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The January 2008 issue of the magazine Procycling will be a special issue about Greg LeMond, with him as a guest editor: "70 pages of sensational stories direct from his Minnesota home".
"Three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond has taken a step in a new direction by stepping into the editor's chair at Procycling.
In the January 2008 issue, which goes on sale in the UK on December 20 and across the rest of the world in the new year, LeMond focuses on some of the incidents and issues that are close to his heart, including his radical thoughts on training and how cycling has helped his family through some difficult times.
During a frantic few days at home in Minneapolis, LeMond sets out his vision for the sport, analyzing conventional training methods and explaining why he believes less can be more - in short, why training in a very specific way can make any cyclist faster. He also explains what he would do if he was running the sport, and has some particularly strong views on what should be done to tackle the issue of doping.
On the personal side, LeMond gives his insight into some of the great sporting moments he enjoyed on the bike, including his thoughts on that 1986 Tour feud with team-mate Bernard Hinault and why he thinks he got the edge of Laurent Fignon in the incredible 1989 Tour. He also talks frankly and candidly about some of the personal problems he and his family have faced, and reveals how therapy and cycling has helped them get back on the right track."
I recently re-listened to an audio interview I had for quite a time, and I re-discovered this was a very very interesting and pleasant one. If you don't know it yet, it's really worth the hour it lasts!
Diana Nyad interviewed Greg LeMond on Minnesota Public Radio at Macalester College in St Paul in 2002, and this interview (almost one hour long) can be listened to through that link. You need RealPlayer to listen to it.
The swimmer Diana Nyad was on the World T.E.A.M. Sports project with Vietnam War veterans that Greg participated to in 1997, and they became friends while riding in Vietnam.
They talked about many many things: doping, Greg's popularity in France, simple pleasures while riding, like spotting rivers for fly-fishing while on races and getting emotional about the smell of eucalyptus reminding him of Northern California, the kindness of Minnesota people, his love for French landscapes... and much more.
A few priceless quotes during this interview:
"Athletes are really idiots most of the time."
"I love sports, but I do recognize in sports there is a mentality that's almost -I don't want to say mental illness-, but there's a point where they take it so far beyond what it should, and that's the only thing I find wrong with sports today, it's gone so far to one extreme."
"I want to know that everybody is clean [...] but it's a total naive notion."
It's pure Greg: he is straightforward, well-spoken, passionate, outspoken and with a tendency to wander on topics... I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!
