Installment Number One: 1997
Here's a picture of me from 1997 after having recovered from my dislocated elbow sustained in the Tour of Greenwich bicycle race. I was leading the second group into the final turn, when I washed out on the wet pavement and slid across the road and into a mailbox. I let my body take the entire fall, so that I could spare my Merckx any damage - and it received not a scratch!
This was the final race of my "career" I placed 23rd overall (out of +400) and 11th in my age range. I lost 5 places due to the crash, so my "real" placing was higher. Besides, the 5 guys in my group rode my wheel for ten miles!
Also note that in this picture, I am in my 435 square foot walk-up apartment in Hell's Kitchen, NYC. Nothing like walking up four flights after a training ride! There's the Eddy Merckx Team 7-Eleven next to me. When I bought the bike in 1990, my teammates predicted it would become an expensive piece of wall art, and for five years they were right!
One final note. There's a big difference riding at 152 pounds (as pictured above) than 219 pounds. Enough said about that!