During the last lecture session of camp, the coaches told us of their career highlights. They had big highlights. For example, Jon Parrish had gotten 2nd in the National U23 crit. Jake Rubelt had raced on the european circuit. Connor O'Leary was set to race with the National U25 team after a bout with cancer.
And then there was Corey Steinbrecher. He got pretty quiet because he didn't consider himself to be all that prolific. I think we all knew he was just humble. After thinking about it for a bit, Corey said that one of his career highlights was the 1999 Tour de L'Abitibi:
Regional teams aren't supposed to beat National teams. The 1999 Arizona Select team, directed by Barney King, was supposed to be middle-of-the-pack. Its team was, after all, average. That turned out to be not so. Arizona Select won the Team Time Trial by minutes. Pieter Wiening, Dominique Rollin, and Kenny Van Hummel were among the riders they beat. Arizona Select beat the US, Dutch, French, Canadian, and Japanese National teams...soundly. When Brad Buccambuso, a rising star from Utah, took the leader's jersey after a winning breakaway, Arizona Select was defending the brown jersey against the entire world. Barney tells me that Corey and Austin King were both little guys, frequently pushed around in the pack. They were small, but that didn't prevent them for riding their hearts out in support of Brad. They poured out every bit of energy for their leader. And in the end...they won the Tour de L'Abitibi.
This was Barney's career highlight as well. Lately, he has been directing the National team. He said that it was a great pleasure to see ordinary people do extraordinary things. Watching those 6 average joes from the Southwest beat the best in the world was Barney's career highlight. I wasn't there to watch it happen, but I get goosebumps just hearing about it.
And then there was Corey Steinbrecher. He got pretty quiet because he didn't consider himself to be all that prolific. I think we all knew he was just humble. After thinking about it for a bit, Corey said that one of his career highlights was the 1999 Tour de L'Abitibi:
Regional teams aren't supposed to beat National teams. The 1999 Arizona Select team, directed by Barney King, was supposed to be middle-of-the-pack. Its team was, after all, average. That turned out to be not so. Arizona Select won the Team Time Trial by minutes. Pieter Wiening, Dominique Rollin, and Kenny Van Hummel were among the riders they beat. Arizona Select beat the US, Dutch, French, Canadian, and Japanese National teams...soundly. When Brad Buccambuso, a rising star from Utah, took the leader's jersey after a winning breakaway, Arizona Select was defending the brown jersey against the entire world. Barney tells me that Corey and Austin King were both little guys, frequently pushed around in the pack. They were small, but that didn't prevent them for riding their hearts out in support of Brad. They poured out every bit of energy for their leader. And in the end...they won the Tour de L'Abitibi.
This was Barney's career highlight as well. Lately, he has been directing the National team. He said that it was a great pleasure to see ordinary people do extraordinary things. Watching those 6 average joes from the Southwest beat the best in the world was Barney's career highlight. I wasn't there to watch it happen, but I get goosebumps just hearing about it.
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