Matisse Julien is originally from a town called Laval a city in Quebec, Canada. This season he's racing for the French team CIC U Nantes Atlantique. It's a continental team. So far he's raced the Grand Prix Cycliste de Marseille La Marseillaise, which is the traditional opener to the season in France. Plus, he just finished the Etoile Besseges stage race.

Julien is racing the Coup de France season long series along with U23 races and he may do some races like the Tour de l' Avenir and Worlds in Switzerland with the Canadian national team. He says he's expecting between 45-60 race days this season. Definitely expect him to be in peak form for the French race Tro-Bro Leon. 

Nice in France is his base at the moment. Julien says the training is awesome there. He's not far from the Alps and if he needs to hit the flats that's possible too. 

Julien started racing his bike around 11 years old. He says he was pretty good when he started. Between 16-17 years old he nearly won everything in Quebec. That's when he got approached by Hot Tubes Cycling team for juniors. He says one of his teammates at the time was Magnus Sheffield who's currently racing for INEOS Grenadiers. From there he rode for Premiertech U23 then Team Ecoflo Chronos for 2023 and now CIC U Nantes Atlantique. 

Julien says a good season for him would be some good results in class two races and a good national championships.   

Norman Alvis is a Sacramento, California native. He started out as an athlete running cross country. At the same time he rode a bike to and from school. After riding a friends race bike he was smitten. He say it was the adventure, the sensation of being on the bike and having something of his own that drove him. He won his first race solo. He says he did very well from the beginning. 

1981 he got his first look by the junior national team by having the teams coach spot him at a restaurant. He won the junior national time trial championship that year. After the 84 Olympic trials he was invited to the national team as an amateur. In 1987 Alvis won his first elite amateur national time trial championship. Then, in 1988 he made the Olympic team time trial team. A funny story he told me was his time racing the Tour of Morocco. If you get a chance ask him about the race. 

Eventually he turned pro for 7-Eleven and went to France. Alvis thanks Leonard Harvey Nitz for giving him Jim Ochowicz's number. His first race with the team was the La Jolla GP  which he won. His time in Europe was productive and hard. He would race the Tour, the Giro several times, and classics such as Paris Tours, Giro di Lombardia to Liege-Bastogne - Liege while riding for 7-Eleven and Motorola. 

By the 1995 season he was back in the states racing for Saturn. He would win the U.S. Pro Championship the same year. In 1997 Alvis won the Australian Sun Tour. In 1998 he retired from pro racing. 

Upon retiring Alvis went to school and got a degree in finance and marketing. He also started a family raising six kids. Alvis still had the competitive drive so he started racing masters races. He continues to win and has one of the best Instagram pages called "Crit Master." 

What you may not know is that he has multiple attempts at the hour record. But he actually still holds the hour record on an outdoor track. Cool thing though, he's planning to try it again.   

Let me say this first, I'm a history buff when it comes to cycling. I love learning about riders from the past, present, their stats, and who won what race when, where and how.  Willy Wauthle from the Netherlands helps me fulfill my fascination. He is one of the most captivating individuals I've ever met.  

Wauthle has one of the most comprehensive Facebook page on the history of cycling, with pictures of the greats from the past to the present. He never misses the opportunity to wish a rider a Happy Birthday or remember someone in death.

His Facebook page is only part of Wauthle's story. Here's where his life gets even cooler to me.  Wauthle recently retired as a motorcyclist for European races. I know all of you have seen the motorcycles buzzing by riders during a race or you've seen still photographers or TV camera people on the back of a motorcycle bringing you all the action in races. That was his job for over 40 years. 

Wauthle says he was there the day Fabio Casartelli died, he told me Guido Bontempi is a close friend, and he has a yellow jersey and bike from the GOAT, Eddy Merckx.