pro cycling the pro:files

The pro:files #6. Esteban Chaves

Chaves

Esteban Chaves is a brilliant cyclist.

In 2016 he won Il Lombardia, one of the ‘monuments’ of pro cycling, finished second at the Giro d’Italia, and third at the Vuelta Espana. At the age of twenty six he is widely tipped as one of the next generation of serial Grand Tour winners.

He is also one of the few Colombians to talk with an Aussie twang.

Along with being a rising star of cycling and a linguistic acrobat, Chaves has one other string to his bow – his selfless contribution to gross international happiness.

We are living in times of significant political change and uncertainty, in a society becoming polarised by the bubble of social media. We are bombarded with information, never sure where the line between fact and fiction lies. Where once we saw the future as a paradise of leisure time where technology picked up the slack, many of us are busier than ever.

We are, in short, stressed.

Thankfully, Esteban Chaves is on hand to cheer us all up. Take this interview (in fact, any interview) with Esteban Chaves:

He’s smiling his impossibly smiley smile and laughing, joking, and positively oozing good vibes. He’s the world’s most cheerful man. As a competitor in the toughest sport in the world ™ that’s an impressive feat.

As you watched this interview, unless you’ve had your heart surgically removed and replaced by a SRAM groupset you’ll notice that you were smiling too. It’s infectious, you see.

Judging by every bit of footage of Esteban Chaves ever recorded, it would be impossible to spend any time in his company and not be profoundly cheered up by the experience.

Even if you’re not part of his inner circle of friends and teammates, as a cycling fan you’re on to a winner. Every time you watch a race that contains Chaves you will be reminded of his beaming demeanour, and receive a little rush of endorphins.

A hit of happiness, if you like.

Some people hang calendars of cute puppies on their wall, others rely on alcohol to banish the sadness in their lives, but surely a regular dose of Esteban Chaves would be a safer and more effective method.

Chaves
Esteban Chaves…smiling, of course (Image: via diariodigitalocolumbiano.com)

Unfortunately, I fear that plan is not sustainable. It might be unrealistic to expect him to spend his time away from the bike travelling the world and cheering people up.

Perhaps, at the very least, we could all have his picture as the screen saver on our phones? Or maybe we could download his voice to our sat nav? Would it be too much to ask for a live stream of his perpetually smiling face to be projected on to large buildings to cheer up our city centres?

Anything for a regular reminder that however bad your day, somewhere in the world Esteban Chaves is smiling.

By all predictions he is going to spend an awful lot of time in the next few years beating other people in bike races. I can’t help thinking they won’t mind all that much. Surely it would be a pleasure?

Look at his little face – how could you possibly be mad at him?

 

 

 

9 comments on “The pro:files #6. Esteban Chaves

  1. He’s always smiling and seems such a lovely chap, very approachable.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Fear not, brother… society isn’t going down the crapper yet. I’d argue that it just got better over here, but my comb-over’d dude one.

    Also, don’t buy the easy “It’s social media and fake news” moonbattery… That’s not it, because the real news is just as fake. THAT’S the real problem.

    Using American politics, to keep from wading into waters too murky for my simple self, our media is having a caniption over what will happen to Trump’s business while he’s President. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, who was running for President before she got shellacked, was enriched running a foundation and accepted foreign donations totalling hundreds of millions of Dollars and the same media couldn’t find anything wrong with that.

    On this side of the pond, we’re simply tired of it and we picked an abrasive @$$hole who would finally put our country first.

    I would almost go with the notion that it’s the Chavez/Chaves last name… I know a few and they’re all happy, great guys. Hugo put the hammer down on that hypothesis though.

    Liked by 1 person

    • We’ll never agree on politics dude, but the name theory, I like! Maybe Hugo is the exception that proves the rule. I’ve never yet met a Chavez in person, but I’ll be on the lookout now

      Liked by 1 person

  3. I love this guy! Always smiling and it’s not like a smiling assassin, it’s just infectious. Looking forward to watching him from the side of the road at the Tour Down Under in January.

    Liked by 2 people

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