On Rocky and the Road

Some fifteen years ago, I read Philip Gourevitch’s story in The New Yorker about “Rocky,” the Rwandan rider who lost an eye in an accident and, while recovering, asked for rollers so he could keep training. Cycling, Gourevitch wrote, is not really about winning but about refusing defeat; you go down, but you do not drop out.

What a Bicycle CarriesIn Rwanda, the bicycle moves goods, memory, and a stubborn refusal to stop.The KigalianGilbert Rwabigwi

As Tour du Rwanda returns this week, and Rwandans gather again along the roads and hills to cheer, that story comes back to me. The spectacle is exciting, yes. The jerseys, the flags, the caravans. But somewhere beneath it is something quieter and more familiar: the simple insistence on getting back on the saddle and pressing forward.