Champion System Pro Cycling Team's Craig Lewis wins Stage 2 of the 2012 Tour de Beauce (photo courtesy Brian Hodes, VeloImages)

by Mary Topping

In August 2011 Craig Lewis rode the USA Pro Challenge (UPC) with a left leg that had been broken three months earlier in the Giro d’Italia, still hadn’t healed, and would require a bone graft in December to properly mend.

Lewis, a professional cyclist who now rides for the Champion System Pro Cycling Team, effectively finished the UPC on the strength of one leg. Only a week before the start of the event he touched his jersey pocket with his right hand for the first time since May.

The Giro accident had severely limited vertical movement in his right arm. Doctors had told him there wasn’t anything they could do it if full movement didn’t return. Like any obstacle thrown in Lewis’ path, their pessimistic prognosis didn’t stop him. Lewis knows how to transform a broken body and potentially career-destroying incident into a new winning direction.

First comeback

His ride in the UPC wasn’t the first time Lewis returned to pro-cycling from a horrific accident. In 2004, the year Lewis began his career with the TIAA-CREF team, a vehicle wrongly entered the Tour de Georgia time trial course while he raced. He smashed into it at 40 mph.

According to an essay written by Jonathan Vaughters, Lewis’ team director at the time, the 19 year-old Lewis sustained massive internal bleeding and over 40 broken bones. As he lay in the intensive care unit the day of the accident, Lewis handed Vaughters a note shortly after regaining consciousness. The note read, “When can I ride again?”

In 2006 Lewis won two U.S. national championship road races. He started to race for Team High Road (which later became HTC-Highroad) with the 2008 season; his performance delivered teammates like Mark Cavendish to multiple victories. Lewis, who has represented the U.S. on the national team, was part of a winning team time trial in the 2009 Tour de Romandie. He’s raced twice in the Giro where he earned third on a stage in 2010. The crash that broke his femur in the 2011 Giro in May occurred not long after celebrating a first place in the team time trial there.

Surviving

Just before the UPC started in August 2011 Lewis wrote in an essay for NBCSports.com, “you’d be surprised with how much confidence in your athletic ability you’d lose if you were just recently teaching yourself how to move an arm or walk again. At the start of every racing season, after a long winter’s break, there is always the worry about not cutting it in a race. Multiply that worry by ten, and that is where I am heading into next week.”

He had only expected to make it through the prologue and maybe half the following day. But Lewis completed the entire seven day race. Finishing, he said, “was pretty shocking.”

Craig Lewis warms-up at the 2012 Tour of the Gila time trial (photo by Mary Topping)

Lewis described his left leg as “still broken in multiple pieces” during the race. He couldn’t get out of the saddle or sprint or fight for position at the front of the field, so he needed a race in good weather over wider, straighter roads where a consistent effort would enable him to hang on to the pack. The UPC fit his needs perfectly.

Sitting at the back and surviving, which is how Lewis portrayed his 2011 UPC experience, isn’t a cakewalk. It takes a lot of effort to adjust to changes in pace; if the field slows then suddenly surges forward riders at the back must accelerate quickly to keep up. Add to that an injured left femur held together by a rod from pelvis to knee and that means pain.

“There is always some movement around the fracture, and muscle rubbing up against sharp pieces of bone,” Lewis said, “and then I had a lot of hip issues with a screw that was in there that was too long, so I couldn’t really walk normally and to put pressure on it felt like it was a piece of metal scraping up against my pelvis or something like that.”

Lewis wasn’t disappointed to cling to the back of the field when he had competed with fine form in May. “It was still so early in the recovery that I was just happy to be there at all.”

Competing

Champion System received an invitation to the 2012 UPC and Lewis looks forward to trying to make a difference in the race this time.

He believes scaling Independence Pass from the Aspen side in Stage 4 will add interest to the race. “When you have it at the end of a 200 kilometer stage, everybody’s been racing at 10,000 plus feet so you really can’t make big selections. But if you put it at the start of the stage it’s naturally going to split up everybody.

“If you have an hour and a half climb from the start there’s going to be a lot of damage done. And for a group to come back [to the leaders on the road] they have to be fairly close. They can’t lose five, ten minutes and expect to come back, so I think it could really change the race a lot.”

Lewis thinks the Boulder stage should be interesting too, and not only because he now lives there. When the riders drop down from the Peak to Peak Highway to tackle the shorter climbs in the Boulder foothills, they’ll gain strength because of the decrease in elevation. Last year’s final stage from Golden to Denver was perhaps the most exciting day in the event, Lewis said, “because once you came down from racing all week at 10,000 feet – you’re still at altitude at five to six [thousand feet], but you have a lot more power and more oxygen, so things got a little more aggressive.”

Recovery recipe

Back in August 2011, more than anything Lewis wanted to return to racing. He participated in the UPC because he did not want to wait until 2012 to race again, “and have the doubts running through my head for six more months,” he said earlier this year.

“You always want to get that first race done when you are coming back from any setback, injury or illness. It helps you move on, and focus on improving.”

For Lewis, getting on top of the recovery process immediately after an injury is critical. It starts with choosing a recovery goal and focusing on improvement every day to achieve it.

After the Giro accident, he couldn’t move his right arm for six weeks. “They didn’t know if the nerve would recover or not,” he said, “but I just kept trying to focus on trying to move fingers, hands, or lift it at a certain angle and eventually it came back.”

Accepting and starting from the post-injury state is critical to healing as well. “It’s kind of just forgetting what you think it feels like and resetting your mind and your body to dealing with how it is then,” Lewis said. He acknowledged it’s easy for someone who is injured to get stuck in mourning whatever the accident stole away. He added, “They don’t think about starting from scratch and building up from nothing.”

It’s also easy to contemplate giving up after a serious injury. When asked if he’s ever thought about quitting professional cycling, Lewis said, “It’s always kind of present. I don’t want to go through any of the things I’ve been through or put my family through that anymore, and I’m going to try my best not to do that.”

Craig Lewis at the Boulder Wine Merchant (photo by Mary Topping)

Despite the risks, the freedom inherent in the life of a professional cyclist is too good for Lewis to pass up while the door remains open. “The other jobs aren’t going anywhere,” Lewis said, “but life as a professional cyclist is pretty much over when you stop. You can’t get it back.” His wife supports his decision to continue in the sport.

He likes working at the Boulder Wine Merchant part-time. Raised in South Carolina, Lewis has enjoyed cooking since childhood. The chef at Boulder’s Frasca Food and Wine and he discuss the culinary arts over bike rides and Lewis sometimes observes him at work in the Frasca kitchen.

Lewis called himself an “inventive” chef when he described how he cooks at home; it’s another aspect of his life where he starts from scratch, using whatever ingredients he has on hand to create a satisfying result.

New approach

The persistence and discipline that Lewis emulated by twice learning to walk again after two terrible accidents are traits required to succeed in professional cycling. Day after day riders unquestioningly follow their team directors’ orders to destroy themselves physically to help teammates win. This work environment can transform them into machines; daily brushes with danger make them impervious to fear.

So it’s refreshing to encounter the very human vulnerability Lewis reveals when he reflects on the sport.

Now 27 years-old, Lewis became a leader on the ambitious Asian-based Champion System team after HTC-Highroad folded in 2011. In a blog he wrote for Cyclingnews in May of this year, he admitted he’s feeling his way through a leader’s role on the team, a responsibility he’s grateful to experience this early in his career.

Champion System is a great fit for Lewis. The team’s pro-continental status is a UCI classification down from HTC-Highroad’s level, but it’s an easy trade-off. His position on the team provides him with more flexibility. He’s happy.

“Not that HTC didn’t give me any options but I knew my role was to work for the others and to always give everything I had for that aspect alone and there was a good deal of pressure that went into just that. Now I have freedom to ride for myself or freedom to help the other guys out as well. It’s up to me to decide what that is. It’s kind of cool to be able sit down and choose program, choose your goals.”

Lewis’ outlook on the sport has changed. “You can’t really go through a traumatic experience like that and not have it change you in one way or another,” he said. “I feel that it’s been for the better.”

He now trains with a lot less of what he described as “structure.” With just a bike and a computer and no power meter at the time of this interview, he’s having fun on the bike, an approach he said he plans to take for the remainder of his career.

In mid-June his approach yielded a victory. Lewis won Stage 2 of the Tour de Beauce in Canada, his first win since the 2011 May accident. First win, that is, if only racing results count.

Strength, Dedication, Discipline, Determination

If you are a cycling fan and an art collector, you don’t want to miss this opportunity to own a piece of history.  Strength, dedication, discipline, and determination are in the character of every cyclist…every true athlete.

These very words, Strength, Dedication, Discipline, Determination, are etched into the marble base of this bronze cyclist, modeled after Levi Leipheimer, winner of the inaugural year of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.  The absence of spokes in the wheels and the lean of the bicycle helped the artist capture the motion of the race.  At 10” x 10½” x 5” these statues are smaller representations of the full size statue being donated to the City of Golden to commemorate the Pro Challenge and Golden’s role in the success of the inaugural year.

Strength, Dedication, Discipline, Determination

There are 18 limited edition pieces available and three additional Artist’s Proof editions available for purchase.  Each statue is signed by the artist and numbered within its edition.  The three Artist’s Proofs will also be signed by Levi Leipheimer.  Each statue is set on a marble and walnut base, with a bronze patina on the limited edition and a darker patina on the Artist’s Proofs.

These exceptional pieces were crafted by Jeffrey Burnham Rudolph, a sculptor from Cody, Wyoming. His work can be found in galleries across the western United States. His previous work for Golden can’t be missed.  He sculpted the “Howdy Folks” sculpture of Buffalo Bill with a child on his shoulders, greeting visitors in the 1000 block of Washington Avenue just north of the arch, and the “Nighthorse on the Mesa” sculpture of Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, located in the roundabout at South Golden Road and Johnson Road.

For more information or to purchase one of these commemorative statues, please contact Julie Brooks at 303-384-8013 or by email at jbrooks@cityofgolden.net.

Alex Howes in the 2012 G.P.Scheldeprijs; Photo courtesy of Graham Watson for Team Garmin-Barracuda.

Golden, Colorado native and professional cyclist Alex Howes suffers when he works and he suffers when he can’t. But an event this August might provide him with a different kind of sensation.

On race days Howes’ job can mean turning himself inside-out pedaling over 160 miles in six hours with a handful of guys in a break-away who are both friends and enemies, for a nano-chance to win, over slippery springtime cobbles or in intense summer heat while the main field of 185 pro-cyclists chases him down like he’s the last fox ever to be hunted.

Howes’ workdays outside of racing include training on European roads or around his home in Boulder, Colorado. Last December when Boulder’s icy roads transformed skinny tire bikes into suicide machines, Howes found himself in what he described as “a dark place.”

“I’m like anybody else,” he said. “You have something that you have a passion for and that you really enjoy and you love. If anything takes that away you get pretty bummed out.” He high-tailed it to Santa Rosa, California to train.

Four months earlier in August 2011, Howes had also checked out of Boulder, this time to camp for ten days in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains with his dog, Joesy, while the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge (UPCC) crossed Colorado. He didn’t even glance at the last day of the race which started in Golden, Colorado, where he grew up.

At that time he rode on his current Garmin-Barracuda team’s development squad, then called Team Chipotle. Early in 2011 Howes and his Chipotle teammates thought they didn’t stand a chance of receiving a coveted invite to the UPCC. Then in May they heard, “‘Oh, you guys might be able to get in if you can prove your worth.’ So we ripped it up at [Tour of the] Gila, we ripped it up at [Tour de] Beauce, trying to get an invite,” Howes said. They got one.

Soon after the Team Chipotle men started to preview stages of the race, they learned they couldn’t start the UPCC after all in order to comply with a cycling association rule. “At first I was pretty pissed off and then I was just kind of bummed out,” Howes said. “At that point I kind of didn’t want to be a part of it. It’s one thing when you know you’re not going to able to do it and it’s another thing when you thought you were going to be able to do it and started basing your whole season around it and then you can’t race it.”

Speaking in December, he said, “Hopefully some of that anger from not being able to race Colorado this year gets transferred into the season next year. My biggest hope is that it gets transferred into next year’s Tour of Colorado.” [The Tour of Colorado is the UPCC – ed.]

August 25^th could mark a day without suffering for Howes if he rolls his bike to the UPCC start line in Golden, where he has something to prove.

Growing up in Golden

Howes said he held a racing license beginning at age 10. “I didn’t do a full calendar and California wasn’t on the schedule that year,” he said, laughing. “I probably did 10 – 20 races that year.” [Howes is referring to the Amgen Tour of California – ed.]

His teenage years clicked by and Howes spent a good deal of time on his bike. But he said he enjoyed a pretty normal high school life. “I wasn’t living on the bike exclusively and out of town all the time; I made a good bit of friends in school, and maintained a good bit of those friendships.” He enjoyed hanging out with friends at a favorite lunch hour stop, Bonfire Burritos, which still operates out of a small trailer in an area called Pleasant View on South Golden Road.

He also frequented a popular climb in Golden. “I’ve probably been up Lookout Mountain 500 times, maybe three to four times a week when I was about 15 to 18, up and down that hill,” he said.

Joesy, camping with Alex in the Sangre de Cristos in August 2011; Photo courtesy of Alex Howes.

About the same time that he and Lookout were becoming best friends, he sat in a high school auditorium where a speaker channeled his desire into a fierce determination he must call upon every day as a professional cyclist.

What no one can take away

The speaker told the teens, as Howes recalled it, that it was fine to have fun with sports but not to give it too much thought, because none of them would ever be able to make a living playing sports. There’s some logic to this. In a given season, the number of active male American racers registered with the UCI, cycling’s governing body, falls under 200.

Howes said about that moment, “I remember thinking to myself right then, ‘No way. Maybe I won’t do it forever. Maybe I won’t retire on it. Maybe I won’t make millions of dollars, but I’m going to be a professional cyclist someday. I want this.’”

In 2004 at age 16 he joined as a junior racer with the Slipstream Sports program’s TIAA-CREF/5280 team, a group of promising young cyclists. Except for a season with a French team, Howes rode for the Slipstream program through the 2011 season, including an apprenticeship with the more senior professional team in 2007.

In his development career which included riding for the U.S. national team, Howes achieved an enviable list of results. He won road races as a junior racer in 2005 and 2006 and placed second in the junior U.S. national cyclocross championships. He raced hard through 2008 and it paid off in 2009 with two under-23 U.S. national

championships for the road race and criterium, plus a stage win at the Tour of Utah’s Snowbird finish together with the best young rider and mountain leader prizes in that Tour. He added more top 10 finishes in 2010 and 2011, including first place in criterium races in Golden and Boulder.

Outside of racing, Howes completed one semester of college and decided to quit. He’d like to return to school at some point, even if he pulls off a long cycling career, perhaps studying something like sports physiology. The body’s ability to adapt to stresses and emerge even better fascinates this 24 year-old.

Professional cyclist lifestyle

Alex Howes at Garmin-Barracuda 2012 presentation. Photo courtesy of Mary Topping.

By all accounts Howes is a professional cyclist through and through. He even cuts his own hair. According to Howes, most guys in professional cycling cut their hair themselves; it’s too risky to trust barbers in foreign countries. “I don’t know if I’d really want to go into a Catalan hairdresser and ask for a little bit off the top just because he might end up with something crazy,” he said. He described the outcome when one rider asked a Spanish stylist to add some layers: “it looked like he had Peruvian stairs or something cut into the side of his head.”

Many athletes favor a gluten-free diet, and that’s how Howes cooks pancakes, his favorite breakfast food, using a mix called Pamela’s. “We make super pancakes. I probably sound like a total hippie. They have hemp in there and walnut oil. I put a little yogurt on them, berries, peanut butter, a little maple syrup, maybe some honey.”

And he’s settled into Boulder culture. At the time of this interview, Howes tweeted something like: “I’m pumped on composting.” Calling it a love / hate relationship, he described returning home to a squadron of fruit flies after he had forgotten to empty a bin of food scraps before going away for several weeks. “I’m into it though,” he said. “I’m all about trying to reduce my carbon footprint, especially with how much I fly.”

Howes began racing at the highest level of the sport for the 2012 season after signing a contract to work for the Garmin-Barracuda team. Having grown up with the Slipstream Sports program which evolved into Garmin-Barracuda, it was pretty clear where he belonged after talking to a couple of teams and realizing they wouldn’t be a good fit for him. Garmin-Barracuda, he said, “feels like home for me so I can’t think of any better way to move up and move on.”

Right now Howes is probably best categorized as an all-rounder, proficient in all of cycling’s disciplines, though he wouldn’t call time-trialing – riding individually against the clock – his greatest strength. He’ll continue to develop as a professional cyclist while he spends his first season with Garmin-Barracuda. It’s an opportunity to further refine his skills, as he helps more senior athletes on the team and gets tested in races he hasn’t experienced before. He’s already shown that he’s talented at getting into break-aways in races on narrow European roads, with stunning rides for a neo-pro in famous races like Amstel Gold in Holland.

One desire

When he reviewed his preliminary racing calendar with the Garmin-Barracuda team directors at the end of last year, unlike many pro-cyclists who present multiple demands, Howes mentioned only one request: “I really want to do the Tour of Colorado.”

A rider’s racing calendar can change, due to injuries on the team for example. According to Howes before the season begins Garmin-Barracuda only plans riders’ programs up to the Tour de France. Rosters for future events are decided after the Tour. Howes can’t be certain he will race in the UPCC, but feels pretty confident his name will appear on Garmin-Barracuda’s UPCC start list.

If he makes it, riding at home will mean more than knowing every pothole in the road. Racing the UPCC is, he said, “a big opportunity for me to show what I’ve done, prove who I am.” Races and weather will come and go, but no one can strip way the identity of that teenager who racked up scores of miles on the roads of Lookout Mountain.

“A lot of people from the States, the only race they ever see is the Tour de France, and half of them don’t see that, they hear about it,” he said. “If you bring a big event like this to town, everybody sees it, everybody knows about it.” So Howes expects to see all of his hometown friends on the streets of Golden at the UPCC on August 25^th, where, “you have the Tour de France caliber riders, and hopefully you have me, standing next to them.”

Golden’s Commemorative Art for 2012 USA Pro Challenge Features a Statue of Levi Leipheimer!

The word is out!  All host cities for the 2012 USA Pro Challenge had a requirement to install permanent commemorative art to celebrate the race.  What better way to commemorate the race than with a statue of its inaugural winner!  That’s right…our art piece will be a statue of Levi Leipheimer sprinting for the finish!  Levi himself has provided the artist with input into the overall bronze and mixed metal piece.  A limited number of bronze maquettes, or smaller versions of the statue, will be available for pre-sale in the next week, with expected delivery at the end of May. For more information or to purchase a maquette, contact Julie Brooks at 303-384-8013 or by email.

“It’s stepping into the unknown a bit,” said Tad Hamilton, sports director for Team Exergy.

Team Exergy, a road cycling team, upgraded from amateur to professional (UCI continental) status for the 2011 season. This upgrade catapults the team into new territory, namely additional races and a higher level of competition. As new kids on the block, they need to demonstrate they’ve earned their place by performing well in this week’s USA Pro Cycling Challenge (UPCC) — no small feat since they will race elbow-to-elbow with the very best pro-cyclists in the world, including teams fielding the top three finishers from this year’s Tour de France: Cadel Evans, Frank Schleck, and Andy Schleck. It’s going to take a special recipe for the team to generate good results, a recipe everyone on the team knows by heart.

“Our focus is to survive and win as a group,” Tad said.

Team Exergy poses for a photo in Frisco, Colorado. Left to right: Sebastian Salas, Kai Applequist, Andres Diaz, Erik Slack, and Carlos Alzate. Photo credit: Bob Pearce.

To accomplish this Team Exergy riders must battle for seven days in the UPCC against 126 riders from American and international teams who crave the same awards on offer in the race. And there’s more at stake for the team during the UPCC than achieving results there. “This race will help define next season as well, what races we get invites to, so it’s very important for the team that we do well and have a good showing,” said Kai Applequist, an all-around rider participating in the UPCC. The team would like invites to domestic races such as the Tour of California as well as international races.

Belief in the power of teamwork to deliver results resides not just with management; it thrives in each and every rider on the squad. Sebastian Salas, a strong climber and the newest member of the team, said, “It’s about the teamwork and the camaraderie that you develop on the bike and in the race that will bring the biggest success in the end.” Kai said, “By working as a team every one of us is going to have an opportunity to show what we have.”

Good results matter to a pro-cycling team’s sponsor, the organization that funds the team’s activities. The Exergy Development Group based in Boise, Idaho which is home to the team, is the major sponsor. Exergy Development Group is a multifaceted renewable energy company; among other things they find land and develop contracts with land owners for wind parks. “Ride like the wind” is one of the team’s mottos. Exergy also expect the athletes to give back to the community. Team members have visited Children’s Hospital in Boise a number of times and participated in helmet give-aways.

Left to right: Andres Diaz, Tad Hamilton, Carlos Alzate

Teamwork in bike racing can be somewhat invisible. Scott Cross, a partner in the team, described it this way: “When you get down to it, it doesn’t matter how good a rider you have on the team. If everybody’s not working together he’s not going to make it. As disorganized as the peloton and the race look, there’s always teamwork going on. There are also alliances being made between the teams during the race. There’s a lot of thinking going on that you wouldn’t see.”

Tad said, “The family-style relationship of the team is really important, so when we go on the road we stay in a house. It just helps to keep the guys together. It helps for a lot of things, meals together, all the equipment in one place, just so the guys get to know each other.”

Some of the riders include others outside of the immediate team as integral to their results. Before every race Andres Diaz kisses his gold Saint Michael the Archangel medallion and prays for five minutes. Erik Slack, who has raced the Lookout Mountain time trial twice, received a text from his mom before the UPCC; she wanted to see him do something in the race, something she’d see on TV. “So you don’t want to disappoint your mom,” Erik said.

Team Exergy’s riders devoted themselves to preparation for success at the UPCC. Most team members lived for over three weeks at higher elevation for altitude adjustment, in Salt Lake City, then Rifle, Colorado, and finally in Frisco, Colorado the week before the race. In Frisco training consisted of long, easy days on the bike with a lot of climbing. What’s a long, easy day? Five to six hours on the bike with 7,000 to 10,000 feet of pedaling up mountains at a slower pace than a 22 to 26 miles per hour average race pace.

What kind of results is Team Exergy hoping for at the UPCC? For starters, all eight guys finishing this grueling race. Andres Diaz, who is from Colombia and is the team’s leader at the UPCC, aims for a coveted stage win and a high placing in the overall race. Carlos Alzate, also from Colombia and one of the team’s sprinters along with veteran “Fast Freddie” Rodriguez, targets the potential sprint finish stages. The team would be extremely happy to lead one of the jersey competitions, which in addition to race leader include sprint, mountains, and best young rider. Exergy Development group sponsors the most aggressive rider jersey, a prize that is a very important result for the team. The team also wants to ride in the top half of the team competition. Tad said, “There’s 17 teams in the race. For us to compete in the top half of that category says a lot about a first year team.”

Andres Diaz's St. Michael the Archangel medallion. Photo by: Bob Pearce.

Launching a new professional cycling team isn’t easy, but according to rider Sam Johnson, Team Exergy has gotten it right quickly, allowing the riders to focus on racing well. “It’s neat to see everyone trying so hard and all committed to the idea of the team. The attitude on the team is very self-less,” he said. “It’s been so much fun to see us exceed expectations across the board, not just the racing but the management side. We are all going through a major learning curve.” Sam stressed how committed the team’s sponsors are to the team’s success as well, delivering everything from wheels to rain jackets as quickly as possible.

This week the team is giving back with a good performance in the UPCC, prompting Phil Liggett, who commentates for the daily live TV coverage on Versus, to say, “This new team Exergy has put some men on the front. Well, they’re showing they’re not afraid of the big boys.”

The team’s recipe for success is working in Colorado. Expect to see a lot more from Team Exergy before they arrive with the race in Golden on Sunday, August 28^th, for the stage 6 start.

Team Exergy riders in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge

#131 Andres Miguel Diaz Corrales

#132 Carlos Eduardo Alzate Escobar

#133 Freddie Rodriguez

#134 Matt Cooke

#135 Sam Johnson

#136 Sebastian Salas

#137 Erik Slack

#138 Kai Applequist

Broncos and Rockies fans endure freezing temperatures at Invesco Field and blazing sun at Coors Field to watch their favorite athletes. Professional cycling fans are just as intense. They wake up at 4:30 am in July to follow the mountain stages of the Tour de France on television. They will stand in the rain for hours to see their favorite pro-cyclists speed by at arm’s length.

What’s different about pro-cycling from the traditional American sports? Watching pro-cyclist athletes is free. The action takes place outside on the road. These elite athletes pedal by our favorite ice cream shops, our homes, and the hills and mountains in our backyards. In many ways pro-cycling is a community sport.

Johan Bruyneel

With the USA Pro Cycling Challenge (USAPCC) coming to Golden, we asked Johan Bruyneel, a two-time Tour de France stage-winner and coach who has guided his teams to nine Tour de France victories, author, and Manager of the American Team RadioShack, his thoughts on how the race benefits the Golden community. Please comment below with your own ideas on what bringing pro-cycling to Golden means to you. Then join us on the morning of August 28^th at the USAPCC stage start in downtown Golden!

What are the benefits to a community from hosting a pro-cycling race?

Well I think Colorado is a perfect place to hold a professional cycling race, especially one of the caliber of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. The terrain, summer climate and enthusiasm from the residents are ideal. Knowing the management of Medalist Sports, this will be another excellent and professional race.

Now when you ask me specifically about the benefits to a community, I think it has to go beyond the fact that the residents simply like cycling. A few that come to mind:

• Having a cycling race has shown a positive economic impact on the states and the towns. With teams, race officials, and visitors coming, businesses see an increase in profitable business. [Author’s note: race officials estimate a $38 million economic impact to Colorado from the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.]
• I think it also provides a sense of community. What I mean is that when a cycling race starts or finishes in the town, it usually is a source of pride for the people living there. It’s an opportunity for the residents to show off their town to riders and visitors. We go to many towns and have people – who are not necessarily cycling fans – come to the bus and welcome us to their town. It’s a nice way to unite a town behind one specific event (often this is the biggest event for that town during the year).
• There is no other sport that showcases the beauty of a country, state, city or region as well as cycling. It’s not played in a stadium or arena. It takes place outside – in the natural elements. This is then broadcasted on television and serves as an authentic promotion for tourist visits. I think if the tourist board supports the race, you can really use the race to drive specific tourist goals. I know Adelaide, Australia has done this very well with the Tour Down Under. It has helped put Adelaide on the map as a great tourist destination via the platform of cycling. [Author’s note: The Colorado Tourism Office is a founding partner of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.]
• In this world of obesity and health concerns, cycling is a sport that is easy and healthy for everyone to participate in (assuming they have or can afford a bike). A professional race brings in role models for not only children, but adults – urging them to lead a healthy lifestyle. Many times there are health related expos accompanying the race or even an event where fans can ride the course or laps. It’s a great sport to watch, but I think participating in the activity is even better. We need more cyclists on the road. [Author’s note: Golden’s Health, Wellness, and Sustainability Expo in Parfet Park, 10^th St. and Washington Ave., on August 27^th and 28^th is a must-visit.]

What do you see as unique about the USAPCC that can get the attention of Coloradans new to the sport and turn them into dedicated fans of this race to support its return?
Well to begin with, having a race of this caliber in the U.S. is unique. There will be some of the world’s best cyclists coming to Colorado and only one other state (California) can claim this as well. Hopefully the excitement of casual fans who watched the Tour de France on TV will carry over to the race – knowing that some of the key contenders that they watched on television will be battling for the USAPCC title in their home state. But I think there is an education and understanding factor that needs to be addressed. And I also think the race should feel like it’s Colorado’s race. It should showcase the beauty and culture of Colorado. People should be infused with a sense of pride for hosting one of the top races. And I think each town should listen to their residents and see what is important to the residents.

In places such as Belgium, even non-cyclists are crazy about the sport. What could we, the local organizing committee in Golden, say or do that would help all types of folks come out and have a great experience at the stage start?
Well I hate to compare Belgium and Colorado. It’s totally different – cycling is embedded in the culture of Belgium. We’re all about football (soccer) and cycling. My dream, like many others in my town, was to be a professional cyclist. And like you said, even non-cyclists are crazy about the sport. The U.S. doesn’t have this same cycling culture, which makes it a bit harder. I think some of the specific things that Golden can do are:

• I think at the stage start residents will immerse themselves with the spectacle of having the teams and riders there. It may be helpful to have informational sheets that can be handed out with a little description of each team and their stars, as well as some information on the race.
• Educational sessions where people can learn about the sport and how it works. Few even understand that this is a team sport and many people still think that Lance won the Tour seven times by himself.
• Community rides where people can come out with their bike, ride together and learn about cycling, as well as safety.
• Some races have programs that they implement in schools – about the sport of bike riding and safety. Some even partner with a local bike shop where they can get discounts on bikes for kids to encourage them (a kids “training” plan) to live a healthy lifestyle.
• If you watch the Tour de France, many towns create a unique public display to welcome the cyclists. Many times this also is shown on television. I think it’s a nice project for community members and serves as a sense of a pride, which I spoke about before.

The City of Golden is taking advantage of many of these suggestions. For a complete list of events in Golden the weekend of August 26-28, visit the “Race Weekend” section of this website.

Johan’s comments to U.S. Cycling Report on the state of pro-cycling in the U.S. inspired this article. To see his comments, go to U.S. Cycling Report, http://uscyclingreport.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4869&Itemid=1.

A special thank you to Jared Melzer of Johan Bruyneel Sports Management for his assistance with this article.

Photo Credits: Cristian Mejia and the City of Golden.

You really can’t beat Golden for events during the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.  There is so much to do it could make your head spin as fast as Andy Schleck. There is something for everyone, from the casual fan to the hard-core racer. The celebration starts the weekend prior to the race, on Saturday August 20^th. Pedal Pushers bike shop is hosting the Golden Bike Swap. This is a free event and great opportunity for cyclists to get a great deal on “pre loved” gear and sell their old bikes, parts and clothing.

The following Friday, race weekend kicks off with a showing of the cult-classic cycling film, American Flyers, based on the race that started it all in the US, the Coors Classic. How can you not be entertained by Kevin Costner, Rae Dawn Chong, the 80’s styles, the racing and the familiar scenery, which includes downtown Golden.  In recognition of American Flyers’ 25^th anniversary, special guest speakers will kick off the evening.

What to do with the kids? On Saturday morning the 27th there will be a Kid’s Bike Rodeo hosted by the fine folks at Bicycle Colorado.  There will be helmet fitting, safety instruction, and fun courses.  It will be held in the Coors Tek Parking lot right across the street from the Sustainability, Health and Wellness Expo. The Expo, which will take place all day Saturday and Sunday, will feature cool renewable energy demos, tons of vendors, food, beer and yep, activities for the kids.

For those who are looking for a challenge on the bike, try the King of Lookout Mountain Citizen’s Hill Climb on Saturday August 27th. This is an individual hill climb time trial, for ages 12 and up with several categories ranging in abilities from beginner to pro. The iconic Lookout Mountain will be the final climb of the USA Pro Cycling challenge, and you can test your time against the likes of Cadel Evans, the Schleck Brothers and Tom Danielson (who currently holds the record for Lookout Mountain at 16:02) who will climb it the next day. An awards ceremony will be held at the Expo at Parfet Park following the race.

What would an event like this be without a big party? Luckily we won’t have to find out. On Saturday night Taste of Golden Block Party will take over 2 blocks of Washington Avenue. There will be great food from local restaurants, beer from the local brewery, family friendly entertainment and music from one of Colorado’s favorite performers, Hazel Miller.

Tired yet?  Reserve some energy for race day!  For those who prefer a less strenuous and more fun oriented cycling event how about the Cruiser Paradium? Get out the old (or new) cruiser, throw on a crazy costume and go ride around with some fellow goofballs in front of thousands in a judged event. The prizes are spectacular and include custom trophies and a his/her vintage cruiser bike set. Even if you don’t think you are quirky enough to take part in such merriment, be there to watch it, will be extremely entertaining.

We here in Golden humbly feel that not only are we the best stage to view the race with 3 opportunities to see the cyclists downtown and on Lookout Mountain, but that we are also the best place to celebrate this historic occasion with enough events to capture anyone’s interest. Really, where else would you want to be?

Tom Danielson didn’t believe it when he learned he would race in the 2011 Tour de France (Tour). He took utmost care to make sure he’d get there. “Everything I did I looked at with a microscope,” he said. His mantra became: “I cannot fall off my bike. I cannot get sick. Nothing is going to stop me this year.”

Although his objectives for the Tour of Suisse (Switzerland), which precedes the Tour, included staying out of crashes, it didn’t stop him from putting in some attacks to improve his results in the Swiss race. “That was another defining moment in my year and my career,” he said. “I was up there with Frank Schleck and Cunego at the end of a very hard stage race and I thought, man, I’m not hurting. Let me throw some attacks and let me see. And I had my best time trial right after that, 6^th in the Tour of Suisse time trial.”

Danielson’s dream of racing in the Tour took root when he was 16 years-old, living in Connecticut, and mountain bike racing. One day he visited a friend’s house where the Tour was playing on the television. “Their mom said to me, kind of making fun of me, ‘Is this what you’re going to do some day?’ And I looked at her and said, ‘Right, no, maybe I’ll do some local mountain bike racing.’”

Danielson being interviewed by Vic Lombardi outside of his home in Boulder, Colorado.

Now 17 years later and as the highest finishing American with ninth place in the 2011 Tour de France, he said, “Finally I’ve done the biggest race on earth. It really was everything that people have been talking about, every element of cycling all together – it was pain, suffering, stress, commitment, danger. Every day you had to overcome every element that was presented to you, perfectly, and if you didn’t do that you were either out of the race or you were out of the general classification. And I really liked that. At first I didn’t, but then I realized that I could do it and I realized that I was doing it well and I truly fell in love with it.”

Getting passed over when a pro-cyclist’s team selects its Tour roster is a huge disappointment; it’s one Danielson has faced over the past six years. But he persisted. He fought on despite health issues, injury, and finding himself unable to fulfill the enormous expectations others held because of the promise he showed early in his career. Danielson is a strong climber with a climber’s body: he weighs 130 pounds at five feet ten inches tall.

As the 2011 Tour began Danielson’s goal was to help deliver a victory for his Team Garmin-Cervélo in the team time trial. “I said to my wife, ‘This is kind of a crazy experience for me because I really would have liked to have taken my first Tour de France as a learning experience and just be there for the team and not have any pressure,’ but at the same time I said, ‘I’m in really, really good shape. I would definitely have some regrets later on in my life if I didn’t take advantage of this and try something.’”

His goal changed nine days into the race around France. At about that time he knew he was a contender for a top place finish in the Tour.

“For me it was right around the stage Thor [Hushovd] lost the yellow jersey. The team had me chase on the front towards the end of the stage and there was a short uphill finish which really is my weak point. I finished right on [Alberto] Contador’s wheel with the first handful of favorites and I thought wow, I have become a different rider. I am not the same person I was before because I just climbed with the best climber on the planet.”

Danielson provides his thoughts on the USA Pro Cycling Challenge and his recent experience at the Tour de France to local media.

Danielson looks forward to the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge (UPCC) and stretching his climbing legs on Cottonwood and Independence Passes. While he views the length and elevation gain of the UPCC ascents as similar to those in the Tour he just finished, Danielson sees a big difference between the two races: altitude. He wonders how his competitors will deal with it. “Even though people will come here early and adapt to it and adjust to it, it’s going to be a key element to the race.”

He described his recent experience riding Independence Pass: “I just rode it easy and I felt the altitude. Every time I got out of the saddle, I could feel the lactate in my arms. My legs were really hurting and I was breathing hard. I stopped at the top to put on a rain jacket for the descent and phoof, I could really feel my head, a little bit light-headed. I was thinking, man, we’re going to do seven hard days of this…it’s going to be big.”

It’s crystal clear. Tom Danielson, professional cyclist with Team Garmin-Cervélo, will endure whatever it takes to win the inaugural edition of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge (UPCC) which visits Golden on August 28th. Tom and his wife Stephanie raise their 16-month-old son, Steven, in their Boulder home near the Rocky Mountain foothills. There on an August afternoon three weeks before the start of the race, Tom, Stephanie, and Shawn Hunter, co-chairman of the UPCC, sit on one side of a white dining table. Several local television, radio, web, and print journalists toss out questions about the upcoming UPCC race and the Tour de France. Tom’s reflections on becoming the highest placed American with his 9^th place overall in this year’s Tour de France will follow in Part 2 of this interview. All replies are Tom’s unless noted otherwise.

Tom Danielson and Shawn Hunter give an interview to local media outlets from Tom's home in Boulder, Colorado.

Tom, you have the record going up Lookout Mountain. Do you have any other special memories about riding in Golden or thoughts about the Golden stage of the race?

You could have had a Lookout time trial prologue. Maybe next year we could do that! Going back to my roots, I started racing collegiately and one of the races I did was at the Colorado School of Mines. There was a criterium there on the campus and I’ll remember that for my entire life. It hailed in that race. I actually won.

I love Golden. It was a lot of fun being there on the collegiate trip and ever since I go back as often as I can. My wife and I go there quite a bit and we also like the national motocross race that they have in Lakewood. So it’s only appropriate that this race finishes by going through that town that has a lot of history with me. I’m excited too it’s going over Lookout Mountain. Maybe we’ll have to light it up just for old times’ sake.

What’s the key to riding Lookout Mountain?

A steady, solid effort. Don’t go out too hard; you need to save some gas for the switchbacks so you can finish strong.

Give us an idea of how you’re feeling right now, and the excitement around the race. A lot of people are looking at you as the local favorite in this race.

I’m feeling really really, really good after finishing the Tour de France (TDF). This was my first TDF so I wasn’t expecting to feel that good; it was a very, very difficult race and I was pushed to the limit every single day so to finish going strong is really a blessing.

We just came off a really nice vacation here in Colorado. We checked out some of the stages of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Everywhere you’re riding, and in coffee shops, and on the street, people are really, really excited. They know a big event is coming to their state. They know a lot of the key players in the TDF are coming to the race so there’s already a high level of motivation in the state.
You know I was motivated last year when I heard there was going to be a big race in Colorado. It really made it easier for me to train over the winter; I was super-motivated. From January 1 it’s been in the back of my mind and I’m excited for it to finally be here.

How much of your year do you spend training in Colorado?

As much as possible. This year I had my best season in my career and I spent a lot of time here in Colorado, and I think I’m going to try to adapt that into my training in the next year and from then on. I did a real good winter here in Colorado. The winters generally up to December, early January are quite good. That’s usually when I head over to Europe, and I was in Europe all the way to April. Then I did two weeks here before the Tour of California, did the Tour of California, and then came back here for another two weeks before Tour of Suisse and that really put me on a good level for the Tour of Suisse and the TDF.

How do you see this particular course fitting you to help you to win?

Well, it’s in Colorado, we’ll start there. Climbing will be decisive as well as time trialing and those are two elements that I’ve been strong in and any grand tour rider has to be strong in – that’s how the races are won. I’m really, really stoked to see this race has brought in these elements. They’ve put in some epic climbs and two time trials – and one of them is uphill. If there is any event that’s made for me, it would be an uphill time trial.

Do you think you have any kind of an edge having spent so much of your career here and riding here in Colorado?

Absolutely, it’s similar to Levi [Leipheimer] in California. I think it is in a sense the altitude advantage but just familiar roads, familiar faces, familiar businesses – it’s your community, it’s just being used to it and I think that’s the most important thing.

I think a lot of the guys will overcome the altitude. Being in Colorado for 15 years, I’ve done almost my entire cycling career training and racing at altitude, so I’m quite familiar with it and comfortable with it but, it still affects me. We’re all going to suffer. I’m going to suffer, these other guys are going to suffer, Cadel Evans is going to suffer.

But a lot of cycling is mental and how bad you want it is going to determine how well you do. So being in Colorado and living here, it’s my home state – I want it pretty bad so I’m willing to suffer.

What do you think about the guys that are coming out, like Andy Schleck a week before to adapt to the altitude; do you think that’s going to be sufficient?

Yeah, absolutely. I think adapting to the altitude is pretty simple. Really you’re body just learns how to deal with it, build some more red blood cells. The biggest thing is learning how to deal with the feeling — even when adapted to altitude you’re still at least 10% less efficient than you are at sea level regardless of how long you’ve been here. Those guys are already on a good fitness level, coming off the TDF, and they’re going to be out here early to adapt. I can see them being players in the race for sure.

Could you talk a little bit about the field and who’s coming?

Shawn Hunter: I think this is great validation for our inaugural event. To have the podium and most of the top ten finishers [of the TDF] is unprecedented in American cycling. We think it’s a fair statement to say this will be the most competitive and probably the most exciting field that’s ever raced on American soil and it’s going to be a great week.

Tom: When the team directors and the riders see people they are familiar with putting on the race and promoting it, they know it’s going to be a great event. And then when you throw in a great state, people are going to want to come. The last day on the Champs Elysees [of the TDF] Ivan Basso rode up to me and said, “Tell me about this Colorado race. I want to do well there. Do you think it’s possible?” You can see that guys are already motivated. The U.S. is becoming a huge hotbed for cycling so it’s only appropriate to have another big race here, and seeing all these names – people are fired up.

I think in the wildest dreams people wouldn’t have thought this would be the field.

Shawn Hunter: I think it’s partly because of the calendar. I think partly the team owners, the director sportifs, and a lot of the riders have been following this pretty closely. They’ve seen the national television; they’ve heard about the international television. And so I think it’s all of a sudden become a race that people want to be part of. And it is challenging. I was at the top of Alpe d’Huez for that stage [in the TDF] and I asked, “What’s the elevation at the finish?” It was about 6,300 feet which is about where we start in the Springs – and we go up another mile.

I’m not allowed to have any favorites, but if you talk to anybody else, money is on Tom Danielson because these are his roads and this is his home. It’s going to be very inspiring to see the whole state route for this guy.

The field might get introduced to our weather a little bit.

Yeah, when I saw the race come out and the time of the year I could think of a lot of epic adventures I had myself training. Actually I had to stop a motorcycle guy [in Silverton] and I had to use his blanket to overcome some hypothermia. Yesterday we were in Aspen and at 4 o’clock there was one of the nastiest thunderstorms I’d ever seen and I’m pretty sure about 4 o’clock is when we’re going to be crossing over the top of Independence Pass.

You’ve talked about what great pictures there will be from the race; I wouldn’t think that you would look at the terrain all that much…

I think the sponsors and everyone involved in this race are going to get way more than they’ve put in and expect to get out of it. Cycling is a beautiful, beautiful sport and one of the reasons is because of the backdrop. The images that they will be broadcasting and you’ll see in the media from this race will be phenomenal. You’ll have the best athletes in the world with the best backdrop in the world. It’s going to look amazing.

We’ve all seen the crashes at the TDF and loose dogs on the course and the fans giving riders a push. What message would you give to spectators for our race here in Colorado?

Shawn Hunter: Safety is paramount for our race. Going down Independence Pass, which would scare most Coloradans, would be considered a wide road in France and in other races. There’s been a lot of paving on the roads, so I think it’s going to be safe. I think it’s going to be competitive. And I still say, I don’t think Colorado knows what’s about to hit them with Tommy and the rest of the field.

Tom: Just have fun. The police motorcycles and cars in front of us go fast and come close to them, and there’ll be helicopters. And then you see the cyclists and we’re going so fast. If you are standing on the road and you see a missile coming at you, you’re going to move. You can feel the momentum before it actually comes near you. So they’ll feel it and one of the great experiences they’ll have is seeing how fast the world-caliber field goes and how close the racing is. It’s not like anything they’ve seen before. It’s going to be a good field and just get there and have fun. [Editor’s note: spectators stand back to allow the vehicles and rides space to pass safely.]

[More on Tom and the bike ride following the interview will be available on the author’s blog at http://provelopassion.wordpress.com.]

About Tom Danielson

CBS4 sports anchor, Vic Lombardi (left), prepares to take a spin with Tom Danielson.

Meet Timmy Duggan, who is, “full gas for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.” Born and now living in Boulder, Colorado, Timmy is a member of the Italian Liquigas-Cannondale Pro Cycling Team and twenty-eight years old. He began racing professionally in 2005 with the Slipstream Sports program and fought to return to the sport after sustaining a traumatic brain injury in a crash in 2008. Timmy shares his objectives for the up-coming race, why Golden is a special place for him, and how his wife contributes to his limitless motivation. Come over to Pit Row on August 28th in Golden and give Timmy a cheer.

What does having a race of this caliber in your home state mean for you?
It’s super cool. I have been racing my whole career in Europe. My competitors get to do a world-class race in their backyard all the time, but I’ve never had that. I kind of live a whole world away in Colorado. So it’s really cool to have this kind of a world class field right in my own backyard in a place where I know every single pothole on the route; that will be a definite advantage for me and I’m really excited to show the cycling world Colorado.

Do you have special thoughts or memories related to Golden?
My very first road bike race ever was the Lookout Mountain Hillclimb; that must have been about 2001. I think I was 5th place or something in the lowest amateur category. But it was the first race I did, the first mountain I ever climbed really on a road bike. It’s cool to really come full circle in Golden, to have essentially started my road racing career there and then be at the top of the road racing world at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge when the final stage rolls out of Golden and up Lookout Mountain.

You recently tweeted about reconning Lookout Mountain. What are your thoughts about the final stage and how you see it unfolding?
With that big mountain in the beginning there’s certainly potential for some fireworks. But it’s a long way to go to the finish, so depending on how the riders want to race and how aggressive we are, it could be a sprint finish despite the fact there’s a big mountain in the way. It’s an interesting parcours [route], and really anything can happen and I think it’s a good choice for the final day of the stage race. It will keep the riders guessing as well as the fans guessing until the very last day. Also with a whole week of racing at altitude and some big climbs before that people are going to show up on the start line in Golden pretty tired. And if there’s some motivated and strong people that want to make a big difference up Lookout Mountain, there’s not going to be anywhere to hide riding up Lookout Mountain straight out of the start, so that will be a good opportunity to be aggressive.

Do you think that all the high altitude in this race gives an advantage to someone like you who lives at high altitude?
Yes, obviously it’s definitely going to be a huge factor. It’s not even an altitude that certainly a lot of the European riders have been at; almost the whole race is at 8,000 to 9,000 feet, which is higher than the highest mountain pass in Europe pretty much. So just to have everything at that high altitude is a pretty big factor, let alone when we do the Vail time trial or Cottonwood Pass, Independence Pass – those go up to 12,000 feet so that’s just a huge, huge difference. It makes a difference in the moment when you are racing over those passes and I think it changes the rider’s ability to recover from the efforts at altitude.

What are your objectives for the race and how are you preparing?
I would like to attain a top five overall result. I’m definitely really aiming for this race, almost more so than any other race during the season because it is my home race. It’s a great opportunity for me and I think I will be better prepared than anyone else, for the altitude and for the climbs, just because I’ve been kind of subconsciously preparing for this my whole life really, just living here and growing up here. I kind of have those climbs and the altitude in my blood. I also have no racing all of the middle of summer so I’m just home in Colorado for the first time in a long time and able to prepare specifically and spend some time at altitude, and really arrive on the starting line ready to go.

About the objectives of my team Liquigas-Cannondale at Colorado. At the moment we’ll have a really diverse squad, some guys fresh off the Tour de France, so they’ll definitely have the potential to be really on form; if they can recover well and adapt to the altitude they’ll really be flying. And we’ve also got a couple of good sprinters that are really suited to the kind of courses we’ll have in Colorado – they’re hilly but might still come down to a fairly large group to sprint it out. So we’ve got a couple of guys that can get over some hard mountains but still have a really good sprint at the end. It sounds like Basso will be there. A lot of it depends on how everyone comes out of the Tour [de France].

What do you most anticipate and fear about the race?
I think the Cottonwood Pass, Independence Pass is definitely going to be a pretty amazing stage. On paper it doesn’t look too crazy. We certainly do harder climbs in Europe and a number of times but the length of those climbs combined with the crazy, crazy altitude and then the fact that Cottonwood is dirt, those are three things that just make it impossible to hide. I think there’s going to be some fireworks, and then you’ve also got our typical 3 pm thunderstorms high in the mountains of Colorado, so we can have some pretty gnarly weather for 15 minutes as well.

Where will you be racing between now and the USAPCC?
I’ll be at the Tour of Utah. It’s actually a really similar race to Colorado, a lot of climbing, a lot of high altitude. It will be a great final tune-up before the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

You frequently mention how much you miss your wife when you are away racing. What role does she play in your motivation?
A lot. The biggest thing is she just keeps me grounded, realizing that there is more to life than just sport and bike racing. Even if you have a bad day on the bike, she just makes me realize that there’s more to it than that and helps me to forget the bad times on the bike, but also focus on the good times, and just gives me an ability to kind of let go and not care so much, not put so much pressure on myself in bike racing, because I know I have the support outside of the sport always waiting for me. [Timmy and Loren were high school sweethearts. They alpine ski raced on the same team.]

On your Just Go Harder Foundation website, it mentions you began your cycling career by creating your own teams, and relying on the support of others, including a bike shop and your parents. You traveled in your parents’ minivan and slept in the back. You delivered pizzas at night to help fund your racing. Is that a typical path Americans who become pros follow?
I think it’s maybe more typical in America than it would be in Europe. For the most part for Americans to become a cyclist, it’s something they fall into after doing another sport or after an injury or something like that. There’s just not the infrastructure in America at the junior level, at the grassroots level, to provide that support, that foundation, so it’s kind of something that people happen into later in life. Whereas in Europe, it’s the opposite. Kids are on the bike when they’re eight years old and that’s all they think about when they’re eight years old. All of my teammates on Liquigas, they’re all junior national champions, or junior world champions and they’ve been excelling at the sport since before I even knew what a bike was, so it’s kind of a different culture.

I kind of kick-started my career when I started with the US national team in Belgium. I lived over in Belgium, so I was part-time with the US national team and part-time with Jonathan Vaughters and the TIAA-CREF team. So I went back and forth a little bit, but being able to live in Europe for a bit and race in Belgium and all over Europe, that was absolutely integral to laying the foundation for my career. And that’s still something that’s in place for young cyclists – to make the leap over to Europe and have some support over there.

How can our readers help the Just Go Harder Foundation? [Timmy began the Just Go Harder Foundation with Ian MacGregor, former pro-cyclist. The foundation is a youth scholarship fund that enables deserving kids to enrich their lives through mentorship and participation in cycling and skiing sports.]
We came out with our own custom Just Go Harder cycling clothes from Panache Cyclewear, so you can order a Just Go Harder jersey and shorts. We take donations however you want, via PayPal. If you have any old sports equipment, you can donate it to The Pros Closet, an EBay consignment store in Boulder. They will donate the proceeds from that sale to the Just Go Harder Foundation. Right now the Just Go Harder Foundation is really small. We’re just starting to increase the network of people that we can reach out and touch and have access to. If we can give a couple of $500 scholarships away per year, that’s what we want to do right now. [To visit the foundation’s website, go to http://justgoharder.com/jgh-foundation.]

What would you like folks just learning about pro-cycling to know about the sport?
It’s a really unique sport in that an individual wins, but it wouldn’t be possible for that individual to win were it not for his seven teammates working for him throughout the five hours of the race, to deliver him to the finish line ready to make his move in a fresh as possible state. A lot of that work to have that leader at the finish line really goes unnoticed and unseen, but it’s absolutely critical to winning the race, and to the strategy of the race, and to how it all plays out.
The other thing [aside from the mountains] that really drives and inspires me in this sport is speed. That feeling, just going fast, is what I really missed most during my time off the bike the last few years from my head injury and 3 broken arms last season! That’s definitely the most addictive quality of the sport and what makes it so fun!

What’s your definition of success in life?
That’s a heavy question. I think if you’re happy, especially if you can make a living doing what you enjoy and pursuing your passion, I think that’s the definition. However you need to live so that you put your happiness first, if you attain that, then I think that’s the definition of success. I don’t think it has anything to do with making $10 million, but if you can live where you want to live and you can surround yourself with the people you want to be with and you can do the activities you love to do, that’s what I consider successful.
[For additional responses from Timmy, visit the author’s blog at http://provelopassion.wordpress.com/]