Sunday night I went to the 7-11/BMC gala after the Pro Challenge. Trudi was going and I hadn’t seen a lot of those guys for a few years or maybe longer. There were a ton of “famous” cylists from all over the world there. Plus, sponsors galore.

The 7-11 guys got up on the stage and sat on couches and reminisced about the old days. About the first year of the team, an old communal car, and of course their recollections of first racing professionally in Europe, especially the Tour de France.

The evening was dedicated to Davis Phinney, whose son, Taylor won the last stage of the Pro Challenge that day, but more importantly is currently fighting Parkinson’s Disease.

At the end of the evening Davis had the mic and was wrapping it up and he said he especially wanted to thank me, (Steve Tilford) for attending. I thought that was really nice. Afterwards I went over to say hi and thank him for singling me out and he thanked me once again and said something about me being a true legend, which really pretty much embarrassed me.

That got me thinking about Davis and my history with him.

Early racing, Davis and I were just competitors. He was much better than me. He could out sprint me with one hand tied behind his back. He could out sprint about anyone. Every once in a while, Steve Bauer would get the best of Davis, but not that often.

Davis rode for a bunch of teams before he ended up racing for 7-11. He rode for Austro Daimler Bicycles, then AMF I think, and a defunct before it started Yoplait yougurt team. He finally ended up on 7-11.

There were really 3 teams during that time, the early to mid 80’s. 7-11, Levis, and Schwinn. Nearly all the “good” riders in the country were on one of these three teams. So, obviously we bumped heads every weekend, month after month. We went to after race parties and trained with each other when we were in the same town, but really didn’t hang out much other than that.

Connie, Davis’ wife, was riding for us, the Levis/Raleigh Team, during the 1984 season. She won the Olympic Road Race that year. But, the men’s and women’s Levis teams were pretty autonomous. We had completely different support, vehicles etc.

I remember a criterium at the Tour of Texas one year when Davis and I had a little falling out. Roy Knickman, Levis and Alex Steida, 7-11 had lapped the field in a criterium in San Antonio, I think and I was leading Roy out. Back then, great team work would be one rider on your team helping you the last lap or two. Anyway, I thought I was riding like shit, but got to the front with a couple corners to go with Roy on my wheel. I got Roy to the last corner in the lead and Roy came through on my inside and I swung off to the outside. Davis was coming by on the outside and I obviously screwed up his line, very unintentionally. Afterwards, Davis, along with Connie, came over to me and our team director, Michael Fatka and proceeded to scream about the incident. I told Davis it was completely unintentional and I was just trying to get out of the way. I normally wouldn’t of even cared about the whole thing, it was just normal criterium racing, but Connie was really on my team and I felt strange having Davis and her confront me.

Anyway, that was that and Davis raced more and more in Europe, won a couple stages of the Tour and whenever he came home after that, his sprint wasn’t quite what it used to be. He was still super fast, just not unbeatable.

Michael Engleman and I spent a month or so after the 1988 Pro World Road Championships in Belgium, racing in Europe. One of the first races was in Geneva Switzerland and Davis, Steve Bauer and a bunch of other guys were there. It was pretty much for start $$$. I think the first race was a miss and out criterium, then the 2nd, maybe a points race. Micheal was riding good and was actually out sprinting Davis for point sprints. And Michael had just about the slowest sprint on the whole Wheaties/Schwinn team. It was just about then when I realized how much speed it takes out of your legs riding 250 km stages of the Tour, day after day.

Davis rode a bit on the Coor’s Light team domestically, after leaving Europe, before he retired in the early 90’s.

Flash forward maybe 10 years later, after Davis had already been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. I was racing the Athen’s Twilight Criterium and Davis was there. I’m not sure why exactly he was watching, other than someone was doing a documentary on his life and filming him. Right when the race was over, pretty late at night, Trudi came over and told me that Davis was in hanging in the wheel pit. I asked her if she had went over and said hi, but she said that she hadn’t and was a little worried because she hadn’t seen him in so long.

I rode over to the pit and he was there. He looked pretty nervous and he was having a lot of shaking and movement issues caused by the disease. It was kind of uncomfortable just talking to him. He told me that when he got stressed out and nervous, then he had a lot more problems with the shaking and tremors. There were lots of people around and I finally asked him if he wanted to go somewhere else, sit and have a beer or something. He said sure.

I was still in my skinsuit and on my bike, and Davis was walking, so we just went around the corner a block or so off the course and sat outside. It took him a little while, but pretty soon it was as if I was just talking to “the old Davis”. No shaking of the hands, no head movement, nothing.

We talked for quite a while and then he thanked me for helping him escape from the crowds, for just being a friend, and having a beer. I’m pretty positive, that I’d never just been with Davis one on one before, just hanging out and talking. It was a huge compliment to me, that he could feel comfortable enough to laugh his great, deep laugh and just be himself. I’ve never forgotten that night and never will.

If you would like check Davis’ Parkinson’s Foundation, please click here. I’m sure he would appreciate it.

Davis and Ron Kiefel, who were nearly inseparable though out their careers.

Davis didn’t crash much, he was a very good bike handler. But, this was a bad one. I remember seeing him in Boulder a while after this accident and he looked awful. He laughed and said something about how it he thought it made him look gnarly or something like that.

Yesterday someone left a comment about me doing a local triathlon in Manhattan Kansas. It got me thinking about why I didn’t pursue the sport more. I most likely would have made a ton more money, but the fact is that it didn’t interest me much.

What is there to look forward to in a triathlon? First, you swim, which I pretty much really dislike. Especially training for swimming back and forth in a pool. Then you do a time trial on a bike, which is the segment of cycling I dislike the most. And finally you run. I don’t necessarily dislike running, I just would rather be out riding where you cover 3 X’s as much terrain in the same time period.

Plus, the time consumed training. I really couldn’t have the swim and run training cut into my cycling time, it just wouldn’t be right. So, there you have it.

I have run a few races. I probably could have been an okay runner, but probably not great. During my semester at KU, I was “training” for the annual Turkey Trot running race between KU and the Haskell Indian College, which is in Lawrence too. It was snowy, so I was running in the indoor gym. The ROTC guys were doing a timed mile in their army boots and fatigues. I didn’t have a watch and asked the guy if he could time me too. He said no problem and I got into line to wait my turn.

I don’t exactly remember how many laps it was to complete a mile. I’m thinking 7 + a little extra. Anyway, I remember thinking after 3 laps, “Wow, I’m nearly half way done, this is so short.” So I just sprinted the last half. When I got done, I asked the timer guy what my time was and he was nearly crazy. He said I ran 4:16. He was so excited. I’d timed myself before running outdoors and could run pretty easily in the 4:30’s, so it didn’t seem all that great to me. I tried much harder this time.

Anyway, he took my phone number and told me he was going to talk to the KU track coach about me. The track coach called me the next day and I went over to see him. He was pretty into the whole thing, but I told him that I was a bicycle racer and that I was going out to the Olympic Training Center to live and race bikes. That was that.

I’ve done a few other running races too. A couple 10k races, a couple 5 k. If only my win percentage in cycling could come anywhere near my win percentage in running.

I did a half marathon once too. The Topeka to Auburn Race. I was out to dinner with a bunch of friends and it was snowy and we weren’t going to be able to ride on the roads the next day, so Catherine Walberg and I decided to run the 1/2 Marathon cold turkey. We hadn’t run a step the whole year.

It started pretty fast. Eventually I was only running with this guy Dave Halferty, the best runner I know of around Eastern Kansas. He ran around a 2:20 marathon and I my memory if correct, 1:05 for the half. I think he ran for KU. Anyway, about 3/4 the way through, it gets hilly, on gravel. Dave was “attacking me” on the hills, whatever that means, but it wasn’t a problem for me. Cyclists can run so well uphill, it’s the downhill that gets us. About 3 miles from the end, after he went hard up a hill I was beyond confident, thinking I was going to smear him at the end.

About 30 seconds later I was taking 12 inch strides. Trudi was following me on her MTB bike and kept saying, stride out, or something like that. I told her I was. It was like my legs were in molasses. I looked behind me and could see no one. But, pretty soon, a guy from behind came running by like I was standing still, which I was. He ran a few hundred meters in front on me, then went over to the snowy ditch and pulled down his shorts and pooped. I ran by him while he was having his issue. But, probably a minute later he came by, again, like I was standing still. I finished 3rd, but got beat by a guy that took a shit while racing.

I think I lost something like 4 minutes in the last 2 1/2 miles, I don’t remember exactly. I’ve never experienced anything like it since, where you don’t cramp, but just tighten up so much you can move your legs much or very fast. I had to walk backwards off curbs for a week I was so sore. After the race, Catherine told me her feet hurt and when she took off her shoes, her socks were completely soaked in blood. I have no idea how she finished, I cry like a baby when I get a small blister.

Anyway, I like the sport of cycling. I think it is the monotony of both running and swimming that dulls my interest. Cycling is never monotonous. Even the same training ride I’ve done for years never seems dull. I guess there is a reason that people pick their sports, or maybe the sport picks them, I don’t know.

Here is the photo from the Topeka paper of me finishing the Topeka Tinman Triathlon. It might be my 2nd worst sports photo ever, the first being the pictures from the Master’s Cross Worlds in Louisville last year with my helmet falling off the back of my head.