Managing the Campagnolo tech support program in the Olympic year of 1984
The famed Campagnolo USA Technical Support program was created in the early 1970s by Bill Woodul, the charismatic, mustachioed American bike mechanic, that he based on Campy’s neutral support program in Italy. By the early ’80s, Woodul’s famed “rainbow van” had evolved to a rainbow-striped Buick station wagon since Buick was the official car of the upcoming LA Olympics.
When Woodul moved on, I took over the program in early 1984, starting with the Tour of Texas—which by then was the national team training camp and season opener. Campagnolo USA was based in Houston, and I was an Austin guy, so the job was an easy transition for me, geographically and culturally.
The ToT, as it was dubbed, was at that point a month-long, weekend-only format with teams staying in Austin during the weekdays for training. The race hit the big cities of Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin, typically with criteriums, while the Texas Hill Country provided great terrain for the road stages.
Life has funny intersections. Simple occurrences that collide, sometimes with unexpected outcomes.
The start of any Tour of Texas stage was a helter-skelter of activity: riders needing last-minute attention, normally from neglected maintenance, instructions from race officials for the conduct of the day’s stage and a healthy amount of socializing. At one of these stage starts; amid all the chaos, I was approached by the 7-Eleven women’s team manager Andrzej Bek.
Andrej is the older of the famed Bek brothers, who were part of a Polish clan with Eddie Borysewicz, who was the U.S. Cycling Federation’s first fulltime national coach and the catalyst for developing modern bike racing in this country. Andrej was an Olympic track medalist from the 1972 Munich Games.
So, at one of those pre-stage ToT moments, Andrej strolled up to me at the Campy Buick and pointed to the blue Murray-badged Serotta bikes on the roof rack. Murray was the official bike of the LA Games and Ben Serotta built bikes for the Campagnolo program. Woodul had connected those dots, and the result were these special bikes. In his thick Polish accent, Andrej asked me, “Are those the bikes you will be using in Los Angeles?” You bet, I likely replied. We would in fact have a fleet of 18 bikes for the three neutral service cars planned for the Olympic road race in July. “Okay, I’ll bring you Rebecca’s bike in Los Angeles,” he said. Not really knowing what he was referring to, and probably juggling a dozen other things at that moment, I probably said, “Sure, whatever you say Andrej.”
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