Flashes of Panic

Bicycling doesn’t manage its Olympic team selection the way track and field does, so the announcement of a “long team” is a phenomena we don’t have. The “long team” is something like a relay pool: it’s the group of athletes that USA Cycling will eventually select its actual Olympians from. A short-list for the Olympic team, I suppose; I guess the comparable track level would be making the Olympic Trials final, but there will be more women in the 1,500m final in Eugene than are on the track cycling long team.

I mention this because one of my former co-workers made the long team. This is particularly exciting because Liz came to pro cycling through Masters competition—that is, she developed her talent in races for people considered too old for peak competition, then stepped back into open racing. This is unusual, to say the least.

Also somewhat ironic: If all the right breaks happen and Liz makes the final team, there will be more former RW employees in Beijing than current ones. If there’s any question that we had a whale of a team there in the late ’90s, this is a pretty strong argument.

Now Playing: The End from Everything Changed by Abra Moore

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