And if you love Europe, you can love North America

Slate Olson has waxed lyrical over the European heritage that is ours, and ours alone. The years of stunning rivalry, the similarly stunning geography that has witnessed some of the most exciting battles that cycling has to offer, concentrated into bordered regions that are dwarfed by Mr. Olson's homeland.

But I propose that we should temper our smugness, if indeed it can be viewed as such; North America has more to offer than we may have first thought, encompassing a heritage that may not revolve around human personalities but that of the vast territory that makes up 49 of its fifty states. It too has character.

This has been amply demonstrated by the recently completed 2009 Rapha Continental exploring unknown regions, roads, trails and corners, testing riders, writers, videographers and photographers in ways every bit the equal of the European colossus.

The difference is in the accessibility of it all: in Europe we have had the luxury to bear witness; America offers the opportunity to help shape both history and future. Tradition is written less deep in stone, and the stone has offered us all a pen.

Cycling is more than big enough for both of us, if you catch my drift. Much that is happening across the pond could help us shape a new heritage for both. Two continents perhaps separated by a common language, but surely joined by the same machine and sport?