University student makes career of spinning wheels By Pat Malach Emerald Editor As a professional cyclist, Karl Maxon has competed in some of the world's toughest races, including the Tour of Spain and Giro d'ltalia He has raced with and against the liest cyclists in the world. Even so, some of the stillest competi tion the 32-year-old University senior has faced may tie in his business school classes, "People ant like sharks in those class es." he said. "You should see 'em They're so competitive " Out if Maxon attacks his studies with the same veracity he uses on race courses, he should have nothing to wor ry ulxnit. "It's that new challenge." he said "I just love it. I'm (ratin' it alive " Maxon has had little problem taking on challenges in his cycling career, which began in lVtfll after he developed a foot injury from long-distance running He began riding his bike as a means to continue training “They stuck me on a bike to rehabili tate me, to keep me going." he said. "I found that j could still keep progressing physically without getting an injury in my calf or whatever." Maxon met with immediate success his first year of racing with the Eugene Cycling Club and decided it was time to move on. "I was so green — really naive," he said. "After the first year of cycling in 'Bl, silly me. I had a lot of race results from the Northwest so 1 sent off letters to all those big teams.” One of those letters went to Mike Neel, whose credentials now include manag ing the 7-Eleven and Spago teams At the time, Neel didn’t have a spot on his own team, but one of his riders had backed out on a deal to ride for a French ama tour team "He says, Well can you no'' And I’m like*, 'uh. uh. uh. yeah." Maxon said That was in 1982 In !uh:! Greg Le inonci took second in the World Ghampi unship Road Race, hut there? were not many Americans ra< mg the European scone "It was pretty wild." Maxon said "I didn't know anything, and Franco is like the bastion of cycling tradition It was like snicker, snic ker It was kind of like? 'show me what you can do.' and then show mo again and again In 1084 Maxon signed with the Italian pro team Linen ML) Italia While racing in Europe, he competed in the Tours of Spain and Italy and rode most of the major one day < lassie x Maxon said one classic he never rode in. or even wanted to ride in. was the Fans Koubaix, also called the "Hell of the North .” Paris Koubaix is a nearly 2txi mile Belgian spring classic famous ior its mud and tiono tarring cobblestones "Only two guys from our team got sent to that," Maxon said We were |ust s.i\ ing 'no. no ' Just the' Belgians wanted to go, so we said. 'Go up there Go die? Have fun ' " Maxon said he had about to top-10 finishes and siivicr.il top 10 finishes rac ing as a pro in Europe In 1080, while riding with the U S team Ten-Speed Drive, Maxon won the National Championship in the -to kilo meter individual time trial and was a member of the team time trial National Championship scpi.id Maxon signed with the French pro team Fagor in 1987, but he returned to Ten-Speed Drive in 1988 and rode his way to an impressive seventh-place fin ish at the CoreStates U S Pro Champion ships in Philadelphia, finishing ahead of notable IJ.S rac ers such as Andy Hump sten Riding for the Subaru/Montgomery team In 1989, Maxon competed in the Tour do Trump, where he watched a C-tx****? pr«MO Karl Ms ton (left) if Hanked by Yvon Waddel ol learn Evian as ha climbs a hill during a stage ol the 1991 Gaston Grand Prit Tour ol While Rock in Quebec City. Quebec "doughboy" Greg Lemond get dropped from the field almost every day of the race lust two months later, Lemond had dropped the extra weight along with all his competitors on his wav to winning his second l our de France Maxon currently rides for team .Sachs/Ii'ila-(QKBC) and has cut the num ber of races he competes in from about 100 to 1 f» a year so he < an com entratc on getting a degree in at counting Maxon says the larger teams with hig budgets have taken the fun out of the U.S cycling circuit "The racing has gotten a lot slower in a lot of ways." he said, "it's gotten a lot more negative where It's just reactive rather than pro active That's why I end ed up going bur k to school It's gotten boring "Somuone will kmil of h.illw.iv toll oil tin' front." In- said, "and then you get HI guys putting tliolr timki's on in lln> cor nor. You can't light your was to thu front through 20 guys It's hard to fight that with .1 smaller teani So now Maxon has made it .1 priority to tight Ins way to llm Iron! of Ins i lass os. "I'm (list here to learn and have a good time while I'm learning," he said "It's really, really neat to put in your time, and you study hard and everything, and you get results It's so cool You finish your term and you move on." EVERYTHING eQ ... to get you through \AllM| Cil* Experience the Les Schwab Difference! 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