The esteemed Mr. Kamen wrote:
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to this day im still super proud and in awe of that man Phil Anderson - if ihad to choose an aussie rider that had the respect of all pushibike ridersand those on treadlies - he's the man. class, pure guts and spirit. if anyof you know of any good pics on the web or a detail of his palmares i wouldappreciate a heads-up.
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Phil lived off-season in Seattle, his then-wifes hometown, during the early part of his pro career. She published an interesting journal about the life a pro-racer's wife in our local rag, the Bicycle Paper. Anyway, Phil would sometimes accompany local racers in the off-season and his skills were revelatory. I particularly recall an oft-told tale about a descent down Novelty Hill Road, a local mile-long corkscrew, invariably wet, that at the time featured narrow lanes, no run-off, and paving quality worthy of Paris-Roubaix.
The tale unfolds in my memory as a conversation, although it may have actually originated in the column of Phils wife; myths benefit, I think from this sort of uncertainty: You should have seen him on that hill, my probably fictitious racer would say, and I might answer, Well, yeah, Hes a Euro pro, youre a Cat 3. No, you dont get it: he was taking off his long-sleeve jersey and it got stuck over his head. He didn't know the hill; didn't even know the hill was coming. He rode down Novelty one-handed and without hands, and with a jersey flapping around his head. And he still just rolled away from us.
Now that I read it again, that sounds like it came from a Maynard Hershon column, probably about someone visiting Marin. I THINK it's a true-ish story about Phil, but I may be telling tales. Ah, well.
Kris Green
Olympia WA