WASHINGTON (BRAIN) Industry retailers and suppliers joined federal lawmakers last week to see Greg LeMond awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

LeMond received the medal in a ceremony held in the Capitols Statuary Hall on Thursday. The preceding evening, the three-time Tour champion attended a small bike expo of sorts, held in the Ways & Means Hearing Room. The expo was open to the public, although getting into the Longworth House Office Building required a lengthy security check.

Retailers including Mount Airy Bicycle and Contes Bike Shop attended, along with suppliers including DeFeet, Brompton, Hyper, Higby, as well as representatives from Giant, Specialized, The League of American Bicyclists, and PeopleForBikes.

The expo was the idea of Rep. Mike Thompson, the chair of the House bike caucus. The California Democrat organized the expo to occur the day before the gold medal ceremony as an opportunity for local cyclists to meet Mr. LeMond and for anyone interested in the world of cycling to learn more about it, said Lauren Ott, Thompsons communications director.

Besides a variety of bikes and gear, the retailers and suppliers brought an array of LeMond memorabilia to the event. I sent up two bikes of Gregs, said Shane Cooper of DeFeet. One was his Z bike, the other his Raleigh TI from his junior years. I also sent a few jerseys and two pairs of Gan socks.

Mount Airys Larry Black shared some memoribilia from a relationship with LeMond that goes back decades.

Mr. LeMond and I go back well into the last century, said Black. Black raced (as an also-ran he said) with LeMond at a test event held before the 1978 Junior World Championships in Washington, which was promoted by Blacks cycling club. He also shared announcing duties at events in the 1980s and in 2014 LeMond attended a high wheel bike race in Maryland, where Black taught him how to ride one of the old fashioned bikes. And Mount Airy Bikes became one of five U.S. dealers for LeMonds bike brand in 2023.

Emotional ceremony

The Congressional Gold Medal one of the highest civilian awards in the U.S. nation. LeMond is the first cyclist to receive the medal. Past recipients include Thomas Edison, Charles Lindbergh and Rosa Parks, as well as Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson and Arnold Palmer. The bill to bestow the honor on LeMond was passed by Congress and signed by the President in 2020.

At the invitation-only medal ceremony in the Capitol building, House Speaker Mike Johnson awarded the medal to LeMond. Rep. Thompson and the bill's co-lead, former Rep. Tom Graves, also spoke.

LeMond thanked friends and family and other teammates for their support, and then told a story about visiting the home of a 104-year-old Frenchwoman, whose son had built the carbon wheels that LeMond used to win his first Tour de France.

The woman answered the door when LeMond and his wife, Kathy, knocked.

She lit up, hugged me and my wife, and said, Please come in, my Americans, please come in, my American.

In her house on the couch was a blanket of the American flag. On the walls were framed photos of magazine clippings, all about America.

We asked her, why so much American memorabilia?

She told us, as a young woman during the war, she as watched German Forces occupied her village. Her father and her brothers had fled into the mountains to join the resistance.

She rode her bicycle through the countryside to deliver food and information, risking her life every day on every trip. Sadly, one of her brothers was killed in fighting.

And then the Americans came. She said, the Americans saved my father, they saved my family, they saved my country.

And she cried as he told us, and so did we. That moment has stayed with me. It reminds me it reminded me that being an American, especially abroad, means carrying a legacy, a legacy of sacrifice, of courage, and showing up when it matters most," LeMond said. "So I am honored beyond words to receive this congressional medal.