2016 was a big year: she won three stages of the Giro Rosa, the most acclaimed race in women’s cycling; she rode on the US Olympic team at Rio; she set the one-hour time trial record, and at year’s end she retired from pro racing. She is a rational person, but during the one race when she did not wear her “lucky” sunglasses, she was in a horrible crash. We spoke at Rapha New York about the benefits of superstition to world-class athletes: Calming ritual? The useful illusion of control? The placebo effect? Plus music from Mamie Minch who wore no visible good luck charm but sang without mishap.

•  PERSON: Mia Hamm
•  PLACE: 7-11 Velodrome
•  THING: these sunglasses
•  RANDY’S PLACE: Columbus Circle to Grant’s Tomb