Yesterday’s cyclocross race in Gavere was won by Fem van Empel from The Netherlands.  Here she is:

She’s a pretty young woman.  But beauty is far beyond youth and high cheek bones.  What do the eyes say?  Because I think true beauty resides there.  There is determination in her gaze.  “I will not give up.”

And what about perfect skin?  Specks of mud do not diminish her.  Nor the red spots where her cycling glasses were rubbing.

And now even more dirt:

The smile cannot be extinguished by exhaustion and cold and mud.

For the truest beauty, it takes two.  Loving each other, celebrating each other.  “We did it!”

And a cycling image from the road.  Beauty in an 81-year-old:

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It’s the eyes

It’s the upturned mouth

It’s the spirit that won’t be denied