Last week began with 59 year-old golfer Tom Watson – painfully – giving away what would have been a historic victory to the younger athlete, Stewart Cink. Similarly, by weeks end, 38 year-old Lance Armstrong, fresh out of a 3.5 year retirement, finished the Tour de France in what for him is a very unfamilar place: 3rd. We watch the sun set on every champion’s reign, don’t we? That’s life, that’s time, that’s age.

This year the Tour de France torch was passed to the 26-year-old Alberto Cantador, a rider who has now decisively set the next benchmark for cyclists, ascending the Verbier Alp at a reported rate of 1850 meters per hour (compared to Armstrong’s 1700 meters per hour), and who will likely capture our imagination along with more Tour de France titles… as Armstrong’s achievements fade into the mists of history. As much as our hearts may wish it wasn’t so, this is the trajectory of excellence and achievement. Evolution has always met its promise of faster, stronger, longer, better, beings and machines. As much we tend to be fond of individual athletes, the Lebrons and Phelpses, what we’re truly tied to is the thrill of new superhuman feats. “That’s what the great thing about the tour is….it’s that the best man always wins,” Armstrong said in an interview with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta after the race. The moment when you see the next level of best… 1 inch higher, 2 seconds faster, 3 feet longer, is a revelation that there are no actual limits. One day humans might run as fast as cars and jump as high as grasshoppers. I’m serious. And that’s Killin’ It!