What Steve Larsen taught all of us

I learned from no less than Lance Armstrong today that Steve Larsen died Tuesday evening after collapsing during a running workout. He apparently suffered a heart attack.

This wasn’t the death of some couch potato salaryman trying to   get in shape for his class reunion. Steve Larsen was probably the only professional who competed and won major races as a mountain biker, road biker and triathlete. He had a wife and five children. And he was all of 39.

 

To quote Velonews:

Larsen began racing in the 1980s and was on the Motorola team for three years in the early 1990s, racing the Giro d'Italia and other major European events. He then moved into mountain biking, winning the NORBA National Cross-Country title in 1997 and 2000.

In 2001, he switched to triathlon, qualifying for the Ironman in his first year in the sport, and finishing ninth at the Hawaii event. He also competed in XTerra offroad triathlons. He was reportedly the only American to compete in the world championships for road, mountain bike, track, cyclocross and triathlon. He was a member of the 1993 U.S. world road championship team that helped Lance Armstrong win his first world title.

When something like this happens, the second thing everyone does (hopefully it’s the second, after feeling sorrowful) is measure how close they are to the deceased’s situation. This is, of course, what’s bothered me: He was in better shape than all of us.

I’m significantly older than Steve was. I always comforted myself in the knowledge that (in addition to checkups) I push myself to my maximum heart rate often enough that if I was going to have a heart attack, it would have happened by now.

So much for that theory.

But…tonight is a beautiful spring evening in Texas, not even much wind, so I went for a club ride with the Plano Bike Association. 30 miles @ 17 MPH average with peaks of 25-26. Getting back in one piece, acquitted myself without TOO much wheelsucking, feeling thoroughly exercised like only a road ride does, shower, and spend a few minutes in the evening backyard watching the martins chirp like parakeets on steroids.

Get out there, accept the reasonable risks you always have, and don’t shy away just because you don’t repair as fast as you used to. Woody Allen once said, “90% of success in life is just showing up.” Show up at work, show up at the dojo, the starting line, the conference, the volunteer booth. That’s all you can do, isn’t it?

I think Lance has a good summary of the situation:

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go do some pullups…

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