Fans know by the sound of the screaming horns that they're warned to stay back for the advanced riders and the "peloton" will soon "zzzooshhh" by. Above the whole spectacle, hovering helicopters instantly transmit, minute by minute, coverage of the action all around the globe. The whole thing is one complicated action packed show.
Riders speed by in less than 3 minutes in a colorful haze of pure energy. It is hard to recognize famous individuals, unless they are part of a small advanced group of riders.
Not broadcast often, are the many hours of exciting entertaining each day before the riders drive by. Colorful floats of advertising a large variety of products & goods, make sure that they are well noticed and heard. Hand outs are filling up many of the fans’ plastic advertising covered bags.
In the mid 1950s in city of Haarlem, the Netherlands, some 2 dozen boys and girls organized their own "Tour" during the summer school holidays. It happened as a result of listening to radio broadcasts & reading newspaper articles about the Tour de France. Each day for a week, trajectories were laid out through city streets, village- & scenic country roads around the city. Riders traveled along canals, other landmarks like windmills & wooden shoes wearing dairy farmers.
Bert-Jan was the leader with two more days to go & 6.5 minutes ahead of the next ranked biker. Bert-Jan started off very well that day. He proudly wore the yellow band around his right upper arm, just like the leader in the real Tour was recognized by wearing the yellow jersey. He immensely enjoyed his comfortable, well earned lead. Riding with a smile, positioned like a professional on his mediocre used street bike.
Realizing full well that, unless he would make a serious mistake, he was secured of the overall victory the next day. Bert-Jan would then arrive at the famous Haarlem, "Grote Markt", ( Great Market) city market. In the center, a huge statue of Laurens Janszoon Koster who, the Dutch believe, invented the printing alphabet as we know it. Another famous landmark, the medieval gothic Saint Bavo church decorates as a historic back drop.
Something of a potentially disastrous event changed the course of that day. In the small town of Overveen, outside of Haarlem, Bert-Jan just about ran over a baby wood pigeon that could not completely fly independently yet. It had wandered outside of the security of it’s nest and fell on the ground under a big, ancient oak tree. With a quick maneuver Bert-Jan avoided running over the bird. He turned around and got off his bike. He dropped the bike behind the bird protecting it somewhat from being hit by others. The bird was still groggy from the fall. Bert-Jan picked it up and gently placed it on the lowest large branch of the oak tree. He even left some water, out of his glass bottle, in a small hollow of that branch. Bert-Jan then climbed back on his bike & continued his ride back to the finish line. Bert-Jan had lost valuable time to the tune of more than four minutes. That resulted in him dropping to third in the overall standings. Everybody wondered what had happened. Nobody dared to ask. Bert-Jan smiled but in a way, was hurting inside, not sure whether he had made the right decision. He kept quiet, fearing that if he would have told the truth, he would be ridiculed as dumb and be embarrassed for doing such a foolish thing putting his victory in jeopardy . The next day Bert-Jan optimistically mounted his bike and was more determined than ever to do all he could to regain his number one position. He focused more than ever on the final trajectory of the tour.
When all the minutes were counted & tabulated , Bert-Jan won that year’s tour with a mere 13 seconds difference with the runner up. All three climbed on the table that acted as podium and collected their trophies. Arriving back home, Bert-Jan informed his family what really happened.
The moral of the story is that victorious results are, on many occasions, not reached because of having been distracted or sidetracked from a pre set goal that is part of a plan. Doing things without a plan is like feeling the wind coming at you from all sides and not moving forward in the right direction as a result. It is virtually impossible to change direction when you are not moving in any direction. However, at times, presented distractions, should be regarded as an opportunity to make worthwhile changes in plans and should not be regarded as reasons of blaming self for failures, including feeling guilty. If responded to properly, the times one failed in the past, can serve as opportunities to the individual, to come back stronger and more determined to succeed in future. Being involved in sports, teaches clearly that falling & getting up again, is part of athletic life. The solid, basic exercises that are part of the 3Skatter Format, offer a platform to add customized adjustments, change direction quicker and become more successful. Visit the www.3skatter-pe.com website and get informed about being better equipped for athletics with exercises that are aimed at all able people & not only for those who's desire are to become competitive champions.
Hans Schmid
Riders speed by in less than 3 minutes in a colorful haze of pure energy. It is hard to recognize famous individuals, unless they are part of a small advanced group of riders.
Not broadcast often, are the many hours of exciting entertaining each day before the riders drive by. Colorful floats of advertising a large variety of products & goods, make sure that they are well noticed and heard. Hand outs are filling up many of the fans’ plastic advertising covered bags.
In the mid 1950s in city of Haarlem, the Netherlands, some 2 dozen boys and girls organized their own "Tour" during the summer school holidays. It happened as a result of listening to radio broadcasts & reading newspaper articles about the Tour de France. Each day for a week, trajectories were laid out through city streets, village- & scenic country roads around the city. Riders traveled along canals, other landmarks like windmills & wooden shoes wearing dairy farmers.
Bert-Jan was the leader with two more days to go & 6.5 minutes ahead of the next ranked biker. Bert-Jan started off very well that day. He proudly wore the yellow band around his right upper arm, just like the leader in the real Tour was recognized by wearing the yellow jersey. He immensely enjoyed his comfortable, well earned lead. Riding with a smile, positioned like a professional on his mediocre used street bike.
Realizing full well that, unless he would make a serious mistake, he was secured of the overall victory the next day. Bert-Jan would then arrive at the famous Haarlem, "Grote Markt", ( Great Market) city market. In the center, a huge statue of Laurens Janszoon Koster who, the Dutch believe, invented the printing alphabet as we know it. Another famous landmark, the medieval gothic Saint Bavo church decorates as a historic back drop.
Something of a potentially disastrous event changed the course of that day. In the small town of Overveen, outside of Haarlem, Bert-Jan just about ran over a baby wood pigeon that could not completely fly independently yet. It had wandered outside of the security of it’s nest and fell on the ground under a big, ancient oak tree. With a quick maneuver Bert-Jan avoided running over the bird. He turned around and got off his bike. He dropped the bike behind the bird protecting it somewhat from being hit by others. The bird was still groggy from the fall. Bert-Jan picked it up and gently placed it on the lowest large branch of the oak tree. He even left some water, out of his glass bottle, in a small hollow of that branch. Bert-Jan then climbed back on his bike & continued his ride back to the finish line. Bert-Jan had lost valuable time to the tune of more than four minutes. That resulted in him dropping to third in the overall standings. Everybody wondered what had happened. Nobody dared to ask. Bert-Jan smiled but in a way, was hurting inside, not sure whether he had made the right decision. He kept quiet, fearing that if he would have told the truth, he would be ridiculed as dumb and be embarrassed for doing such a foolish thing putting his victory in jeopardy . The next day Bert-Jan optimistically mounted his bike and was more determined than ever to do all he could to regain his number one position. He focused more than ever on the final trajectory of the tour.
When all the minutes were counted & tabulated , Bert-Jan won that year’s tour with a mere 13 seconds difference with the runner up. All three climbed on the table that acted as podium and collected their trophies. Arriving back home, Bert-Jan informed his family what really happened.
The moral of the story is that victorious results are, on many occasions, not reached because of having been distracted or sidetracked from a pre set goal that is part of a plan. Doing things without a plan is like feeling the wind coming at you from all sides and not moving forward in the right direction as a result. It is virtually impossible to change direction when you are not moving in any direction. However, at times, presented distractions, should be regarded as an opportunity to make worthwhile changes in plans and should not be regarded as reasons of blaming self for failures, including feeling guilty. If responded to properly, the times one failed in the past, can serve as opportunities to the individual, to come back stronger and more determined to succeed in future. Being involved in sports, teaches clearly that falling & getting up again, is part of athletic life. The solid, basic exercises that are part of the 3Skatter Format, offer a platform to add customized adjustments, change direction quicker and become more successful. Visit the www.3skatter-pe.com website and get informed about being better equipped for athletics with exercises that are aimed at all able people & not only for those who's desire are to become competitive champions.
Hans Schmid
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