When I tell people that I run 100-mile races, they often say, “Wow, that’s so extreme.”

I don’t actually think it’s all that extreme.  Yes, it’s true, I once lost my sense of taste after running a 24-hour race.  I tried drinking Coke, eating chocolate cake, but everything tasted like water.  Like sand.

That’s the weirdest side-effect I’ve ever experienced.  Hardly life-threatening.

Yes, we ultra-marathoners run for 100 (or more) miles without stopping.  But what’s the worst that can happen when you’re traveling at 5 miles per hour?

It’s not like we’re racing down the side of a mountain on a bike:

This eye-popping urban bike race takes place every year on the ancient streets of Valparaiso, Chile.   The riders have to deal with jumps, flights of stairs and, as you may have noticed at the 37 second mark, stray dogs.

THAT, my friends, is EXTREME.

And yet, as great as that POV video is, it isn’t my all-time favourite cycling film.   Unlike running, cycling is romantic, so it really needs a shot of  amour Montreal…

If I could be reincarnated as anything, I’d come back as a Francophone cyclist.