Professional Cycling For the Fans - Levi Leipheimer - weird trivia bit

From USA cycling:

"Levi, who was a competitive skier from age 12-19, graduated from Rowland Hall-St. Mark’s School in 1992. Levi is married to his wife, Odessa, and the couple has a home in Santa Rosa, Calif. with six cats."

I wonder if the cats were Levi's idea, or his wife's?

:D

http://www.usacycling.org/bios/user/bio.php?id=27

Levi is married to his wife
I certainly hope so...

I was really rooting for him. If he had more team support throughout the tour, he may have had a bit more of a time gap before entering the final TT.

With a time gap of 2 seconds, everyone--except Gerolsteiner--anticipated an attack from Vinokourov. The Gerolsteiner team passively reacted all day long to the Kazak's repeated attacks. They should have been working for the Intermediate sprint bonuses instead of being forced to defend their position in the last 8km. Everyone knew it would be a sprinters nightmare in Paris. Not an ideal place to defend your position. Surprisingly--They sat up when the GC times were posted after entering Paris proper. They should have known the rules--Vino did! For that, they lost the difference in prize money and the humiliation in the German Press that two riders from the "Other" German team placed ahead of them.

Levi had a great tour.

What was Odessa's highest achievement as a rider?

I wonder if the cats were Levi's idea, or his wife's?


I think it was written in Procycling that Odessa adopts stray cats...

After reading Levi's tour diary on cyclingnews.com, I think he's a bit of a whiner. As an aside...Chris Horner's diary is great.

With six cats at home he shouldn't have any problem with motivation to put in long hours on his bike.

After reading Levi's tour diary on cyclingnews.com, I think he's a bit of a whiner.

What did he say that made you think he was whining?

What did he say that made you think he was whining?

Perhaps cjbruin was alluding to the way that Levi repeatedly criticized the accomodations and logistics--one night he was given a smoking room, once they didn't get off the mountain until late.

I had the opposite reaction. I was amazed that Levi was so upbeat and humble throughout his diary. Despite being exhausted after a hard day in the saddle, he composed his entries faithfully, never complaining about his team support (athough he probably could have done a bit better with a stronger team), never moaning about other racers doing him wrong, never b!tching about the course. To my mind, Levi represents the epitome of a great rider with an exceptional attitude.

Perhaps cjbruin was alluding to the way that Levi repeatedly criticized the accomodations and logistics--one night he was given a smoking room, once they didn't get off the mountain until late.

I had the opposite reaction. I was amazed that Levi was so upbeat and humble throughout his diary. Despite being exhausted after a hard day in the saddle, he composed his entries faithfully, never complaining about his team support (athough he probably counld have done a bit better with a stronger team), never moaning about other racers doing him wrong, never b!tching about the course. To my mind, Levi represents the epitome of a great rider with an exceptional attitude.

I must concur with cedo here. I read Levi's diary as very down to earth and honest. I'm actually happy he wrote that he had been given a room in the TDF that had rusty water coming out of the shower or no air conditioning in July, and that he had to sit in a team bus in a heat wave in a traffic jam. It gives a better feel for the circumstances that accompany the daily rigors of racing and the total picture the riders have to adapt to. When the racing is hard, he says so, and you can see this is a rider at the end of his rope hanging on to a top spot in the general classification.

Horner did his fair share of complaining and aside from the scene he created in a restaurant because he had difficulty getting something that wasn't on the menu for the riders, I found little difference between the two.

from cyclingnews.com Chris Horner's diary for July 20, 2005:

After the stage Sunday, it took us forever to get back to the hotel. It was unbelievable. It took at least an hour and a half after the race before the team cars that were caravaned up there got moving, and then it took another hour to get to the autoroute and then another hour to get to the hotel. So from the time the last rider finished to get to our hotel it was four hours! Then when we got to the hotel at 10 pm, we had the worst dinner ever! That's what makes it the Tour. I don't see how difficult it could be for the Tour to have some big helicopters up there to fly the riders down to the bottom of the mountain.

...On Saturday night, we were staying in a funky Balladins hotel in Foix without a restaurant. We were eating in a Buffalo Grill, like a chain steakhouse in America. It was funny story; we had a set menu of pasta and chicken, but I also wanted a hamburger. It was on the menu, so I asked, but the waiter said "it is not possible". I said "what do you mean? This is a Buffalo Grill, isn't it? You've got hamburgers, don't you?" That went on for a while, and then the manager came out and she said "it is not possible". I told them of course you can, this is Buffalo Grill and I would pay for it, but they weren't having it. Anyway, it took me four times, but eventually got my hamburger but always in France, it's "no you can't" not, "ok, you can but it will cost you this." So eventually I had my hamburger and fries and had a great race the next day!

Perhaps cjbruin was alluding to the way that Levi repeatedly criticized the accomodations and logistics--one night he was given a smoking room, once they didn't get off the mountain until late.

I had the opposite reaction. I was amazed that Levi was so upbeat and humble throughout his diary. Despite being exhausted after a hard day in the saddle, he composed his entries faithfully, never complaining about his team support (athough he probably could have done a bit better with a stronger team), never moaning about other racers doing him wrong, never b!tching about the course. To my mind, Levi represents the epitome of a great rider with an exceptional attitude.

Amazing that some of these teams have not yet figured this out. Discovery prepares its meals for its riders on race days. This is to ensure nutrition suitable for the task and to prevent food poisoning. CSC and T-Mobile both experienced Food poisoning mishaps in recent months that rendered their riders useless the following day. Maybe Gerolsteiner doesn't have the budget for in-house nutritionists, but you would think some of these logistics would be handled properly. I know what its like to race the next day after only a few hours of sleep. It affects my potential drastically.

I also know what its like coordinating large groups of people for an event. It can be done. An event of this magnitude has no excuse.

I've mentioned many times in this forum how I felt Gerolsteiner missed great opportunities. The last one is that this team on numerous occassions could have assisted Levi for better placement in GC. His loss of 20 seconds cost him $27k in additional prize money. It is by tradition that a percentage of that goes to the support team and domestiques. I bet they're kicking themselves now. Levi is an awesome competitor and woiuld have placed higher with a stronger team.