Today one of the most amazing cyclists in the world won yet another race. Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli won the French National TT championship and in so doing added her 56th national title to her palmares.

Oh yeah, did I mention that she is FIFTY YEARS OLD? And still spanking women half her age. Amazing.

Just for fun let's compare Jeanie to a well know, perennial American powerhouse: Kent Bostick (just because he's also 50, sponsored and was covered all the time in VeloNews back in the day).

Hello…! Is there any doubt?

Too often we lose track of why we ride or race and when someone like this comes along you have to know that they simply love what they do. Sure, it might be a bit obsessive at times and they might not have any children but hey, respect worthy without a doubt.

Two years ago Jeannie was described as the best cyclist in history that gets the least recognition. I agree.

I've been following Joe Friel on Twitter for a few days now and every damn day he says pretty much the same thing.

"Montrose to Crested Butte, CO. Long day in saddle. TSS 292."

At first it did not even realize he was using an acronym and them I'm like, what the hell does TSS mean? So I looked it up:

Training Stress Score (TSS) - The TSS represents a calculated number that takes into account the duration and intensity of a workout to arrive at a single score of the overall training load and physiological stress created by that session. One hour of functional threshold (as hard as you can go for one hour) = 100 Training Stress Score points.

Welcome to the new world. At one point you could just sort of rely on your breathing and how labored it was. Then came heart rate which was quickly eclipsed by power. And now there is TSS.

Shit. Soon you won't be able to exercise without toting along a CPU. Oh wait, that's already happening…

"How was your ride honey?"

"Well, my TSS was 255…"

Nice.

For all the problems that Twitter has faced recently with the system slowdowns, lack of delivery, spam, etc. it still does one thing really well and that is let you keep up with those that use it.

And really, isn't that what it's all about? I recently went on a binge of sorts and sought out all the professional cyclists I admire and began following them. Know what? It's really cool to read about their daily trials and tribulations. People like Robbie McEwen who is coming back after yet another horrific crash was just out and managed 1.5 hours on the bike and did 200 m at 45 km/hr.

It's heartening. It's interesting. It's educational. It's a huge time suck. But it's also a ton of fun.

Oh yeah, unless you have a cell plan with unlimited texts, perish the thought of sending updates to your mobile device for everyone you follow… good grief. I only get updates for my real friends now and view the rest via the web.

Good stuff for sure.