Ever ridden with a Pro?

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

I used to coach YCL (Youth Cycling League) with Joe "Dog in a Hat" Parkin. Let's just say, I was privy to some great stories that you won't read in his book. Man, those Belgians know how to race a bike! Doping or not.

Warmed up with Steve Tilford at the Stillwater Crit back in the late 90's before it was part of the Nature Valley GP. Also rode some training rides with Adam Bergman before Jelly Belly sacked him for EPO use back in '04

 

[ExRower]

I've raced against some local pros. Needless to say, they dropped me like a hot potato.

 

[180mmCrank]

Dubious moral background

I have been on a ride with a young lady of dubious moral background but I never offered her any money so could not confirm if she was a professional so to speak. I did hear she would pump up your tyres for sixpence! I am not sure if that counts?

 

[BrandonT]

I've ridden with retired pro's but no one really impressive, they still could drop me in 3 pedal strokes though. I used to train with a few pro mountain bikers and 'cross racers.

 

[md2020]

I rode with a bunch of guys back in the 80's before they became pros at a training camp at the OTC in Colorado springs as a junior. I remember hanging out with Bobby Julich (who was the youngest guy there) and guys like Mark McCormack. The coolest part was going on training rides with guys from the national team like Roy Knickman and seeing guys like Nelson Vails around the dorms and cafeteria.

Of course the flip side was that, at the age of 16, I was told by my coach at the camp, Jiri Manus, that I had no particular talent for racing. I think he asked me why I was wasting my time and told me to make other plans for life. Not exactly what I wanted to hear but probably for the best.

 

[BroDeal]

Of course the flip side was that, at the age of 16, I was told by my coach at the camp, Jiri Manus, that I had no particular talent for racing. I think he asked me why I was wasting my time and told me to make other plans for life. Not exactly what I wanted to hear but probably for the best.

Check out the thread I posted from Le Grimpeur. It sort of deals with that and a response from you would be interesting.

 

[CapeRoadie]

I have been on a ride with a young lady of dubious moral background but I never offered her any money so could not confirm if she was a professional so to speak. I did hear she would pump up your tyres for sixpence! I am not sure if that counts?

Bwaaa ha ha hahahahaha

 

[180mmCrank]

Your welcome

 

[last km]

In answer to the thread title........

Several, to name them would be , lets say un-necessary and rather pretentious, dont you think old chap ?

BTW not only riden with, but raced against.

 

[no_slipstream]

I also saw Team Toshiba- marketing name for the cyclones-track cycling team. I gave them a 1 kay headstart when they road past, and was surprised
to catch them 5 kays up the road. Quite funny cos they are training for the worlds, yet someone on a hybrid with a backpack can overtake the bunch. They only did 33 kph, the only regret was not asking if anyone wanted a sprint to the bridge 2 kays up the road.
This was team pursuit riding amateur style, if it was protour team would have no chance of staying with them-do not expect too many medals from this crew.

 

[skidmark]

In the 2007 Tour de France, I was bike touring around France and caught a couple of stages - the Plateau de Beille, the Aubisque and the finale in Paris (albeit behind the barriers for that one). But on the Plateau we descended after the whole peleton had gone up, so riders like Contador (who won the stage), Levi, etc had all gone down already. But Vino had finished 26 minutes down (this was the day after his 'miraculous' TT win in Albi), so we joked about how we'd be descending with him. Of course, we were being passed by pros the whole way down and at one point, I look over my shoulder and sure enough there's Vino. A brief moment and he blitzed by us. But I guess I 'rode' with him.

Other memorable things from that day - Levi had a whistle he just wouldn't stop blowing (smart, considering Sinkewitz's accident several days earlier), Thomas Lovkvist passing us and saying to his then-FdJ teammate that the people walking on the road were 'f*cking idiots', Sergey Ivanov making out with what seemed to be a random woman at the side of the road...

 

[hmronnow]

Some years back, I was cycling up to Vercor from Grenoble - running a bit late to wach the time trial of Crit Dauphine Libere. I caught the wheel of a rider in blue outfit. He looked back, smiled and then one by one dropped to the smaller chainrings on the rear. Turned out to be Ekimov warming up before the TT. So it was only for a few kilometers, but still cool feeling to be riding the wheel of that engine.

 

[wheels55]

Back in '89 on a training ride, Alexei Grewal caught us descending Coal Creek Canyon SW of Boulder, CO, and we cruised along chatting for awhile - I think he was on Coors Light that year...contrary to his rep he was really pretty cool.

Also did the Deer Creek Canyon hill climb TT the following spring, and got caught 2/3s of the way up by a junior rider......turned out it was Jonathan Vaughters and after following his career it didn't bother me as much as it did that day!

Saw lots of other pros during those years, on some big group training rides while riding with a club sponsored by Wheat Ridge Cyclery, owned by Ron Keifel's family...lots of good guys training/racing around Boulder/Denver

 

[natwick]

Natwick

Living in Colorado all my life I have had the chance to be passed by many greats! Coming back from Estes Part the finish of a coors classic I got passed by Bernarrd Hinault after a crit in Estes. On the way up Independence pass outside of aspen I was passed by Alexi Grewal. Still on the way up He passed me on the way down after having " summitted" plus...? Connie Carpenter passed me on a climb of the same independance pass and on the way into Leadville, I and a very yound friend caught her for a second and then barfed into the Arkansas River for a while. Davis Phinney's dad was a good damn rider who I've met on several occasons on the road. Had a short conversation (in rotten French) before a strategy session with B. Hinault. Greg Lemond before the Morgul. Eddie merxx was there handing up bottles to the Dutch team with cokacolla and water mixed. Part of the the film American Flyer was filmed at theat race. I used toride in Washington Park in Denver with the author of Breaking Away. He raced, like last in veterans, in City Park crit in Denver. I saw the great Alcala in Boulder, shared a tree with Shapiro of 7-11 in a t-storm, had Andy Hampsten give me a class in cooking at a local natural foods market and had him pass me in a triathalon where I did the cycling for som buddies. On and on..

Nat