Riding In the Car to See Boys - Cycling

Once again I decided, at almost the last minute, to attend a "little" cycling event called the Tour of Gila in Silver City, New Mexico. The 550 mile/seven hour drive over (well 7, when one's foot is ... umm ... heavy) was most interesting. Shall I say the wind was blowing? No, I mean really, really blowing 60 mph gusting type of blowing and I knew I was "toast" when the signs were out that read: "I-10 closed between Las Cruces, NM and Deming, NM" ... and why wasn't that good? That was my route into Silver City, NM -- BUT, I knew a back way in ... but I digress, this is "fodder" for another blog.

Silver City was very cool, as in very, very cool ... well okay cold -- especially with the really, really blowing wind :-) AND I haven't mentioned yet that I was camping at the KOA ... now putting the tent up in the wind and with night falling was an interesting thing ... but my buddy called as to where she was and I discovered she was sleeping in her car ... so I let go of the tent - I estimate that by now, it is probably over Brazil :-) ... and I slept in the back seat of a Cobalt - I now confess, I should have continued to put up the tent, because after the first night in the Cobalt, I remembered why I wanted out of the womb!

So disregarding the negative weather effects, we arrived at Stage 3, the Individual Time Trial, bright and early on Friday and here are a few highlights of the day:

(1) This was the first time trial I'd ever been able to make it to, trust me - they're fun.

(2) The snake that was happily (and simply) trying to get warm on the side of the road - but he accomplished terrorizing everyone, with not an ounce of effort on his behalf (I think he used Lance's "look" on people as they walked by).

(3) The Mom that brought her three very small boys decked out in Discovery kits and those kids sat patiently there yelling "Go Lance" at every single rider ... then her "motive" was obvious when Lance did come by, she had them posed on the side of the road so she could take their photo with him and the RadioShack car in the background -- I'd like to see those "kids" in 20 years!

(4) AND THE BEST having my photo made with Johan in his "Ride" jacket -- then being able to get a print that evening (thank you Walgreens) and getting him to autograph it the next day!

Moving on to crit day for some random thoughts:

(1) Helping the young girl that came up to stand by me at the fencing by the RadioShack (Mellow Johnny's) RV, she had a really cool print of a bike race and wanted Lance to sign it, her Dad left her at the fencing and backed out of the crowd (he was a very tall man) so I took her under my wing :-) However, Levi was the first to come autograph and he headed right to her and stopped I told her to give him her pen and she said, in a small voice "No I only want Lance." ... I had to reply to Levi "Sorry Levi, she says she only wants Lance." AAAARRRRGGGGGGG, I hated that! Then he looked at me and I said, of course I have one from yesterday for you to sign and handed him my pen and photo! (Then when Lance did come out of the RV, I went into my loudest voice of Lance please, please for this little one - and he did come over and signed her print .. then she was happy and left - I, of course, stayed!)

(2) I did also get Lance and JMac to autograph their photos from the day before, so that made me happy.

(3) My "little walk" with Johan :-) ... and that's the way I choose to remember it! I had the photo from the day before and was waiting, but when Johan came out - the crit was going to start in about 20 mins, so he really didn't have that much time ... he signed a few autographs but had gone the other way from me. So when he walked out of the enclosure and around the back of the RV, I left the other direction to go find my buddy (who is not a huge RadioShack fan) as I walked down the sidewalk and was starting to put up the photo - out of the corner of my eye, coming up from behind I saw Johan, so I kept walking and put the photo and pen out in front of him and said "Please" ... not real subtle, I admit ... but the man is so nice he stopped long enough to autograph and we continued to walk down the sidewalk (obviously we were going to about the same place) and another fan then stopped him and I continued to walk around the corner when I saw Ro ... and she had a look on her face that won't soon be forgotten by me! I turned around when she said "Johan is stalking you now?" (or something to that effect) ... sure 'nuf he was there ... so, I count that as my little walk with Johan! He, of course, continued to his destination :-)

There are other great stories, but this is getting longer than any blog should be - so I will save them for another time ... but I got great laughs with Dave Z, at the expense of Tommy D :-) Jonathan Vaughters was very nice when I asked for a photo with him and I could go on and on ... Ivan Dominguez is ever so much as nice and funny as I thought he would be ... Rory Sutherland, Axel Merckx and on and on! :-) I can certainly attest to the fact that 99.9% of "the boys" in the peloton are very, very nice men, who simply ride bikes for a living and they are accommodating (as they can be) to their fans and seem appreciative of them.

I will now delve into the negative, because I realize there are just negative and grumpy people in the world -- but why would any cyclist (or ex-cyclist) want to diss a fan? There are a few, two of which I will name - that I won't bother to bother ever again (because I'm sure that we will be in the same place again, one day), I mean why would you be grumpy to the few remaining fans you might have?!

The first is Henk Vogels, who when I was taking his photo in the car before the start of Stage 5 told me "You don't want my picture *pointing* Lance, Levi and Johan are over there, go take their pictures instead." It was not like I was even asking him to get out of the car, or include me in the photo - I simply wanted a photo of a rider I watched when I was younger ... so don't worry Henk, I'll never snap your photo or pay any attention to you again. On the other hand, Frankie Andreu was out of the car, speaking to Henk and when I snapped a few pictures of him, he was most cordial.

The other is Floyd Landis - who totally dissed me at last year's Tour of Gila by totally ignoring me as he rode away from sign-in and I asked for a simple photo ... so, I made a point to find him to try to get an autograph from him (had an "ok" photo from the TT) because I had respected him as a rider ... when I saw him sitting with his team (Dave Z was also there and was standing - who I saw first) and I turned and went "Floyd! I have a photo for you to autograph too please." ... his immediate response was "You're wrong, I'm not Floyd." (I may have thought this was an attempt at "humor" but for the fact that he dissed me the year before!) I got the autograph anyway (now to be used on my dartboard) because I put it in front of him -- but don't worry buddy, never again!

So not to end in a negative tone ... I will simply at the drop of a hat Ride in the Car to See Boys ... clad in lycra, that shave their legs and go really, really, really fast -- thank you Silver City for a Great Tour of Gila!