At almost every stage of the big North American races this year, someone would bring me cookies. If I recognized the guy or girl, I'd have one (or three). If they contained butterscotch or cranberries, I'd pretend to be happy, even though I hate butterscotch, and cranberries have no place in a cookie. If I thought there was any chance they'd contain cannabis (they never did), I'd give them to our mechanics.
Teammates and friends share the bounty, some combination of jealous and grateful. I do enjoy a cookie, but it's confusing, because as Ben King once pointed out, "Who doesn't like cookies, Phil?" It's a great point.
I don't know how the cookie thing started, but I didn't plan it. Remember in high school, when everyone's searching for an identity, so one day they listen to a band, someone tells them it's cool, so they buy five T-shirts, and now that's their thing? I think that's what happened to me. I noticed that people liked it when I mentioned cookies, so I gave them more chocolate tweets, and it snowballed. Ted King did it with maple syrup. Mike Creed got lots of bourbon. Tayler Wiles also gets cookies, and she'll hear from my lawyer. Someone should make sports cars their thing and see if they get a free Ferrari (I get to drive it, because it was my idea).
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I'm certainly not complaining about free cookies. My point is how easy it is to engage with fans, and how eager they are to connect with riders.
Claudio Chiappucci made comments recently that riders today are too boring, robots, that only Peter Sagan has personality. I think he mostly meant on the bike, and his comments were about a sport that's gotten less fun to watch than in his day, because guys aren't attacking each other at full sprint on steep climbs anymore, nor are they going solo with 200km to go.
Has cycling lost its personality? People always think fondly about the good old days. Saturday Night Live was funnier when you were 14 years old, and bike racing was cooler for Chiappucci when he was in it. But if you go back to the Chevy Chase years, there were plenty of bad jokes, and the 1990s certainly saw its share of boring Tour stages.
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