ACF94's meeting with his idol

[flicker]

In 2002 I asked Lance to sign an autograph for me. He pushed me down and then the entire USPS team walked over me. Last one was Floyd, he kicked me under the bus and it rolled over me. Still have the tire tracks to prove it.
just kidding!

 

[Barrus]

People I know you are all joking as everyone on here probably likes ACF, but please do keep it civil

 

[Moondance]

^^^ Priceless...

 

[theyoungest]

ACF94: Hey, Cadel
Cadel: Hey, how are you going?
ACF94: Not bad, yourself?
Cadel: Not too bad

Pure poetry. Now I know why this guy is capable of writing a book.

 

[pedaling squares]

In 2002 I asked Lance to sign an autograph for me. He pushed me down and then the entire USPS team walked over me.

For the first time I am laughing with you. That was good.

ACF, I'd believe your account more if you included the stammering, drooling, knee-knocking, and mentioned that you started to approach the desk 7 times but bailed each time and hid behind the magazine rack, weeping softly, before Chiara took you by the hand and walked you to her husband.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

[x] Topic has potential

 

[Anonymous]

Only very few of you know that last week I met the great man, Cadel evans. I was talking about my meeting with him to the Hitch and he suggested that I should make a thread about it so nobody should think that I am that self-centred or arrogant by making this thread.

And even fewer of us care...

 

[Anonymous]

Did you knock one out?

The euphemism is "rub one out."

 

[goggalor]

The police track down the second "meeting".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrwDFgEeFCE&feature=related

_________________________________

 

[slartiblartfast]

A couple of years ago I saw Phil Anderson and his wife at the start of one of the TDU stages. He's still pretty big here in Oz. They were just looking around - nothing official so I didn't know whether it was OK to ask Phil for a photo. Anyway his wife saw me looking and asked me if I wanted to have a photo with Phil which obviously I did.

I am sure celebs have to put up with people acting dumbfounded or just saying either stupid or completely banal things to them the whole time.

 

[theswordsman]

Some of the replies have been creative and funny, but due to the nature of the thread, please tell me someone is making one of those youtube videos about the encounter, like the Lance and JB ones

I'm 45 minutes from what used to be the Saint Louis stage of the TOM, but I could never be bothered to ride the Metro over to watch a circuit race. My encounters were with Katarina Witt in 1988 and Michael Jordan after his rookie season.

 

[NickBVK]

I was riding on Sunday morning and Jeremy Hunt and 4 Garmin guys casually pass me with a 'Morning'

Can't say I wet my pants but I was quite quickly dropped

 

[The_Z_man]

ACF94,

I got to meet my cycling idol once too. I went to see the Tour DuPont in Stroudsburg, PA in 1990. Armed with a stack of Winning and Miroir Du Cyclisme magazines to get autographed, I sought out my heros. Gilles Delion was shocked that someone wanted him to sign something. At the time I thought he was the next French hope. I was wrong.

Eventually, a buzz started that Greg LeMond was finally around. I tracked him down with a magazine from his historic win for him to sign. I managed to get his autograph right as he was coming out of a port-a-john. Ah, memories.

Here's another one especially for you ACF. That same day I was getting Phil Anderson, along with every member of Motorola I could, to sign a team poster I got in Winning magazine. He gave me a dirty look when he tried to sign it, only to have my pen run out of ink.

 

[insideout leadout]

As I got closer and closer my heart was pounding more and more. Finally, I step up to the desk.

ACF94: Hey, Cadel
Cadel: Hey, how are you going?
ACF94: Not bad, yourself?
Cadel: Not too bad
ACF94: (While Cadel is signing) Heard you had a fire at your place last night? (power pole was on fire)
Cadel: (Laughs) yeah, but everything is alright now. (Cadel hands back the book)
ACF94: thanks Cadel, hopefully next time you are in Australia you have a tdf trophy with you.
Cadel: Yeah me too. See you.

The question is whether you lit the fire at Evans' place just to have something to talk about.....a planted tweet...I mean off-season can be quite depressing (especially on twitter) and sometimes a fire can lighten things up.

I can fully understand your action in a post-season pre-season syndrome perspective.

 

[The Hitch]

In 2002 I asked Lance to sign an autograph for me. He pushed me down and then the entire USPS team walked over me. Last one was Floyd, he kicked me under the bus and it rolled over me. Still have the tire tracks to prove it.
just kidding!

The question is whether you lit the fire at Evans' place just to have something to talk about.....a planted tweet...I mean off-season can be quite depressing (especially on twitter) and sometimes a fire can lighten things up.

Pure poetry. Now I know why this guy is capable of writing a book.

Fantastic.

I saw the full shelf of Lance Comeback 2.0 and behind in the childrens section was cadel's book and picked up two.

Finally, when in the Michael Bolton CD section, I saw the great man arrive - yes, Santa!

Central Station to use their restroom and look at the photographs in Cadels great book, because of that I missed the train. Now I know how Cadel feels.

Great, but saying ACF reads Harry Potter, thats just too far

 

[auscyclefan94]

I'm surprised that:

a) you didn't already have a copy of his book,
b) you weren't first in the line to get your book signed,
c) didn't ask for a photograph with him,
d) didn't shake his hand and say 'thanks'...

This guy is your idol, and you ask him about his electrical pole?

a) I was away when his last signing was of his book
b) I origianlly was but I didn't want to stand around and do nothing for 40 mins
c) I got plenty of just him anyway, I have a phobia of being in photos
d) sorry, left that fine detail out.

Ok - Ausman....

(......this is a wind up) What really happened.


Anyway, I walked down to Myer in Melbourne on Lonsdale street which is where the book area was, 45 minutes before the start. I saw the full shelf of Lance Comeback 2.0 and behind in the childrens section was cadel's book and picked up two - (a backup emergency copy in case the pages get too sticky on the original). I also got a new book I heard about called Harry Potter, I hope there is a series of them.

I still had 40 mins to kill - so I was able to read Cadels book 14 times,. After, I walked around and did some shopping for christmas and bought Cadel a Chris Comical performance book. The wait for cadel to arrive felt like the longest 40 minutes of my life - I was like being a UCI Chaperone but without the coffee!

Finally, when in the Michael Bolton CD section, I saw the great man arrive - yes, Santa! Behind was some cyclist with his beautiful wife chiara. I stood there dumbfounded for about half a minute, thinking - wow, Mum lied, Santa really does exist- i was literally short of breath. Luckily santa did not see me as that would have been a bit embarassing if he saw me starring at him in our first ever meeting.

But back to Cadel.
I quickly walked over to the queue, which consisted of me, Chiara and Molly and people were running everywhere grabbing their copies of the book, "Flying to Close to the ground" as cheap firewood.
I quickly got in line taking as many photos as I could of Cadel. Cadel looking up, Cadel looking down, Cadel looking up again, Cadel looking down again....
Chiara was waiting by the side watching her man, correcting his spelling mistakes. ("No honey, Cadel does not start with K")


As I got closer and closer my heart was pounding more and more. Finally, I step up to the desk.

ACF94: Hey, Cadel
Cadel: Hey, aren't you that guy ACF94?
ACF94: Am...No.
Cadel: Are you sure? Your T-shirt says "ACF94, Cadels biggest fan".
ACF94: No.... I am not me.
Cadel: (Laughs) Good, because of the Court order that guy is not allowed within 5 miles of me (Cadel hands back the book)..... and says "Hey, do you smell urine?"
ACF94: Am, ah, no... but thanks Cadel, hopefully next time you are in Australia you have a tdf trophy with you.
Cadel: Yeah me too. I like the Tour de Faso. See you.

After I left the desk, I walked straight out of myer and off to Melbourne Central Station to use their restroom and look at the photographs in Cadels great book, because of that I missed the train. Now I know how Cadel feels.

ROFL - With the photos part, there is some photos in there that would make a very creep person if I went off to the toilet and started 'looking' at them

The question is whether you lit the fire at Evans' place just to have something to talk about.....a planted tweet...I mean off-season can be quite depressing (especially on twitter) and sometimes a fire can lighten things up.

I can fully understand your action in a post-season pre-season syndrome perspective.

The trip to and from cadel's house to my house would be around 3 hours...

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Some of the replies have been creative and funny, but due to the nature of the thread, please tell me someone is making one of those youtube videos about the encounter, like the Lance and JB ones

I'm 45 minutes from what used to be the Saint Louis stage of the TOM, but I could never be bothered to ride the Metro over to watch a circuit race. My encounters were with Katarina Witt in 1988 and Michael Jordan after his rookie season.

I have been at plenty of races over the years so I have met pretty much everyone worth meeting (yes ACF, even Cuddles) -I am in photos with Merckx, Kelly, Indurain, Roche, Super Mario and yes even Lance! I also have the obligatory one with The Devil!

But one of my favourites - as it was out of the blue -was last year when I was in the States I was at motorbike race in Daytona and a guy behind me looked familiar but I couldn't place him.
I asked my buddy who it was and he looked around and said "Ah, Travis Pastrana". Very very nice guy, hard to believe he does stuff like this....Pastrana does the Double Back Flip.

 

[blaxland]

Only very few of you know that last week I met the great man, Cadel evans. I was talking about my meeting with him to the Hitch and he suggested that I should make a thread about it so nobody should think that I am that self-centred or arrogant by making this thread.

Anyway, I walked down to Myer in Melbourne on Lonsdale street which is where the book area was, 45 minutes before the start. I saw the full shelf of cadel's book and picked one up and bought one. I still had 40 mins to kill. So I walked around and did some shopping for christmas. The wait for cadel to arrive felt like the longest 40 minutes of my life!

Finally, when in the CD section, I saw the great man arrive with his beautiful wife chiara. I stood there dumbfounded for about half a minute! i was literally short of breath. Luckily Cadel did not see me as that would have been a bit embarassing if he saw me starring at him in our first ever meeting.

I quickly walked over to the queue and people were running everywhere grabbing there copies of the book "Close to flying" to be signed. I quickly got in line taking as many photos as I could of Cadel. Chiara was waiting by the side watching her man.

As I got closer and closer my heart was pounding more and more. Finally, I step up to the desk.

ACF94: Hey, Cadel
Cadel: Hey, how are you going?
ACF94: Not bad, yourself?
Cadel: Not too bad
ACF94: (While Cadel is signing) Heard you had a fire at your place last night? (power pole was on fire)
Cadel: (Laughs) yeah, but everything is alright now. (Cadel hands back the book)
ACF94: thanks Cadel, hopefully next time you are in Australia you have a tdf trophy with you.
Cadel: Yeah me too. See you.

After I left the desk, I walked straight out of myer and off to Melbourne Central Station to catch the train home. Unfortunately I lost my train ticket so I had to buy a new one. But i was still very happy with what had occured.

Anyway, if you have any stories about riders who you have idolised and have finally got to meet or you would like to comment about my story then please post away. If not, then I hoped my story made you laugh (i am being for real about all this).

P.S. Here is an example of how i reacted after I met cadel, only joking
(it is still worth the watch for a good laugh) http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/8181907/hysterical-oprah-fan-still-lost-for-words

Well done Auscyclefan94,good to see you finally met the man himself..
Just changing subject slightly but Phil Anderson came into my shop last week and i had quite a lengthy conversation with him.He thinks Australian cycling is heading into an golden era with all these young riders coming through.Hopefully he is right.

 

[The Hitch]

I have been at plenty of races over the years so I have met pretty much everyone worth meeting (yes ACF, even Cuddles) -I am in photos with Merckx, Kelly, Indurain, Roche, Super Mario and yes even Lance! I also have the obligatory one with The Devil!

Wow. That is amazing. How do you do it. Do you stay at the finish line and then go looking for them after or do you have connections?

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Wow. That is amazing. How do you do it. Do you stay at the finish line and then go looking for them after or do you have connections?

Ha, a little bit of everything you mentioned.

For anyone trying to get close to riders the best races to go to are "smaller" races. The Tour is a nightmare and at the classics the riders stay in the bus until the last minute.
But at races like the Dauphine or even the Giro it is a bit more relaxed and the best time is before the race starts - as once it is over they just hit straight for the buses.
At smaller races too if you stay in a hotel close by you will probably end up sharing with a couple of teams.
The Worlds is also a great place - but you have to keep your eyes open.

 

[Anonymous]

Ha, a little bit of everything you mentioned.

For anyone trying to get close to riders the best races to go to are "smaller" races. The Tour is a nightmare and at the classics the riders stay in the bus until the last minute.
But at races like the Dauphine or even the Giro it is a bit more relaxed and the best time is before the race starts - as once it is over they just hit straight for the buses.
At smaller races too if you stay in a hotel close by you will probably end up sharing with a couple of teams.
The Worlds is also a great place - but you have to keep your eyes open.

I think also it works on a bit of a sliding scale. The more your face is seen, the easier it becomes. Like the music biz, get backstage once, and as long as you behave youve then got backstage to the friends, and so on and so on.

 

[Spare Tyre]

ACF, sometimes I worry about you. Do your parents understand the nature of your feelings for Cadel?

*

I once went camping with Allan Peiper. It was after his first or second season in Europe. I didn't know or care about cycling at the time, just thought it meant he must be very good. Very charismatic man, in those days at least.

In general I'm not interested in celebrities. They're just people, often unpleasant people. The only time I can remember being a little taken aback by one was when I went to a Leonard Cohen concert last year and found myself pondering the fact that the man whose music I find so powerful, and have appreciated for decades, was just right there in front of me on stage. It seemed a bit bizarre.

 

[The Hitch]

I think also it works on a bit of a sliding scale. The more your face is seen, the easier it becomes. Like the music biz, get backstage once, and as long as you behave youve then got backstage to the friends, and so on and so on.

By the way dim, since this seems the thread for it, youve said many times that you know wigo reads this forum. Do you know Wiggins. Is it that you run the website and have met all the riders or something?

 

[Sasquatch]

*** edited by mod ***

 

[blackcat]

Only very few of you know that last week I met the great man, Cadel evans. I was talking about my meeting with him to the Hitch and he suggested that I should make a thread about it so nobody should think that I am that self-centred or arrogant by making this thread.

Anyway, I walked down to Myer in Melbourne on Lonsdale street which is where the book area was, 45 minutes before the start. I saw the full shelf of cadel's book and picked one up and bought one. I still had 40 mins to kill. So I walked around and did some shopping for christmas. The wait for cadel to arrive felt like the longest 40 minutes of my life!

Finally, when in the CD section, I saw the great man arrive with his beautiful wife chiara. I stood there dumbfounded for about half a minute! i was literally short of breath. Luckily Cadel did not see me as that would have been a bit embarassing if he saw me starring at him in our first ever meeting.

I quickly walked over to the queue and people were running everywhere grabbing there copies of the book "Close to flying" to be signed. I quickly got in line taking as many photos as I could of Cadel. Chiara was waiting by the side watching her man.

As I got closer and closer my heart was pounding more and more. Finally, I step up to the desk.

ACF94: Hey, Cadel
Cadel: Hey, how are you going?
ACF94: Not bad, yourself?
Cadel: Not too bad
ACF94: (While Cadel is signing) Heard you had a fire at your place last night? (power pole was on fire)
Cadel: (Laughs) yeah, but everything is alright now. (Cadel hands back the book)
ACF94: thanks Cadel, hopefully next time you are in Australia you have a tdf trophy with you.
Cadel: Yeah me too. See you.

After I left the desk, I walked straight out of myer and off to Melbourne Central Station to catch the train home. Unfortunately I lost my train ticket so I had to buy a new one. But i was still very happy with what had occured.

Anyway, if you have any stories about riders who you have idolised and have finally got to meet or you would like to comment about my story then please post away. If not, then I hoped my story made you laugh (i am being for real about all this).

P.S. Here is an example of how i reacted after I met cadel, only joking
(it is still worth the watch for a good laugh) http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/8181907/hysterical-oprah-fan-still-lost-for-words

no time ACF?