Don't Tell CBS I Met A Pirate.

It's been at least 22, maybe 23 years that I've loved the sport of cycling. I recently read an article in a cycling magazine, that talked about the "Greatest Decades in Cycling History", and they had chosen the 1980's as the greatest decade. Among the reasons were the great rivalry of Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond, and the first time the United States fielded a team (7-Eleven) in the Tour de France, essentially paving the way for Lance Armstrong. The 80's were also a time of great leaps in science of cycling. In 1989 Greg LeMond won the Tour de France on it's final day by the slimmest of margins, 8 seconds, and credits the win to his new aerodynamic handlebars. It was also in the 80's the CBS Sports Sunday, brought the U.S. coverage of the Tour de France.

And it was these CBS broadcasts that helped inspire me to ride my bike everywhere. Matthew and I would sit glued to the TV every Sunday in July watching the 45 minute long dramas unfold. There was colourful and clever commentary by none other than the great Phil Liggett, the most recognized voice in the cycling television. There was great inspirational music, some of it written and performed specifically for the Tour de France by John Tesh, some of it from Yanni. With the Beta tapes dutifully recording the event (it was the 80's and my dad was ahead of the VHS curve), I'd replay the Sunday coverage for myself and other cycling friends during the week.

Cycling became an all consuming passion for me during the late 80's. So much so, that my first real job was my dream job, a mechanic at a bike shop. There, I met other cyclist who loved the sport as much as I. I created cycling monsters out of my closest friends, and every Sunday morning, we'd head out onto the open road. Like children playing touch football in the park, we dreamed of being like the great cyclists of the time.

Years later, after I got my degree, and started my mostly real job in lighting, cycling was still a passion. But touring left little time to put the miles in on the bike. I would get what information I could about the world of cycling from magazines. CBS had stopped broadcasting their Sunday Sports specials on the Tour de France, and television coverage of any cycling event was few and far between. The old Betamax tapes I had, got lost in the shuffle when VHS pushed Beta out. The memories were now left in my head, until recently.

Technology has brought cycling many wonderful things over the years. And one of the wonderful things was finding a pirate on the internet who had the same passions as I did. He was posting snippets of videos from those CBS Sunday Sports coverages of the great races of the 80's. I would watch the little 5 minute videos feel myself well up again with the same inspiration I had felt all those years ago. The driving music, colourful commentary, all made me feel young again.

And then I noticed, in small print in one of the video summaries, "I sell DVD copies of this and other cycling videos." So I contacted the pirate and bought copies of these cherished memories of my young adulthood. He didn't charge me much, in fact, he charged me less than I expected. I had Nicole send me the DVD's two days ago, and I have since watched coverage of two of the greatest cycling events of the 1980's.

The video quality is poor. It's very grainy and there's quite a few moments of "tracking" problems. But the DVD's are basically what I expected. After all, converting 20 year old analog VHS tapes to digital DVD's was not going to produce an IMAX movie. This guy is a pirate, he's not the president of CBS releasing these videos to the public. I just wanted to have a copy of my memories.

When I see them today, I still feel inspired. The music still drives me, the commentary is still classic Phil. Now more than ever, I want to pull on the lycra and head out on the open road and pretend I'm Raul Alcala, or Andy Hampsten cresting a great mountain in France, or Sean Kelly, showing the world how to stomp on the pedals in the greatest finish the Paris-Roubaix has ever seen.

20 plus years later, cycling is still a passion.

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