In the Summer of 1984 a high school friend invited me to his house to watch the Olympic games. That day I was introduced to the greatest endurance sport in the world. I had never given cycling, as a sport, so much as a passing thought. Watching Alexi Grewal sprint around Steve Bauer and take the Gold medal just blew me away! I can picture him now. Arms in the air, freaking out!
In the 7th and 8th grade I had a yellow Schwinn Varsity I used to ride a few miles to a friends house. That came to an abrupt (i.e. violent) end one summer afternoon when I was riding home. I was peddling through our neighborhood and was distracted by a high school girl, watering her lawn in a bikini. I took my eyes off the road, and looked back over my shoulder to sneak a peak (lear actually) and plowed into the side of a parked station wagon! I slid over the hood and onto the sidewalk; getting pretty scraped up in the process. I was so embarrassed, I didn't even look back. I dusted myself off, picked up my bike (the front wheel was destroyed) and started walking home. Come to think of it, I bet those people were wondering what happened to their car.
I also remember when I was in the 4th or 5th grade my brother and I had some "cool" bikes with banana seats. In an effort to keep the neighborhood crime free, we used to race around pretending we were CHiPS. I believe, being the oldest, I was "Ponch" and he was "Jon". We used plastic baseball batting helmets for motorcycle helmets and used to park our bikes side by side (with the helmets hanging from the bars) just like on TV.
After trashing my bike, I had neither the money or interest in getting another one. That all changed that summer afternoon in 1984. At least my interest did. Being in high school; I was still broke. So I just watched cycling on TV whenever it was on. I remember watching Paris Roubaix and the 1985 Tour de France (my first). I was thoroughly captivated by how tough these guys were. That, coupled with commentary by Phil Liggett and John Tesh really made an impression on me (Tesh made some great music for TV cycling as well). Those events, and Winning magazine, introduced me to athletes I'd never heard of. Men such as Greg Lemond, Bernard Hinault, Larent Fignon, Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche, Eric Vanderarden, Marc & Yvonne Madiot, and others.
Later I would read about the giants in cycling history. Legends like Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck, Freddy Martens, Jan Raas, Jaques Anquentil, Raymond Polidour (the eternal second), Charly Gaul, Fausto Coppi, and many others. The first time I watched "A Sunday in Hell" I almost passed out! What drama!
The fall of 1985 I finally scrapped together some money and bought my first bike. A nice red and yellow Club Fuji with Suntour components. I put thousands of miles on it over the next several years. Around 1990 I bought a sweet Bottecchia Limited. It was white, with Campagnolo components. I also bought my first set of Shimano clipless pedals. That Bottecchia was awesome! So awesome that when I started riding again I bought another Bottecchia, a Sprint BZ562 with Shimano 105. Having the shifters on the brake levers was a welcome change. Finally, when I was working in Plano, Texas last spring I found a real nice bike shop across the street from the hotel I was staying at. That's where I bought my current ride. A Blue RC4. The frame is all carbon fiber and it has Shimano Ultegra components. It's great on long rides and climbs like a dream. What a phenomenal bike, I couldn't be happier!
I work out of town a great deal so I do most of my riding on the weekend. Still, I managed to put several thousand miles in last year. Today we had some pretty decent weather, it was in the mid- 50's so I ventured out for a quick 25 miles. Nothing to taxing, mostly flat with a few small hills. This was the first time I was able to ride outside in about a month, so it was nice to loosen up the legs. I'm not near as hardcore as my younger days, when I didn't care how cold or nasty it was outside. However, riding inside on the trainer is bloody boring! I'm on for about 45 minutes and I'm ready to go homicidal.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be nice again as well. If not, maybe I'll throw the 1987 Tour video on and get inspired!
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