Branan Cooper

By Mary Alice Garrett

This story originally appeared August 10, 2000 in The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware.

LANDENBERG, Pa. - Branan W. Cooper was one of the last amateur cyclists to stop pedaling in the final stage of this year's Tour de France July 23.

"I rode until they kicked me off," said Cooper, an MBNA vice president and resident of Somerset Lake.

This year, for the first time, amateur cyclists were allowed to ride the 18-mile loop during the ceremonial phase of the event, he said. After he qualified by riding in amateur races in the United States, Cooper was among the amateur cyclists who pedaled the 18-mile loop of Paris that ended the three-week race, won by Lance Armstrong of Texas.

Cooper kept pedaling while most of the other amateurs quit, riding a total of 45 miles.

The amateur ride was followed later in the day by the professional cyclists.

"It was more of a tour," he said. "I guess part of our job was to warm up the crowd."

Like Armstrong, Cooper captured the scenery with a pocket-sized camera. His pictures include the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph and the Seine River. Cooper said it was great to see "the incredibly busy Champs Elysees" free of all auto traffic. The brick-lined street was a problem, however, causing his teeth to rattle and his odometer to temporarily malfunction.

The amateur cyclists had all the perks of the pros - pace cars, a helicopter and the press.

"It was a lot of fun," Cooper said.

The 500,000 spectators came from throughout the world, some waving their national flags. Many cheered Armstrong for winning the race for a second year.

"The French press seem to have taken to him and to his wife," said Cooper. "They're focusing not so much on his cycling but on his overcoming cancer."

Cooper met Armstrong in 1998 when he took part in the Race for the Roses in Armstrong's hometown of Austin, Texas.

Run by the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the race raises money for cancer research. Having raised $30,000, Cooper is one of the foundation’s top supporters.

"Branan is in this for all the right reasons,” said Carl Haussmann, executive director of the foundation.

Too often entrants come to Austin "just to get near Lance," Haussmann said. They aren’tconcerned about raising money for cancer. Cooper has taken part in the race for three consecutive years and says he will probably continue.

Cooper was not always so fit. Approaching his senior year at Duke University he weighed in at 210 pounds. As a trainer for Duke’s football team, he was encouraged to eat steak and pancake breakfasts with the team.

After experiencing shortness of breath, he decided to push away from the training table and lost 50 pounds. That’s also when he started to ride a bike around campus and later to nearby Chapel Hill.

In 1994, after getting "brushed by a car in Atlanta," Cooper brought a carbon-fiber racing bike. Later, he rode in races in Atlanta and took a training ride with the professional Saturn Cycling Team.

Cooper was in charge of MBNA's telemarketing department in Atlanta before transferring back to Delaware, where he continues cycling.

Barry Baird, one of Cooper’s MBNA co-workers, trains with him. Baird is into mountain biking as well as road biking.

"Branan says he wants to keep his teeth," Baird said.

He said Cooper is the only cyclist he knows who keeps his bike in his car at all times and will hop on it whenever he has a spare hour.

Through cycling, Cooper has met such athletes as Eric Heiden, the former Olympic speed skater who’s now an orthopedic surgeon in Sacramento, Calif. Others include Norm Albis, a former Armstrong teammate, and Ron Kiefel, who raced with Tour de France winner Greg LeMond. Cooper keeps in touch with some of these men by email.

"Cycling is definitely a sport for making friends through email and television," he said.

Locally, Cooper has ridden in races in Philadelphia and Delaware. He’s taken part in the Multiple Sclerosis Bike to the Bay for the past five years.

Cooper rides an exercise bike nightly during the week and his road bike on weekends. He prefers salads for lunch and hasn’t drunk a milkshake in 12 years.

"[The exercise bike] was the best gift I ever got him," said his wife, Desiree.

She accompanied Cooper to Paris and joked that her husband tried to kill her in France by insisting that she climb 1,700 steps up the Eiffel Tower

"I thought I was going to die," she said, laughing.

The Coopers drew on their high-school French on the trip. Desiree Cooper said it came in handy for ordering food and shopping.

PROFILE

Written August 10, 2000.

Branan W. Cooper

Age: 33

Family: Wife, Desiree; son, Sean 3.

Residence: 160 Hamilton Rd, Somerset Lake, Landenberg, Pa.

Education: Bachelor's degree in English from Duke University.

Position: A vice president at MBNA.

Hobbies: Cycling, reading and playing with Sean.

Greatest Accomplishments: "Having Sean and graduating from Duke."