Michael Barry Interview
By Ian Melvin
Jul 1, 2003, 06:30
US Postal rider Michael Barry and wife Dede Demet.
Roadcycling.com writer Ian Melvin talks to US Postal Service rider Michael Barry about his life with the team, living in Europe and his skills as a chef.
This is now your second season with US Postal. How are things going for you there? The team is awesome. The second year has been easier as everything is a little more familiar. Everybody gets along really well and it's fun racing and being on the road together. It has been a great experience learning from George, Lance, Roberto...everybody on the team, really.
You moved to Postal from Team Saturn. How did you cope with that transition from a relatively small set up to one of the largest teams in the pro peloton? I think I was prepared for the change and stepping up to the next level was always a goal. US Postal also made the transition easy. The team is well organized and there isn't a ton of pressure on the first year riders.
Has your training and overall lifestyle changed with the move? Did you adjust well to living in Europe? I really enjoy living in Europe. I spent 3 seasons over there as an amateur, in Annemasse, France. Girona, the town in Spain where we are living now, is a great town and is an easy place to live. My training has essentially stayed very similar although the racing is different -longer distances, more stage racing, more climbing and more depth in the peloton.
Your wife, Dede Demet Barry, is also quite a useful bike rider. Do the two of you ever get much chance to escape from 'work'? Yes, we both like having a balanced life. Dede has been at University the last three years and it has been a nice balance for both of us. She keeps me informed with her studies and it has added and entirely new element to our lives. The one thing that attracted us to each other from the start was that we were both interested in things other than cycling.
Is Dede your training partner or do the two of you do your own thing when you're home in Spain? We ride together fairly frequently although when I have to do longer or harder rides we'll go our separate ways. She'll motorpace behind me on the hills, which is good as it pushes her a little more. I think she really benefits from training with all the guys.
I understand the two of you are looking to write a cookbook? Is cooking one of your passions and where did the idea come from? Yes, we both enjoy cooking together and during our travels we discovered many new recipes and foods. One of our friends, Chris Mathias, is a chef and he has helped us out a lot with the cookbook as well. Whether or not it ever becomes anything I don't know but it has certainly been a lot of fun putting it together and it will be a nice book for the grandkids one day. We never really had a concrete idea to write a cookbook. We both just realized that we had a lot of neat stories that went along with recipes we had put together through the years. One of our friends, Matt Hansen, who has also done quite a bit of writing, has put all the recipes and stories together and has done all the editing. It has been a fun off-season project.
All bike riders have goals and ambitions. What are yours for this season and also the future? Helping Roberto win the Vuelta is a big goal this year. And hopefully, for me, finishing unscathed this year. It has been great helping my teammates out in some of pre Tour races. The Worlds are on my home turf in Canada, quite near to where I grew up, so racing there and doing well would be a dream come true. I would like to do the Tour in the future as well as good performances in the World Cups and classics. I have yet to do Liege but think this is a race that would suit me well.
Before you retire from the sport, is there any one thing that you really must do? A race you desperately want to win perhaps? I have many goals and there are a lot of races that I dream of winning. I haven't really thought too much about retirement, or more precisely what I want to accomplish before I do retire. I simply love riding my bike, riding hard, progressing, learning and being a member of a good, winning team. When I focus on these goals the results come.
Thanks for taking the time to speak to us Michael, and good luck with what lies ahead in your future.
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