My old cycling sensei and college racing buddy from the UNH days submitted this as a comment, but I am entering it here as a post. This is a letter Emanuel sent to Velo News in response the recent news of Tyler Hamilton’s retirement due to a positive dope test:

“…submitted to Velo news-you were on that ride I think…”

I found the Tyler Hamilton story really sad. As one who wanted to be a professional cyclist through the same era as Tyler I find his story difficult to fathom, and his sadness resonates with my past. I remember him riding past me 20 years ago near the backroads in Exeter, NH. I was on the UNH cycling team at the time and remember asking, who is that? My teammates said this young guy who was going to be New England’s best rider ever. I then went to Europe as an amateur, read Paul Kimmage’s book, read each weekend in the paper about another Dutch cyclist who died of EPO, returned home, and quit. 20 years later I am happy and have a healthy happy life. I am glad I didn’t make it, live the harsh life of a pro cyclist, do drugs or punish myself so hard that it would have resulted in the same. I hope Tyler can be happy. Life is precious; it’s the only life we have, and we have to make the most of it.

Emanuel Betz
Richmond, VT
05477

Thanks to Facebook, I have reconnected  with a whole tribe of long lost souls I met back when I was racing bikes in college at the University of New Hampshire. Back then, the only people I knew who had email were computer science majors or research assistants. These were the early days where I was cutting my teeth on the New England scene, trying to see how far I could go on the bike. College racing was really early spring training for the full schedule of summer racing that would follow, but there were some studs back then who could turn a crank, even while taking full course loads. Of course, also thanks to Facebook, there have been the occasional “friend” requests from guys I rode with who I’d have to think twice to not ride into the curb if given the chance. One bloke I was lucky to know back then is Emanuel Betz. When I was a freshman at UNH and a shitshow Cat 4 on a purple Cannondale with pink Benotto bar tape, Manny was the pro-in-waiting who rode for the Richard Sachs team: powerful, intellectual, and not too self-absorbed to take me under his wing and help me clean up my act. I never would have gone on to race bikes in France if I hadn’t been inspired by Manny to do so. I am happy to announce that Manny will be writing some guest posts for IAATB, recounting tales from his experiences racing in Europe back when few Americans did. You had to be tough back then. We’re talking steel frame with downtube shifter tough type stories. We’re talking pack your duffle bag, fly to Belgium, and live upstairs from a smoky bar tough type stories. Those stories which I knew all to well from long training rides with Manny almost could have disappeared forever, but we’re going to do CPR and bring them back to life on the blogosphere. I for one, can’t wait for Manny’s first installment. I may be the only one, but WTF. It’s my blog.