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Feel the wind in your hair

             So I have bought my Raleigh bike but that doesn't mean that I should stop talking about them, ha!  Instead of talking about a Dutch bike brand let's talk about a Dutch cyclist shall we?  Here enters famous cyclist Joop Zoetemelk.  He is a bicycle racing legend.
            He has finsished the Tour de France 16 times, which is a record, and he also won the race in 1980.  Not to mention the Olympics and 67 other professional races that he has either won or raced in the top 10 in.  Joop started off as a regional champion speed skater before turning to cycling.  This guy, who has actually become better looking as he ages (if that tells you anything), is an athlete and a robust one at that.  In the 1980 Tour de France which he won, it was claimed that he only won because a competitor Bernard Hinault had dropped out of the race.  This is what Joop had to say about that "Surely winning the Tour de France is a question of health and robustness. If Hinault doesn't have that health and robustness and I have, that makes me a valid winner".  Dutch directness?
             He won the race on a Raleigh, my favorite brand, and raced under the TI-Raleigh Dutch team.  The team was known for their discipline.  Joop was known for doing his job and doing it well even though sometimes he did not communicate with his team mates.  He was also disqualified during drugs tests 3 different times.  Joop is now retired and runs a hotel in Meaux, France.  His wife is the daughter of a Tour de France executive and his son Karl is a French mountain biking champion.  There is a lot of bicycling on the mind in that family.

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