Written by Don Hamstre of Schiavi di Don
  
  The legendary, awesome, fabulous One on One with The Don had never been to the US of A before. So it's about time I gave them a visit. The beautiful state of New England is home to a manager who has been in OCM for almost six years now. He's most famous for having a twin brother playing OCM as well, although the twin brother has unfortunately taken a break for the game, so I'll be interviewing just one of them. There are plenty reasons to interview this guy though, as you will discover during the interview. It's Eric Place from trackstah07! Enjoy reading!
  
  Why did you start playing OCM?
  
  My twin, Brian (lastplace1414), and I discovered OCM during the 2010 Giro d'Italia. It was a star-studded race featuring Basso, Nibali, Evans, Wiggins, Vinokourov, Porte (in his first major showing), and young American Tyler Farrar; and it was very exciting. We had watched every stage of the Tour de France since 2005, and we had come to love the team tactics of cycling (which we tried to apply to our best sport, high-school distance running). Since we had quite a history of sports video gaming on various consoles and had always particularly enjoyed franchise/legacy/dynasty/manager modes, OCM immediately seemed to be a very natural fit. :)
  
  It must be loads of fun having a brother to share the passion for cycling and OCM with, especially because you both turned out to be quite good at the game. Was there much competition between the two of you during the times you were both high up the ranks?
  
  We actually didn't compete much due to team specialty, timing, and trends. Brian's first captain was a sprinter, whereas my first captain was a downhiller. I quickly dedicated 100% of his resources to downhilling (I was the first guy ever to do such a crazy thing!), and he continued sprinting and experimented with a few climbers. I was lucky to train Erskine Pettis and Damin Iacob to 55 AV's within my first few seasons. Brian struggled with AV's, so he ended up a few divisions behind me and didn't ascend to Division 1/2 until my guys were old and declining. Where we did align was in the transfer market. Back in the era of day-trading, we created the Symbiotic North American OCM Trade Relationship (SNAOTR) along with several other American and Canadian teams and swapped riders like poker chips. We signed riders for each other when our friends lacked cash. We shared the profits of DP farming. Yeah, it was ethically questionable, but it wasn't quite illegal; and that was the profile of the course in those dark times. Of course, the introductions of the 29k rule, the 30-day rule, team spirit, and rider age decline quickly killed it! lol
  
   SNOATR, those were the days indeed, although before my time. Nowadays it would probably result in an endless rage about beneficial deals with a thread containing 200 posts saying the exact same thing and 200 saying the opposite ;).
  You also mentioned Iacob and Pettis though, are these guys the riders you see as your all time legends or have some others done things you'll always remember them for?
  
  Iacob and Pettis are definitely my bona fide legends. They finished #1 and #2 in GC in Division 3's Monte Rosa Tour #6, respectively, which is by far my greatest accomplishment to date. I had been heavily invested in that tour since the very beginning, writing the front-page race preview and review for Monte Rosa Tour #1. The truly amazing part of their story is that, untrained, the pair only cost me a total of 96k on the transfer market. Those were the days...
  
  Speaking

of "96k," I paid 100k for Travis McPherson on the transfer market. But he was worth the risk! Last season he won four downhill races (and finished on the podium in another three), finishing his first season as captain ranked 87th in the world. He's definitely a guy to get excited about! He doesn't have the massive average and subsequent flat-road acumen of Iacob and Pettis, but there's no reason to believe that he can't approach their lofty heights in the mountains! He is only 25 years old, and he has a great little team supporting him.
  
  Mentioning McPherson, let's focus on your renewed love for Downhill racing. What has made downhillers so special to you?
  
  I was initially drawn to downhilling 5+ years ago because my game-generated captain, Kirk Russel, was a Good CL, Very Good DH guy. When I saw Pettis on the transfer forum, I said to myself, "Whoa!! He can be like Russell but younger and with a higher average!" Then I realized after getting him for only 46k (granted, he was 26 years old) that 80+ DH was probably at that time the most undervalued rating in OCM. At that time, there were only about 15 guys with 80+ DH, yet they were not demanding big bucks on the market. It was a great chance to buy low and reach untapped potential. With a very specific, consistent race profile (about 6-7-3-4) for downhill races, I knew exactly what ratings to train and what "my type of rider" looked like. Guglielmo Enrico (67-80-57) became my first dedicated downhill guide long before we could actually control race tactics. By the time Iacob came around, I was completely in love! Very poetically, I would actually acquire and train a ridiculously good downhill guide with the surname "Amor" shortly thereafter ;) Sebastian Amor.
  
  So looking at your current squad focussing on downhilling again, will you take it that far again, or will you have riders from another discipline along side. What are your plans for the immediate future?
  
  "It's all downhill from here," as they say ;) Dwayne Colombo gave me a little bit of mobility to jump into uphill races, but what I really want is to dominate the downhills of Division 3 and Division 4. It's quite hard to get to Division 2 when you're exclusively downhilling, but another shot at Rio Pico - Gas Nac would be cool too. I'd like to grow my roster, because I've almost always only carried 9 riders, but that will have to happen very organically. I've never been one to sit on a pile of cash larger than 29k, and I do a ton of training in-house, so it's a struggle. But, ultimately, I find that challenge to be very rewarding!
  
  Given the fact McPherson is an American and most of your riders are from Northern American, do you have a specific policy on hiring North American riders or has this juist grown out of coincidence?
  
  My policy, with the exception of old riders hired to be future trainers (Bastian Ohmer, I'm looking at you) and Wilbur Cable (I broke my own rules purely out of convenience there), is U.S., Canada, and U.S. territories only at this point. I was therefore elated to lock up Thomas Munoz, OCM's first points-scoring rider from the South Pacific U.S. territory Guam, who just so happened to be a downhiller! I've also had riders from the other two territories, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, in the past but I had to cut them for training money. Putting this sort of limitations on myself makes success much sweeter.
  
  Seeing your policy of Northern Americans ánd your extreme appreciation of downhillers, I have a nice dillemma for you. What would you like to have best, a 220+ Northern American

Sprinter in your Talent Feature, or finding a 220+ Downhiller from outside of North America?
  
  That's an easy one! The way the market is nowadays, I'd happily sign the North American sprinter and sell him :) Of course, we both know that such a situation is largely hypothetical given the success rate of the talent feature ;)
  
  I think that's probably the right decision. In your long career as manager you must have made some wrong decisions as well though. What do you see as your biggest mistake?
  
  I think the biggest mistake you can make in OCM is trying to focus on too many different areas at once. I have been most successful when I have specialized; when I have tried to compete in a second discipline without fully committing too it, I have not been very successful. Do not try to send your second captain out there with only two decent teammates and hope for the best; your resources would be better committed to making sure the first captain has the absolute best support possible. I have made that mistake in that past, and I have since learned to "stay in my lane" unless I am legitimately strong enough to pedal to the front in another lane!
  
  It's sad, but it's time for us to end this interview. Not before I've asked the traditional final questions though!
  Have you got anything that you would like to share with my readers, like a tip, a funny remark, or something else?
  
  As far as tips go, I think life tips are far more important than gaming tips. I coach basketball, cross-country, and track (athletics), and I work with teens during the day at school. I would say my best achievement this year has been teaching my athletes and students the difference between a winner and a loser. A loser is someone who expects the world to change in order to convenience them ("The game of basketball will not change to accommodate you! Your opponents will not change how they play to accommodate you!"). A loser expects to always win without having a winning attitude. A winner is someone who is willing to acknowledge imperfection and room for improvement. A winner is willing to change, to be uncomfortable, to work hard until they become stronger and more equipped to meet what the world is demanding. A winner views the world as a challenge and steps up to that challenge. Champions are made in practice. My advice is to approach every new day with a winning attitude, be strong, and do what it takes to succeed!
  
  Training or Transfer? Training! Sooo much training!
  Classics or Tours? Tours... Div. 3 MRT #6!!
  SNAOTR or your brand new downhill competition? OCM DH League will be incredible.
  Norway Tour or RotM? RotM. I grew up in Massachusetts and still live in New England :)
  Forum or Chat? Forum :P
  The Awards or Trophies/Jerseys? Jerseys, especially current national champ jerseys!
  Staff or Equipment? Equipment, but that's a close one.
  Longosiwa or Campelo? Campelo. Triple 80s gets all the ladies ;)
  Real Life or No Life? Real Life is pretty sweet.
  
  All good things have to come to an end and so has this interview. Thanks so much for letting me interview you and may the downhill force launch you upwards ;)
  
  Would you too like to be interviewed by The Don? Tough luck! Because The Don picks his victims at random, so you can’t do anything about it.