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giofox
What did people think of Strasser?
How did he come across? esp @jakemcree / anyone else who was at the party and heard his account.
There's lots of reasons not to like pros entering amateur events, but he's a self-made pro who's worked out how to earn his living around his cycling, more like Hutch or @skinny, rather than a pro team guy, so different in my eyes, and he brought new but relevant experience to this.
I read his book earlier in the year, as part of my research for this to see if there were any lessons I could apply. I had no idea he had entered at that stage. I thought he came across really well in his book, and was looking forward to meeting him. I did get to speak to him a bit, but it was pretty late, I was knackered and he'd had a few beers.
When I met him I thought he was pretty cool. Last to leave the party, hair all over the place, swigging from his beer bottle, talking to anyone, sharing his views freely. He said he was up for doing this again next year, he reckoned that unsupported was the future, RAAM getting so expensive, entries going down, etc.
He gave me one piece of advice: 'If your route is shit, just throw it away and follow the road signs. Apart from in Italy where they all say Tutti Direzione".