Man, I am sitting here on the Chesterfield thinking this guy deserves mad respect for chasing down his dreams! Inspiring!! Thanks for sharing Chris!

Today I met a bike shop owner who apparently used to compete with you, when I mentioned you he said you were the smartest guy in the pro peloton, that your tactical awareness while racing was unmatched. He even described riding next to you and listening to you which was kind of like listening to your videos! LOL (only difference, he wasn't sure you said knuckleheads way back then!) 🤓😃

What a great story time. I don't think I've ever heard a pro talk so explicitly about his financial arrangements. Was nice to hear you eventually got some big checks.

Chris’ beard at 6:58. No way that’s aero! 😂

OFFICIAL: Mark Cavendish has accepted Astana Qazaqstan's offer to "come out of retirement" and ride with them at next year's Tour de France. They pulled out all the stops to accomplish this: they signed Michael Morkov to lead out for him AND signed the Quickstep sprint trainer who gave him his 2021 mojo, Anastopoulos. And now that they have Cav, I've heard they're looking to assemble even more riders for the Jumbo-Visma of a lead-out train for Cav, with a top priority for Le Tour to help Cav win a sole record 35th (and beyond) sprint win. Astana just became my new favorite team. Yeah, both Mark and Michael are 38 now, but you know better than most that you can't dismiss the chances of determined riders due to their age!

Its like being a "professional" musician but you get laid less😂

Wow, extremely in-depth! Thank you Chris for explaining the reality of being a cycling pro.!

Chris, it would be very interesting to have a story time with all the bikes you raced through the years. Technology progression, frame materials, good ones, crap ones, etc.

I remember that stage of the 2011 Tour and listening to what you were asking after the finish line. I was cringing, asking myself why your management didn't immediately pull you from the race. It was obvious you were concussed and were in no shape to ride. Hat's off for keeping it rubber side down for the rest of the stage when your brain was barely working!

Oh... the good old days! Ha! I turned pro in 1989. Late 80's and the early 90's saw the development of the first pro teams based in America, 7/11, Coors Light. Chevy, Saturn, Wheaties... Every year there were a few more teams and a few more races with real prize money. Pretty soon some legit Euro-pros wanted to race in the U.S.. There are some great stories from those times as you were coming up. Let's hear some! Those years were literally the birth of pro bike racing in America.

I was riveted, Chris, by your year-by-year breakdown of your financial situation as a pro and it makes your Vuelta win that much more meaningful, that you paid back your team with that win after two seasons of finally making the big bucks. And, all in all, wow, you were doing the dance, carving a place in Europe and back in the States and dealing with the sha-sha-shakiness of it all. Yours is a most impressive story of resilience and determination and now we have a better understanding why you have all those jerseys. 😀

Sitting here on my ordanary seat thinking, "why Chris Horner is not writing a book ??"

It would be great if you could get Johan as a guest on your show (or you as a guest on his podcast) so that both of you can talk about old times.

Chris, is there any way (without compromising yourself) that would you consider a similarly frank and revealing story about drug-taking in the sport? I read recently that the retrospective tests on ‘98 TdF blood samples showed near universal use of EPO within the peloton. Love to hear your wise and honest take on the role that ‘drugs’ had, and maybe still have, on pro cycling.

Thanks for sharing as always appreciate your insight.

Loved the story Chris! Great insight into the part of pro cycling we often don't hear too much about!

What a great story and an inspiration. Thanks for sharing, Chris!

I got dropped, completely dropped, today on the last climb of the ride by a local pro 1/2 type guy here in Colorado. I was laughing at how easily he rode away, and simultaneously pondered how this rider is multiple levels below a World Tour pro in the European peloton. Puts into perspective how hard it is to make a living racing a bicycle.

Thank you so much for this lesson. 💗

Great to hear your real-world behind the scenes stories!

Fantastic! Thank you. Looking forward to next story time. You are Da Maaaannnn.

Just a great story Chris. Very interesting. We need more story times 👍

I love the complete transparency in these stories wow i didnt expect to get hooked that good. This is my first storytime and im waiting eagerly for the next one! Thanks !!

Great insight Chris

Thanks for those insider stories,Chris. You did yourself well through all that hard work!

I love these storytime vids.

Fantastic video young Chris! Brings back memories of racing and working full time... training rides in the mornings and going to work second shift in a nut factory. Racing on the weekends and taking vacation time for stage races.

I love story time, thanks for the insight into the peloton. 👍

These are some of your best podcasts. Keep the stories coming!

Enjoyed that. Honest about the situation.

This is why the big time American gravel cyclists (the like 3 or 4 of them that exist) are turning down the European road teams. They're making more in the US with their more independent sponsorship arrangements than they'd be paid on a team.

Thank you for sharing!! Great reminder that sometimes we have to fund our own dreams, initially!

What a great and humbling story. Thanks for sharing this. Im glad you had Johan in your life!

Love the insight Chris! I followed your career for all of those years and these incredible details just add icing on the Chris Horner, Coke and Snickers flavored cake!

Chris ~ thanks for sharing!

Great personal story!!!!!

Hi Chris: Thank you for your story. I did enjoy it and appreciate your telling it. John USA

Great insight. Thanks

That was really interesting ! Also looking forward to the stories of how the riders lived through the Festina tour.

Very informative and entertaining. I now have a much better idea of what goes on behind the scenes in pro cycling. Thanks for sharing.

great story Chris. what a trip down memory lane with the names of the pros you raced with.

Very inspiring story. Good to see the Mercury jersey. I remember seeing you out front in the Simi ride here in So Cal back in 2000 thinking you had enough of Europe. Boy, was I wrong. 13 years later watching you win the Vuelta was very special. What a career...

Thanks for that Chris, very informative insight into the realities of pro bike riding at the top level. God bless you and you're family.

Brillaint honest account of things Chris. Really refreshing to just hear it how it is with no BS. Makes me kinda sad Johans been treated like he has - listen to the move just to get his view on things.

Chris, wow! Your videos are always great, race analysis and back stories at such a high level, but this was outstanding, so interesting and compelling! Thanks, a lot! Enjoy your Chesterfield, well earned!

Great stories Chris ---you were born with incredible tenacity! Anyone clawing their way to the top takes so much sacrifice...I remember Eric Marcotte in MN who was tearing everyone's legs off and then I heard he somehow held a full time job as a chiropractor in AZ -- then he won the USPro championships in 2014! crapy wages however perhaps guarantees that riders are in it for the love of the sport of cycling -- not necessarily all the $$ ...like we see a lot elsewhere in other sports...

Meanwhile I’m on chesterfield doing nothing with my life. Epic story Chris, I love these kind of stories and insights!

Thanks for sharing this ...im your fan allways ...🎉..its important to tell this ...its real life

Thanks for sharing information about this part of professional cycling culture. As a teenager/young man who raced during the 80's, I only knew about what I read in the magazines, and the money part of it wasn't commonly discussed unless it was a discussion about the elite riders like Lemond. It was only in recent times that I found out how little many of my cycling heroes were actually paid (particularly the women), and the stresses that came with that.

I am always enjoying Chris' analysis and I have mad respect for his openness and smart insights (I love the knucklehead analyses ^^). I just wonder if he will ever do a storytime about doping and whether he will admit he took some or perhaps explain about his experiences with it in the peloton. I would be very interested to hear an open conversation about that, about the pressures for the athletes and about the opinions of colleagues.

Awesome to hear JB being such a standup guy. I love his commentary over on the Wedu channel. Would love to get you two talking together on a story time episode or something like that. Keep it up!

Great video Chris, you are true CHAD

This was a really great and interesting story-time with Chris Horner.

Love these stories. Your race analysis is excellent. Watching these videos for last few years. Looking forward to next years racing and knuckle head commentary 😊

Thanks Chris! By far the best cycling content out there! Keep it up!

Cycling Highlights just put out a 2 1/2 hour video on the Festina affair. Love the channel Chris. You’re really a great dude for putting this much work into your channel.

Love your stories. You would create a great book. "Butterflies and Knuckleheads in the World of Pro Cycling" . I would preorder the book and would have to get a Chesterfield to sit in while I read 📚 it . 🔥📖🦋👊🏼😃

Love it! Storytime was a great episode. Thanks for the inside info. I always come away for your analysis more educated than before. Makes watching races much more enjoyable. Thanks Chris!

This adds a great perspective on the sport. Thank you! Heard some stories of young talented riders quitting just because of the financial stress each year.

A really interesting video. Thanks for going through all of this. Really shows how chaotic cycling is.

Really interesting. Thx

Awesome story. Did that Athens Twilight ;) who knew you would win a grand tour. Epic.

Greetings from Thailand. Great video! Thanks for sharing your real life experiences during your pro career.

Great to illustrate the less enjoyable parts of professional racing, and good to know this with everything happening right now. Thanks again.

Thank you Chris horner

Very interesting!

I remember see n you at a velo promo race early spring in 2004.. I think it was copperopolis rr ? Steve Larsen was also on that team (RIP)

5:16 Right there, Chris joined the Hair-luminatti, sacrificing scalp fuzz for cycling glory, a la Laurent Fignon, which he actually looks like. Oh by the way, when I was growing up bikes such as Gitane [steel] were the RAGE!

Chris, thanks for this behind the scenes look at what pro cyclists experience. I enjoy your no holds barred analysis, keep it up! 👏👊

Outstanding story! I wouldn't want to be the 2 young American riders right now, having to go through the stress they are going through at all. I pray it works out for them. Especially in today's financial issues. My friend I trained with went through that stress also, and he had a family. Thanks for sharing!

thanks for the story! fascinating!

Thanks. This was very informative. As a Certified Financial Planner, I am very used to learning about the financial facts and income of others and this was helpful from financial planning perspective.

Wonderful storyline.

Great insight into the lifestyle and issues of being a professional cyclist. How would you approach the career now? With social media, brand deals, and what you and others are currently doing on KZfaq.

Your a one off Sir a honest open video on the true facts of professionals in sport you made it work for you because you were in the top 5% loved the video thank you.

Thank you for bringing this subject up. In all others sport there exist clubs while in pro cycling it does not. That creates a unique situation for pro cycling which maybe can be avoided if the sport can bring clubs to highest level.

Defiantly wanna hear a story time book out the festina team

Loving some of that early career facial hair Chris - Was it Aero or just a climbing beard

Great story Chris.

Looking forward to tomorrow: Rogla, Pogi, Remco, Mas, Billy Carapaz, Pinot, Chavez (some of them already won Il Lombardia. And last race for Primož on Cervelo as he will be on Bora's Specialized.

This is the video that every aspiring junior or espoir should watch (and ensure their parents dont!). Nothing like depending on race winnings to pay your next meal. Would love more stories like this... especially the North American pro scene in the 90's/00's vs the euro scene. Thanks, Chris!

this video deserves alot of views! should be a netflix docuseries or something

I love these stories! Thanks for sharing! Would love to know story behind you eating at French McDonalds looking like you went to hell and back....

As of Friday morning Sporza is reporting the merger/takeover is off. Good news for the riders and staff. Thanks for storytime!

so you could ride the Tour completely unconcious. Nuts!

RESPECT!

it has been a while since i commented here...but this video is EXCELLENT...love the story time and behind the scene hardships of an otherwise popular and successful cyclist. Thank you Chris, it is not always pretty to be a cyclist

👀 Bravo !

Missing the '98 TDF and avoiding getting caught up in the mess that Rock Racing ultimately was. Some positives I suppose out of all the stress (listening to the Mercury situation and the UCI response I was definitely thinking WTF?) that your story highlights so well here.

It's refreshing to hear actual numbers.

Thanks for this Video ! I have a friend who was student in germany for sports, he try to wrote a master work about the payment in cycling , but he dont get any informations about this. How much money you need for yourself in a season, isnt the live very simple , ride eat sleep ride ? do you have to pay the own material , how much bikes you get from the team, how much clothes, what happend when you make a crash with your bike since training ? etc. etc. How much money do you get for the 2014 season , after winning Vuelta, was it hard in your age to find a team ? Until what age could a professional rider ride in races (Rebellin) . In which age it is going to be unhealthy to race ?

Chris, I love your candidness on pro cycling. Can you or will you ever talk about the doping usage? You are the only person to have ridden with Lance who has never got busted. When and will you come clean? We as fans of you kinda know the truth. It would be nice if you and Floyd would get together and straighten it all out.

This is so insane on so many levels as it is hard enough to be a world class bicycle racer - dangerous, demanding, takes years off your life, then have to deal with not getting paid. I can't even get some of the workers to put in a 1/2 days worth of work on the construction site. Thank you for this incredible story time!!!

Chris continues to give some of the best insights in the pro sports in the business. I’ll take one Chris Horner over all the Vandevelde‘s in the planet.

Thanks for sharing this insights into the financials struggles of a bike rider. How about doing one story about the financials of a team? I'm not sure how the team owners make money. Just salaries? Is there a P&L and profit sharing? How is the sponsors money allocated? Keep up your good work!

Yeah Chris we need more recollection of the good old days I have been a Velo News subscriber since 1982 and that was the only way to find out what was going on in Europe and you were one of the guys that bugged out of the US and I couldn’t believe you were with FDJ because I knew what the French did to Greg Lemond so I was just shaking my head and I know what you had to do and I know what the sport was at that time so I will never judge you but come on dude did you ever feel sorry about the French dudes who couldn’t do what you were doing there were some guys who could have been way better than you but you know and I know so don’t toot your own horn 😊

Great story, wonderful insight into the financial struggles cyclist go through. Primoz earns around $6 million a year. Average MLB major leaguer makes $4.6 million. Cyclist don’t get paid near enough. Chris, what about health insurance? I’m guessing when on a team you are covered, but what happens between teams? Or when you are on your own? A training accident could bankrupt you.

Love your story telling sessions. It's great to get a real life perspective on the struggles of pro cyclists. You guys deserve a ton of respect for the job you do. In my opinion, the paycheck does not match the effort, pain and risk you face every time you get on your bike.

I believe I saw you in a criterium in downtown Columbus Ohio early in your career. Not sure what year.

When I lived in New Hampshire (1994-1997: before Switzerland 🇨🇭 ), I read about a woman racer in the New England regional circuit, who would trance-out in the middle of criteriums, and ride lap after lap, somewhat like a fish in the middle of a moving school swimming together. Her competitors knew about; what was radical would be her "snapping out of it" just as the final sprint formed. She won often, due to how relaxed she passed the previous laps.