I had the luxury of riding with Chris about 3 weeks ago in Golden up Lookout and around roads I have no clue where we were but Chris could probably recite the route and alternative routes like rain man dropping numbers. I learned that studying maps is one of his many hobbies so that guy knows every route! Above all Chris is a funny guy who likes to talk to you, about anything, especially football if you happen to be a Steelers fan.
Below is a bio I got from Chris, because I could never get it together and do a interview of him... darn day job keeps getting in the way. Thanks Chris for sharing
1985 started riding and racing at 14 in Pennsylvania. We couldn't drive, so created our own stage race "The Tour of Visette". Don't really know where that name came from. We made leaders jerseys out of white t-shirts from JC Penney.
We found somebody who could drive, and got to the Tour of Somerville, where I got crushed by the 7-11 junior team with Jonas Carney. Wow - a serious eye-opener.
Started working at Klein Bikes in Chehalis WA in 1987, did my first mountain bike race in Ashland Oregon - The Revenge of the Siskiyous. Then went to Crystal Mtn, WA - the Specialized Rockhopper series. Greg Herbold was racing XC at the time. Got 7th in juniors, and got beer poured on my head by the Klein family. Was 16. Worked at Klein after high school and summers in college until 1992. Did my first century at Seattle to Portland with Gary Klein.
I raced both mountain and collegiate road while I lived in Pittsburgh - talk about awful racing conditions. We did a lot of 3 stage omniums: tt, crit, rr. One tt we still call "the Blizzard time trial" because it was snowing so badly that nobody warmed up, we just sat in the cars with the heat on. Then we got out and raced, and everyone fell down at the turnaround - it was so slushy. We raced the Month of Mud cyclocross series in western PA. One race had a creek crossing, and at registration they would always post the water temperature so you'd know what to expect. 38 degree water is cold on racing legs!
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