But what about the shoes? That’s what you’re here for right? Point taken. Let’s play some music shall we and talk about what your favorite pro’s are wearing when they’re not shooting up with chemicals and inorganic matter. Keep the science in the soles fellas so we all can play along without paying twice as much to ride our bikes. Thanks in advance.

It was easy to see lots of pretty shoes mashing the pedals on the Tour of California’s course this year. Shimano’s crown-jewel, the R315 was by far the most frequent shoe in the peloton. It’s also always in white like on Tom Zirbel’s feet. In fact Shimano R315′s are unanimously on each rider of Team Type 1, Jamis-Sutter Home, and Rabobank.

The peloton of the cycling elite seems to be naturally finding its roots and already turning its back on Armstong’s penchant for black feet. But if I were buying a pair of new kicks to spin the coming summer months in I don’t know they would be Shimano because the shoes are kind of boring and the technology is the same custom-molding that can be found pretty much everywhere now. Shimano was one of the first companies to pioneer the wonderful world of custom to our bike closets but the design of their high-end shoes for over $300 (even online) are simply ho-hum. There’s simply a lot more fun out there for your hard-earned dinero.

Spoiler alert: Chris Horner (RadioShack) won the whole-dang-race and as he is company guy he stays close to his Trek sponsor with a pair of red Bontrager RXXXL’s and a relaxed interview relevé. So does RadioShack MVP Matthew Busche for his tireless efforts on Saturday’s climb up Mt. Baldy protecting Horner and Levi Leipheimer from meddling attackers. However, Levi is the first man to jump ship with his own pair of black Giro Prolight SLX. Lance Armstrong may be gone but Levi is the one stronghold to carry on the black socks, black shoe tradition. But those Giro’s will set you back $350 in the US. Don’t worry, they are also offered in white.

Levi is not the only Giro-footed racer on RadioShack. Ben King who had his final race in his stars-and-stripes jersey as the reigning 2010 US road champion. King may have the stars-n-stripes but he doesn’t race in the Prolight’s. Instead he has a more modestly-priced, more fashionable Giro Factors in red and white that sell for $279. King does have a chance to win another national champ jersey next weekend, he enjoyed a shortened stint as US pro road champ when US Cycling moved the Championship race from late August to Memorial Day weekend when most of the rest of the world also crowns it’s victors.

As I was walking through the team rigs noting both racing and podium shoes, I turned and recognized newly crowned Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Van Summeren (Garmin) in a spry pair of Bont Vaypors. Even some of Garmin’s mechanics are spoiled with MBT Mahuta trainers that will make you $230 lighter. The only better ride on this team was Coach Vaughters’ temporary team car.

Jelly Belly’s shoes are as mixed as a bag of their beans. Ken Hanson is all kitted out even before his water bottle but Jeremy Powers tries to relax before a long day in the saddle, even during interviews. And if you had to abandon the race early like Alastair Loutit did after a bad wreck, this is your new shoe of choice. Don’t worry, they know how to keep from swappin’ sweat. It may not be euro but I think it brings his whole Brad Huff look together.

Andy Schleck straps on a rare pair of Northwave’s while his other Leopard Trek teammates prefer a little more click. Jason Donald (Kelly Benefit) is one of the few Mavic riders, Taylor Phinney is so young he still goes casual until racetime, and Frank Pipp seems to enjoy his DMT shoes along with the rest of his Bissel Cycling teammates even if some of them go with wind covers every day (even pro’s ride with holes in them.)

Liquigas-Cannondale keep it classy in their Italain-made Sidi Ergo 2′s and Team Saxo Bank follow their bike-supplier Specialized. But I wonder if Juan José Haedo isn’t thinking tonight that he could have won the stage’s sprint finish if only he kept his shoes as clean as his brother Sebastian does. Juan José came in tenth both at the finish line and second to his team bus door when he tried to avoid me taking a picture. At least one time in my life I can say I beat him.

[View with PicLens]

12►

UCI rules state that “non-essential items of clothing designed to influence the performances of the rider” are prohibited and forbidden.

Bont’s Crono shoe is a clever aerodynamic shape to minimize air resistance of the largest moving parts of the bike – your feet. Its tear-drop, diamond-shaped toe and a sharply profiled heel is as unique but fitting to most time trial equipment. Even the heel pad has been shaped like a fin for minimal airflow disturbance making the shoe look almost more like a sail than shoe. Each pair goes for a pricey $500 US dollars but is customizable to the rider’s foot and backed by Bont’s reputation for quality.

The ruling seems ironic compared to other equipment designed to reduce air resistance available to racers, especially this year as new technologies gaining big race attention. Johan Van Summeren won the Paris-Roubaix wearing a new pair of Castelli Free Aero Bib Shorts and Giro’s new Selector helmet has interchangeable tail sections.

The shoe became controversial at the world track championships in March when the Russian National team wore the shoes to a second-place non-victory. Usually shoe covers and booties intended to provide warmth in cold weather conditions are denied for indoor racing use, but Bont’s Crono shoe design seems to be time-trial specific and not weather sensitive.

Bont has stated they will challenge the UCI’s decision and the shoe maker has already generated some attention from the cycling community on their Facebook page. The outcome of the shoe banning will be followed by cyclists and industry professionals as the UCI faces growing dissatisfaction from the cycling community.

By nature cyclocross is brutal – at times testing riders against harsh winter elements. But this is Los Angeles and while the sky went from pleasantly sunny to pleasantly cloudy the worst conditions racers faced was the film of dust kicked into the air.

The course itself was challenging, seeming to be a no-flow hamster-cage taunting racers. Even as route revisions made after the first-day of racing ironed out some excessive braking, growing pains on the field’s pitch were still noticeable to both spectators as well as racers. But the atmosphere was stirring, locals were excited that racing had come to Hollywood and many amateurs wish the SoCal Cross Prestige Series luck in returning to Griffith Park next year.

As the Elite Men took stage in the late afternoon, fan favorite Ryan Trebon (Rideclean/Kona) won the hole-shot before Adam Craig (Rabobank/Giant) worked his way from fourth to victory. Craig passed Trebon at the top of the course with four laps to go and rode a steady pace escaping Trebon and even increasing his interval with waning each lap. It was Adam Craig’s second win of the weekend.

At the finish line Trebon seemed disappointed but his Shimano M315 mountain bike shoes were much less dusty than Craig’s. Mountain bike champion Sid Taberlay (Sho-Air/Specialized) always rides his Specialized S-Works.

Mavic mountain bike shoes also stood out in the pack decking out the fashionable Rapha Focus team with their bright yellow kicks and lightweight profile. Crowds were drawn to a celebrity appearance by Team RadioShack star Chris Horner. The American surfaced pre-race in a pair of gray Pearl Izumi tennis shoes before donning black Mavic MTB shoes for the race. Wearing black shoes keeps with the RadioShack uniform as team mate Lance Armstrong is notorious for preferring black shoes.

Horner finished respectfully in the top-ten after getting tangled in an early crash despite commenting that his shoes help him “keep the rubber side down.”

[View with PicLens]

Geoff Kabush (Team Maxxis/Rocky Mountain) adjusts himself to the race conditions

FONTANA, CA – The US National Mountain Bike Race Series kicked off in Southern California this weekend just an hour and a half outside Los Angeles in the industrial belly of Fontana, California. The Spring weather sunny and clear… but windy. The temperatures actually got above eighty degrees by race start time but the wind played a more major race factor blowing sand all over the course and into racer’s teeth. Some of the elite women were even blown off their bikes on the steep sandy climbs.

The wind was blustery enough to give Canadian racer Geoff Kabush a surprising slap in the face while he was trying to chill-lax pre-race outside his custom U-Haul trailer that acts as his team rig for Team Maxxis/Rocky Mountain. The experience left sand all the way from his lawn-chair to his sandals.

Upon getting up close and personal with a gail-forced dust devil he exclaimed, “I’ve been getting that from time to time all morning.” Kabush concluded that the wind might actually groom loose sand from the sketcher portions of the tail, “the corners might get a little more sticky,” he noted. Kabush was looking to win in Fontana for a fifth-consecutive year.

The wind gave it’s biggest due to the women sending their more petite frames scattered across the course. “I got blown off my bike on that one climb,” Willow Koerber (USA) Subaru-Gary reported after finishing third in her Shimano WM80′s.

Lene Byberg (Nor) racing for Specialized won the women’s field handily by over a minute. After the race she had a slight scratch above her left ankle but her Specialized Women’s BG Pro MTB Shoes looked unscathed.

From an overall footwear standpoint at this National level of Elite Pro Racing there were two surprises. One being how many feet Bontrager RLX race shoes were supporting, by far the most dominating shoe in both men’s and women’s Pro fields. Probably because Trek and Gary Fisher continue to be devoted to mountain bike racing in the US and sponsorships go further than just bike frames and jerseys.

There was also a surprising lack of Sidi shoes on Pro feet at this US National. While Sidi is currently the most popular shoemaker sold in the US, they aren’t appearing on Pro feet as much. So much so that you have to hunt to find them.

As the afternoon developed the wind subsided and the Elite Pro Men were called to the line. All the North American stars were in attendance including Jeremy Hogan-Kobelski, Ryan Trebon, Sid Taberlay, Todd Wells, Geoff Kabush, Eric Batty, Carl Decker, Barry Wicks and legendary veteran Tinker Juarez.

Just before staging I spied a sweet looking pair of Specialized S-Works on Todd Wells’ feet. I asked him if they were brand new but he confirmed that they were already three races old. Even though he was about to be called to the starting line he took time to explain how much he was enjoying his light-weight shoes and how easy they were to clean and keep their fresh look.

I asked Todd what size he wore. “I think they’re a 44,” he replied. Funny, I didn’t expect him to not be sure about his shoe size but he knew he was number one when he capped off his day with a big win.

It was a big day for Specialized and their shoes, both enjoying victories in the women’s and men’s elite races.

[View with PicLens]

12►

US Pro XCT #1, Fontana, CA March 27, 2010

Men’s Results

Women’s Results

Feeling the rush of the excited crowds I wondered into the shoe and pedal side of the TIME booth for a first-hand peek at the new iCLIC pedals I had been hearing about. I wasn’t expecting a to run into a pro team mechanical manager, but that’s what I got. Straight from the drenched countryside of Northern France was Time’s Product Manager, Dominique Faure. His strong French accent made me sure of two things, I wasn’t about to beat him in a 200M sprint or in a fight for the ladies.  But that’s the magic of Interbike and I didn’t hold the language barrier between us to keep us from coming together as cyclists at heart. I came for the pedals but stayed for the conversation no matter how muddy it got.

THERMO MOLDING: INNOVATIVE RACING CONCEPTS

Dominique started by giving me a tour of Time’s pedals and the customizable shoes he’s been putting through the ringer for over a year just to get them ready for weekend warriors.  Most of the lessons he’s learned arrived from his personal experiences in the field supporting young-professional French racers on the Bbox Bouygues Telecom development team Vendée U.

Vendée U probably stands for Vendée University, as a place for the new crop of France’s next generation of racers to be cultivated in the Vendée region.  Northern France is known for having extremely wet and windy Spring seasons and the racing is notoriously uncomfortable. It doesn’t matter how fast you are the cold wind is going to make your ride miserable. That kind of Spring weather is something known to American Pro Tour racers as “getting Franced on” when referring to riding on an incredibly cold, windy and wet weather. The kind of day so wretched that staying inside on a set of rollers might actually seem attractive.

Dominique recalled one dreadful, wicked day when some of the young bucks on Vendée U came back after a harsh flooded ride and instinctively put their soaked Time shoes on top of the clothes dryer to dry them out and warm them up. Not long after their shoes had dried, the unattended kicks lost their custom fitting due to the extended exposure to the dryer’s heat. The racers called Dominique fearing the worst, that their premium shoes were probably ruined and worthless. But unlike some shoes that require a specific temperature process to mold from Dominique instructed the racers to refit the shoes themselves as they were without the need of driving into a big city bike shop.

To custom fit a pair of 2010 Time cycling shoes it doesn’t take a big production. The Time ULTEAM RS CARBON shoes have a THERMO SHAPE membrane (or TS SYSTEM) inside the upper. All you need is a hairdryer and four minutes to bring the shoes up to temperature and ready for fitting.

Hold a hairdryer at 45 degrees and 15cm from the entrance of the shoe for four minutes and then put the shoe on while wearing a pair of cycling socks. Then sit on a bike held by a rear-wheel trainer and clip in. Don’t pedal, just sit normally and patiently let the shoes cool. This idle position is beneficial because as Dominique notes, “your foot on a bike is not the same as it is walking or standing.”

After the shoe cools, the TS System has retained the shape of your foot and custom molding is complete. As for the racers Vendée U found out, these new Time shoes can be remolded and fitted repeatedly over and over. Dominique told me he molded his own pair every day for over a year while the Ulteam RS Carbon was in its developing process, “I’ve molded my own shoes well over 200 times,” he said.

And in case you forget, each pair of shoes comes with a nice instructional card inside each box. This can also be passed along with the shoes if you ever sell them or give them away giving new meaning to customization. “With the TS System you can feel the difference instantly,” Dominique added.

The TS membrane also helps with problem feet. The shoes don’t come in different widths yet, but the membrane is able to conform to almost any problem. Dominique told me one story of how he helped a racer finish an important stage race. The rider had fallen and had a severe foot injury that made pedaling very difficult and painful. Dominique went to work and after some bandage adjustments with foam and gauze he remolded his shoe using the same process allowing him to ride and finish the race for team Vendée U. Then as the rider’s foot healed they molded the shoes as the swollen foot went back down to its normal health and size.

Dominique has also learned a thing or two from triathletes like Cedric Fleureton. The lessons he has learned might help any racer ride survive a difficult effort when equipment not only needs to not just be working but performing outright.

Take for instance the external toe box on Time’s New ULTEAM TRI CARBON. Dominique noted how Cedric Fleureton once came out of the water only seconds behind the leaders and needed to keep his pace to stay in reach with them. Cedric’s weakest leg is on the bike and after he had a poor transition he couldn’t quite take the time to get his foot in his shoe. The only thing he could think about was pedaling so he rode with his foot on top of his shoe and kept his foot out for the first 10km. Because his Time shoe has a hard external toe box Cedric’s powerful legs didn’t crush the toe completely and when he had a chance he was able to slip his foot inside without being dropped or losing any time.

Listening to Dominique made me feel like I had been there myself and it was reassuring to know that most of the developments came directly from the frontlines of a pro team racing on the rainy roads of France by a product developer who has seen what it means to be race ready.

There is more to tell about Time’s shoes and pedal systems. Stay tuned and we’ll bring you more details from Time’s Interbike booth in part two of my discussion with Dominique.

Time Ulteam shoe sizes: 36 to 47 (half-sizes 40.5 to 45.5)

colors: Shiny White and Red (red sizes 39 to 47 and half sizes)

weight (size 42): 658 grams

[View with PicLens]

Nike has seen plenty of profits with Armstrong

The thought of a shoe company headlining a Pro Tour team might be closer than you think.

Even if Lance Armstrong doesn’t win the Tour de France this year you can be assured he will be riding and racing in 2010. The major change we can expect that he won’t be riding for Team Astana. Instead, the seven-time Tour champion and manager Johan Bruyneel will be writing a new chapter with another new team, specifically one called Team Nike.

After all the shoe-maker has enjoyed the power of Lance’s name even though Armstrong hasn’t participated in the Tour de France for a few years. Nike and Lance first teamed up to create the trendy yellow LIVESTRONG wristbands which have raised well over $75 million for Lance’s cancer foundation.

And now as Bloomberg news reports, Lance Armstrong’s recent mid-race rivalry with Alberto Contador may accelerate the seven-time champion’s efforts to raise money for his own team next year.

Armstrong currently rides for Team Astana, but started exploring possible development of his own team in May after the nation of Kazakhstan failed to pay some sponsorship money and fell behind with salary payments.

Armstrong and teammates Chris Horner and Levi Leipheimer went as far as to race in New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila in Mellow Johnny’s team kits supporting Armstrong’s local bike shop in Austin, Texas.

“Armstrong ‘possibly’ will leave Astana and Bruyneel may go with him,” Alexander Antyshev, executive director of the Kazakhstan Cycling Federation, supervising Team Astana said in a telephone interview. Johan Bruyneel directed each of Armstrong’s comeback victories with the U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams. “There will be discussions with Bruyneel in the next few days about whether he will stay with the team,” Antyshev confirmed.

But the writing is on the wall. The stars are aligning for an Armstrong team with U.S. sponsors including Nike Inc. and Armstrong bike-partner Trek Bicycle Corp. as secure investors. Each of these huge corporations are solid candidates capable of headlining a Pro Tour team.

A partnership with Nike makes sense. Nike’s global branding has deep pockets reaching out to many languages. Armstrong has already been riding in his own LIVESTRONG kit for most of the season, standing out in the peloton like a billboard in his black helmet, shoes and gillet – a wheel any sponsor would want to take a pull from.

Scott Harris, president and founder of Mustang Marketing in Thousand Oaks, California said, “Armstrong’s comeback this year will help him get more backing for a team than if he hadn’t taken a break. Even people who aren’t fans of the Tour de France or fans of bicycling, they love this story about this guy coming back.”

“There will be a lot of people who will want to jump on that bandwagon. Assuming he finishes in the top three, and if he’s very fortunate… wins… he’ll be writing his own ticket.” This could be true even while the sport of cycling is turbulent amidst a troubled economy as reported by the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News.

Contador has a contract with Astana through 2010 and would probably love to get away from Armstrong and his American teammates. Especially after his controversial antics at the end of Stage 7 when the Spaniard went off-book dashing away from Armstrong in the last kilometers of a mountaintop finish. That lack of confidence did not win Contador any more fans on his team (or sponsor opportunities.)

Astana has more than $21.1 million dollars (15 million Euros) of this year from Kazakhstan companies including state-owned railway operator AO Kazakhstan Temir Zholy National Co. Contador endorses cycling equipment including Sidi shoes, but can’t quite compete with Armstrong’s marketing power. Contador’s face is known only to cyclists, not the general English-speaking public like Armstrong. Contador struggles to lure endorsement contracts because he doesn’t speak English and is linked to the Spanish doping controversy: Operation Puerto. Armstrong’s comeback from cancer story is also hard to compete against in the world of sports endorsement.

After winning the 2005 Tour, Armstrong launched a tirade against “cynics and skeptics” who suspected him of doping. Now in a change to lure sponsors, he’s presenting a “softer, warmer, more gentle approach” again according to Chadwick. He makes light of the quantity of doping tests he undergoes (once 3 times in 24 hours) and posts to 1.4 million followers of his Twitter feed. And during his appearance in the Tour of California last February Armstrong was given a hero’s welcome by hordes of fans crowding around his team bus excited by his return.

“He is probably the only personality in cycling,” Chadwick said. “He’s giving people a reason to watch the Tour de France again.” This is apparent as Armstrong’s comeback ride has given the North American broadcast network, Versus, a serious lift in its Tour de France ratings. After the first ten stages, Nielsen monitoring reported an increase of 78 percent – an average of 479,809 viewers in the morning telecasts.

Major Tour de France and Pro Tour team sponsors pay between $6 million and $15 million, and according to French newspaper L’Equipe, Armstrong was on the verge of presenting a new team for this year’s Tour before one of the partners pulled out. Was it Nike Shoes? Probably not, but the Armstrong marketing phenomenon is far from over. As they say, just wait ’til next year.

NorthWave: So, we have this barbaric idea to promote our new shoe and you’d be perfect for it.
Tom Boonen: Do I get to ride an ox?

NW: No, Mr. Boonen, there will be no ox riding. But interesting that you should mention the Roman Empire. We are going to have to ask you to put on this man-thong made from the hide of a Spanish field mouse.
TB: Will my girlfriend like it?

NW: She’ll love it. Sexier than a commercial for Gilette. Now, we are going to need you to put on this Conan suit worn during the filming of all 7 Conan movies. Don’t worry abou the itching. We know it was never washed, but the Terminator doesn’t have any STD’s… at least none we’ve discovered yet. Just take a look at the Kennedy he bangs day and night, there’s nothing wrong with her. The rash which you will see in 2-4 weeks should disappear quickly. And nevermind the scaring, with the power you’ll get from this skin suit one day you might win Paris-Roubaix three times!
TB: OK. So, can I some more product for my hair?

NW: Hairstylist! Sop him up will you?
TB: When are you bringing in the ox?
NW: No oxen, maybe another time.

TB: What’s this white dust in this pocket?
NW: That’s a special gift from the Terminator. NOW FLEX!!

I’d rather see an ad with Boonen’s girlfriend instead.
Note: the poster from the ’98 DBR campaign is NOT Boonen’s girlfriend. We all know Tornado Tom only dates 16-year-old’s.

there is one such ride on tuesdays and thursdays in hollywood, the Barry Wolfe Ride. this ride is close to my house but I cringe at the thought of riding in hollywood because I usually think of smog, holes and accidental death. I was sure the route would be a tangled mess of traffic lights, exhaust and shit-hitting-the-fan all adding up to a bad ride. I drove over anyway amidst the morning crush and was late to the start. so I drove another mile ahead of the pack and parked in Griffith Park but was still tying my shoe laces when about 30 riders zipped by. shit.

so I started my ride by chasing back on and when I made some crazy maneuver in that morning rush hour traffic I was dreading I suddenly realized I had left my helmet in the car. I was wearing a stocking cap instead and the sensation of fleece on my head had mislead me when I made that quick start. the next thing I thought was, “I hope I locked the car.”

worry turned to laughing because I realized I was pumping 500w on a sidewalk of the overpass of the I-5, and the pavement had seen better days. after two miles of chase I caught up to the ride but not before I had notions that I might have to call it a day and make up my own ride. it really is sickening to be chasing a pack that you can see, but one where your progress is constantly hampered by red lights that you dare not run. I’m making too much of it – the bottom line was I caught up.

I was happy that most of the ride was pretty slow today allowing for some decent LSD. if the ride had been anything more I would have dropped out anyway. this ride was a crazy mix of riders, most of them regulars so there was plenty of chatty-kathy blah, blah, blah. one old timer asked a young hip-racer dude, “have you been riding much?” to which the hip-racer dude replied, “I’m doing 4-a-days.” as if to say shut-the-*&%@-up. the old timer believed him, but I thought his joke was funny.

also the ride’s route turned out to more interesting than I expected and even had a section or two that I would deem manageable but for the most part we were riding in smog and my snobby ass still has a headache. also, I discovered that the pack had some “writers” in it. as in “striking writers.” so I told them I needed a job and asked them if they needed any help around the house leaf blowing, painting, walking the dog, etc. no takers. networking in hollywood is better done on a golf course. well if you’re not going to be walking the line then why don’t you at least ride with a sign!

but none of that is what I want to write about. instead, the only thing worth mentioning was after everyone disbanded back in burbank I tooled back to my lonely parking spot with my helmet still in my car. on the way I passed the Disney animation building. for the millionth time I was stopped by a red light. this gave me time to stare at the six writers picketing in front of the gates. I began to wonder what sorry bastards those six were because they were not cool enough to skip out like the rest of their teams. I know all my writer-friends keep telling me “I took the day off” when I ask them how toeing the line is treating them.

about this moment at this very long light another old timer rolled to a stop behind me. he asked the nearest labor protestor, “anything happening?” in a heavy German accent. the writer just shook his head. wow, I thought. they really were at a loss for words! the light changed and we both rode on. but we weren’t even a hundred feet past the statue of mickey’s magician hat when I was asked for the hundredth time how big my bike was. I wanted to roll my eyes but then I thought of Lance and the trials he faces every day being asked what his favorite color is. so I gleefully replied to the old timer. about ten strokes later he asked me what kind “of motor I had back there” referring to my PowerTap hub. “does it tell you when to eat?” he joked and rode up alongside of me pleased with his deftness as a conversationalist.
, instead he had a winter cap on – the kind with two bills. but I was stuck with him, I was trying to keep my watts down and so I played along. there wasn’t much I had to do because the old timer was doing most of the talking. “yeah cycling’s a good sport. do you race? you look like a racer. No? well, it beats driving. especially with the gas prices! hah! soon we’ll be riding on the freeway! vvvrooommmm!!!!” he made a buzzing sound with his lips to mimic a speeding car. it wasn’t long before he was talking about doping and I wasn’t listening until he said, “but if it wasn’t for those drugs I wouldn’t be alive today.”

now I knew I had better show some compassion. in my new role as bartender i had better speak up and listen to him because he probably meant he had just gotten out of the hospital. “really?” I said. “oh yeah, I mean I’ve been racing 60 years and we had that stuff back in the day too. we all used it, all my friends and me. but right before the race not all the time. we used to drink beer after the races too, sometimes before. back then it was friendly but today it’s all about the money. when Merckx and Pingeon came in they said ‘this is our territory!’” suddenly I was listening – and watching him throw his bars around to pretend like he was sprinting. “I was old by then anyway,” he sighed.

but then in another half mile he was off. “okay, I’ll see you in april!” he yelled taking a hot-route at the next corner. I yelled back at him, “what’s your name?” and he smiled “Hoyst! have a good ride!” and that was that. he had just been telling me that he was heading down to his vacation home in Puerto Vallarta for four months. “my friends and me meet down there and ride. they come from all over… Canada, Germany, Mexico, Belgium. we get in shape… right now I’m 15 pounds too heavy,” he gave his belly a pat. he had also been telling me about his last trip to the Pan-Am games in the old timers class where he had won nine golds. “I don’t do that stuff anymore, I don’t really know why I spent all that time racing anyway.” whether he was a fake or not, Hoyst had charmed me and I was hanging on every word. arriving back home, I can’t find any solid lead on the internet about the guy, the Pan-Am games don’t even have an official page that I can find. but I’ll be keeping my ears open to see if I ever hear him on the road again.