Back in the Virtual Saddle

The Triple Bypass was a few weeks ago. The Leadville 100 was the weekend before last. Lizard has enjoyed watching some of the videos riders have posted, as well as live feeds when he can get them. When you give a YouTube video a thumb's up, YouTube throws more videos at you it assumes you want.

We continually block old LA videos without watching them. But we've been seriously and addictively enjoying Coors Classics videos from the 80s. Lizard says he was interested each time the pro cycling race made a stop in his hometown of Grand Junction, but he didn't really follow any races back then other than the Tour de France, which wasn't easily available in any streaming form back then.

I'd heard of Greg LeMond as a teen; he was my brothers' hero. The champion US cyclist was developing quite the following even in southern New Mexico, where I lived (and cycled) back then. I didn't know back then there were bike races other than the Tour, though. Watching those old videos now, both Lizard and I experienced a pang of guilt for the feelings LA provoked in us toward LeMond through LA's attempt to deflect accusations and fraud. Before that, both of us admired LeMond. I even sought one of his bikes for more than a year after my first Ride the Rockies because I got to test ride one, and I LOVED it.

I never did find my Tourmalet, and we never got to meet LeMond, but it sure is fun watching him battle Bernard Hinault in the Coors Classic.

I didn't know about Davis Phinney until Lizard and I met him and his wife Connie Carpenter at Ride the Rockies. The retired pro and Olympic cyclist and his Olympic cyclist (and speed skater!!!) wife weren't riding by then. (But their son Tayler was!) Davis was our first introduction to Parkinson's. We had no idea back then the role Parkison's or Davis would take in our lives a decade later. Words cannot explain how it felt to watch a much younger Davis in those old videos pump his fists into the air as he crossed finish lines. Joy for what he felt then; grief for what he experiences now; sadness for what I've watched Lizard lose over the past eight years. And yet, seeing him whole and experiencing tremendous joy.

Ron Kiefel was a speaker at Ride the Rockies, too. The retired pro and Olympic Cyclist also sold me my first non-department store bike after my first Ride the Rockies (and after I couldn't find a LeMond Tourmalet anywhere). He also would present cycling workshops to help wannabes like me prepare for Ride the Rockies. I learned SO much from him that helped me power through seven Ride the Rockies. I enjoyed watching him win stages in the old Coors Classic videos.

News of women's cycling rarely ever makes headlines. Back in the 80s, the Coors Classic included a women's race, and the old films include highlights. (Connie Carpenter won it three times!) Lizard had ridden up Pikes Peak in the company of Jeannie Longo, whom I hadn't heard of when we cycled up the 14er in the short-lived organized ride. Watching Jeannie Longo win back-to-back Coors Classics really helped me appreciate Lizard being able to keep her pace riding up a long, stiff climb decades later.

The old videos make me wish we could step back in time to our cycling days, when Lizard and I would ride Colorado Monument (known as Tour of the Moon during the Coors Classic) together and watch the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Colorado Trail Race or Leadville 100 in person. When we could climb 14ers in July and then get a hotel room so we could watch the Tour de France (because we didn't have a TV (by choice) at home back then). Oh, and enjoy big, fat customized smothered burritos at the Blue Iguana, which is gone now. When we would ride Vail Pass over the pro cyclist names still visible on the pavement. When I would photograph Lizard participating all along the Triple Bypass or the Double Triple route, his favorite rides.

Even a ride up Waterton Canyon now would be such a thrill! I haven't given up hope. I've got Lizard back in PT with the goal of trying to get him back on his bike. Our glory days may not be the same as two decades ago, but just like the Coors Classic, good rides never lose their magic. Even if they can only be watched instead of pedaled.

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