Ketchup Effect

I learned that term today from my Norwegian teammate, Kristoffer Skjerping. Another teammate of ours here at Tour of Alberta, Tom Jelte Slagter, is experiencing the Ketchup Effect right now with two consecutive wins as the Tour of Alberta tests the roads for the first time into the high mountains in and around Jasper.So what exactly is it? I explain it like so: it's a bit like when it rains it pours... but in the good way. So Tom isn't just winning, he can't stop winning. Much the same way that you sometimes flip open the ketchup cap and SCHLOP -- it all pours out. I might therefore call it the Toothpaste at Altitude Effect, which exhibits the same results: namely when you open the toothpaste at altitude, you just can't stop winning. I rest my case.So now that we aren't freezing our tails off -- oh wait, it was 36F degress at the start and hovered around there for most of the first two hours, but it wasn't precipitating -- we are able to see just how beautiful this sliver of the world is. These Canadian Rocky Mountains are absolutely stunning. Check 'em out here.  Or there are two excellent pictures I snapped yesterday evening and on today's post-race drive to the hotel, above and below, respectively.  With just four races left on my 2016 calendar, err career, I'm trying hard to take it all in. Even more so than I ever have before, as I already consider myself something of an observer. Growing up, every day as I stepped out the door for school my dad would say, "Your mind is a sponge, soak it all in". Dad's wise words couldn't be more astute than they are right now. I have about 400 miles left before I hang up my bike... and hop aboard the gravy train into retirement. Which, coincidentally, involves picking up my bike again and riding a lot.