August | 2016 | Steve Tilford

I was texting Pat Lemieux yesterday, after his wife, Gwen Jorgensen, won the triathlon yesterday. I told him that I thought it was crazy how their “destiny” can be changed so drastically from the results of one sporting event. It almost doesn’t seem right, but for sure, it is true.

I personally don’t know that many people that have won the Olympics. Nearly everyone I know that has a Olympic medal is a cyclist. Well, that isn’t exactly true. I do know Michellie Jones, who won a silver medal in triathlon in Sydney. I felt bad for her, losing that race by just a couple seconds.

Of course I know all the people that won medals in Los Angeles. We had 4 riders on our Levis team that won medals. Those were Connie Carpenter, that won the women’s road race, Steve Hegg, Gold in pursuit, Nelson Vails, SIlver in Sprint, then Roy Knickman, who won bronze in TTT. There were lots of other medals won by American riders too, with Mark Gorski, etc.

But I’m not sure that I actually held a medal other than Roy’s bronze. Roy used to have a glass medal vase and all his medals were just in there. You could stick you hand into the vase and pull a medal out and it would always be amazing. Junior World Championship medal, National Championship medal, Olympic medal. It is crazy his career results. I must have seen Steve Hegg’s medal, but I can’t remember holding it. Same with Nelson’s medal.

Like I said above, an Olympic medal is a life changing deal. Especially a Gold medal. Gwen will be defined from now on by being an Olympic Champion. It isn’t a bad thing. It is funny how just one race is more important than all the rest of the races she has won, combined. This one result will open doors that would normally be closed to normal folks. Closed, locked, key thrown away to us. That is the way the world works.

I have told a ton of people, that if I were super rich, I would collect Olympic medals. I’d try to collect three medals, Gold, Silver, Bronze, from each Olympic games since their conception. Back when the Iron Curtain was up, those medals would have been a lot cheaper. Now they are pretty pricey. I check on eBay every once in a while and see the random Olympic bronze medal out there. Like a Cuban baseball medal or something. They are usually pretty beat, no ribbon, scratched up and cost somewhere over 15K.

Anyway, I hope to see Gwen’s medal sometime soon. Pat said Gwen’s season is most likely over now. I bet not, but wouldn’t put money on it. I hope it is. Then I’ll get to ride some with Pat. They both deserve some rest. They have put so much effort and time into yesterday, I’m sure it felt as much as a relief as an accomplishment.

I have this poster in the stairway going to my basement.

Gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen.

Tucker feels much better today.

Both the men’s and women’s Olympic MTB races were great last weekend. So much for a course that some described as a “bike path”. I was surprised about how many of the women started the race all bandaged up. And in the men’s race, there were tons of crashes and mechanicals, which isn’t a sign of a bike path course.

I was rooting for both Jenny Rissveds and Nino Schurter. Both ride for my friend Thomas Frischknecht’s Scott-Odlo MTB Team, so that is great for that program. I’m waiting for the mass email recapping the race.

Peter Sagan put himself in a position to make me eat my words. I didn’t see the very start, but somehow Sagan beamed himself up to the front of the race early in the first lap. That seemed nearly impossible to me. It was such drag when he flatted. I have to say, he didn’t look that comfortable following Nino around the course the first lap. He lost time on both the climbs and descents, but easily made it up through pedalling on the flats. I don’t think he would have won, but he was in the mix, so who knows.

Nino made the event look stupid easy. That guy can ride a MTB. They said he was using a 29’r, but his wheels looked smaller, so I think he might have been on a 27.5. Either way, he rode crazy smooth. I only saw him make a small mistake once which the course was slick from overnight rain.

So, Nino Schurter has his collection of Olympic medals, a gold, silver and bronze now from the last three Olympics. He doesn’t need to collect any other medals, he has his owns.

The Olympics seemed like they are over before the started. I guess that was two weeks. Man, does time pass quickly. I didn’t realize the Vuelta was 3 days in today, until today. Too much cycling to follow.

I rode my MTB 50 miles on gravel yesterday. I’m going to try to ride it a couple times a week for the next month before Chequamegon. I’m hoping the 4 criteriums over Labor Day in St. Louis, the Gateway Cup, will jump start me and give me some speed. Man, are those going to be painful.