From the Archives: Kevin Sayavong at the Rose Bowl, 1995

Since daylight savings time arrives with March now, those rides that enter a state of hibernation during the winter, will be dusting off the black tarmac to welcome back their riders. At the Bud's Ride or, more to the point in this case, the Rose Bowl, competitors will be eager to pick up where they left off last October, or perhaps to start fresh in a new season.

As you have probably gathered over the past few years, my own racing career was far from noteworthy but, like most riders who have been in the race for a while, I did have moments. One of those came twenty years ago at the Bowl where, on Tuesday 16 May, I looked up and back, and found myself in a successful break. It was the first of many. Or two. Maybe three at the most. Anyway, "I just happened to be at the right place at the right time [that always means the front] when it went on the first lap. Included in the break were Thurlow Rogers, Fred Pierce, Sugi and Mark Rich on tandem, Mitch Boggs, Dave Hall, Randy, Scott King, Olin Bakke, and some other muscle to help out. I was pretty much at my limit the whole time, only took one pull, but also managed to parry all attacks and stay in the group."

As for Kevin, he was new to Team Xtreme, and new to racing. In fact his first race was at the end of April in '95 at the Cajalco Criterium. He immediately began picking up primes and placings as a first year Cat 5. In the photo above, Kevin is the second rider in line wearing 1995's Team Xtreme kit.