The Century, he thought. A cheap analogy for life.
Little pains happen.
A lot of it is dull stuff, indeed, but you make the effort. Man and machine become one organism, stroking away, correcting, favoring, compensating, and trying to enjoy the little moments of magic that come along. At the end of it, you get off the bike, or fall off, or are pushed off, and that is that. You experience the struggles and the challenges, the triumphs and the defeats, the elation and the despair. The mental skills associated with a high level of success and performance in sports also translate to life situations.