"You have got to be kidding me!"

"Dude, you're joking with me - Bernard Hinault is gonna race in the States???!!!"

No, no joke - it was true. Hinault came to race the Coors International Classic here in the US back in the mid-1980s. To see him race in Sacramento - at the Old Sacramento Criterium stage - was a true thrill for a Junior rider like myself at the time. I took a ton of pictures of the race and it was awesome to be there. But one thing I noticed about Hinault in this criterium really had me thinking. Even though Greg LeMond - his teammate - was battling it out up front with the other top riders, Hinault spent almost the whole criterium in the very back of the pack.....we're talking dead last rider every lap. I saw him move up once, but then went back to the very back again. Clearly, this was not a race to his liking. Of course, when you're a 5-time winner of the Tour de France, the last thing you wanna do is break your collarbone in a silly criterium crash.

In any case, it was one of those moments you'll always remember - seeing one of the greats in your sport race in your backyard.