"We Flyin'!!!" Q&A with Gary Moon, SBR Cycling Team Member.

SBR Cycling team member, Shane Rauch, welcomed a new teammate. Gary Moon is an accomplished 53 year old rider, and when Shane took the time to ask Gary a few questions, his answers exuded an excitement most who ride share about the sport they love.

When asked, how old he was when he first sat on a bicycle, Gary responded with this recollection, "I first rode a bicycle, from stories that my mom told me, when I was a young 3 year old. It was a medium blue early 60's girls bike, so I rode really fast."

Gary told Shane, one of his best victories involving the bike, was winning a Duathlon near Wilmington Delaware in 1984. He went on to explain the competition, "It was a mass start event, so pack riding was allowed. The bike portion was 50k, followed by a 10k run. It was pancake flat. My main competition came in the form of an ex-pro roadie, who was actually a teammate of John Howard's on the old ESSO Oil Co U.S. team of the 70's and 80's (Howard was one of the 1st winners of the Hawaiian Ironman, Ride Across America (RAAM) winner, and holder of the assisted bicycle land-speed record). He was blistering fast and I stayed on his wheel best I could for the first hour, then he put the hammer down and was gone. I was then in no-man's area and just kept hammering. When I made it to the transition area, I was told by my first wife that he was up almost 6 Minutes. What????? So I flew out of the transition area on a mission. I had just spent a summer training with one of Ireland's fastest 800 meter runners, who was living near me in Ocean City, Md, and I wasn't about to let some tree-trunk legged, ex-pro roadie, show me how to run. At the run turnaround he still had over three minutes on me, and I actually had a solid 2 minute gap on the next guy, so I accelerated knowing if I completely blew up that I still had a lock on 2nd. Well, at the 1 mile to go marker I saw a figure a good ways up the road, so I went into the redzone deeper than EVER! I caught him with less than a couple hundred feet left in the race and got to raise my hands to the sky. WOW! I have goosebumps right now telling you this. My ex-wife was and is still an amazing seamstress and she made me from scratch, a one piece lycra race suit in white with some red striping. Awesome. But the worst part of this whole recap was that I had been completely dry-heaving for the whole last mile, and bits of my pre-race toast had ruined the look of my awesome skin suit. To make matters worse, my picture was in the Sunday sports section of the Wilmington paper, as I crossed the line puking all over myself."

According to Moon he decided to join SBR Cycling, because he had such respect for team member, Melissa Taylor. Gary had this to say about his new teammate, "I am a huge fan of Melissa Taylor, I have to thank her most for leading me to you, and I am grateful. She has everything it takes to be a high level competitor, but foremost she is a Great Person!"

He gave this expanded explanation, when he continued his response, "I am joining SBR Cycling because I believe that it will give me the chance to be a well-rounded bike competitor again. I have dabbled in 'cross the last 2 seasons and that has weened me back into the sport. I have wanted to be competitive on the mountain bike for while, and now as a empty-nester, I have the time."

The timing of Gary's decision to join SBR, coincided with more recent news of the Lance Armstrong scandal, and the interview confession he gave Oprah Winfrey, so when Shane asked his teammate's opinion on the matter, Gary's response included some pointed comments regarding Lance's guilt, and the guilt of others riding along side Armstrong. "He has always been the best at anything he has ever done, including doping.", Moon said of Lance. He also expressed his belief, that many involved in the sport were guilty of enabling Armstrong's cheating, and were in a sense complaisant in the fraud. He also had sharp criticisms for Lance's teammates, one of whom he once admired, but now views him as a hypocrite is George Hincapie. Hincapie is also an admitted cheater, but instead of receiving a life-time ban from the sport, as Gary pointed out, George was able to end his career in the saddle riding and competing at the Amgen Tour of California in 2012.

As with all things worth caring about, the sport is still the sport. Cycling might have lost some of its bandwagon fans, but as Gary Moon said, "the ride is the important thing." And with, what I'm guessing, the same excitement Gary had as a "young 3 year old" he closed with this.. "One of my training partners, Jerzy Wozniak, a former pro, said it best one day on a fast-paced ride he and I took. I pulled along beside him, and he looked at me with a giant smile and said in his Polish accent "We Flyin' Man, We Flyin!!!!!!!"

Gary will first represent SBR Cycling at the UCI Cyclocross Masters World Championships, in Louisville, Ky (Champions Park at River Road Country Club).  The event takes place on January 29th thru February 1st.  We are excited about Gary's opportunity to compete in this event, below is an excerpt from the UCI's official site.  For more information on the event Click Here!

This is big - huge - for the sport of 'cross and of cycling in general, a good-natured new world vs old world sporting contest. The biggest stars are coming to race in the United States, many for the first time of their storied career. For the American riders, it is an opportunity to take advantage of homecourt advantage against the Belgians, who dominate the elite men's field. The UCI World Elite Cyclo-cross Championships aka Worlds is the big race that decides which four riders will get to be called world champion and wear rainbow stripes on his or her jersey for the next 12 months.

I think it is a safe assumption, all the SBR Cycling Teammates share same exuberance for the bike. Why else would folks ride in the freezing temperatures, the scorching heat, the high winds, train in their dark, damp basements? "the ride is the important thing" . . "We Flyin' Man, We Flyin!!!!!!" Welcome Gary Moon, and good luck in Louisville..

Thanks to Shane Rauch for providing the Questions, and Gary for taking the time to Answer,



Brady Rauch..