Intro by Maggie: Anyone looking to get me that last minute Christmas gift.....?

With 2 weeks to spare I found out that VDV was visiting Get a Grip Cycles here in Chicago.

Being a local guy he was here to talk about his experiences at the Giro, Tour and Olympics and his new charitable foundation. The next 2 weeks were frantic with preparations for Thanksgiving and juggling my time with my wife and daughter, Sarah also committed herself (and me) to the cause by taking Molly most of the days so I could just paint. Still the final touches of paint hit the canvas 10 minutes before we walked out of the door to get the train to the signing. Thanks so much to Adam and all at Get a Grip Cycles for allowing me to get the painting signed. Christian's talk was fun, seems like a really relaxed down to earth guy. He's looking forward to the Giro and Tour again this year, though admits that because of last years results whilst they were a 'gimmick' team, that much more will be expected of them in '09.

He is working with the Olympic bid for 2016 and says that the Velodrome seems to be a stumbling block right now as it is an expensive piece of temporary construction and it will be removed after the games as they currently do not believe that there is a big enough need in Chicago to make it a cost effective long term project. Obviously with the strength of racing and cycling in Chicago this isn't the case but it is hard to get this across to the relevant committees. I also wonder how a new covered velodrome would affect Northbrook, though I must admit I would rather race outdoors all summer.

Christian talked about his new charitable foundation briefly explaining how it will provide bicycles, helmets and tutors etc to enable local children to ride and race. Also it will pay for entry fees and provide transport to the races and events as there is apparently a lack of children's racing close to the city. I am sure that the launch of the charity will clarify what I 'remember he said'.

In the question and answer session one of the stories he shared was of the drinking test for rookies on the team at their recent training camp. Bradley Wiggins obviously fancies himself with the beer but found his British booze upbringing (which I remember well myself) stood little chance next the 20 year old from Belgium next to him! Christian also reckons that Dan Martin from Ireland will be their new man to watch next year, we should see him in the high mountains. It would be great to have another Irishman in the cycling spotlight reminding us all of the heyday of Kelly, Roche and Early. So when it came to signing the painting he was pretty darn suprised and pleased with the image commenting on how skinny he was in the Tour and the promptly started taking photos with his iPhone, which I expect will make it to his family and maybe team. So Mr Millar, Magnus, Wiggins and DZ drop me an email. You don't get to see the painting in it's entirety just yet as I need to do a little fine tuning here and there and decide what to do with it - it is after all signed by the man himself - any thoughts?

Posted by Steve Dennis at 11:36 AM

Labels: painting