I recently finished the novel Ti Amo by Hanne Ørstavik. It is a short tale of love and loss, of a woman coping with the imminent loss of her husband to cancer, expertly written, and sad. It would be trite to compare this with the end of the cycling season for the virtue of a round up of social media posts on a Friday afternoon, and yet here I am.
One is aware that the road cycling season is drifting away from a great distance, from as soon as the World Championships is on the horizon, and yet it is always difficult to process, to accept, to deal with it. One tries to cling onto it, to watch Paris-Tours or the start of the cyclocross season and pretend that it isn’t happening, that there really is a bit of a wasteland until we get to the Tour Down Under. There might be things to keep you occupied in that time, whether it’s the Track Champions League or muddy riding in Belgium, but it doesn’t feel quite right.
Just as the narrator of Ti Amo, I find new situation hard to adjust to, even if the grief doesn’t last forever. However, in the blink of the eye, we will be back in the thick of racing, working out early season form at the UAE Tour or getting really into the Challenge Mallorca, so I shouldn’t be too concerned.
In the meantime, here are some choice cuts of tweets and Instagram posts to keep you going this Friday; maybe you could print them out and burn them for fuel, if you’re one of those hardy types still refusing to put your heating on.
Read Ti Amo by the way! It’s good!
1. Team BikeExchange have gone all out for their Halloween content, Christopher Ghoul-Jensen a particular favourite
Introducing our 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒚 team for Halloween 🎃💀Teniel Cannibal😦 Sam Boo-ley 🔪 Kill O’Brien👻 Chris Ghoul-Jensen pic.twitter.com/rSf4fMR70XOctober 31, 2022
2. Meanwhile, the SD Worx Halloween party was actually scary. Whenever I close my eyes, I now see scary clown Lonneke Uneken. Terrifying
Happy Halloween! Do you know which rider of the team this is? 📷 @raykerckhoffs pic.twitter.com/Hc8amXBXQVOctober 31, 2022
3. It does not get more on brand for Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe to record an episode of their podcast inside an Ineos Grenadier, the vanity-project car which still isn’t really available. Super cool! CyclingTips (opens in new tab) did a good write up of where the massive car is at
A podcast studio with a difference 🎙️Check out how @GeraintThomas86 and @LukeRowe1990 got on as they recorded the latest episode of…