11/18 I do not like green eggs and ham
I came across one of the funniest rider interviews I have ever read on CyclingNews today.
Danny Pate has just hung up his wheels after a really long professional cycling career (he was on the U.S. Cycling team with me in ‘98 and ‘99, so you know we’re not talking just a year or two).
The whole interview is really interesting, as is the other one in the series with Michael Creed (another National Team rider). What is really funny to me is Danny’s reminiscence about Paris-Nice, which he raced 4 times:
Paris-Nice 2008, 2009, 2012 & 2013
“I’ve been in some terrible races and Pais Vasco was right up there, but the undoubted winner was Paris-Nice. I never want to go back, and I say that because although a race like the Giro was super hard, it at least expanded my horizons and taught me certain things about racing and about myself. But what did Paris-Nice ever give me other than bronchitis? I can’t think of a single thing. Ask me how many times I did it and I’ll always give you the same answer: Too many.
Here’s the thing: it’s eight days long, it has the worst weather, and the real killer comes in the fact that it’s only eight days so you can see the end in sight. So unlike in a Grand Tour, when you ease off slightly because you’re racing for three-weeks, in Paris-Nice you just keep pressing on. There’s no easy day, there’s no rest day, and in my experience there was never a Grand Tour that had eight days in a row that were as stressful or as hard as Paris-Nice. In my mind it made sense that the Tour de France was stressful, and I could rationalise that riders were willing to take risks, but Paris-Nice was the only race that had those same features, and that made no sense to me.
I get that Paris-Nice is a great race and I was on a team that won it three years in a row, but I hated every second of being there. It made me want to quit cycling. When I think about why I left Europe I think about Paris-Nice. When I think about the worst possible thing in professional cycling, I think about Paris-Nice. I would rather build a house, brick by brick, by myself, than do another Paris-Nice. Even when you’re winning, every day is like a kick in the nuts. I don’t think I can be any clearer. I don’t like Paris-Nice.”
If you want read the rest of the interview, it can be found here: http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/danny-pate-the-five-races-that-changed-my-life/