Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Gambling

Unavoidably, the Interbike experience includes walking through the odd casino. Emphasis on odd. From the wall-to-wall cigarette smoke to the unsolvable maze of each casino’s layout, the experience is as foreign to my daily routine as Wall Street is to fiscal responsibility.

Slots, poker, craps, roulette, blackjack, Baccarat, Keno; there’s a game to please every gambler. They couldn’t be more different from cycling.

Games of chance, are, by their very nature, reliant on mountains of luck. The only real skill available—card counting—will get you 86’d from the casinos faster than Michael Phelps can cross a pool.

If nothing else, gambling proves that hope is alive and well, which is something we can be grateful for. However, it is difficult to fathom the attraction to a win so statistically unlikely as to make the game virtually pointless. And when the win does come, knowing that anyone could be in that chair right now, how can that fruit taste anything other than sour?

Cycling teaches us the harder fought the win, the sweeter the taste. And yes, every race is a gamble, but your participation is anything but generic.

You’ve trained. You’ve worked on skills to make each pedal stroke efficient, handling skills to hone your line and have watched your competition week after week to figure out the real players.

Consider it in the extreme: Were you to line up against a child, the conclusion would be so foregone, the victory so assured that any adult who took the bait should feel embarrassed. Securing a win, any win, isn’t what competition is about. Surely the truest victory should come as a surprise to all involved.

What could be more fulfilling than looking to the rider who finished behind you and thinking, “Wow. I wasn’t sure I could beat him.”


Image courtesy of John Pierce, Photosport International

3 comments:

jza said...

Yeah, but try and find me a Belgian cyclocross race or mid-week Semi-Classic where you can't place bets at the nearest bar.

In the old country, sports and gambling are inseperable, us Americans aren't quite as comfortable with that.

Freire, Sunday, 3:1.

bikesgonewild said...

...first time i was ever in vegas was for interbike...

...my neighbor, knowing where i was headed, handed me $20 bucks & said "gamble it on anything you want...if ya lose it, it doesn't matter & if ya win, it's all yours"...cool, thanks, oughta be fun...

...first day, walking through 'the venetian' headed for 'the sands', i thought "i'll wait a day or two to get the 'feel' of things before i gamble that $20...& gee, some of these folks don't look to healthy"...

...second morning, early, we're headed to the booth & i'm looking & realizing that "ya...some of these folks have been drinking, smoking & gambling all night"...duh, mr naive, but hey, i'm still game w/ that $20...

...third morning, again early, heading back in, seeing little ol' ladies w/ a drink in one hand, a cigarette in the other, dropping tokens in slots & pushing the button w/out even putting down the glass or the smoke & i looked at my buddy & said "this is fucking sad, dude...i don't even wanna drop that $20 bucks on anything 'cuz then i'll be like these folks"...

...i know ya gotta play to win but damn...& sure enough, that $20 bucks came home in my wallet...

Anonymous said...

Hey i agree with you man every race is a gamble. Gambling proves that hope is alive and well, which is something we can be grateful for.