Have I told you my Sean Kelly story?

Its 1996 and my wife, kids and I are on vacation in southern Ireland. I am driving on some back road on the way to Waterford. I happen to notice a guy standing, with his bike, beside a tree along side the road. I turn to my wife and say "that was Sean Kelly". "Who's Sean Kelly?" she says. I try to explain but I'm thinking I need to turn around and see if that was really Sean Kelly standing on the side of the road. I turn the car around and head back. We pass the rider, who is now riding his bike riding toward us in the opposite direction. I say again, "that was Sean Kelly". Now I have to turn around again so that I can follow the guy and verify I have just passed Sean Kelly twice. I pull the car up beside the rider and ask, "Are you Sean Kelly?". (I know this sounds like it could fall into the murky area of stalker or crazed fan but I had to know if this guy was actually Sean Kelly) He answers, "Yes, I am". At this point he stops the bike and we have a short conversation about his riding, about how Grip Shift was planning to build a factory nearby and about how our Ireland "holiday" was going. I grabbed a notebook and asked for an autograph before finally letting his head off to finish his ride. He was a very classy guy. As soon as we parted, I was kicking myself for not getting a picture. No way was I going to chase him down for a fourth time to ask for a picture...at least I had the autograph.



Now, fast forward to Christmas, 1996. We are opening presents and I unwrap one from Karma that is obviously a picture frame. Its a a picture of Sean Kelly that has been personally autographed to me.


After we got back from Ireland, Karma wrote a letter addressed simply, Sean Kelly, Carrick-on-Sur, Ireland, explaining that we had met Mr Kelly on the road in June and that I was disappointed that I had not gotten a picture with him. A time later, Karma receives a picture and autograph along with a nice letter from Mrs. Kelly. She even sent us a Christmas card that year. I still consider the picture and autograph one of the coolest gifts I have ever received.