More Creed! Part 1 is here, part 2 is here.

Dan Schmalz: So do you still talk to Danny Pate?

Michael Creed: Oh yeah yeah. He lives a couple miles from me.

DS: They used to always shove you two together as the next generation. Were you on the cover of VeloNews together?

MC: No, I don’t think so.

DS: You were on the cover of something together…there was a picture of you and…

MC: We had to make money back in the day, man…cover of somethin’…we did a lot of things we’re not too proud of.

DS: There was a very gentle man in New Mexico, it’s not something I brag about…

MC: Something about being a bear and a top, I didn’t know what that meant…I thought it was about animals and toys, I don’t know.

DS: There was a very awkward exchange…but I got paid.

MC: Anyway, couple tears later…

DS: …long shower…

MC: …fifty dollars richer…

DS: …and that was more than I made as a bike racer.

MC: No, it’ll be fun to do something (for you guys), especially with the Rock team…plenty of fodder.

DS: We’ve met Michael Ball, he did the Harlem race, which we were involved in, too. You guys showed up…before, Harlem was pretty sedate, it’s an old race, been around since the 70’s. They show up, and it’s like ‘holy shit’, you know.

MC: It sounds like they were getting heckled to all living hell by the local riders. New York, good times.

DS: New York…

Alex Ostroy: They showed up the day before this little local race, which they talked to us about. “It would be great!”, you know. I couldn’t…guys were actually upset about it. Unbelievable.

DS: Well, they showed up, and they were there on the bus, and they drove on the course while the race was on. They showed up late, they got lost.

AO: So they jumped in the race a couple laps into it.

DS: And they didn’t have their helmets on, so lo and behold, everyone has to freak out. Whatever.

DS: Have you ever raced in New York?

MC: Yeah, I did that New York City Criterium with Postal. We went and rode around Central Park, some old cat took us out.

DS: Mengoni?

MC: No, it was on a ride, everybody knows him, it was an older black guy.

AO: Muggy? Avalo York?

MC: An older guy…he was an older, really nice guy, ’cause we didn’t know where to ride, he’d done that park race that morning…

AO: No, not Muggy…

DS: Could be Earl…

MC: Earl! He took us out, he did that race that morning, we didn’t show up ’til ten, so he’d still been doing laps, so he takes us over the water…I think he ended up doing 110 miles that day.

DS: You can come to our party in December, we always have a roller race.

MC: Yeah!

DS: Can you race rollers?

MC: I can ride ’em, don’t know if I can race ’em. What’s the gear limit?

DS: I dunno…

MC: Can you cheat and put 40mm tires on?

DS: There’s a rollout.

MC: So you can’t cheat and put mountain bike tires on. It’s a good excuse to get shitfaced, though.

AO: You could come MC.

MC: Oh yes! Heckle people. I’d love to, man.

DS: You and VandeVelde get along? ‘Cause he’s gonna be there.

MC: We don’t NOT get along. We don’t call each other in the off season, but we don’t avoid each other either.

DS: He’s a nice guy.

MC: Danny Pate made the perfect analogy of him. He’s the fuckin’ high school quarterback. I want to see him with a letter jacket.

DS: All American boy?

MC: Holy shit. He’s that guy.

DS: Very nice guy.

MC: Very nice, he’s definitely the popular man on campus.

DS: I’ve interviewed him before, he was actually pretty funny. He did call Commesso greasy slimeball, or something like that.

MC: I’ve got some good Commesso stories for you.

All 3 of us: OOOOOHHHHH!!!

MC: You should look up Dave McCook. Find McCook and ask him about Commesso. I think I was 19 or so, and it was Philly week. Something happened, Commesso and Dave got into it, and…

DS: This was probably Saeco Commesso…

MC: Saeco Commesso. They kinda got into it, they started scrappin’ a little bit.

DS: Was this during the race?

MC: During the race. And Commesso would always have his helmet straps back here (behind his neck), so Commesso goes and slaps Dave in the face, and dude, if you knew McCook, McCook’s a fucking MURDERER. If you saw this guy you’d honestly go to the other side of the street. Dave takes his helmet, and just chucks it. So Commesso has to stop…and I was on the same team as Dave. We’re on the fucking bike path, a year later, A YEAR LATER, after they swung and everything, A FUCKING YEAR LATER, we’re riding on the bike path, here come Saeco, here comes us, and these motherfuckers, they start sprinting at each other and lay the bikes down in the middle of the fucking bike path, A YEAR LATER, first time they saw each other.

DS: That’s so funny. So was it a slap fight, or…

MC: You could tell the Italians didn’t like Commesso, and we didn’t like Dave, so nobody tried to stop them!

Andy Shen: Everyone’s taking pictures…

MC: We were hoping they’d just murder each other. Hit the bricks, shitdick. Get outta here.

DS: He’s so thick, you know, he’s not your typical bike racer.

MC: Pate’s got some good Commesso stories.

DS: Everyone seems to have one. You’re going to have to take over the moustache mantle…

MC: The problem with me is that it gets really dark really quickly, and then by about week three it starts looking somewhere, like, an 18 year old kid trying to look cool.

AS: That good, huh?

MC: It would under no circumstances be serious. It would immediately draw high fives.

AS: Wasn’t it Pozzato, went up to Cozza, asked him what he was doing? “What’s with the moustache?”

DS: What’s with YOU? Explain your man-fro to me. The corn rows, oh my god! He’s such a bargain K-Mart gangster. Love him.

MC: He is.

DS: He does not like Cavendish, apparently. ‘Cause Cavendish beats him…

MC: The thing with racers is, I am literally going to see you, like, eighty times this year. So we might as well joke around and laugh. Some people don’t think I’m funny. I get it. But it seems like there are some teams that honestly hate your guts. Like the BMC team, I can honestly name, if you put them in a row, I can say, that guy is…I can do that to, literally, three to five guys. Everybody else is just the same guy to me…and Bissell too, they don’t look like they’re interested in having a good time with me, and that’s fine, whatever. Maybe it’s me, maybe they don’t want to talk to me. It’s just easier for me if everyone is having a good time not being in a cubical.

DS: You see the same 120 guys every week anyways, don’t you?

MC: There’s a core group of 70, and the locals. Keyboard mashers. I don’t know. You see the same people, you know who you like, you know who you probably won’t like. As far as actually having a…

DS: …a blood feud?

MC: A blood feud, cycling’s so much easier when you don’t have people that hate you. They don’t chase you down, they don’t…

DS: It’s in your best interest to be friendly.

MC: It does come back around, though. I tell you what, at the start of the year, all these motherfuckers, “Oh, Rock, he’s horrible for the sport. They shouldn’t be allowed to race.” All these teams disappearing, between all these teams disappearing, and my wife working for SRM, I am one popular fucker. I had one guy, who I literally rode next to ALL YEAR. ALL YEAR this guy, didn’t talk to me once, he’d see me at dinner, didn’t talk to me once. Five hundred meters to go at the last stage of the Tour of Missouri, “Hey Mike, how’s it going, man?” “Oh, good.”

DS: “Do you want a backrub?”

MC: I couldn’t believe it. I just let him go, “So, uh, is the team full up, man?” And, I just, “No man, we’ve got TONS of spots. I don’t think they signed anybody.” “Really?” “Yeah man, you should talk to him.” “Can you put in a good word for me?” “Yeah man, first thing, I’m going to get off the bike…” Whatever, dude’s got to eat. And he is really good, maybe the best climber in the states. I just wish he wanted to be my friend because he liked me, not because he was worried about money.

(We briefly attempt to guess the identity of this rider and fail.)

DS: I don’t know the domestic scene, man. You’re not on TV, which is a pain in the ass.

MC: What?

DS: You’re not on TV enough for me to know.

MC: What? You gotta live next to a TV?

DS: Yeah, I should travel to Arizona, but…

MC: You should come to Redlands and watch parking lot criteriums!

DS: Exactly.

MC: What is your market? Have you been to business school at all???