Saw an ex pro cyclist training my workout canyon!

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#1

Hey all! Trying to figure out who I saw on my workout yesterday.

There must be a retired pro cyclist on my workout, Mandeville Canyon, in Los Angeles. We passed back and forth. I was doing sprint intervals, he was doing what looked like the most leisurely out of the saddle ride. He had a coach of some sort behind him talking to him in Italian.

I’m no pro, but stats wise I was averaging about 2.6W/kg and Mandeville is about a 3.5% grade. (It was a little embarrassing honestly, with my computer beeping my intervals at me, I hope I didn’t distract him too much.)

He eventually left his coach and me, he sort of floated by me out of the saddle. He had excellent form and it looked like he wasn’t really trying, very low intensity for him. My best guess was that he was focusing on his form rather than actually doing any sort of workout.

I asked his coach for his name later and he wouldn’t give it to me! Just said he was an ex pro out having fun. I didn’t want to be a pest so I let it go. I’m sure we have a few down here, I know at least Phil Gaiman is probably around. But it’s not the right season for camps and things (afaik).

Any ideas?

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#2

You sure it wasn’t Pav having you on with an Italian accent and just knocking out another Everesting challenge? :smiley:

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#3

Fun!! Not sure it will be Phil with a coach. Could be Tom Pidcock, I saw Eric Min post pics with him last week - he might still be around. The Italian coach is throwing me a bit though, not sure who would have an Italian coach in LA other than an Italian pro?

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#4

That was what was weirdest, the Italian chatting. The cyclist was older, some white hair- so not Gaiman or Pidcock. The coach spoke fluent English which is odd.

I don’t know!

Fun to speculate though.

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#5

Did you check the Strava segments in that region or what Strava suggests in „riding with“ in your data?
From the chat in Italian, I would deduce that the Ex-Pro doesn‘t speak English (very well) but he could also be Spanish or something like that. What kind of kit did he wear? How tall?

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