“Like one who after a night of drunken revelry (and VSP picking) hies to his bed, still reeling, but with conscience yet pricking him (Voeckler, really, fourth place?), as the plungings of the Roman race-horse but so much the more strike his steel tags into him; (huh?) as one who in that miserable plight still turns and turns in giddy anguish, praying God for annihilation until the fit be passed; and at last amid the whirl of woe he feels, a deep stupor steals over him, as over the man who bleeds to death, for conscience is the wound, and there’s naught to staunch it; so, after sore wrestling in his berth (Voeckler has worn the yellow jersey repeatedly. Yes? He could be in there), Jonah’s prodigy of ponderous misery drags him drowning down to sleep.”

-Pastor Mapple’s Sermon, from Moby Dick

Oh right, Thomas Voeckler rides at the very back of the peloton, making sure he misses every split thus bringing his GC threat factor down to 0.001. A few years back he actually rode with GC ambitions but now he has a better chance of making it into the break when he is two hours down in the overall. Hell, it did get him in the maillot jaune all those years ago.

Of course it was a terrible pick. A choice of passion, maybe fueled by some vin rouge. It was your choice and you need to own it. You need to auger into the ground with it. You need to ride that pick down like Major Kong in Doctor Strangelove.

School children will point and snicker from the school yard, he picked Tommy Voeclker. Yes I did you little brats. I was high. I’m a dreamer. Fuck you.

But to strike that choice and put in Tee Jay on a rest day swap, shameful. More shameful than cursing at school children. Second chances, do-overs, that doesn’t fly when on the bike, I don’t know why we tolerate these mid-course corrections for the VSP.

Why do I care? Was it too much tubular tire gluings down here in the bunker? It is more likely the damaged DNA of my dick-ish puritanical New Bedford whaling church going ancestors. Make a choice and ride it all the way, like Major Kong.