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Chris Horner on my flight Monday
Chris Horner was in the row in front of us as my son & I returned from
France on Monday. E+ section on UA 943 (Paris-Chicago). I've come across Chris a few times before, and he always comes across as a genuinely nice guy. He had some interesting stories to tell about the Roach Motel they stayed in; it had apparently been bombed (fumigated) a couple days earlier, smelled like it, and had dead & not-quite dead roaches all over the hallways, with staff at the hotel making no attempts to clean them up (just went to some trouble to avoid stepping on them). Sounds like a far cry from the palatial hotel the Disco boys were staying in while in Pau (had to pick something up there; pretty heavy security, as you'd expect). My son didn't think it was Chris at first, even though he'd met him a few days earlier in Pau. When I suggested to him that's who it was, he told me "No way, that guy looks really old." Had to explain to him what years of riding in the sun does to you. :) At customs in Chicago, Chris was just ahead of us in line. When it was our turn, I mentioned to the agent that the guy he'd just helped was one of the riders from the Tour de France. He seemed totally unimpressed by that. Guess it could have been worse; what if the agent had been on the take from L'Equippe? Overall we had a great trip. My son (14 years old) tackled the Port du Bales and Col d'Aubisque and actually had a good time doing them. Quite a change from where he was two years ago, devoted to TV & video games. --Mike Jacoubowsky Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReaction.com Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA |
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Chris Horner on my flight Monday
"Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote in message
t... Chris Horner was in the row in front of us as my son & I returned from France on Monday. E+ section on UA 943 (Paris-Chicago). I've come across Chris a few times before, and he always comes across as a genuinely nice guy. He had some interesting stories to tell about the Roach Motel they stayed in; it had apparently been bombed (fumigated) a couple days earlier, smelled like it, and had dead & not-quite dead roaches all over the hallways, with staff at the hotel making no attempts to clean them up (just went to some trouble to avoid stepping on them). Sounds like a far cry from the palatial hotel the Disco boys were staying in while in Pau (had to pick something up there; pretty heavy security, as you'd expect). My son didn't think it was Chris at first, even though he'd met him a few days earlier in Pau. When I suggested to him that's who it was, he told me "No way, that guy looks really old." Had to explain to him what years of riding in the sun does to you. :) At customs in Chicago, Chris was just ahead of us in line. When it was our turn, I mentioned to the agent that the guy he'd just helped was one of the riders from the Tour de France. He seemed totally unimpressed by that. Guess it could have been worse; what if the agent had been on the take from L'Equippe? Overall we had a great trip. My son (14 years old) tackled the Port du Bales and Col d'Aubisque and actually had a good time doing them. Quite a change from where he was two years ago, devoted to TV & video games. In one San Francisco Gran Prix Chris was asked to come over to the press area and be interviewed and then everyone mobbed Lance and left him standing there for about 15 minutes before he got tired of waiting and left. Even though that would have ****ed me off, it didn't seem to bother Chris at all. There's no doubt that he has a really good attitude. Something very good for a single Dad to have. |
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Chris Horner on my flight Monday
On Aug 1, 8:32 pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:
Chris Horner was in the row in front of us as my son & I returned from France on Monday. E+ section on UA 943 (Paris-Chicago). I've come across Chris a few times before, and he always comes across as a genuinely nice guy. He had some interesting stories to tell about the Roach Motel they stayed in; it had apparently been bombed (fumigated) a couple days earlier, smelled like it, and had dead & not-quite dead roaches all over the hallways, with staff at the hotel making no attempts to clean them up (just went to some trouble to avoid stepping on them). Sounds like a far cry from the palatial hotel the Disco boys were staying in while in Pau (had to pick something up there; pretty heavy security, as you'd expect). My son didn't think it was Chris at first, even though he'd met him a few days earlier in Pau. When I suggested to him that's who it was, he told me "No way, that guy looks really old." Had to explain to him what years of riding in the sun does to you. :) At customs in Chicago, Chris was just ahead of us in line. When it was our turn, I mentioned to the agent that the guy he'd just helped was one of the riders from the Tour de France. He seemed totally unimpressed by that. Guess it could have been worse; what if the agent had been on the take from L'Equippe? Overall we had a great trip. My son (14 years old) tackled the Port du Bales and Col d'Aubisque and actually had a good time doing them. Quite a change from where he was two years ago, devoted to TV & video games. --Mike Jacoubowsky Chain Reaction Bicycleswww.ChainReaction.com Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA Cool story, and I second the opinion that Chris is a really nice guy. Bill C |
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Chris Horner on my flight Monday
In article ,
"Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote: Chris Horner was in the row in front of us as my son & I returned from France on Monday. E+ section on UA 943 (Paris-Chicago). I've come across Chris a few times before, and he always comes across as a genuinely nice guy. He had some interesting stories to tell about the Roach Motel they stayed in; it had apparently been bombed (fumigated) a couple days earlier, smelled like it, and had dead & not-quite dead roaches all over the hallways, with staff at the hotel making no attempts to clean them up (just went to some trouble to avoid stepping on them). Sounds like a far cry from the palatial hotel the Disco boys were staying in while in Pau (had to pick something up there; pretty heavy security, as you'd expect). Based on my travels, Europeans have a very different expectation out of a hotel. No surprise that the Belgian Predictor-Lotto team picked that hotel. OMG. -- |
#5
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Chris Horner on my flight Monday
He had some interesting stories to tell about the Roach Motel they stayed
in; it had apparently been bombed (fumigated) a couple days earlier, smelled like it, and had dead & not-quite dead roaches all over the hallways, with staff at the hotel making no attempts to clean them up (just went to some trouble to avoid stepping on them). Sounds like a far cry from the palatial hotel the Disco boys were staying in while in Pau (had to pick something up there; pretty heavy security, as you'd expect). Based on my travels, Europeans have a very different expectation out of a hotel. No surprise that the Belgian Predictor-Lotto team picked that hotel. OMG. You don't have to spend a lot of $$$ to get a passable place to sleep though. We spent our first 5 nights in an Etap in Tarbes @45 euros/night (39 for one person, 6 euro supplement for a 2nd). It certainly wasn't fancy, but it was clean, had a queen-sized bed plus bunk, TV, air conditioner and pleasant staff at the desk. Next two nights were at an Ibis in Perigueux @65 euros/night (no extra supplement). A bit nicer room, bigger bathroom, TV with same 14 channels, air conditioned. Final two nights in Paris at the Concorde Montparnasse. Seemed like the Ritz compared to the other two, but still pretty reasonable (for Paris) at 90 euro/night (prepaid rate, no cancellation allowed). Point is, it doesn't cost a fortune for a decent place to sleep. All of them were clean and comfortable, although the Etap, after bringing in two bikes, didn't have a lot of extra room! Plus no closets or drawers to put anything into either, so you're pretty much living out of your suitcase. Been there done that plenty of times before though! --Mike Jacoubowsky Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReaction.com Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA |
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Chris Horner on my flight Monday
On Aug 1, 8:32 pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:
Chris Horner was in the row in front of us as my son & I returned from France on Monday. E+ section on UA 943 (Paris-Chicago). I've come across Chris a few times before, and he always comes across as a genuinely nice guy. He had some interesting stories to tell about the Roach Motel they stayed in; it had apparently been bombed (fumigated) a couple days earlier, smelled like it, and had dead & not-quite dead roaches all over the hallways, with staff at the hotel making no attempts to clean them up (just went to some trouble to avoid stepping on them). Sounds like a far cry from the palatial hotel the Disco boys were staying in while in Pau (had to pick something up there; pretty heavy security, as you'd expect). My son didn't think it was Chris at first, even though he'd met him a few days earlier in Pau. When I suggested to him that's who it was, he told me "No way, that guy looks really old." Had to explain to him what years of riding in the sun does to you. :) At customs in Chicago, Chris was just ahead of us in line. When it was our turn, I mentioned to the agent that the guy he'd just helped was one of the riders from the Tour de France. He seemed totally unimpressed by that. Guess it could have been worse; what if the agent had been on the take from L'Equippe? Overall we had a great trip. My son (14 years old) tackled the Port du Bales and Col d'Aubisque and actually had a good time doing them. Quite a change from where he was two years ago, devoted to TV & video games. --Mike Jacoubowsky Chain Reaction Bicycleswww.ChainReaction.com Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA When I flew out of Paris, I saw all the top French BMX riders, as they were headed off to Vancouver for BMX worlds. The self-supported riders were quite pleasant, as were their parents. They knew everything there was to know about their sport including all the track riders who started out of BMX, as did their parents who were accompanying them. It's quite amazing to hear a middle aged French housewife talking about Jamie Staff's palmares. She was from St. Etienne, and was claiming that Raphael Geminani's brother was working at her bank, which I found a little hard to believe, since I estimated Raphael Geminani's age as about 83 at least, and the French have a pretty much universal retirement age of 65. Anyway, things were radically different when the French national team showed up. First came a truck from the F.F.C. with 3 technicians carrying in all the team member's packed bikes, and then checking in for the riders who only had to wait as everything was being done for them. I was tempted to ask them whether they had started paying the damages they owed to the guy who got paralyzed at 1995 track worlds. As is usual for national teams, I got a clear sense of ignorance and stupidity from the riders, as opposed to the independents were pleasant and seemed fairly clever. In my experience with riders up for the national team (all Stanford graduates), the national bosses avoid independent thinking like the plague. However, among the national team members was Anne-Caroline Chausson who obviously does not fit in with my blatant stereotype. In the following week, I never heard anything about the event anywhere on the 65 cable channels at my disposal in my hotel. -ilan |
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Chris Horner on my flight Monday
On Aug 1, 8:32 pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:
Chris Horner was in the row in front of us as my son & I returned from France on Monday. E+ section on UA 943 (Paris-Chicago). I've come across Chris a few times before, and he always comes across as a genuinely nice guy. Yeah, but he come over to your house for pizza and video games? |
#8
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Chris Horner on my flight Monday
On Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:52:10 -0700, Bill C
wrote: Cool story, and I second the opinion that Chris is a really nice guy. He is also a great commentator and his video diaries on Velonews were a real plus in this year's tour. http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/new...s/13031.0.html He has a future TV/radio career if he wants it when he retires from his day job. |
#9
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Chris Horner on my flight Monday
On Aug 2, 12:03 pm, Doug Taylor wrote:
On Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:52:10 -0700, Bill C wrote: Cool story, and I second the opinion that Chris is a really nice guy. He is also a great commentator and his video diaries on Velonews were a real plus in this year's tour. http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/new...s/13031.0.html He has a future TV/radio career if he wants it when he retires from his day job. Then maybe he'll do more cyclocross too. Don't think his team is gonna let him race Nats this year like he did last year. From the Elite Men: 25 20 Christopher HORNER Specialized Bend OR 1:04:03 My wife ran registration for the last two years so she spent lots of time talking to everyone, especially the Elites to get everything set for them, and Chris is one of the people she really liked and says was great to work with and talk to. Bill C |
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