MDcatV

https://www.velonews.com/article/77479

anyone else watch this episode of "intervention" last night on A&E? fascinating show.

92degrees

Like a train wreck it was difficult to look away. Hard to imagine that poking LA in the belly and calling him "doughboy" would have been a good career move at Postal. Guess it wasn't.

redal

Chad raced for USPS in 1996. Lance didn't race for them until 1998. The timeline on the show was a little screwed up, I think for dramatic effect. The "doughboy" incident actually happened at the Olympic Training Center in 1991. A bunch of us juniors were there trying to make the junior worlds team and Lance, Bobby Julich and Jonas Carney were there training for the upcoming nationals in Park City. Chad was/is a jokester and at the time he was trying to show off and stir something up. He was a 17 year old kid and I don't think he was thinking about career moves. At the time none of us knew the juggernaut Lance would become anyways.
I was glued to the set last night. Fortunately I knew the outcome. One of my brother in law's teammates is from Sac also and had recently told him that Chad was doing well. NorCal masters better watch out, the show reported he recently got another bike and Chad can race 35+ this year.

MDcatV

^ thanks for the insight. I hope Chad's long-term (life long) recovery is as positive as the short term results on the show.

redal

^^ I do too. The show was filmed in Feb. so the three months later when they showed Chad was around late May, which is when Sayers had told Tony that Chad was doing well. It's a tough road back and I know people that have survived it and others that have thrown in the towel. Ever since Chad stopped racing, I've been hearing the second hand stories about him being on the streets of Sacramento. It wasn't until Tony told me a month ago that he had gotten cleaned up that I knew they had actually been true.

On a side note did anybody recognize Adham Sbeih?

Cleave

Hi redal,

Somehow I suspected that you knew or knew of Chad. I only saw the beginning of the show but I recorded the rest. It was pretty sad but I hope that he can stay on the road to recovery.

BTW, I saw Tony a couple of weeks ago at a middle school band concert. Alexi and my youngest son are in the band. Tony was dressed nicely in jeans and had ridden a subdued SS to the school. I was going to say hi while I was waiting for my son to put away his sax but he was on his cell engrossed in conversation.

MDcatV

didnt, but recognize the name from a few years back

any idea who the guy "chris" was at the intervention? he had a bike racer look about him.

redal

I met Chad in 1990 when we were raced against each other as juniors. We were teammates in 1994. When you watch the show, there are several pictures where Tony's face is blurred out. One from Saturn days and a couple from USPS days. They are shots from races where Tony and Chad shared the podium. The last time I think I saw Chad was when he and Tony lapped everyone at Nevada City in 2002.
Tony's son is really into the fixed gear scene so Tony has been taking him out to the track and riding a bit with him.

redal

Chris Baumann and Adham Sbeih are both NorCal bike racers. They both raced at the professional level. Adham is a super nice guy but unfortunately has a somewhat dubious distinction. The last time I saw or spoke with him was at the San Francisco Frand Prix in 2003. Chris stopped racing around 2004 or 2005.