Lawson Craddock, the other Texan

Here’s a very brief extract from a recent interview i did with US TT Champ lawson Craddock, about growing up in the dark shadow of another infamous Texan bike racer.

ST; Being a Texan how much of an influence was Lance Armstrong on you when growing up?

LC; I grew up, like everyone else at that time, (regardless of the fact that I was from Texas) I watching the Tour. When I was around 10 years old, and watching those guys dominate. I guess like young riders now watching us race, it gives you motivation to train and ride, which is all our goals – to spread the joy of cycling, and we do that through racing.

I have great memories of watching those guys fly up mountains, and in thinking that young riders are watching us do the same, maybe a little bitt slower, but that’s a cool aspect of the sport.

ST; Did you have any contact with Lance back then?

LC; I raced on Trek-Livestrong, the team he founded with Axel Merckx. I did get to know him a little bit back then, but haven’t seen much of him recently.

Trek-Livestrong definitely gave me a huge advantage for starting my career. I have great memories from back then, and really enjoy watching that team have success – continually,

ST; Was it a shock and disappointment when the whole Lance/US Postal doping saga came out?

LC; Being involved in the sport, you kind of knew that whole era, you more or less understood it with being involved in professional cycling.

The reality of the news is what it is, but I think I can definitively say that I can race my bike cleanly, and that is as a direct result of that generation.

You gave this apiphany that things weren’t as they looked on the surface. But, I think it was something the sport had to go through, and it’s allowed me to never have to be in that situation.