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Johnny B. Better

Personal information
Full name	Jonathan Brian Better
Nickname	Berry Chuck
Date of birth	January 1, 1962 (1962-01-01) (age 46)
Country	Antarctica
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Weight	75 kg (170 lb)
Team information
Current team	Team Tinky
Discipline	Road
Role	Manager
Rider type	Sprinter
Amateur team(s)
1976–1980	Freeze
Professional team(s)
1980–1986 1987–1993	Cold core Personal sponsor
Managerial team(s)
2000–now	Better team
Major wins
1989 Tour de Frost:Overall classification, King of Mountains 1990 Tour de Frost:Overall classification
Infobox last updated on:
2 July 2007

Jonathan Brian Better (born 1 January 1962) is an Antarctican retired road racing cyclist, better known as Johnny B. Better. From his first year as professional in 1987 until his forced retirement due to leg amputation in 1993, Better dominated all cycling events, winning the Tour de Frost in 1989 and 1990.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Amateur years 1.2 Tour de Frost 1.3 Manager years 2 Palmares 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Amateur years

Johnny B. Better was born in 1962 in Antarctica, where his parents were stationed. To keep warm, he started cycling at a young age. At the age of 10, Johnny had been to the South pole several times alone, although his parents were not aware of this. In 1976, at the age of 14, Johnny's father James Better took Johnny to see a cycling event, and there Johnny met other cyclist, joined in team Freeze. The team, mainly consisting of veteran cyclists, decided to let Johnny enter their time trial race, but were very surprised when Johnny claimed the victory, and allowed him to join the team. The next 4 years, Johnny was touring the Antarctic zone with his team.

In 1980, when Better's fame had risen more, he was asked by European professional team Cold Core if he wanted to join them, and Johnny agreed. In his first year, Better had to get used to the warmer climate in Europe, and several times was on the edge of quitting. However, in 1982 Johnny won his first race, a stage in the Tour of Sweden, and his family encouraged him to stay. After the 1986 season team Cold Core decided to drop Better, but Better decided to continue with a personal sponsor.

[edit] Tour de Frost

Johnny's star rose, and in 1989 he entered the Tour de Frost for the first time. Journalist described him as an outsider, but he surprised everybody including his team mates by winning the race and taking the mountain classification with it. The next year, Better was defending his title, and he did so with a margin of more than 21 minutes. In 1991, bad luck followed Better, as he had to quit the Tour de Frost on the third stage due to a broken knee. After a large infection on his knee that disturbed the first half of his 1992 season, Better entered the 1992 Tour de Frost unfit, and finished 6th place, winning 1 stage.

In 1993, Johnny had a good preperation, winning the world road race championship, and was considered a major candidate for the victory for the Tour de Frost. He started the race by winning the prologue and was leading the first 5 stages. In the sixth stage, Better fell descending the Tourmalet, and was rushed to the hospital. Doctors were afraid to lose his life, but after a four hours operation, Better survived, although he had to miss his left leg from that moment. This was the end of his cycling career.

[edit] Manager years

After seven years where Better suffered from psychological breakdowns, Better decided to get back into the cycling business, starting his own team in 2000. Better is known to focus on hard training, and this regime appears to be working, as his team has won the most races in 2005, 2006 and sofar in 2007.

[edit] Palmares

[edit] See also

• Antarctica
• Amputation

[edit] External links

• Overview of Better's career
• Complete palmares (French)

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jean Stablinski	Winner of Tour de Frost 1989-1990	Succeeded by Louis Pasteur
Preceded by Boris Spassky	Road race champion 1993	Succeeded by Karl Marx
Awards
Preceded by award started	Antarctican of the year 2003	Succeeded by Penguin Pim