I had a problem recently. A friend placed just inside the top 10 in his category at the Gravel World Championships. I got out my phone to send him a text, and realised I had no idea what to say. It was worse than his result last year. It was better than his result the year before. I knew he’d been struggling a bit for form this year, but he reckoned he’d had a good run-in to the event. I didn’t really know what he was expecting, and hadn’t had the foresight to ask him.
So was the essence of the text, “Congratulations!” Or was it, “Hard luck – I know you’ve had a tough year.” I had no idea. In the end I didn’t send him anything at all.
Michael Hutchinson
Multiple national champion on the bike and award-winning author Michael Hutchinson writes for CW every week