Greg Lemond's Autograph

Unfortunately there's not a lot of contrast between the marker he used and the poster.

1979 was a good year for me. My parents were not ones to throw their kids the keys to the car and wish them well. 1979 was the year that I discovered my independence in the form of a bicycle. I discovered that given an appropriate application of time and effort I could go anywhere on the bike. Of course, time was the major constraint, speed was of the essence. If I could just go faster... thus began an interest in racing. It was at a local citizen race that I heard that the Italians were coming!! Sort of. Like the fictional Dave Stoller I was soon to be exposed to the upper levels of the sport, except there weren't going to be any Italians there, and they didn't let citizen racers line up with the Cat 1/2s. But the Wisconsin Milk Races were big money events for the time and one leg of the series was coming to Appleton, Wisconsin, a criterium. That was close enough that I would be able to pry those keys loose from my parents, throw the bike in the back of the car and go.

Like the fictional Dave Stoller, the race proved to be quite an education. In the citizen race I learned that you had better go like a bat out of hell from the start if the distance is short. The guy who already knew that won, my result was less spectacular.

The real lessons were reserved for the main event. Like the citizens it appeared that the key was to go like blazes from the start. Unlike the citizens they didn't get to quit and rest after a couple of laps. Lap after lap they flew around the course like maniacs, rider after rider attempting to leave his compatriots behind only to be swept up by the relentless pace. I had never seen anything like it.

Eventually one rider did make his escape. Ian Jackson, a professional from Australia added an international flair to the event, and also a dash of speed. He did the impossible, he opened up a gap on the howling banshees of the peloton. There was one banshee that was up to the challenge, and a skinny kid from Nevada riding for Avocet joined Jackson off the front. The two of them packed the race up and carried it away, and on the finishing sprint the kid from Nevada smoked Jackson for the win. After the race I find out that the skinny kid was racing as a Junior. A Junior!!

Two days later I had the citizen's race dialed in with a 3rd place finish at the Green Lake Road Race. I won a certificate for a gallon of paint, my first prize in the sport. I still have it. I sat around waiting for the finish of the Cat 1/2 road race, and again the skinny kid from Nevada came in first, but this time he was all alone. That's when I started following the career of Greg Lemond.

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