ColinOldnCranky wrote:brentono wrote:With respect to Greg Lemond, but American's cycling really only began and now ended with LA.
Long ago - the days when I actually rode a real bike - as far as I was concerned Lemond was household name. At least as far as any cyclist was in Oz.
I can't claim however to being an American and it would not surprise me at all if they were ignorant of Lemond. If it wasn't happening in America then it wasn't happening. Very insular.
I mean, the only reason God invented war was so that Americans could learn some geography.
Long ago, Colin... amusing. I remember the same ignorance to Cycling in Australia.
And in America, much the same, maybe until around late 80's when Lemond was peaking.
Still I don't think he got the blanket cover of L.A. (who was all about P.R... his and building a brand)
He's a good wrap, from a journo (Bicycling Mag), who was a cyclist at the time-
When I was twenty years old, Greg LeMond won his first world road race championship, and I remember reading about it in the newspaper, a small item, really, in a Wisconsin newspaper’s sports section, which mentioned that he was a likeable person and quoted him, after the race, saying he would now be famous in Europe but probably not in America and that he had no control over that kind of thing, anyway. His fame, the article implied, was somebody else’s concern, not his. I hadn’t seen the race, nor had I really ever heard much of anything about bicycle racing before this, but I knew right then that Greg LeMond was a special person, a world-class person comfortable in his own skin and not letting it go to his head.
The rest for him, of course, is legend: the three Tours de France, the recovery from the accidental shooting, the absolutely amazing road race win at the 1989 World Championships, and on and on.
http://www.bicycling.com/news/featured- ... ond-chance
It wasn't till the 90's when America woke-up to Cycling, maybe Aussie was still behind them, also.
As they were in one of the U.S. "meet and greet" travel visits to 'Nam for a 10-year "police-ing" Tour.
Think we are of the same thought. "Don't mention the war.... "
Cheers