Tour De Luxe
Finally riding a big boys bike
I remember just after graduation from College that Team 7-Eleven was formed with Eric Heiden at the core. Schwinn sponsored them the first year and I believe supplied the bikes. Has anyone ever seen one?
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Has anyone ever seen an actual 1981 Schwinn 7-Eleven team bike?
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Greg Kozak
Finally riding a big boys bike
I saw them from a distance at the Coors Classic one year. Not sure if they were the Schwinn built frames then.
Freqman1
Riding a '37 Dayton Super Streamline
Schwinn Sales West
I live for the CABE
I watched Eric Heiden ride a 7-11 Schwinn Paramount in the Nevada City Classic.
Some Junior rider from nearby Reno was allowed to ride with big boys and he rode away from the pack for the win. I think this kids name Greg LeMond.
John
Greg Kozak
Finally riding a big boys bike
That would have been pretty cool to see.
Greg LeMond was an amazing talent. I truly believe he wasn't doped.
In an interview he said something like "Winning a bike race isn't all that difficult, all you have to do is push down on the pedals harder than everybody else ".
Greg LeMond was an amazing talent. I truly believe he wasn't doped.
In an interview he said something like "Winning a bike race isn't all that difficult, all you have to do is push down on the pedals harder than everybody else ".
Schwinn Sales West
I live for the CABE
I would agree with you on your assessment of LeMond. He was good, as in REALLY GOOD and raced CLEAN. He brought aero bars and aero helmets to the tour. They never gave him any respect until he rode the wheels off that time trial bike.
I think his records put a lot of ego pressure on Lance, and the following 7-11, Motorola, and Postal teams to better his numbers.
IMO, the whole Lance deal overshadowed the accomplishments Greg made previously to the sport. In the end it was sad for everyone even remotely related to it.
At the end of the day, Trek tied up his bicycle brand, and he had to fight to get his own brand back so he could market his own LeMond Bikes. I was a LeMond dealer in 1996-97, nice bikes.
John
Grey Ghost
Wore out three sets of tires already!
Bicycle racing: the original doping sport.
They've been doing it since way before anybody else ever thought about it, likely over a hundred years.
Eddie Merckx still holds the 100 mile speed record and a few others doesn't he? Pretty amazing for 60 year old equipment. He must have been pretty jacked for some of those trials.
Lance just got caught, outed actually. His giant Secretariat heart gave him the edge over all the other dopers.
I’ve always liked bike racing though, at least everybody cheats equally.
Everybody is “clean“ except Lance though…..
The old Red Zinger and Coors Classic races were great fun to watch here in Colorado back in the day.
The racers used to say that those races were tougher than the Tour simply because of the altitude.
They've been doing it since way before anybody else ever thought about it, likely over a hundred years.
Eddie Merckx still holds the 100 mile speed record and a few others doesn't he? Pretty amazing for 60 year old equipment. He must have been pretty jacked for some of those trials.
Lance just got caught, outed actually. His giant Secretariat heart gave him the edge over all the other dopers.
I’ve always liked bike racing though, at least everybody cheats equally.
Everybody is “clean“ except Lance though…..
The old Red Zinger and Coors Classic races were great fun to watch here in Colorado back in the day.
The racers used to say that those races were tougher than the Tour simply because of the altitude.
Greg Kozak
Finally riding a big boys bike
I read somewhere that Marco Pantani was on so much epo that his blood was the consistency of strawberry jam and he had to wear a heart rate monitor when he slept. If his heartbeat got too low the alarm would go off and he would get out of bed and ride a stationary bike to get the blood flowing. Probably not true but who knows?
Yes, Lance was the tip of the iceberg. Like the Russians who had been doping for decades in The Olympics. But what made it so bad with Lance is that he bullied and ruined the lives of the other racers who spilled the beans on him & the sport. IMO, he should have done time over it. And the foundation he started was a good thing....then the horrible PR. How do you let a foundation continue when it was started by a cheater?
The whole sport was structured in a way that doping cheaters got away with it forever. How do you go back and change records from the past.....who was and who wasn't doping.... an impossible task. Like trying to restore US baseball back to its former grandeur.
Kevin
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There is no greater story in any sport than a young adult who defies the older competitors (who sneer at them and refuse to let them participate) and he/she kicks their a**es. It's a time-honored story. Unfortunately, the youngster often burns out or becomes so disenfranchised with the sport that they move on.
Like the Dogtown Boys when they entered into skateboarding competition.....holy cow, what a story that was to live through!
Kevin
