In my most painful moments on the bike, I am at my most curious and I wonder each and every time how I will respond.

I wanted to live, but whether I would or not was mystery, and in the midst of confronting that fact, even at that moment, I was beginning to sense that to stare into the heart of such a fearful mystery wasn't a bad thing. To be afraid is a priceless education. P 99

Nineteen hundred meters up there is completely different from1,900 any place else. There's no air, there's no oxygen. There's no vegetation, there's no life. There's no life. Rocks. Any other climb there's vegetation, grass and trees. Not there on the Ventoux. It's more like the moon than a mountain.

Do it even if you shouldn't, do it becuase you want to, do it becuase it will make things better.

I love this race from the very depths of my heart. It gives me motivation and it transcendsme like nothing else in the world.

Two things scare me. The first is getting hurt. But that's not nearly as scary as the second, which is losing.

I'm not willing to put a percentage on the chances but I will no longer rule it out.