Don’t count the old guy out.

Mark Cavendish, the 27 year old favorite to win Saturday’s Road Race in Men’s Cycling for Brittan actually finished 29th. The closest he came was 18th.

I was watching the final minutes of the nearly 6 hour Olympics race  Saturday and it was down to two leaders with a sizable lead.

Rigoberto Uran Uran, 25 years old racing for Columbia was leading with 38 year old Alexandr Vinokurov from Kazakhstan on his tail.
At about 4:15 in the video, Vinokurov takes over as Uran is looking over his left shoulder.

This win is a combination of street smarts and physical ability.

Look at the ages of the top 10:

1st age 38

2nd age 25

3rd age 25

4th age 22

5th age 31

6th age 38

7th age 27

8th age 32

9th age 35

10th age 27

Altogether there was one 40 year old, two guys age 39, three aged 38 and at the other end of the age spectrum a 20 year old, out of the 110 who finished.

As I was looking up info about the gold medal winner Alexandr Vinokurov, I saw his career included plenty of set backs along with a few victories.  I imagine that it’s the lessons learned before coming to London that helped him win the gold.

What can we learn from this?

  1. Never let your age be an excuse.  Truly this was a younger mans sport.
  2. You never lose until you quit.
  3. Life experiences are life lessons.  Study them and apply them.
  4. You have to be in the game in order to win.
  5. The difference between winning and losing (2nd place) can be a tiny fraction.
  6. When you have done all you can, do a little more.
  7. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.