John Vande Velde, a Hall of Famer, was a three-time national champion in the individual pursuit and a two-time Olympian — 1968 and 1972 — on the track. He also appeared in the classic cycling film “Breaking Away” as an Italian bike racer, one of the Team Cinzano bad guys.
Christian Vande Velde is a cyclist who formerly worked as what the cycling world calls a "domestique." Domestiques are the team members who have the principal job, as I take it from the article, of fetching bottles of water for the more famous members of the team (Lance Armstrong, for example). The paragraph above is about Christian's dad. "Breaking Away" is one of my favorite movies! I wonder if John Vande Velde is the guy who stuck that (stick? what was it?) thing in Dave's spokes?
I like the tone of the article - apparently this guy needed a push to go for it, to stop working for others and to realize his own potential as a cyclist just as good as the big names with whom he worked. That push was the birth of his daughter, and wondering if she would be proud of him for making a career as just a helper to the other riders.
My guess is yes, she would've been. But still, nice to hear that this guy examined his life and his accomplishments, and decided he wanted to change, though, just to be clear, I think he did accomplish a lot in his life. But look how much potential he has. And as a 32 year old, to be realizing it just now, that's pretty cool. As a team captain, he has lots more opportunities to show what he can do. I hope he makes it. He seems like a nice person.
Breaking Away!? OMG. My older brother was attending IU when this was filmed, and all we heard about from him for a year or two afterward was cycling lingo and talk of the "cutters."
ReplyDeleteAh, memories.