Lucas Euser, Paris-Nice prologue Back when I was in high school, one of my first employers - a local cafe owner and long-time mentor - showed me the true value of a minute. She sat behind the counter and began working while the second hand passed the top of the clock, and she didn’t stop until it had completed its full rotation. I sat there with the other employees waiting and watching as she cleaned, stacked, restocked, and cleaned some more. As the minute rounded out, we all looked at each other in amazement. One single minute is a negligible amount of time, and yet she had gotten so much done!

A minute seems so minuscle in the big picture, and yet it is the exact thing that allows the big picture to unfold.

Now skip years ahead and apply the same concept to a five-minute prologue on the first day of the 2008 Volta a Catalunya. I’m in Lloret de Mar attempting to ride a bike as fast as I possibly can on a closed 3.7 km technical circuit. Riding a short prologue is an art and is usually meant for large, powerful riders. Yet I’ve come to realize it’s not just all about watts. It’s about appreciating the value of a minute.

You see, my goal was to get through the course as fast as I could while focusing on the finish. But those guys in the top ten are getting through the course as fast as they can while focusing on the present and immediate, thinking about the next turn, the next uphill, the seconds that lead to the minutes that result in the big picture.

There are hundreds of more km’s to race here and numerous opportunities to “make the move” as our famed director Johnny Weltz would say. But in the end we have to realize we all have to make the most out of the opportunities given to us and use every second we can to make our lives more pleasurable.

The race will go on and more lessons will be learned. Check back for more updates and life lessons as the race continues.