Happy Birthday to the Greatest American Cyclist

I've been on a book tear lately, quickly consuming titles like Sweat of the Gods and Laurent Fignon: We Were Young and Carefree. Today, I received my copy of Slaying the Badger and can't wait to start reading again. You see, Greg Lemond was my Lance Armstrong. I'm not going to get into the Greg vs. Lance debate, even though I have some opinions. There are message boards seemingly dedicated to the subject.

The first two books went into good detail as to what Greg's miracle Tour win in 1989 represented. It was a real turning point in cycling. Old school versus new school. A shift in technology. Television versus radio and print.

Greg brought the latest wave of big money to the sport (when you consider that in their day, riders like Girardengo, Binda and the Pelissier brothers were making what would be considered outrageous sums).

The list of technical innovations that he pioneered or was an early-adopter is impressive. TT-specific bars, Oakley glasses, clipless pedals, power meters, electronic shifting, titanium and carbon frames and on and on.

His comeback from the shooting accident was inspiring and unlikely. How many Tours could he have won without the accident? He may not have that record, but his career accomplishments leave me with no doubt...

He raced to win, from February to October. When was the last time a Tour winner lined up as a favorite in Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo? The eight seconds are testament to his determination to win the Tour, and even that has its controversy. Those clip-on bars were not entirely legal at that point, and why Cyrille Guimard didn't protest is beyond me.

Most impressive is that he did all this as an outsider in an old-world sport. His triumphs were an unwelcome revelation to cycling's old guard. In his early days in Europe, there was no support group and few Americans to lean on. When everyone tells you that you can't... who can you turn to? His methods and creature comforts were laughed at. Scandalous were the reports from Europe that a cyclist would eat ice cream or Mexican food! Golfing? Spending time with your family? Perhaps the world was primed for a change. His respect for the sport and willingness to fit in on his own terms eventually won the hearts of European fans.

His strong anti-doping stance at a time when mules became thoroughbreds eventually spelled the end of his career. He was left wondering why he couldn't keep up and searched for explanations, overtraining in a hopeless race to form.

To me, he was the first and the greatest. Happy Birthday, Greg Lemond. Thank you for opening my eyes to this sport and leading me down this long road.

La Mitica!

Partly organized by a friend of mine in what is the holy land of Italian cycling, La Mitica will soon be on the mind of every vintage rider the same as l'Eroica is today. The event will take place July 1 and departs from Castellania, Fausto Coppi's birthplace. From there, it will enter Novi Ligure before circling Tortona and returning via the hills and roads that were used by Fausto and Serse Coppi and the first campionissimo, Costante Girardengo!

Words of Wisdom from Cino Cinelli

I'd like to think that this not only applies to racing...

"Sport teaches, above all else, internal honesty with oneself. While racing, there is just one rule: if you promise to help a teammate, you must help him; if you promise to lead out a sprint, you must lead it out; if you promise to give a hand on a climb, you must do so. You can't be clever. Even if you find out that it's truly your day, that you don't feel the chain, that you're going like a motorcycle. Give. Give without pretending. To give is never a mistake. Give so that something or someone will give back. And if you give, you'll sleep well at night."

My l'Eroica Bike For 2012 Has Paint!

It's been almost a year now, but my 1930's Airolg that I HOPE to ride in Tuscany this year finally has some color, albeit black and white. Ciöcc ran into a snag with the 70-year-old decals, so it had to go to an expert... Enzo!

The plan is for him to decal it, pick up the parts from the chrome guy, and ship back to me to build the wood rims into wheels and then assemble the Vittoria Margherita shifter in time to work out the kinks and put a few LONG rides on it for reliability testing prior to l'Eroica!

before...

after.

A king's crown.

Pro Cycling Starts to Look Better and Better

So after just one week of perusing the USA Today, which I really only do while traveling abroad, I see headlines about Meta World Cheap Shot, NFL suicides after years of on-the-job injuries being ignored, and today even police-escorted Cannonball Runs to Atlantic City. Don't get me wrong, cycling has its elephant in the room, yet I'm inclined and hopeful to say that the sport is cleaning itself up.

I'll still remember when my no-longer creamsickle Bucs won the Super Bowl after years of suffering. It was a sporting moment that I'll never forget. 

But I also won't forget the anticipation I had standing on a billboard in Liege watching Nibali gain 42 seconds on the chasing bunch. It was 2007 when Cannondale last won LBL (by Di Luca, who ended up with his own sanction later on) and I could think of no better outcome than Niblet's winning the only classic that I showed my face at this year. He represents the future of Italian cycling like no other in recent times. The heartbreak when he was caught and passed with just over a km to go was unbearable. The tears in the eyes of usually-macho Italian team staffers said it all after the race.

We all have our sporting heroes, I'm just lucky enough to work with mine and support their endeavors. I just finished reading Team 7-Eleven on this trip, and seemingly found myself surrounded by the characters that made US cycling history and set me off on this journey. First, I bump into Ron Keifel at Sea Otter, followed by an encounter with Jim Ochowicz at the team presentation in Liege. I had to thank both of them for their pioneering efforts. Following that, I had a quick conversation with Steve Bauer and for some reason am drawn to a small restaurant near Bergamo to relive those post-Giro celebrations of the first US team to inspire my Italian-centric love of racing.

This week, I may have the chance to meet my first cycling hero. Those following closely on Twitter know who he is. I'll be sure to report back. It is not the equivalent of meeting Lee Roy Selmon. No, it goes far beyond that. For all the Bassos, Nibalis, Sagans and Kings that I am lucky to call friends, it's the cycling superstars of my youth that leave me starstruck. Back when we didn't know what our heroes ate for breakfast or what time they got a massage... or when their convoy made it to Atlantic City?!? Yeah, pro cycling is looking better and better every day!

Sea Otter to Liege-Bastogne-Liege!

Having just flown from San Fran to Brussels, it's time to look back as to why my legs are a little sore still. I wrapped up my single day at Sea Otter (I know, great scheduling) with a ride on the 17-mile course with none other than Tinker Juarez. "Tinker, it took about twenty years for us to ride together, and now it's getting to be a regular occurrence." We had just ridden off road in Italy together at the CFR team camp, and now we were time trialling along the California coast with Billy R.

I say time trialling because for some reason, with a constant headwind, we were pushing the pace for absolutely no apparent reason other than to get back to the hotel and to other tasks at hand. At one point Bill asked if we had even taken the time to notice the scenery around us at Pebble Beach... we hadn't!

From there, it was off to San Fran and my 4:00 am wakeup call to get on another plane headed to Belgium. Planes, trains and automobiles took me to my current location... the famous Hove Malpertuus in Riemst just outside of Maastricht. This is Liquigas' preferred hotel just before Liege-Bastogne-Liege and where many champions stay just before winning the big one... fingers crossed - I'm off to the race!

One Last (Long) Look Back At Roubaix

The home office is getting reorganized this weekend, giving me the chance to go through some of the old magazines that now weigh down my shelves! I stumbled across this one. Remember Winning, Bicycle Racing Illustrated? Check out this issue covering the '85 Paris-Roubaix. One for the ages. Continuing the CBS Sports theme I started with a John Tesh twitter post this week, check out the video here.

In the famous Saronni / Moser battle, I side heavily with the latter. Find me after a couple of beers and I'll tell you why. The story is not so obvious!

Rare Pedals For My Post-Roubaix ride...

I'm told by my good friend from Speedplay that I'm only the second mortal to own a pair of these pedals. Nice Roubaix today, by the way, don't you think? I would have preferred to watch from the side of a road with wheels and bottle in hand, but I now can enjoy my post-Roubaix ride at least!

'The Poggio, The Final Judge'

I love the week leading up to Milan-San Remo. Here's an article from La Gazzetta '04 showing the finale of the race, and where the the attacks were made for some of the more interesting editions. That was, of course, before it turned into a sprinter's race. It still is the most exciting ten minutes of the year!

The climb of the Poggio is the most fascinating part of San Remo. Here, in the details, the development of the last difficulty of the Classic of Classics, and the points in which the great champions were able to make their decisive selections.

> slight grade
>> medium grade
>>> difficult grade

3.3km of climbing and descending, Poggio altitude 162m

Dario Pieri Out Of Storage!

No, not a 'Pieri coming out of retirement to support Mario Cipollini's return' story that is so popular this week. My Dario Pieri BIKE came out of storage!

I like riding bikes with stories, and this one is no exception. It was ridden in the 2004 Paris-Roubaix by one of my favorite Saeco riders, Dario Pieri. You see, Dario finished second to PVP in the 2003 edition of what is certainly one of my top-two races (those paying attention to these fantastic scribblings knows that MSR is the other one!). He did that on a Silk Road bike much like this one, which is his third (second spare) machine from the year after.

Like many of us, Dario also had a tough time keeping his weight down in the winter but unlike us, his issues made it into the Italian cycling press!

In the summer of 2001, Dario came to the US for the Philadelphia race and I had the job of chauffeuring the guys to Bedford for a visit and some training. The two jokesters of the group, Dario and Salvatore Commesso (another favorite) convinced me to take them to the Cannondale motorcycle factory and then out to the test track, where Dario wowed with his skills and Toto was ridiculed for not being able to reach the ground with his size-48 legs!

It was that Philly edition where Dario retired early and was infamously snapped taking photos of the passing peloton... early in the race!

So I got Pieri out of storage, added some yellow to it and a new set of huge Dugast gravel road pounders in order to celebrate the coming two months of racing. There is NOTHING like being on the side of a cobbled 'road' with a set of spare wheels in hand, praying you won't have to use them, then racing to the next spot. It will be the first classic season that I'll miss in quite a few years, but I'll be watching, Duvel/Chimay/Leffe in hand OR ready to head out on this beauty to string together a series of gravel roads. Today's test ride netted a bloody knee. I guess there really isn't enough clearance to go mudding on this bike!