When life throws lemons at professional triathletes

THERE is a popular phrase that says “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”.

That is perhaps overly simplistic but also very relevant in many situations.

What happened to me when I was bike-jacked led to a much greater recognition of the problems we have as the broader society.

The problems I refer to include youth unemployment, crime, no respect for private property and just the pure lack of respect for life.

That’s a complicated combination of issues that is going to take a lot of resources and time to overcome but we have to start.

Going back to lemons, I wrote at the beginning of the year about my excitement at the prospect of returning to the Western Cape for a Triathlon event, the Warm Water Weekend Triathlon at the West Coast National Park near Langebaan.

To make sure I was ready to race, I even missed the Cape Town Cycle Tour so I could attend a Team Tissink training camp to prepare.

Then March 17 happened, bruised arm, stolen bike and cellphone but still eager to compete the following Saturday.

Then, as fate would have it, my daughter’s school, which had already postponed the school camp night twice, decided that it would have it on March 23, the day before my long awaited Warm Water Weekend.

I made the call on the Wednesday evening; to cancel my race plans to be at my daughter’s camp weekend.

As an age-group athlete I was never in a position to win anything anyway, but the disappointment on my little angel’s face would have haunted me long after.

So the camp was my lemonade and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It was at this camp, when a group of us parents were chatting, that I realised how fortunate I was at not being a professional triathlete.

Those guys and girls do this for a living.

They train day in and day out for a chance to make it big, to win, to sign better endorsement deals and provide for their families.

Being taken out of the running through a robbery, an accident or a school activity means an opportunity to earn is lost.

I am hugely in awe and full of respect for any professional sportsperson who has to depend on the conditioning of their body, mind, and health and still deal with non-controllable factors such as weather, crime and pure bad luck.

What got me thinking even more about this subject was a video a fellow athlete tagged me on via social media, a comparison between soccer players and cyclists.

You see soccer players screaming on the field when it appears they may have been severely tackled.

On many occasions the video replays prove otherwise, but the theatrics and dramatisation by the players is just pure Hollywood.

The opposite happens when you watch a Tour De France where a rider hits the deck, gets bruised with skin off, yet eagerly stands up to get going again.

One cannot imagine the pain when they hit the rough tarmac at 60km/h with only light lycra between them and the black stuff.

Professional Ironman triathletes and cyclists, compared to soccer pros, are in my view the most underrated and probably the most underpaid athletes, yet they represent the epitome of true grit and determination. I stand to be proven wrong.