I Made a Deal in a Bike Race and It Haunted Me for 15 Years

We’d just finished five consecutive days of national calendar criterium racing, and in about a week’s time we’d line up at the under-23 national championship in Gainesville, Florida.During that dreamy, formative summer, I’d raced my bicycle in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Massachusetts, Arkansas, and Wisconsin. Along the way, he learned that the Mercy team employed two masseuses, and each of the team’s riders had received an hour-long rub in the week preceding the national championship race. That’s how Mike and his dad got to bike races.In that two-man breakaway at the under-23 national championship in the sprinkling rain and sun in a swamp outside of Gainesville, Florida, Mike remembers that at about one kilometer to go, the other racer turned to him and reminded him that they had a deal, that Mike had said he wouldn’t sprint.But Mike can’t remember if he acknowledged the other racer.

Source: www.bicycling.com