Tony 2's photostream

Husband of 21 years & father of a daughter.
Aircraft mechanic. Not going to say I'm the best, but I usually get the job done. Other days, I get my ego handed back to me in a bag of poo.
I'm not a fast rider, but I'm not a slow rider either. I've been told that I've done more on a bike than 90% of the people of the world. More than they will ever do on a bike, in their entire lives.

My dad and my god-father codesigned and built the Space Shuttle's main engines. Not bad for a couple of Mexican born & trained mechanical engineers. They gave NASA the credit. They gave Wernher von Braun the credit, but he was actually a lobbyist by the time of the Saturn 5's. The Space Shuttle engines were hailed as the most MODERN MARVEL in the history of MANKIND. The turbo pumps were the real modern marvel, so that could explain my IQ of 182, which really stems from shear genetics. I was a wee little boy when they did it, so when my dad's boss told me that I should be EXTREMELY proud of my dad's achievements, I didn't understand the magnitude. All I knew is I didn't want a job with THAT much MATH Homework. 2 long tables, double-stacked, piled high, all done by hand with no computers, just two abacuses. Work that couldn't be done by computer until only recently. My dad is so proud of it, he named his business after the Space Shuttle Columbia. Good man my dad.

The story behind my name and nickname stems from my dad's Saturn 5 days and it's a rather lengthy story. But what the heck? We've got time. My dad wanted to name me Tony. Due to his close work with the missions to the moon, he was at Cape Canaveral when I was born 3 weeks early. My dad gone. My mom out of it. The family so excited. My dad's sister-in-law stepped forward and named me after a very popular Mexican singer; still popular to this day. So if you had a son and someone else named him Justin Timberlake, how happy would you be about that?
NEVER has my dad called me by my name.
ALWAYS TONY!
He wanted to legally change my name, but because of the long hours at work, then the divorce, it became nonimportant. I got paddled by my Kindergarten Teacher for not answering to my name.
Now, I just don't give a dang, but my friends and family call me Tony. Wanna talk business? Then it's by my name.

When I first started riding with the Doctors, Mike Barr dubbed me Tony2 or T2. I like that. I'm good. Thanks Mike!

Other than that, I love where I live. I love my life.
I'm a victim of setting my goals too low.
I grew up in a house with 3 brothers, 3 sisters and my mom.
My dad worked so hard, they got divorced, so I decided to be home more than my dad was, when I was growing up.
I could retire any time I want, but then I think I would really be bored. I already get bored easily at work, so I'm always taking on extra projects to keep myself busy. Imagine working overtime for that? Let the hungry work the overtime. Me? I'll just do what I feel.
Is this a good description?
Didn't think so.
Keep em guessing.
Fly it low, under the radar.
Ride it like you stole it.


Why I like Orange?
It started off with the Home Depot. When I was a teenager, looking to make a buck, I needed some equipment to start mowing lawns. "Big Box" sellers didn't exist back then and prices were rather steep. Then, a Home Depot was built on the outskirts Houston and we received Home Depot salespapers. They had the equipment I needed and at prices a leaf raker could afford. So I begged a friends mom to drive me to Home Depot. I bought the equipment I needed. I made a lot of money as a teenager because of Home Depot, and obviously, I never forgot that. Never forgot my friends mom neither. Very cool lady.
When Home Depot started into NASCAR and with a driver named Tony Stewart, of course, instant fan.
Orange is HOT. Some of that fanwear was HOT.
Why Orange bike?
I loved riding bikes when I was a little boy. No. I LOVED RIDING BIKES when I was a little boy. I always begged my dad for a bike as a kid, but NEVER got one.
For my 7th birthday, my dad said to me, "Son. When you grow up, and you get a job, and you start making money, you can buy anything you want."
Yeah.
I really never forgot that.
My first bike was actually 3 f'd up bikes from a garage sale.
From the 3, I built a beautiful bike.
I loved it.
I was too nice of a kid and let these two bastards borrow it as they rode away with it, never to be seen again.
With the extra parts, I built a junkier bike, but it rolled well and never got stolen. Don't remember what I did with it.
I moved to LA. and borrowed a bike. Those were the Greg Lemond days and I used to haul ass. People used to tell me I would make an awesome racer, but I had no money. I had no mentors. I had no contacts.
I was an awesome driver, too. I once got a call from AJ Foyt, but the $8000 to buy my own chasis may as well been a billion dollars. Now I know, within a year from that call by AJ Foyt to me, Tony Stewart got the same call and his parents mortgaged their house and looked where he is now? $8000 back then was the house back then. I couldn't even get a bicycle, much less a racing chasis.
I'm not bitter. It's just the cards I was dealt. I'm not priviledged. The way I see it, Tony Stewart is living the life I could've had, but to me, he doesn't seem happy. He's mellowed out, but happy? I'm a victim of being happy. When you're happy, you don't go forward that much.
Now, Tony Stewart has AJ Foyt's number. Don't think he knows this story, or would care, but I did make many trips to his autograph sessions and support him in all of his endeavors.
He went racing. Not thinking I was even good enough for college, I joined the Army. I scored the states highest score in the graduation aptitude test, but because I got a 1244 and didn't get a perfect SAT (because of not studying), I didn't think I was good enough for college?
Two months into the Army I ran a 2:44 marathon and was invited to the Army's track team, but again, who the heck am I?
My friends in the Army took a look at my ASVAB scores and asked me outloud, "What the heck are you doing here?"
I can't say I'm a victim of bad mentorship, rather, I'm a victim of NO mentorship.
My GPA was 2.2 in High School and it had everything to do with growing up without a dad and an overworked mom.
I'm the guy that slipped thru the cracks - a lot of them.
Lets see - Auto Racing, Rhodes Scholar, Bike Racing, Track. I declined West Point. By the time I got out of the Army, after only 4 years and fighting in Desert Storm, I saw plenty of action before too - Golden Pheasant, Yellowstone, ROK-DMZ, Mass-N-Buckets, SARs missions - I was more decorated than Colin Powell. My DD214 is 3 pages when most are only 1, after only 4 years.
So when I finally got to college and a good job, my wife got me my first NEW bike. A mountain bike. I remember Lance Armstrong training in the hills when he was a phenom, but not a winner; and then came my bike crash. I didn't ride for more than 9 years after that crash.
I followed NASCAR, Tony Stewart, Lance Armstrong and was happy with their successes.
When my mom died, I decided to do a little more with my life, not just be a good worker.
So I started training for the LA Marathon and thought, I had to take it on a little easier, so I decided to take up bike riding to help with my running. I then decided to ride the Acura Bike Tour along with running the LA Marathon and I placed a bet on it.
Nervous of taking too long on the bike, I decided I needed a Lance Armstrong type bike.
I wanted to meld the Tony Stewart genre with bike riding.
I studied a lot of bikes.
I found the Orbea Orca in HOT Orange.
I found that it was a Spanish bike.
My ancestors are from Spain, from the Basque region to be exact. Upon further research, I found that the Orca is made in the same region, so that sealed the deal for me.
I've always seen the crazy orange runners in the Tour de France, but that didn't do it for me.
I opted for something cool so I bought an AC/DC "For those about to rock" bike jersey and I get plenty of compliments on it to this day.
Again, so nervous of taking too long on the bike I hauled ass to the finish line. The 2006 Acura LA Bike Tour was the largest ever at more than 19,000 riders and I beat them ALL to the line. Lots of photos were taken. I was in a hurry to get to the marathon starting line, so I didn't stick around to see where I could get a photo of that.
It's not a race.
Oh yeah?
Tell that to the other couple of hundred riders racing me to the finish line. Aside from when my daughter was born, it was the best moment of my life.
I had the orange bike. I wanted some matching clothes and the AC/DC jersey became too valuable for me, I went looking for some matching bike clothes and found the closest two kits were Rabobank and Euskaltel. Although I like Lance, I didn't want to wear what "everybody" was wearing, but safety was important so I decided on orange.
I was leaning towards Euskaltel because of the Spanish riders, but their helmets are banned in America for their lack of protection.
With that said, it was Rabobank all the way.
Then, the Tour of California started up, and I was able to meet the riders of Rabobank.
Say no more. I'm a die-hard Rabobank fan now.
They're my boys now.
They're family to me.
When they're here, they're my cousins.
That's how I roll.
I buy a new Rabobank kit or two every year for them to autograph and for me to wear.
They're on Giant Bikes now, but I spoke with designer of their bikes and made him highly aware that I won't buy a
Giant bike unless he paints the mother ORANGE.
He looked at my bike and loved the orange paint job and even wrote on his little notebook to build a team bike that matches the team colors, not just white with a nearly invisible stripe. Make a statement!
I met Pedro Horrillo last year, but this year, we really got to talking and now knowing where he's from, my heritage, and where my bike is from, it just drives it that much closer to home for me. It hit me like a ton of bricks when he crashed out of the Giro. You have NO idea.
I will usually be wearing orange or riding an orange bike when you see me out there.
Only exception is in October - orange month - you may see me on a 90's pink mountain bike to support breast cancer awareness. They need to change that up to May to coincide with the Giro.
I ride the pink bike in October in memory of Mike Barr's wife who died of breast cancer last year.
I KOM'd in 2007 & 2009.
I've done some long rides to San Diego and even rode from LA to Las Vegas, and will continue to do so, but I am looking to squeeze something else in there. What? I don't know. I've gotten a few invitations here and there, but I may take them up, when I'm ready.
No pressure yet.
We'll see.