Was going through a bunch of old files and came across some of my old flyers from when I taught safe cycling to kids and adults back in the late 80's - early 90's in Vancouver BC. The classes were usually close to or were sold out.
I also taught repair courses, and Learn to Race courses.
I remember riding my bike from Vancouver to Lions Bay to teach safe cycling to kids at Lions Bay Elementary School, one of my favorite locations to teach because of the great ride on the way out.
The ride was only about 40 k, but the kids were easily impressed and were willing to listen to what lycra-clad biker guy had to say. These were indeed rewarding days. A great ride out to Lions Bay which had a good combo of long climbs, short and punchy climbs, 80km/h descents and gorgeous West Coast scenery; and of course another great ride back, sandwiched in-between with kids in helmets practicing turn signals, stops, starts, turns, braking, the obstacle course.. all great fun.
I got lucky a couple times and was able to do some safe cycling teaching alongside Alex Stieda, more memorable for me than for him I'm sure. Which reminds me of a couple epic rides I went on where Alex Stieda made a special appearance.
One was a charity ride from Vancouver to Harrison Hot Springs, a 120 k ride with some steep, hard rollers along the North side of the Fraser river.
A group of racers took off early, eager to win bragging rights to finishing first. The rest stayed back with the main pack, (a few hundred riders) including a whole lot of riders young and old who wanted to get some chat time with the first North American to wear the Yellow Jersey in the Tour de France and team member of the iconic 7-11 road racing team, Alex Stieda.
Mr. Stieda was definitely an ambassador to the sport. He was happy to talk cycling with anyone who rode along side. With 120 k in front of us I was pretty sure I'd get a chance to talk to him at some point so I waited.
About 50 k in the pace started to pick up but was still only about 35 km/h. Alex was still chatting up a storm, but the bunch I was in had been whittled down from from the all inclusive participants found in charity rides to road racers only. Might have been a few triathletes in there.. I say this because a few seemed to have a hard time riding in a straight line :-)
By 75 k it was on.. Alex was taking pulls and there were only three of us left that stayed on his wheel. Was I dreaming? I'm in a four man breakaway with Alex Stieda, all of us on the rivet (well, 3 of us anyway). Another 30 minutes and with the pro on my wheel, we dropped the other two guys. Holly crap! Is this what it feels like to be in a break in the Tour?
I found out about 2 minutes later. I was breathing so hard I'm sure I could of inflated a king size air mattress in about 10 seconds. My legs were passed burning and pain.. my mind was going blank as it took everything I had to maintain a pull.. I didn't want to disappoint the man on my wheel.
Then most humbling thing happened. I will never forget this experience for the rest of my life. Few weekend warriors ever get the chance to ride all out with a pro, this was my one in a million..
Alex rode up next to me and said something like, "let's take it up a level". I was only semi- coherent so I don't remember verbatim what he said, but I knew it involved more pain. But what he said was not as important as how he said it, which was calmly. I remember instantaneously comprehending how far out of my league I was, I was riding harder than I had ever pushed myself in my life, and this guy can still talk.. you'd think he was sitting on rocking chair knitting a jersey for how composed and relaxed he seemed.
He showed some compassion though. Realizing that it was quite impossible for me to vocalize a response, he put on his coaches hat and said, "you stair at my rear hub! Don't look at anything else! Focus on that hub and maintain your distance, don't let that hub go! Here we go!"
Amazing what focus can do. The only thing that existed in the whole world was Alex Stieda's rear hub. I learned one of the most valuable racing lessons ever on that day.. no matter how much you're hurting there is a chance you can still get more out of your body, you can't give up, and to gain access to your own subhuman abilities you need to want it like you never wanted anything else in your life.
I knew that of course Alex was not turning out his max wattage, he was pushing just hard enough to make me work my hardest. Two rolling hills later and Alex peeled off and came back to me, "you did really good, you're a strong rider! Time for me to turn around and go back to the others and spend some time with them".
And with that he smiled and waved and was gone, as were my lungs and legs. The only thing echoing in my head were Stieda's words, "you did really good, you're a strong rider".. When I came down of that high the rest of the ride was a piece of cake. All riders were shuttled back to Vancouver by van. I remember getting on my bike to ride home from the drop off point having the worst case of rubber legs, and I'm sure I was towing a piano.
I slept like a baby that night and dreamed of riding in the Tour..
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