Video – Going the Distance with Lael Wilcox

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By Emlyn Lewis 1
Photos by @rugilekaladyte

I’ll be honest, I’m not the biggest TED fan. I find the format really cringey, and the whole “We-did-some-research-and-found-out-this-one-crazy-thing” vibe to be sorta like pseudo-intellectual clickbait. I’m a cynic though. As with anything, there’s some very good and some less good.

I’m a huge Lael Wilcox fan though. She’s strong. She’s tough. She’s humble, and she smiles a lot. That’s what I need from my heroes.

And in this video, she takes on a question that I turn over in my mind constantly. Why do these things? Why keep going?

Emlyn Lewis

Robot fell in love with cycling watching the older neighborhood kids ride wheelies down the street. It was the early '70s, and Evel Knievel was jumping motorcycles over buses. Everything seemed possible. From that moment, the die was cast (iacta alia est).

He studied philosophy in college, of course he did. That's what idealists do, romantics, kids who think there must be a better way. At the same time, bikes were carrying him everywhere, delivering all of life's gifts and surprises. Occasionally he crashed and didn't mind.

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  1. jlaudolff says

    For sure Lael is my cycling hero, the one I think about when dreaming about touring or when things go wrong on a long ride. If she can keep riding with a smile and always say yes to hard stuff, I guess I can handle my little riding problems.

    Funny story, that ted talk.

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