February 15, 2007

I have some questions relating to bike safety. Are you familiar with the League of American Bicyclists?

Bobby Julich: No.

You have trained in different countries – which is the bike unfriendliest?

BJ: South Africa by far! That was the hardest time I ever had on the road and not enjoyable at all.

And the bike friendliest?

BJ: Gee, that is hard. The European countries are all so used to cyclists, it’s difficult to pick one. I’ll go with France and Italy. Obviously they have the most history in the sport and they also have the most participants, from age 5 to 85. The Europeans are a little bit more exposed to cycling, especially in France and Italy, as those two countries are the birthplace of cycling.

What is the most common problem here in the United States 

Drivers just aren’t used to seeing bicyclists, especially 28 riders and a support car coming down the road and they believe we don’t pay taxes and we don’t have the same right as them to be on the road. And that is frustrating to me, being one of the three Americans on CSC and being host to the rest of my team, I take it a little bit more offensively if we are in the middle of a beautiful area and an American comes up in a big truck and  flips everyone off and honks. I take that much more personally than other guys who say, “Ah, that happens all the time”. Iif it happens in your country, it doesn’t feel so good. But for as many people we had being aggressive towards us we had the same, if not twice as many, who gave us the thumbs up and waving and honking friendly.

So is it easier riding by yourself?

Of course, but how much fun is that? Americans have to realize we are a slow moving vehicle. 2 abreast, 10 people long, that’s like a farm vehicle moving down the road. And that doesn’t mean drivers should honk at us if they don’t honk at the slow moving farm vehicle.

And here is additional info that came out asked by others:

Bobby also mentioned that in last year’s race the level of competition was very high and breakaways had little chance of success.

He further elaborated on the fast that he grew up racing with Lance Armstrong and George Hincapie and they had great, competitive races all over the place (mentioning Washington State and Pennsylvania). He said that with the influx of North American Races (note: Besides the Tour of California and the Tour of Georgia this year will also see the Missouri Tour and Montreal-Boston) it is easier to be a high-level domestic pro without even going to Europe – but also though that there isn’t a cyclist out there that wouldn’t want to see what Europe is like. But maybe eventually there will be also Europeans coming over here and live in the US during the season.

As for the Tour of California, he thinks Discovery Channel will be the team to beat as they will be very motivated, especially with not having a sponsor for next year.

His own fitness he rates pretty good, although he was training by himself for 5 months and only got together with the team the last two weeks. He got through the tough times last year (crash in Paris-Nice and sick during Criterium International - two races he had won the previous year- and his recurring allergies in May, which made the Giro hard, then his crash in the Tour de France, which pretty much ended his season) by focusing on his family and the birth of his second child.

He enjoys racing at home in the sunshine, with the friends along the road. He doesn’t put the pressure on himself to perform in certain races, but wants to pass on his wealth of experience to the younger riders like the Schleck brothers before he “heads in to the sunset”.

He also said this winter he thought this was going to be his last season. But he may add another year, as he really wants to deal with some unfinished business at the Olympics. It is time for him to focus on the family and it is getting harder to leave, when his daughter is pulling on his leg and trying to block the door when he leaves…