Five questions for Five Pros in Philadelphia
I always wanted to check out the the Philly Pro race (now known as the TD Bank Philadelphia International Championship) and hang out at the (Manayunk) wall. I ran into Mr. Ostroy in
To his credit and without hesitation he said yes. Score!!!
I promised Alex I’d write something for the site for his trouble. Sure enough I got a recommendation on NYVelocity.com letterhead from Mr. Shen to the
organizers vouching for my professional abilities. I was approved. The game was on!!!
LOVED IT!!!
skinny athletes intermingling with obese fanny pack wearing tourists scratching their heads wondering what they stumbled onto.
Saturday Night:
Cheese Steak (Jim’s on South Street) & then on to see British band “Art Brut” play at a great little venue called Johnny Brenda’s in the Fishtown district.
I might have had a couple of beers (Sly Fox Lager) and maybe a shot or two of Jamison. Great show and I met the band!!!
press vest and soaking in the power and prestige this garment afforded me. Fans would walk up to me and ask where the bathrooms were.
About a quarter of a second after the gun goes off a kid named Holloway (who looks like Ronald McDonald’s son but growing an
unfortunate “ginger stache” breaks away. The men just let him go and pretty much coasted for a while.
In fact they chilled so hard, the women who started 10 minutes later caught the men and officials neutralized them to let ladies go ahead.
Par-tay Central!!!! Thousands on the street. Beers flowing! The Philly cops didn’t care one bit about the open containers. Awesome!!!
With my official vest and credentials hanging from my neck I became the de-facto go to guy for the latest news.
Before I knew it I was watching the race about ¾ up the hill from the porch of one dude named Brett and his various roommates, friends and their hot girlfriends.
There was also a black guy dressed only in a white toga and Ceasar- like garland around his head..
It felt like the movie “Old School” in there. The keg was flowing and the burgers and dogs were grilling in the backyard. Heaven!
I proceeded to explain the physics and the important dynamics of wind resistance until they all rolled their eyes
and ran away from me to get more beer.
Sure enough “ginger-stache kid” was stutter stepping hard, rocking and swaying sideways in his final death throws around
the fifth time up Manyunk and the pack about to swallow him. One of the guys tells me:
“Dude, I thought you were really shittin’ us about that guy not winning. Dude you the man!
Dude, you’re not leaving yet! Stay for another beer?!”
I stumbled off the porch and shortly “my driver” (John) had the foresight to call and ask me If I had enough and
he was heading to the wall and picking me up. Thank you John!!! This press credential stuff is the shiznit!!!
Now to the job I was “hired” for and without further ado: Five questions for Five Pros:
"Fast" Freddie Rodriguez ((
Manuel Quinziato (ITA) Liquigas
Brian Vandborg (DK) Liquigas
Kirk O’Bee (
Elizabeth Hatch (
FREDDIE RODRIGUEZ
Favorite beer and/ or alcoholic beverage?
“Beer, I’ll say Pyramid Heffenwiesen. Alcoholic beverage would be Level Vodka on the rocks”
First moment or race when you said to yourself "I’m so damn sweet I should get paid for this!"
Most embarrassing moment on a bike. Projectile expulsion of bodily fluids or solids is highly encouraged for elaboration.
Rodriguez:: “Yeah, but I never found that embarrassing. Oh yeah here’s good one, I show up at a local bike race, didn’t know anyone and I didn’t know
which group I was supposed to be in. There were cat 1’s, cat. 2’s, Masters and so I line up accidentally with the masters and this guy tells me
“you’re with those guys up in the front. I get to the front of the line and my group already left five minutes earlier”
Me: Did you catch up?
Rodriguez: “Yes”
“The Beautiful People” There’s a good one. Marilyn Manson man!”
MANUEL QUINZIATO
First moment or race when you said to yourself "I’m so damn sweet I should get paid for this!"
“When I won the Under 23 World TT Championships in 2001”
Most embarrassing moment on a bike? Projectile expulsion of bodily fluids or solids is highly encouraged for elaboration
“When I crash during the neutral zone”
Sex the night before a race? Hell no or yes please and may I have seconds?
Favorite artist or band you groove to on the IPod while on solo rides?
BRIAND VANDBORG
Favorite beer and/ or alcoholic beverage?
“That’s a good question, I guess my first amateur race, I started late, but I thought I’m pretty good at this”
and landed on the banana in my pocket and so that was kind of embarrassing
Sex the night before a race? Hell no or yes please and may I have seconds?
“Yes please and may I have some more”
Favorite artist or band you groove to on the IPod while on solo rides?
“Incubus”
KIRK O’BEE
Favorite beer and/ or alcoholic beverage?
“Favorite beer is Westmall Tripel. Belgian Beer. By far my favorite beer. Other than that I make my own red wine, so that would come in a strong second”.
and I think from that point on I made some goals and that started the goal and a dream to get paid and now I’m living it”
“I never had those kinds of issues on a bike. One of my most retarded moments on a bike, I was doing a track world cup in Victoria B.C.
and rode my track bike to get lunch in my street clothes before the race and coming back I didn’t know there was a very steep downhill
on the way back to the track and basically bailed and crashed. Messed up my knee and ruined my track bike and that was the end of
that world cup experience So the lesson is don’t ride your track bike on the road” (laughing)
Sex the night before a race? Hell no or yes please and may I have seconds?
Me: “You’re the only no so far”
Me: “Saving vital fluids?”
I like Trance/ Dance music, but I don’t listen to music on the bike actually. It distracts me”
Favorite beer and/ or alcoholic beverage?
I love Karmeliet. It’s a really good summer beer”
Me: “And hard alcohol?”
Me: "Didn’t I read you like gin too?”
Hatch: “Oh yeah I do love gin. A little Hendricks now and then”
First moment or race when you said to yourself "I’m so damn sweet I should get paid for this!”
highly encouraged for elaboration.
Bonus questions!!!
Me: "I used to race cat. 4, I shave my legs, (I read Liz will not date guys with hairy legs) I have fairly defined calves
and Horner and VDV have willingly posed in pictures with me. With these irrefutable facts in hand, my two last questions to you are:
1 “Will you pose in a picture with me?”
2. “Can I be your groupie in NY for you to use for your own sexual experimentation?”
Hatch: “To question number one. Yes" "To question number two (laughing nervously and eyeing the hotel exits)
We’ll have to talk about that off the record”.
To quote “Art Brut” – My weekend in
are you some type of southern redneck fuk?
maybe the most embarrassing moment was when you were booted for doping?
No I’m from East Coast and he does look like as I described him. He is a black man and he is wearing a toga. Just a fact. He makes it work too! Have a look see:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ericfab/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCJro_LqAjtyvGg&pli=1#slideshow/5345106011386785314
i look at him and only see a proud man dressed as caesar. i look at you next to liz and all i see is you counting the seconds until you have a moment to rub one out.
The Philly race is the ONLY pro bike race in the US which truly captures the Euro style of craziness: beers, rowdy fans, BBQ, relaxed atmosphere AND your favorite riders racing by.
This was a great first-hand description of the madness of the ‘Wall’, if you have never been- you must go.
Eric did a great job with his vivid description of the activities up the ‘wall’.
The questions to the pros great! a different angle to the all too often ‘boring’ obligatory sport journo questions ‘how are your legs?’, ‘what do you think about lance?”
please let us get some more reporting from this guy.
would read this and call the author a redneck fuk.
You actually see a proud man dressed as Ceaser? To each his own. Maybe you should watch Animal House sometime.
Faber has a gift — more interviews/race reports like this!!!