Defining Moments: Alexi Grewal-1984 Olympic Road Race
I just came across Alexi Grewal’s website; presently he is a timber framer, does not own a car (no money), hauls tools behind his bike in a trailer and is now training up to revive his racing career. That is a heavy lift, reviving that career. That is a twenty year holiday from riding and racing but I never discount an elite athlete’s will. (Floyd, how’s it going?) I bet against Alexi once, I won’t do it again. He is gunning for the Quizno’s Pro Challenge this next year.
Summer Olympics 1984 in Los Angeles, the American cycling team was deep into a then legal autologous blood transfusing program. Had Grewal not been estranged from the rest of the US team he may have been transfusing too. Alexi was no angel nor ever claimed to be.
The point of this article is his account of his Olympic victory, lifted from his very interesting blog. It’s an unvarnished look into the competitive soul. Alexi was there to win the gold medal for himself, not for the USA, not for the team. I can’t criticize that. The point is winning.
For the team coach, it’s the balancing act Franco Ballerini had to perform every year for the selection of the Italian Worlds team. How many highly ambitious Italians does it take to implode a team effort? Sure an Italian might win, or the world gets to watch Italians chasing each other down – and that damn Spanish guy wins again.
I watched this monster race from the edge of the couch at my eventually-to-be wife’s apartment. I couldn’t believe Grewal even made this final selection. Once Steve Bauer and Grewal were in a two-up break heading for the line, I repeatedly pronounced (to any neighbor within shouting distance) Bauer to be the ultimate winner. I’m lucky I wasn’t living in England with a beer- soaked betting parlor a quick sprint down the street- I’d have bet and lost a lot of money. Bauer was strong as hell and could sprint like a demon…and yet Grewal outfoxed him. Grewal knew Bauer all too well and he did what he had to to win. Was it smart, obviously. Was it sporting? Well, he won. Should Bauer have sat up and risked being caught? I would love to hear Steve’s side of this as it must haunt him still.
What you see on TV is one thing, what you read from the winner twenty-five years later is something else all together.
Titled The Skinsuit, by Alexi Grewal
Before we get too far down the road, there is a story I must tell. It is a story I have already shared with Davis Phinney, my main rival then and always. But now I will tell it for all.
The story of the Los Angeles Olympics, from my perspective. First off, I did not stay with the team before the event, because of my positive test for ephedrine at the Coor’s Classic I ended up flying out to L.A. on Len Pettyjohn’s dime with my own support crew. So what ever did or did not happen with the blood doping scandal of those days I had no part of it.
I rode my bike to the start. With Len Pettyjohn carrying my spare wheels and bottles. When I got there it was tense. My instructions were simple, ride for Davis, I said fine, except that I told Eddy I would be going solo late in the race. He said ok. That was the race meeting for me, the first time Eddy and I had spoken in months.
In the race however and in my mind and prep I never gave one thought to really giving away my chance. I was there to win, it was all I knew at that point in life.
Once the race started, of course there are duties you must do, play your part in the race be present to observe and watch the front. On the very first lap I had worked myself up to the transition zone at the front, the place where you have to choose to follow moves or stay put. At the top of the first long climb both Ron Kiefel and I were present when a string of riders worked itself free as the climb crested and the road turned fast. We both looked at each other. For a second, I am sure neither of us really wanted to be exposed that early in the race. No matter his demeanor Ron Keifel wanted to win just as much as anyone else. I have always considered him a hard man to beat.
He hesitated, we were in equally good positions to respond. Intuition told me to go, so I wound it up, saving my legs as best I could and made the effort to bridge and join. The second I got there I knew it was good. A free ride with the likes of the Austrian Helmet Weshelberger in the move and willing to drive it.
From that point forward a certain rhythm was established. I was up the road ahead of the other favorites with the exception of Helmut. I did not have to work and I only had to follow one man. The latitude was there to let him go also. It was more or less the perfect place to be in. I knew it. I was not thinking what I could do to help Davis, I was thinking how I could use the situation to work all my rivals against each other, and conserve my legs which were marginal.
I am an observant bike racer, the tension on the U.S. team was visible. Thurlow was ashen, Kiefel was quiet, Phinney was wearing a skin suit. There was no doubt in my mind Keifel and Phinney were gonna be good. The skinsuit was information I filed away. Only one pocket was sewn into it and we faced a hot, hilly two hundred kilometer race. One feed zone per lap on a downhill, right near the start finish, wearing a skin suit with one pocket was to rely on the unreliable.
Since I came with my own support, Arnold set up in the neighborhood days before the event. We had a chosen spot in the crowd on the long hill. A bottle would just come out of the crowd in Arnold’s hand to mine whenever I wanted it. The team feed zone was just gravy for me. I was never without what I needed, ever. Call it cheating, or call it good planning. It covered my bases.
The early break progressed. At no point was I stressed. I rode up Vista Lago at my own pace in my lowest gear in the early laps and only took token pulls. Memories blur a bit. But somewhere around fifty miles into the race, after a nice long free ride, the break started to splinter, the strong guys wanted to go and the others had already seen their glory. Helmut accelerated and Raul Alcala followed him up the hill past the feed. Helmut beckoned and asked me to come on. I deferred, there was a long way to go and I did not feel up to squaring off with him in a suicide break.
Half a lap later the lead chasers caught us. Bauer got there first, and looked good. Phinney followed up just shortly after, and looked like anyone who had to follow a Bauer move that day. Strong yes, worried a little. You could tell he had fired one bullet already.
It wasn’t a kilometer later that another move went. Easy for me to penetrate, not so easy for Steve and Davis. Another free ride for me , followed by another bridge from the field for the favorites. Bauer again the antagonist. Davis again controlling him.
Before you knew it, it was late in the race. 80 miles were gone. Then a crucial moment that changed the makeup of the race. Little splits were happening, Davis and one of the Norwegian’s; Dag Otto had a little gap. I was at the head of the field, and noticed Keifel out of position to respond, still hesitant.
And here is where it gets sticky, my motive. Sure it was a good time to go. But it was also the best time to separate Ron from Davis. You know if I come to line with Ron and Davis, I am obligated to lead them both. I can hear my thoughts to this day, “put Ron away now”. And I did, I punched it, bridged to the move and we drove it. Morten Saether made it with me as well as a Columbian.
As we looked back from the rise of the Start Finish Bauer came busting out of the field with Thurlow on his wheel. The die was cast and the break was free. There would be no catching us. To that point in the race I had never had to test myself not even once.
In the break everybody rode, Davis harder than anyone. Two laps to go Davis asks me for food. I lied, said I don’t have any, I justified it in my mind by thinking I might need it myself. But really I knew it all went back to the skinsuit. One pocket Davis, it is not enough. I believe all it would have taken for Davis to have won the Olympics was to have worn a jersey and carried enough food. He was riding good, really good. But I had other plans. He was my rival above all others and his mistake was not to be overlooked.
Prior to this point the tactic was circumstance. When Keifel hesitated on lap one, I was obligated to cover. It set in motion the entire race. I was covering the front they were covering the favorites and Bauer. If I had ended up with Davis at the Line I would have ridden for him, the same way I covered the early move. It would not have been my first choice, things seldom are. But he was the last person I wanted to see at the finish, and when he ran out of food his blood was in the water. And we both knew it.
On the second to last time up the long hill, remember it is now late in race, and it was a race of attrition, you just gradually get tired. Morten Saether the stronger of the two Norwegian’s punched it hard. Normally it would be my job to respond, and I even think I tried, but Davis unselfishly beat me to it and I followed him in a very hard acceleration to control the Dane. It hurt me, and it also woke up my legs, first hard move all day. In the middle of the hill my legs came to life, and for the first time that day I found a real rhythm. I settled in moved to the front and let it drive.
Toward the top of the hill I was comfortable in full tempo, first adrenaline all day. On my wheel was Davis, on his wheel Bauer. Davis had stayed in a low gear, legs blurred fast and breathing hard. Good for saving himself not so good for responding to another move. I saw it and knew it was time to go, Davis would not stay exposed for long. So I attacked, knowing Bauer would follow and drive it if there was a gap. And he did. It strung out everyone. Everyone’s weaknesses were exposed and Davis was put in the position of having to really extend himself in an inopportune time. That move and the almost identical one that I pulled on Vista Lago earlier in the same lap was enough to take advantage of Davis while his body was switching to his reserve tank.
It was enough weakness for Bauer to see and he tried a counter; I saw it and caught his wheel, countered his counter and went one more time. I was free. You saw that on TV.
It was a simple strategy, put Bauer up against Davis all day. I did not really plan it, but once I saw it, it was easy to have it repeat itself again and again. One the crucial penultimate lap I drew Bauer out myself. He would catch me and drive it. And I had a free ride, while Davis, my teammate was strung out in the chase.
On the last lap in the feed Bauer attacked while Davis was taking fuel. There was no bringing him back that time. And I was up the road waiting for my free ride.
As a rider Davis never hesitated, never was selfish and would always do more than his share of the work. This is the real story of how I beat him. It was not heroic.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tWg_CR43rg&playnext=1&list=PL394BA085C2A86309&index=2[/youtube]
Nice story! I remember this race fairly vividly; in many respects, it was””thanks to Steve Bauer””my introduction to racing and the opportunity to shout at the screen for a Canadian. And the ensuing heartbreak. Also as a Canadian, I also can’t help being reminded of how many times Bauer got pipped.
Beautifully written but oh hindsight is a fine thing.
@Steampunk
Totally! Bauer was pipped much too often. He was so close so many times, had half gone the other way he would be right up there with…somebody bad ass. He lost Paris-Roubaix by a whisker, that alone would have netted him free beer for life.
“..his mistake was not to be overlooked.” I fucking hate when unknowing douchebags second guess themselves over sportsmanship bullshit. You put your time in the wind, and you die like everyone else. But when its game on, it’s game on. A-Merckx!
I remember watching this race on television back in ’84. Alexi was always an colorful rider to read about as well. A cool era.
Interesting piece in Velonews about his comeback to racing at 50 years old:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/09/news/inside-cycling-with-john-wilcockson-alexi-grewal-is-deadly-serious-about-comeback_142905
@eightzero, @Jason
I’m impressed he is truthful enough to admit his intentions; essentially dropping his two strongest teammates because he didn’t want to see them at the finish.
Remember Lemond chasing and passing his teammate Boyer in the Worlds? Of course you don’t, it happened waaaay back when. Boyer never shut up about it. My point?
like eightzero says, when it’s game on, it’s game on.
@Gianni
Bauer’s such a gentleman, he doesn’t talk about it much, but I’d be interested to know more. I hate to criticize great cyclists, but I wonder if he wasn’t as tactically astute as some of the other guys. ’84 Olympics and Paris-Roubaix are two examples of him clearly being the strongest rider in the field (by quite some distance if you watch either race). Too nice to guy to have the killer instinct? I don’t see him lying to a teammate about food or simply insisting on riding for himself.
Weird how things happen – I came across his blog and read this story just a few days ago.
Interest perspective on what he was thinking during the race. Seems to be some turbulent waters running inside of Grewal’s soul.
It’s worth reading the other stuff on his blog too. He just had a piece up about spitting into the camera during his first and last TDF.
The ego and ambition are spectacular.
Alexi was just a few years before my time, which is a shame because riders with his kind of passion are the best winners(and losers)
I remember recording this race on my dad’s VCR. I think that was the first racing tape I ever made. Dad didn’t know much about bike racing, so I was the Great Voice of Knowledge. I told Dad Bauer was the sprinter and that Grewal didn’t have a chance. Oops.
I wanted that Pinerello with the fade paint soooo badly. My shop didn’t carry Pinerello, so I couldn’t get the wholesale + 10%. However, I got a Cinelli hairnet. Sadly, it was blue. We totally sold out of yellow. I raced in it until the USCF said go get a hard hat.
Grewal was extremely mercurial. He graduated to Europe, but not with the 7-11 “family”. I remember a picture of him in Winning wearing his Panasonic kit. I really wanted him to do well. When he moved to 7-11 the next year, things got better until he spit on a video camera. I have that on tape, too.
I remember going to races where all the American badasses were there–Keifel, Phinney, Grewal, Knickman, Rogers, Shapiro, Hegg, Heiden, et al. It was the same regular crew every race. What a unique time. What a ridiculous bunch of talent. Each knew the other’s strengths and weaknesses so incredibly well. It must have been like kermesse or six day racing.
Sometimes I would stand on the inside corner at a crit as they came through, my eyes closed, and listen to their tires scream for merciful death. At the time, I had no idea bicycle tires could slip and grab like Grand Prix motorcycle tires.
I’ve never made my tires wail–on purpose. I never had the courage.
I’m happy to see Grewal try for a comeback. A team should give him a chance. That would be such amazing press if he could make it into the peloton for the Tour of Toasted Sandwiches.
Great stuff thanks, Gianni. I remember watching this race at the time and, like most observers, thinking that poor Bauer had it sewn up. Superbly cunning win from a great character.
All I can say is that for me
loyalty is very important
and not only in cycling.
@Pedale.Forchetta
Yep: I’d rather lose nobly than win without honor. I admire athletes with the killer instinct, but to me sport implies a degree of loyal conduct.
@Steampunk
I’m with you.
@Pedale.Forchetta, @Steampunk
I’m in the same boat completely, which is why I’m usually the biggest fan of guys who don’t win very often (I’m looking at you, Grimpelder.)
On an other note, the killer instinct is best engaged during a race. You can be a nice guy off the bike and become an animal on it.
This tale exposes an amazing intuition which manages to be much more intune to subtle details that have little to do with the athlete’s strength, but with how ancillary details will I pact the race. Very keen, and very willing to take advantage of people on a level outside of the sport itself. I’m reluctant to say it’s unsportsmanlike, but he was clearly not the kind of rider who took joy from being the best and winning a fair fight. Nothing he did was, strictly speaking, wrong – he just exploited mistakes he saw riders making.
Whatever you say about him, you have to admit he was laying down the v there in the last bit before Bauer passed him. Talk about pedaling squares. And the way he keeps stretching his back trying to somehow force some air into his lungs, and ease some pain out of his body. No matter his tactics, that was riding on pure grinta.
Bauer, now there was a clas act.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
That’s great you rocked the blue Cinelli hairnet. Few did. I should write something about Roy “you are what you train” Knickman, what a stud. You are right, when that team was doing the domestic races, and killing, they must have just decided who was going to win each race.
Ha! Me neither, I assumed I was about to eat it when my rear tire made that sound.
@Pedale.Forchetta
Bravo, I’m in agreement. His teammates must have hated him and then really hated him when he won. If this is a team sport, he was the worst teammate to have.
Yes, just what Frank said so well.
Are you guys for real? Have you been around top level bike racing before? He didn’t do anything dirty or underhanded, he just exploited every opportunity he could. He didn’t cheat, and sportsmanship is all very well and nice but who would ever want to give away an Olympic Gold for the sake of trying to fit into some slightly abstract and always shifting “rules” of conduct. He even says that he would have worked for Knickman or Phinney in the finale if it had come down to that…
Grewal overcame a lot to win that medal. Even the national team coaches (allegedly) didn’t want him there. Click this to read one USCF official’s inside history:
http://www.stanford.edu/~learnest/cyclops/grewal.htm
@Oli Brooke-White
The weak point in the story is when he lied to Davis about the food.
I do not believe in different ethics, one for top level cycling and one for the rest of the life.
There’s only one ethic.
Then you are right, who know who would give away an Olympic gold for an abstract principle.
I’ve never been a top level cyclist but in my life I’ve always tried to be consistent with my principles nevertheless :)
@Oli Brooke-White, @Pedale.Forchetta
Well put, @Pedale.Forchetta. It’s the ethic, and I also agree with @Oli Brooke-White that he didn’t do anything wrong, strictly speaking (as I said).
It’s just that I admire the riders who demonstrate an ethical sense more than I like those who don’t. A rider’s attitude makes a massive impact on who I choose to be a fan of and who I don’t; those he seem to reflect my own philosophy and attitude are my favorites, others I may admire for other subjective or irrational reasons, and other I dislike purely because they project something that I don’t like. Like Cavendouche; he’s a great rider and generally doesn’t do anything wrong. But he’s a prick so I decide I don’t like him. It has nothing to do with whether or not I understand top-level racing. It’s a subjective decision that we have the privilege to make as fans of cycling.
Did he deserve the win? Sure. Was it a great race? Yes. Was he the smartest rider there? Yes. Did he do it ethically? Gray area at best. And, what’s more, I think he agrees with me, just look at his final statement about heroism. He knows he was the smartest rider in the race but he was morally off, and that’s his motive for writing this piece.
@frank
Yes, actually his last statement says it all. I’m with you Frank.
So selfishness is what he’s being criticised for? If Phinney wanted to wear a skinsuit that didn’t allow him to carry enough food I would suggest that’s entirely his fault; why should Grewal have given him his own carefully planned out supplies? To use a mild lie like that is no worse than missing a turn or two on the front IMO, and it’s at the very low end of “bad sportsmanship”.
@ Pedale.Forchetta – I have ethics and principles too, but if I had food and someone who could have but didn’t asked me for mine I’d feel no obligation to give it up, especially if it would make the difference between being there at the finale or not.
And I take his last paragraph to be more a statement of fact – if Phinney hadn’t worked when he didn’t have to, if he’d maybe measured his efforts better and if Grewal didn’t want to protect his own food supplies perhaps Davis could have won. I think the call about being heroic is more a view on bike racing being about taking care of such details than any sort of poetic heroism. I think that’s up to us to decide…
@Oli Brooke-White
This conflict is what I found so interesting about Alexi’s story. If you accept a team ethic, can you lie to a teammate to win? I’d call that underhanded. Phinney obviously was insane to wear a skinsuit but winning at what cost?
I’m no racer so I can’t argue this directly but I still would hope I wouldn’t lie to a teammate.
I’d be interested to hear Phinney’s opinion, though I think the ethical high ground is all very well in principle but not so clear in fact. The worst I can think of Grewal is that he was perhaps a bit selfish. It’s a fantastic story, regardless.
@Oli Brooke-White
I’d like to be clear on that, I’m not judging Grewal as a person/cyclist, I’m judging his behaviour in this specific story from his own very words:
“Two laps to go Davis asks me for food. I lied, said I don’t have any”
That’s it.
The great thing of ethic is that no one oblige you to have one nor to stick to it.
But it’s precisely in cases like this, real cases,
that you can be for a moment a ‘plus man’.
Grewal was great in revealing this story.
@Gianni, @Oli Brooke-White, @Pedale.Forchetta
Hellsyeah. A-Merckx. And thanks, Gianni, for posting!
Here’s three alternative scenarios:
1. John Gadret: “One hill to go and Roche asks me for my wheel. I lied and said I don’t have one.”
2. John Gadret: “One hill to go and Roche asks me for my wheel. I said piss off.”
3. John Gadret: “One hill to go and Roche asks me for my wheel. I said bugger – OK.”
Yeah, yeah, I know – totally different scenario, can’t equate them, etc. All true. But I know which John Gadret I’d want on my team.
What if Roche was riding on 160g silk track tubs?
@Oli Brooke-White
Then JG would be entitled to be pretty pissed with team management and Roche. But not until after the race.
This is an interesting discussion as I always thought or Grewal as a wheelsucker during and since watching this when televised at the young age of 16. After watching the youtube clip, I’m a little more forgiving now.
But…
I won a race (at about that same time) after being the only one to keep up with some dude on all the climbs. So essentially he did ALL the work and I just kept up. Now about half way through the race he was hammering me up another climb and I said to him. “Hey, take it easy on me and I’ll let you win, I just want to make it to the finish ahead of everyone else.” He looked over at me and attacked. Needles to say I followed him to the finish never taking another pull and rather handily sprinted around him for the win.
The thing that gets me about this is that I have NEVER felt like that was a clean victory. This guy for sure was the strongest, and “should” have won, but I did because of his ungentlemanly attitude. I suppose he deserved it after attacking me, maybe I deserved being attacked for proposing that I “allow” him to win, I just don’t know, but two ungentlemanly acts don’t make two gentlemen. Was it worth the gift certificate that I won? Maybe. Was it worth 26 years of wondering if I was wrong? Maybe. It has made me think about this kind of thing in the heat of the moment, although I can’t say I’ve raced any differently because of this.
So think what you may about Grewal. I know how I felt in a similar situation. I wonder how he genuinely feels about it.
@michael
Was he your teammate?
Wow, what an amazing bunch of ethical dudes!
Actually, this has got me thinking. Was it “ethical” for Phinney to go out in a skinny with insufficient food when he should have known that would mean relying on his teammates? Yes, I’d say, if that was part of the team tactic. But if it wasn’t? Murkier. Maybe an implicit tactic (i.e support the leader). But perhaps a failure of team management? Then again, the “team” did get the gold medal…
@Michael
I don’t see anything unethical at all with your race description. That’s racing. The guy you beat probably should have sat up at some point and motioned you through or worked out another way of conserving energy – his mistake – your gain. I’ve made the same mistake myself often enough.
@G’phant
Thank god you are here. I like your John Gadret, Young Roche connection as I think they are directly connected. Had Gadret won the stage he might have justified that fuck up. Or N.Roche’s Da attacking his own teammate who was leading the Giro and Roche made good on that ballsy move by winning the whole thing. Does it come down to a team vs individual code, maybe?
@michael
I had the exact same impression years ago. I think that Youtube clip didn’t show most of the last lap where Grewal did suck wheel and feigned exhaustion.
And you should not have felt badly about burning that guy…either he has to drop you or he sits up. If he tows you to the finish he is dumb.
@Oli Brooke-White
maybe I’m just an “armchair” ethicist!?! I don’t mean to criticize Grewal, I do admire his single-minded drive to win. But I wouldn’t want him as my teammate. We all need a sit-down in Wellington over pints to really get a good argy going. This would be much funnier with G’phant and ales.
@michael, @Kiwicyclist
Michael, you taking advantage of the stronger rider was no less ethical than “allowing” him to win, which is just as bad a call. In fact, this happens in the Pro bunch and people are offered deals such as payments for allowing another rider to win. In Italy, I believe, this is actually illegal and punishable through the legal system. (There was a big stink about this in ’06 when Basso allegedly offered Simoni some cash to take the win.)
Bottom line is that a lot of what happens when racing is emotional, judgements are made when the mind has very little oxygen and ambition runs wild. None of it is “wrong”, but each of us with racing backgrounds know when we won fairly and when we didn’t; despite the rules. Which is precisely why I love it so much when you come across a racer at the highest level who exhibits that kind of judgment – like Ullirch on Luz Ardiden in ’03.
@G’phant
Yeah, that’s something I was thinking about too; if Phinney was the leader and depending on team support, then he was making a cunning move to gain an advantage. If the team setup was “every man for himself” then he made a reckless move. Based on traditional racing tactics, as leader, he should have been able to count on the support of his team. But, relying on his team for support to that degree is no doubt a risky move – certainly for the marginal gains that a skinsuit might offer in a race where you spend most of the day in the bunch.
Either way, it is clear from the article that he “lied” – he used that word for a reason. He felt it was dishonest. End of.
@frank
“Which is precisely why I love it so much when you come across a racer at the highest level who exhibits that kind of judgment – like Ullirch on Luz Ardiden in ’03.” Or Faboo on Stockeu in 2010 … ?
@michael
Coming over the top of a guy might have been a dodgy move if there was an agreement between you two, ie. if you were both “in on the joke” from the time you asked for mercy if you then worked together to the line.
However in your case, you asked for mercy and the sonofabitch attacked you! As far as I can see it was gloves off from there on in. What’s worse is that the dumb fucker had the opportunity to do a deal with his only effective opposition – you – and instead he tried to put you to the sword. Of course this presupposes that you weren’t known as a dodgy bastard who would break agreements!
On the contrary to your conflicted emotions, your only rational and moral response was to wheelsuck after this guy tried to bury you. Go to your grave with a clean conscience my son.
@ Marcus – dead right.
Ah, nice to see HIking Boot Man the Taller appear on Velominati. He’s a bit of a mythical creature around these parts (Fort Collins, CO), with accounts of sightings as varied, conflicting, and undocumented as that of Bigfoot (see link). Even if his comeback doesn’t pan out, he will remain a source of chatter for all the riders and racers around this area.
@all
I guess after posting that and letting it sit there for a bit what I’ve come up with is this. After 26 years it doesn’t sit well with me and therefore I accept that it doesn’t sit well, yes maybe I was justified, maybe he was, maybe we both were, maybe it doesn’t matter. It is however interesting to see everyone’s reactions.
In the end if I’m not happy with it I’m the one who has to live with it and so does Grewal. I’m guessing like any normal human he has mixed feelings about it.
@michael
In your best Chopper voice, “hi everybody, this is Michael. Michael won a bike race 26 years ago using perfectly legitimate tactics. However Michael is internally conflicted because he feels he wasn’t 100% gallant in how he won. Harden the fuck up Michael”
great article and great comments!
@Nicole
I’ve seen him.
I for one hopes AG does make it back. I think in light of the circumstances surrounding his racing in the Olympics as a virtual privateer I’d say “bugger off – I’m here to win” to everyone too.
@Marcus
Brilliant! But wouldn’t Chopper also have something to say to the whining nancy who begged the other guy to slow down? It might be the same thing…
Big Foot has a massive Rule #44 violation. However, I’m pleased to see he does not ride with a European Posterior Man-Satchel.
Not to mention the unshaved legs!
Bigfoot punches a huge hole in the wind. He’d be a hell of a leadout man.