For Bike Riders 7-11 is More than just Big Gulps and Slurpees

For the weekend footballer or avid jogger there comes a time when the old bones and tender ligaments need mending.  For residents of Salt Lake City Utah the middle-aged athlete requiring repairs can book an appointment with Heiden Davidson Orthopedics.  You may recognize the first name in the practice, that is Eric Heiden, the speedskating world record holder--and before Michael Phelps--the most decorated athlete for a single Olympiad.  At the 1980 Lake Placid games Heiden won five gold medals and set a world record in the process.  In 1991 Heiden earned his M.D. from Stanford University and became an orthopedic surgeon with specialties in knees and shoulders.

What some folks may not recall is that between 1980 following the Olympics and his graduation from medical school, Heiden was a bike rider.  And not just any bike rider, he competed on the world stage with the now legendary American 7-11 Team at the 1986 Tour de France.  Heiden held his own during the grueling stages in ‘86 but went over the bars and crashed out with five stages remaining and did not finish.  Bob “Bobke” Roll was the highest finisher for the 7-11 Team finishing in 63^rd position.  Other members of the team were riders now part of American cycling lore: Davis Phinney, Alexi Grewal, Mexican Raul Alcala, and Canadian Alex Stieda--who for one day held the Yellow Jersey at the ‘86 Tour.   The astonishing history of the 7-11 Team is detailed in the book, Team 7-Eleven: The Inside Story of America's Greatest Cycling Team (now in paperback at Amazon.com, $13) by Geoff Drake.  Drake’s co-writer was Jim Ochowicz, a friend of Heiden and a bike rider with a driven desire to succeed and compete on the world stage.

Ochowicz competed in the 1972 and ’76 Olympic Games in the team pursuit cycling events.  In 1981 he founded the 7-11 Team following Heiden’s Olympic success.  He knew of Heiden’s interest in cycling and also realized the success of the old Coors Classic bike race in Colorado that drew large crowds in America.  America at this time was nurturing and following Greg LeMond but by the mid-1980s LeMond was racing for European teams.  Ochowicz cobbled together some amateur riders (including Heiden), sponsorship from Southland Corporation (parent company of 7-11) and bicycles provided by Schwinn (Schwinn departed after one year) and took on the world.  

Team 7-11 saw unprecedented success in America and its members rose to rock star fame among the cycling community.  The high point came in 1988 when Ohio-born Andy Hempsten (pictured) won the Giro d’Italia in dramatic fashion as he pedaled through a blizzard high in the Italian Alps to take the overall lead that he would not relinquish.   

Team 7-11 became Motorola Cycling Team in 1990 and competed internationally until 1996.  It was the Motorola team that first introduced the idea of team radios for communication between riders and support staff.  In 2007 Ochowicz became a team owner and has held sway over Team BMC while winning the 2011 Tour de France with Cadell Evans.

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