During the 2000 (I believe) Tour de France Santiago Botero, a rider on Kelme, kept a diary. He was a great champion in his own right. I recall reading this entry back in 2000. I’m not positive if Santiago wrote this in English or if it was a translation. It’s worth a read, even now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cThere I am all alone with my bike. I know of only two riders ahead of me as I near the end of the second climb on, what most riders consider, the third worst mountain stage on the tour. I say \u2018most riders\u2019 because I do not fear mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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After all, our country has nothing but mountains. I train year-round in the mountains. I am the national champion from a country that has nothing but mountains. I trail only my teammate, Fernando Escartin, and a Swiss rider. Pantani, one of my rival climbers, and the Gringo Armstrong<\/strong> are in the Peleton about five minutes behind me. I am climbing on such a steep portion of the mountain that if I were to stop pedaling, I would fall backward. Even for a world-class climber, this is a painful and slow process. I am in my upright position pedaling at a steady pace. I\u2019m willing myself to finish this climb so I can conserve my energy for the final climb of the day. The Kelme team leader radios to me that the Gringo has left the Peleton by himself and that they can no longer see him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I recall thinking \u2018the Gringo cannot catch me by himself<\/em>\u2018. A short time later, I hear the gears on another bicycle. Within seconds, the Gringo is next to me<\/strong> \u2013 riding in the seated position, smiling at me. He was only next to me for a few seconds and he said nothing \u2013 he only smiled and then proceeded up the mountain as if he were pedaling downhill<\/strong>. For the next several minutes, I could only think of one thing \u2013 his smile. His smile told me everything. I kept thinking that surely he is in as much agony as I am. Hopefully he is struggling up the mountain as much as I am, and he only sat down to pass me to discourage me. He can\u2019t be playing games with me. Not possible. The truth is that his smile said everything that his lips did not. His smile said to me, \u201cI was training while you were sleeping<\/strong>, Santiago\u201d. It also said, \u201cI won this tour four months ago, while you were deciding what bike frame to use in the tour. I trained harder than you did, Santiago. I don\u2019t know if I am better than you, but I have outworked you and right now, you cannot do anything about it. Enjoy your ride, Santiago. See you in Paris.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Obviously, the Gringo did not state any of this, but his smile did dispel a bad rumor among the riders on the tour. The rumor that surfaced as we began the Prologue several days ago told us that the Gringo had gotten soft. His wife had given birth to his first child, and he had won the most difficult race in the world. He had no desire to race or to win. I imagine that his smile turned to laughter once he was far enough away not to embarrass me. The Gringo has class, but if he heard the rumors, he probably laughed all the way to Paris. He is a great champion. I must train harder. I am not content to be just a great climber. I want to be the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I learned much from the Gringo while climbing the mountains. I will never forget the helpless feeling I had yesterday. If I ever become an international champion, I will always remember the lesson the Gringo taught me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Before discussing the important part of this diary entry, I want to address the proverbial elephant in the room…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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At the time this was written, my feelings about Lance Armstrong were complicated. Personally, I always cheered for his rivals Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani during these years (also dopers). During this era I enjoyed watching Laurent Jalabert (also a suspected doper) as well. Doping was rampant in this period of cycling, it almost certainly still is and it was an issue before this too. That’s another post… Anyhow, my mother had died from cancer about 10 years prior to the 2000 Tour, so seeing Lance comeback from his battle with cancer was of course inspiring. It’s also very difficult to understate the impact he had on bringing cycling into popular culture in America. During his years racing, it was not uncommon to see the (often delayed broadcast) of the Tour being played on televisions at bars and restaurants. You could walk into an Outback Steakhouse at 5 pm and the Tour was being played and watched–actually watched–by most of the people there. It was wild. In terms of popularity, it was the high water mark of the sport of cycling in the United States in the modern era. As an aside, before cars, bicycle racing in America was HUGE (e.g. https:\/\/fi.edu\/en\/science-and-education\/collection\/bicycle-heroes<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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