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Chris “C.Murder” Michels

Name: Chris Michels, but they call me murder.

Age: wait, real age or race age? For 2012 that would be 32/33 respectively. Fuck. I’m old.

Location: San Diego, CA

Disciplines/ Current Categories: Road: 3 Track: 3 CX: 3

Goals for the upcoming season: It doesn’t really matter how I finish any race in the upcoming season, my only goal is to crush all Smurfs, all the time.

First Race Story: My first race was on the track, and completely uneventful. I didn’t even throw up or anything. My first road race however was Boulevard the year it snowed. We rolled out of the start and it was cold. About halfway through the second lap (a two lap circuit) it got really quiet, and began to snow. It was terrible, and I was ill prepared for the weather. You know the ’88 Giro, where there was that blizzard going over the Gavia pass? It was kinda like that, but in San Diego County, and a Cat. 5 race. So to be honest, it wasn’t anything like the Giro, but still. My hands froze up. I couldn’t shift or brake. I nearly fell off my bike when I rolled back to the van. Ervgopower was there, and got some great shots of me coated in snow and ice.

1st Bicycle: A department store pile of junk that I rode the wheels off of when I was 6. My first “real” bike was a 1982 Bianchi Tipo Corsa with friction shifting Campagnolo Nuovo Record 6 speed stuff on it. I put my hand into the spokes of the front wheel way too many times riding on the limit on that thing. I can’t believe integrated shifting took so long, I mean, come on.

Current bikes: 1985 Waterford Schwinn Paramount track bike. 2008 Brian Baylis Special Pista. Indy Fab SSR (training/winter/rain bike). Bianchi Sempre (full race!) I built up with Campy Record and Mavic SSC brakes. Kelly Knobby X.

Favorite Bicycle story: I was doing a lot of 3 race Sundays up at Ontario. During one of the early August races, it was 100+ all day. When I was done, I was caked in salt. I also noticed during my last race, that breathing was becoming difficult. It felt like I had smoked a pack of stogies. I got home and checked the air quality index for Ontario, and it was “dangerous”. Basically that means doing 3 crits with that kind of air is a really, really bad idea.

Bicycle superstitions: 3 is the magic number. Yes it is. It’s the magic number.

Dumbest thing you've done on a bike: Deciding that I wanted to get a license and race was pretty dumb.

Special Talents? Karaoke king.

Strengths: Punchy climbs, bridging gaps, keeping the bike upright in bad situations, pissing people off.

Weaknesses: Long climbs, mountain biking, giving a shit.

Final words of wisdom? Chicks that wear animal print are psycho. Actually, anyone that wears animal print is psycho.