he's such a good boy!

Watching Chris Horner bust his ass in the break on the Champs Elysees in his second consecutive Tour I can't help but to think of how far he's come. He was a teammate of Floyd Landis on the Mercury Cycling Team during its torrid existence. Before that he cut his teeth w/ Francaise des Jeux, but that unfortunately didn't go according to plan. After 3 hard learned seasons he was back in the States where he began his domination of the US racing scene.

I got to meet him when he was riding for Prime Alliance. The team was in town for the Clarendon Cup known now as the CSC Invitational. They stopped by my shop after a training ride and not everyone was happy to be there. But Chris was cool, talking to everyone as he signed everything thrown at him. I got a chance to talk w/ all of them during a lull in the madness and once again he was the happy to oblige. He even maintained his cool as some of the Saturn Team riders strolled in for their session and started a little good natured shit talking. I can't remember if it was Tim Johnson that started it but one of the PA guys shut 'em all down saying something about having Playstation on the team bus. Funny enough Chris transferred to Saturn the next year where he really killed it.

Now he's back in Europe and killing it again. I'm sure that it gives many of the racers in the U.S. a huge boost as Chris didn't win everything, so if they want to make the jump they'll feel better about their chances. He was always the hardest working and it's awesome seeing him back at the top level of the sport and producing results. He's definitely not pack fodder anymore!

You should check out his video blogs on VeloNews. If you want to hear the insight of what was going down at the Tour these clips and much of the others are ripe w/ tasty tidbits.

Sorry for the picture Chris, but I'm not sure how many know of your look early in this century and I felt it was my duty!


T-Tags:cycling, Tour De France, Chris Horner, VeloNews,