Tour de Todd

John DeLong fell in love with cycling at an early age. I think his love of the bike was nurtured through the simple fact his dad owned a bike shop. John met a kid who raced for the "Future Champion Cycling Club." He began heading up from Virginia to Pennsylvania to race and train with the club. John says he had a hard time with junior racing because it was too short. But once he started...

John Slover started racing BMX in Southern California. He says he got a chance to ride and hang out with some top pros like Eric Rupe to Byron Friday. He raced BMX until he was 22 years old. Once stepped away from racing BMX he went to roller skating and eventually started racing inline skates. Inline skating opened the door to racing a road bike.  Once he witched to racing on the road he came acr...

Peter Stetina raced 10 years at the highest level of road racing, the World Tour. This man had a great career racing a total 8 Grand Tours, Liege Bastogne Liege, to Strade Bianche to name a few races.  In 2019 he decided it was time to do something else. He decided to race gravel races. He recently won the Grasshopper Adventure to start his 2023 season off on the right foot. Along the way he'...

Andreas Muller was born and raised in Berlin, Germany. He started racing at 14 years old  which he considered late. At the time the scene in Berlin was full of crits, road races and track races every weekend. He didn't have to travel far to get his fill of races. Andreas says he wasn't very good when he first started so he's a great example of hard work really does pay off.  He star...

Chris Lillywhite started racing when he was 14 years old. His first love was football. But he began to get into some trouble and his dad made the decision they were going to do something together so he bought them bikes. Shortly after getting a bike he began racing. In a two year span as a junior Lillywhite won 21 races and a national kilo championship on the track. From that kilo ride he made the...

Len PettyJohn got started with bike racing while in school in Wisconsin. His first race was in 1974 in Colorado. He would eventually take a break from racing and riding. But the draw of organizing a team pulled him right back in. In the beginning he set up teams like Aspen Skiwear/Dia Coupe, McDonalds to Lowery's Meat Snacks. Len stepped it up in the 80's with teams such as Lowenbrau, Cr...

Mark McKay got interested in racing bikes by watching the 1984 Olympics here in America. He vividly remembers Alexi Growl and Steve Bauer coming to the line. Mark says within two weeks he'd quit football, had his mom buy him a bike and did his first race, a time trial.  The kid from Northampton was hooked on bike racing. For the first three years Mark focused on time trials and yes he broke t...

Scott Monger got involved in riding and racing through his dad. At the time Scott's family lived in Wichita, Kansas. BMX is where he got his start. Eventually he moved on to road racing when his BMX bike got stolen. He used the insurance money to buy a road bike. At 14 Scott started doing club rides. By the time he was 15 he had taken out a license with the USCF and began racing as a junior. ...

Dave Towle grew up in Boulder, Colorado. It was a time when the Coors Classic was the biggest bike race outside of Europe. The race was a big influence on Dave. It's actually off of the reasons he ended up getting into the bike industry. By his account he was until his 20's a journey man mechanic/bike shop guy.  Dave ended up taking a hiatus from the bike industry to follow the Grateful...

Ed Clancy is from a place called Barnsley, in the U.K. He's a guy who didn't come from a cycling family so his accomplishments are that more amazing. Ed says he was the bike as  freedom.  His very first race was a club 10 mile time trial. He didn't do so well but it didn't deter him from pursuing his dreams.  Ed was just starting his A-levels for school when he got not the Brit...

Red Walters is a cool dude. I noticed him a few years back while reading about U.K. road racing. I've followed Red ever since. When I see Red Walters I see the faces of Maurice Burton, David Clarke to Russell Williams. All black cyclists from the U.K. and extremely talented.  Walters earned a bike from his dad with good grades. Two weeks later he did his first race. He was restricted to the s...

Mathieu Hermans is a Dutch legend. He started racing in 1971 when he was 8-years-old. He didn't win right away when he was young. But by the time he was 15 he was raising his hands while riding across the finish line quite often. As an amateur he raced a number of World Championships for cyclocross and on the road. He even raced the great Tour de L' Avenir. He credits that race for makin...

Yoeri Havik comes from a cycling family. His uncle is the great six day Danny Stam. He started racing when he was nine years old. he raced all over Holland. He says he didn't really start to win until he was around 14 years old. By the time he was 16 he was racing with the Dutch national track team. At 17 Yoeri began training with his uncle Danny and travel internationally to race. Between th...

Rico Rogers is from New Zealand but currently lives in Australia. To be exact he raised in Palmerston North. Rico started out on mountain bikes and was quite successful at it. Eventually he took a break and started real life. By the time he was 28 the bike racing bug had bit him again. This time he decided to focus on road racing.  Rico decided if he was going to race he might as well do it in the...

Alex Stieda is a Canadian cycling legend. He was a hockey player first. To keep up his fitness in the off season he turned to riding a bike. He bought a $20 bike and started doing long rides. Simply by chance a neighbor who was involved in cycling suggested he race a local 10 mile time trial. Each week Stieda says he just continued to get faster and faster. Then someone suggested he try track raci...

Dr. Jason Galeah is with a program called "Headset Sports." They work with elite athletes. He also has a private practice working with people dealing with anxiety, depression as well as working with athletes with focus and confidence issues. But for this interview we're discussing issues around concussions and concussion rehabilitation.  Dr. Galeah has a long standing working relati...

Thomas Craven was raised in Winston Salem, North Carolina. At first he had not interest in racing bikes. He played soccer. Yet, there was a bike race held in front of his childhood home. That race would lead to his family hosting guys like Australian great Danny Clark. Once he watched Athens Twilight criterium in person he knew he wanted to race a bike. Once he got started he progressed quickly. A...

Jason Allen is a kiwi legend. He was initially into soccer before he discovered the bike. He got on the bike to stay in shape for soccer. He quickly gravitated towards track cycling. He got good at racing a bike pretty quick. In 1998 he did the Junior worlds in Cuba. He says he began traveling the world to race an it opened his eyes. Eventually he decided to race in the U.S. He based himself at T-...

This is the third and last episode with Freddie Rodriguez. We sit down and talk about the foundation he started after retiring, coaching, his clothing line, and life with his wife and three kids. 

In the 2nd part of my interview with Freddie Rodriguez we start where we left off at, coming off the Poggio in Milan San Remo in 2002. We dig into what he was thinking, feeling, and his positioning to set him up for the sprint. From there we talk about Ghent Wevelgem, his first ride in Paris Roubaix, and whether he did anything special to his bike for that race.  Eventually we touch on him leaving...

Freddie Rodriguez followed in his dad's footsteps when it came to racing his bike. His dad was a racer in Colombia in 50's and 60's. His inspiration came during the 1984 Olympics when he saw Alexi Grewal win the road race and a gold medal.  At 11-years-old he got a used bike from his dad. Freddie quickly realized the freedom of riding. His first race was a criterium and his first cl...

Today's episode is all about music. Since I'm having  road bike issues I'm forced to get on my trainer in the garage and go at it. Music is a must so I've created a few playlists. I'll be sharing them as time goes on and hope to hear from you about what you like listening to. Maybe ya'll can introduce me to some new music.  1) Artist: A. Billi Free & The Lasso, Al...

The "Star Track Youth Program" is based around the Kissena Velodrome in Flushing, Queens. The program focuses on kids between the ages of 8-16 from under resourced communities. Star Track is a 100% free program. The kids set goals, participate in a weekly training schedule and become part of a competitive cycling team. In 2022 Star Track starts a UCI track team. Members on the team inclu...

Tommy Nankervis comes from a cycling family. His dad raced and his grandfather raced. But, it was the great Sid Patterson who first got him on the track. Patterson was a world champion as an amateur and professional. He also won countless Australian national championship titles. And it was Tommy who won the 1st ever Sid Patterson Grand Prix  which is held annually. In his younger years he rod for...

Michael Maarten started out knowing he always wanted to be a biker racer. His parents made him wait to race. Michael's parents wanted him to focus on school. He did get started at 17 years old and a few years later he won a silver medal in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal in the kilo. Here's what you didn't know, he won without ever having coach to guide him. Track racing was always hi...