In 2010, my young son and I had a life changing, thought provoking experience. We met Mark Cavendish.
Previously mentioned, we were let into a lobby at the hotel where cyclists were staying in our town. We waited outside the breakfast room to meet the riders. We had never met Mark Cavendish, we had only heard stories about him. Some not so very nice.
We saw Mark Cavendish approaching the room and he saw us standing there. He was going into breakfast and hadn't eaten yet. I whispered to my son," we will catch him after he eats."
He could have walked past us, head down and ignored us. Instead, he looked right at us and approached us! Wow, just wow. He saw a young fan and made a large impression and taught him a lesson.
I told him, " its okay, go eat and we will wait." He said, "its fine." Not only signing for us but taking pictures with each of us. Something so simple but profound.
The media and fans can say what they will. As for me, I will stand behind Cav and support him. You can tell a lot from behavior and looking someone in the eye. You can tell he's quite the kid person.
Later that summer when he rode to a emotional stage win, I can tell you, I was crying tears of joy for him.
He is cocky but he backs it up. He can throw fits like the rest of us, can anyone here say they haven't had a hissy fit? He always thanks his team first after a win and he wears his heart on his sleeve.
He gained two fans with his simple, selfless kindness that day. By going out of his way to be nice to a young boy, he made a huge impression that will last forever.
This is just my opinion. I don't expect you to agree or like it. I just wanted to share. I've met some of cycling's media darlings. Let me tell you some of them aren't so nice or friendly. One of those riders has ignored us on three occasions. So you can take the media oir others opinion as gospel.
