Before a packed house , Bobby Lea edged out Matt Diefenbach to win the finalof the Drink Floyd Roller Race. The race promoted by Andy Shen and Dan Schmalz of nyvelocity filled the Parkside Bar on the lower east side to capacity and raised about $1,000 for the CRCA Junior team.
Featured guest Floyd Landis arrived looking like he stepped out of the Sgt. Pepper’s Beatles album with a fancy coat and shoulder length hair. Floyd graciously spent time mingling with the crowd.
The race also brought out several other cycling luminaries. Daniel Benson, the managing editor of cycling news was over from England and duly impressed by the NYC cycling culture. Also sighted among others were Doug Ellis of Garmin, Univest and Harlem promoter John Eustice, Battenkill’s Dieter Drake and Chris Henry of Peloton Magazine.

Lea, who heads to Los Angeles to begin serious preparation for the London Olympics this weekend, was doubtful of matching Diefenbach over 1K on the rollers. Before the race he flatly declared, “Diefenbach will win this.” But in both the semi-finals and the final, Bobby calmly rode from behind to edge out his opponent at the line.

After training in LA for several weeks, Booby then heads to the World Cup race in Beijing in January. He needs to accumulate UCI points to meet the Olympic qualifying requirement. Following a brief return home and maybe to a follow up return match with Diefenbach in New york, he is headed to the Copenhagen 6-Day Race in early February, where he will team up with Jackie Simes. The NCA will be running a trip to watch Bobby and Jackie in Copenhagen.