In Charlotte, if I saw an athlete riding their bike around in a cycling kit of a professional cycling team (say, team BMC or Optum Kelly or Garmin Sharp...etc) I would - naturally - assume that the athlete wearing such a kit was a fred before even getting close enough to see whether the athlete in question might actually be an athlete on that team.
In Tucson, however, if I see a pro kit riding around (triathlon or cycling pro team) my first assumption is that the athlete actually IS a pro. When you have legitimate domestic and international pros making the city in which you live a "traincation" destination the likelihood of seeing world beating level athletes is pretty high.
Undecided: Actual team rider ahead of TDU, or well coordinated fan? Bike itself didn't have name. pic.twitter.com/5SYUmyPayf— Ray Maker (@dcrainmakerblog) January 11, 2017
We live three doors down from Todd Wells, probably the greatest off-road cyclist America has ever produced (3 time Olympian). Travis McCabe lives here and enjoys showing up on Tuesday morning and Shootout group rides to make everyone else look like lowly Cat 5s. There are so many other Cat 1/Junior Elite/U23 Elite cyclists that I could get dropped by basically anyone. Pro triathletes are here left and right, and luckily I get to ride and run with some of them.
So yea, when I see a pro kit I basically assume that whoever is wearing it is liable to kick my ass up and down the road or trail. It's both an amazing feeling because of the endless potential of ass-kicking but also kind of sad because of...well, the endless possibility of ass-kicking.
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