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JOHAN AND
ME
Club members may be aware of a friendly rivalry between Ken Beck and
Ray Green (aka L'ancien P-B-P ).  The
source of this petty squabble is attendance at World Road Championships
with Ramon, naturally, claiming the top spot. Both tifosi (is that
plural?) watched Tom Simpson win at Lasarte in 1965 ( R.A.Robson and
a boyish Paul Mayor also attended) but Ramon scored a major triumph
when in 1974 he jetted off to Montreal to watch Eddy Merckx win alone.When
our august gen.sec. discovered that The Worlds were to be held in
Ontario, Canada in 2003 he felt this was his opportunity to erase
this long-standing slight.
Plans were laid, even Mrs Beck was enrolled as a decoy as Ken thought
that nobody would believe that Jeanette would go within a thousand
miles of a bike race. Instead of discussing the relative chances of
Oscar and Paulo crafty Ken spoke of little but his anticipation of
the delights of New England in the 'Fall'. However Ken was not alone
in planning a transatlantic trip. Ramon recruited Paul Mayor and Dave
Livingstone and courtesy of Mrs Green, British Airways' last remaining
link with the age of flying boats, seats were booked to Toronto.
Ken having departed in September the intrepid trio arrived in Ontario
on the Monday of race week. They headed in the direction of Niagara
to find a hotel and were lucky enough to get a room in the hotel used
by the U.S. and New Zealand teams. There was some confusion between
Paul and the receptionist over the question of him sleeping in a "cot".
She explained that what we would call a cot is a "crib"
and a cot is a folding bed. Little was seen of the forty strong Yank
party as they eat in a reserved dining room but Ramon took the opportunity
to try big George's 62cm. Trek for size. The next day was spent on
the Tourist Trail at Niagara Falls which was very enjoyable. Wednesday
and Thursday were spent watching the Time Trials and Ramon was quick
to point out that David Millar is the second Brit. together with Bradley
Wiggins who, having in their early years ridden on the roads of West
London with L'ancien P-B-P, have gone on to win a rainbow jersey in
2003.
After the Pro time trial we moved to Hamilton to await the arrival
of the Becks from their leaf- spotting expedition. Surprisingly Ken
was so enthralled by the sylvan delights of the Appalachians that
he arrived late and missed Millar's tour de force. However he was
the first to spot a star, casually mentioning that he had shared the
lift with JOHAN! It was quickly realised that notwithstanding the
down at heel nature of the hotel it was full of superstars. The Quick-Step
management team of Patrick Lefevere, Wilfred Peeters and Alvaro Crespi
plus Johan Museeuw were staying. Also seen were Bjarne Riis, Laurent
Jalerbert and Bernard Thevenet. On saturday morning Ramon joined Johan
and Riis in the lift. He pointed out to Johan that there are just
three cyclists in the lift and between us we have won the Tour de
France, a Green Jersey, a Rainbow jersey, twelve World Cup races and
the Ribble Valley third/juniors-AMAZING.
Like Nicole Cooke we were disappointed by her bronze medal. The Swedish
winner Susanne Ljungskog was a real wheel sucker being able to follow,
with ease, all the moves but never once hitting the front until the
last fifty metres. Still that's bike racing. The womens' race indicated
that the parcours was not as difficult as predicted and suddenly Bettini
didn't seem such a sure bet. Oscar Freire was mentioned as a possible
and even Eric Zabel was considered. The 'name- writers' seemed more
cerebral than in Europe. Under Eric Zabel's name on the road was Eric
Idle and Eric Blair!
On Saturday night we went to the Sheraton hotel hoping to pick up
a start list when the Great Man staggered into the lobby. Yes Eddy
was sloshed! If only we had a camera we could have sold the pictures
to the Belgian equivalent of Hello. Perhaps the most interesting thing
is that we again saw Big Ted two days later and he was wearing the
same beer stained shirt! A man after my own heart.
On Sunday the long threatened rain finally arrived but only briefly
and the sun soon reappeared. We were honoured to have Mrs Beck along
and were pleasantly surprised to see her engrossed in the race for
all six and one half hours. The course was crowded but it was generally
possible to find a space at the barrier to lean against and enjoy
the ambiance. The crowd was different from Europe with less hard core
fans but lots of cycling ladies of a certain age showing off their
well preserved bodies in tight lycra. They understood zilch about
racing tactics but being active cyclists they could share the pain
of forty two climbs in 165 miles.
On Monday morning we hired a rather flashy Pontiac Grand Am and cruised
to the Toronto lake shore for a look at the extemely tall building
with a revolving caff, the name of which escapes me. Fortunately Paul
was able to describe the construction highlights and explain that,
in some ways, it was similar to a very large water tower, but without
the water, if you follow me. We then took the overnight flight home
and Paul, Dave and Ramon, on entering the Jumbo, heard the steward
say the most sought after words in civil aviation "Turn left
Sir" and so into Club and a relaxing night stretched out in a
sleeper seat. It is good to know that Mrs Green's thirty years loyal
service to the national flag carrier Imperial Airways, B.O.A.C. and
latterly B.A. can secure ageing travellers those little perks that
make international race following so enjoyable.
Some may say it is a long way to go to watch a race that only came
alive in the last twenty minutes but that is to miss the point. When
I went into the Press Centre and was able to congratulate
Valverde on his fine second place, to see his genuine delight and
to have him autograph the race result it was just magic. Roll on Verona
2004.
From your Sussex Correspondent Ramon Verde Bahamonde |
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