dylannord: A few years ago, the Rapha...

A few years ago, the Rapha Gentlemen’s Races were some of the first cycling stories that I connected to. New to the sport, I was completely inspired and in love as I watched, read, and saw the struggle, and journey of the riders involved. So it was nothing short of a dream for me to be able to compete and experience this year’s Northeast Race.

On the day, I was guest starring on the VICE team, a great group of riders full of enough bravery, humor, and charity to make the 120 miles and 13,000ft of climbing a complete pleasure.

To borrow some of the original words I fell in love with from Jeremy Dunn on the 2010 Gentlemen’s Race,

“There are eight keys to judging another but remember to keep in mind the idea that we are applying this to riding bicycles, and choosing the partners to do it with.

1. He will look you in the eye.

2. He will have a sense of humor. I take this to be a particularly important measure of any man who holds public office, since the affairs of the nation will quickly confound or possess a man who cannot laugh, especially at his own mistakes.

3. He conducts every relationship in a spirit of reciprocity, asking not more than he is himself willing to give. Such an attitude is essential if a man with many successes is to cultivate his character, for only thus will he acquire a sense of stewardship in proportion to his accomplishments.

4. He will have an essential humility. By this I mean the capacity to accept persons quite unlike himself and value their company for the very qualities he himself lacks.

5. He will possess a largeness of soul that recognizes that some things will always escape his powers of reason, and some things should always escape his control.

6. He is not afraid to say “I don’t know.”

7. He knows himself, or if he becomes momentarily confused, he will not trample over you in his search for himself.

8. Somewhere, sometime, he has learned to love someone profoundly.”