Did you see the Robbie Ventura interview a couple of days ago on cyclingnews.com? Robbie is a great guy - he and Kenny Labbe (another great guy) rode a lot of American races for the Posties, with little fanfare or recognition. They were always hard-working and hard-riding guys. Kenny rode in support of Robbie and they were a great team.

Robbie is a super guy and a super funny dude. A bunch of Postie guys were at Interbike a couple of years ago, and I got some great pics. A couple of friends of Robbie’s were there and they were having a blast. Robbie and Kenny were such great representatives of the USPS - always had time for the fans, were really interested in talking to fans and would sign autographs for as long as it took to get to each person in line.

I was at Downer’s Grove last year when Robbie was riding his last race before retiring. I was shooting and rooting for him to take the win. At the last corner heading to the finish line of the last lap, Robbie was ahead. His tire flatted and went off the wheel - Robbie flew over his bike and landed on one of the bales of hay. There went his win - and no bike to even finish the race with. Vince, the Postie wrench, went running down there, but everyone had already finished.

Race officials kept the finish area cleared as best they could, and waited for Robbie to ride across. The crowd gave him a standing ovation (well, yes, they were already standing, but...) he got long applause and accolades from everyone. It’s a wonder he didn’t break his neck the way he flew into that bale of hay. Gave me bad memories of Nicole Reinhart’s deadly accident - I was supervising course marshals and was just down the street when it happened. So, so very sad...