A runner raced a cyclist from France to Italy. The winner sat waiting at the restaurant with pizza on the table: ‘Wow, winning tastes good’
Nothing tastes better than hard-earned victory.
Tom Trotter (@tomtrotter_), a personal coach and cyclist, was challenged to a race by James Norbury (@jamesnorbury_), an adventurer and runner. But it’s no simple sprint—it started in France, and the finish line is all the way in Italy. Norbury believes he’d win against the cyclist without a bike of his own, but Trotter was determined to prove him wrong.
“You’re obviously not good enough to be cycling in these mountains,” Norbury told Trotter. The cyclist disagreed, saying he was good with the bike “sometimes.” Norbury proposed to race him over the mountain to Italy. At first, Trotter reacted in disbelief, reminding Norbury that they were in France.
“It’s a 30k run over the mountain. It’s 100km around. Loser buys lunch,” Trotter said, as if it was perfectly reasonable to race over a mountain in one day. But competitiveness can make people do the impossible, like this man who outran a rival around a Utah trail.
Trotter asked a few bystanders who they thought would win, and for some reason, they were convinced that Norbury would prevail. Shortly after, the two men took off and started their race.
“Tom is cycling 100km around Mont Blanc. I’m running 30km over the top. We start in France, we end in Italy, and I bet he’s forgotten his passport,” Norbury said. But he was wrong, as the clip cut to Trotter going to his lodgings to get his passport out of the oven. It’s not the usual place to store a passport, but at least he didn’t forget about it like this woman who had only one day to get hers renewed before a trip to Greece.
A race that tests endurance
While Norbury was already starting his first climb up the mountain, Trotter was using momentum to speed down the road’s slopes. Trotter, who was speeding down, said, “See you later, France!” But the race doesn’t get easier from there on.
“My legs are feeling strong,” said Norbury as he made it up the mountain. Neither man was showing any signs of stopping—except for that moment when Trotter asked another cyclist which direction he should go for Italy. With his broken French, he told the man he was cycling all the way to Italy. The man didn’t believe it at first, but after Trotter confirmed the direction, he went back to cycling.
“20k down? He will not be able to go this fast!” Trotter said, confident that he would quickly overtake Norbury. But shockingly, Norbury followed close behind and even passed by the same cyclist Trotter had spoken to earlier. The track took a harder turn when they reached a 2,000km climb. By this point, both racers were starting to feel the fatigue.
“The mountain’s getting bigger,” Trotter complained. But Norbury didn’t fare any better, saying, “I’m nearly at the top. My legs are on fire.” Both athletes felt the burn in their legs, but they kept cycling and running, determined to beat the other.
Who made it to Italy first?
Trotter showed his passport to the checkpoint. Meanwhile, Norbury said he only had 5k left in his run. At some point during the race, their paths intersected, and both athletes were still speeding to the finish line—a restaurant in Italy.
“I’ve made it to the restaurant. I think I’ve got the win,” Trotter said as he wheeled his bike in. He was wrong, and Norbury was already outside with a pizza on the table and a menu in hand.
“I ordered myself a pizza. I hope you don’t mind. The bill is inside,” Norbury said. As he took a bite of his pizza, he commented, “Wow, winning tastes good.”
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