September 2008 - Spokes Magazine

you could go live it through someone else, but it’s
really true. And it’s better.”
Both Bobby’s mother, Tracy, and Robert, remain competitive
cyclists, winning numerous national master
championships between them.
Tracy Lea competed on the national circuit, and internationally
as well, in the mid- and late-1970s. Both still
ride and train six days a week throughout Carroll and
Frederick counties.
“Sometimes Bobby humors us and comes and joins
for a ‘slow’ ride,” the Olympian’s father said. On steep
velodrome tracks, cyclists can hit top speeds of 40
miles per hour, making races exciting and dangerous.
Unlike swimming, gamesmanship, strategy and luck
often determine the winner on any given day.
Lea said his son’s best medal hopes were probably
in the 40 K Madison, where Bobby was paired with
Friedman, his longtime buddy, dating back to his first
days racing as a teenager at Trexlertown.
Even if Bobby had beaten the odds and won a spot
on the podium in the highly competitive cycling
events, he actually still would not have been the first
Lea to earn an Olympic medal. Younger brother Syd,
a member of the grounds crew at Mount St. Mary’s,
won two cycling gold medals last year in China at the
Special Olympics. Syd was also competing at World
Cup events this month in Vienna, Austria, where his
parents visited him on their trip overseas.
Robert and Tracy Lea left just days before the Aug.
16 men’s points race to meet Bobby Lea and his fiancee
at the games in China. His parents waited until
the last minute to make travel arrangements “out of
superstition.”
“People asked what we were going to do, if we were
going to go to China, but I said, ‘I’m not talking
about that’,” Tracy Lea told SPOKES.
“I’m not jinxing it,” his mom told friends and family
in the days and weeks leading up to the qualifying
time trials. “He called with the good news June 16,
and on June 17 I was scrambling looking for accommodations.”
They found a room right near the track
and Fuji bicycles arranged to supply everyone with
bicycles during their stay. They planned to remain in
Beijing for a week after the competition to tour the
countryside.
Tracy said via e-mail from Beijing just a day after
Bobby’s second race that the family was having a great
time exploring the city by bicycle.
“The riding here is a bit wild,” she said, “there are
bike lanes on all roads, but the intersections are wild.”
Tracy explained that right turns at red lights are
legal in Beijing, but “no is no stopping on ‘right on
red.’” Her rule, she said, is always “to keep a Beijinger
between me and the cars as the first line of defense.”
She added that the Olympic organization has been
“amazing” and volunteers are everywhere willing to
help out. “The people here are really welcoming and
it is great to see a clean city,” she said.
Tracy said making the team has been Bobby’s dream
and that “as a parent seeing your son achieve his goal
is fantastic.”
However, for many first-time Olympians, she noted,
the emotion of being here can be overwhelming and
most need the next round for results.
Bobby is already planning for London, she said, and
the family has already talked about what he would do
differently to go for “the big results.”
One key, they believe, is not staying at the Olympic
Village the whole time and planning on the real preevent
training away from the main venue. Also, Tracy
said, they’d like to figure out how to make the team
with minimal federation politics and, possibly, hire
a personal coach to further reduce pre-Olympic stress.
Bobby’s introduction to Velodrome cycling began
almost as soon as he was born. Robert and Tracy
started taking him regularly to Trexlertown, Pa., for
the spring and summer seasons at the Lehigh Valley
Velodrome for their own races and never stopped all
the way through high school.
He took second in his first race at the national championships
for the 13- to 14-year-old age group and
kept progressing in both road and track disciplines.
“I thought that was pretty good,” his dad said. “When
he came back and won the 500-meter time trial after
that, I thought, yeah, maybe he would make the
Olympics some day.”
Bobby went on to win 30 collegiate national titles on
the road and in various individual and team track
events. He’s been competing professionally on the
road with various U.S.-based pro cycling teams and
has captured eight more national titles on the track,
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In 2007, Bobby also underwent successful surgery to
correct artery problems in his groin area, an issue
actually diagnosed by his mother, who suffered similar
issues as a young rider. He recovered and has since
won a World Cup silver medal in the Madison, while
paired with Colby Pearce, in Copenhagen in 2007.
“I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to be successful
at the Olympics and now I am ready to go to London
and win a medal,” Bobby told SPOKES.
That is the Olympic spirit.
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September 2008
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