Suffering, I was beginning to think, was essential to a good life, and as inextricable from such a life as bliss. It’s a great enhancer. It might last a minute, but eventually it subsides, and when it does, something else takes its place, and maybe that thing is a great space. For happiness. Each time I encountered suffering, I believed that I grew, and further defined my capacities – not just my physical ones, but my interior ones as well, for contentment, friendship, or any other human experience.

The team wasn't just riders. It was the mechanics, masseurs, chefs, soigneurs, and doctors. But the most important man on the team may have been the chiropractor.

Through my illness I learned rejection. I was written off. That was the moment I thought, Okay, game on. No prisoners. Everybody's going down.

I didn't live a lot of lies, but I lived one big one.

My mom was such a strong character. I don't want to say she was like a man, but she was tough.

Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.

Nothing goes to waste, you put it all to use, the old wounds and long-ago slights become the stuff of competitive energy.