065: Tuesdays with Jeb

For the last month or so Jeb and I would head out each Tuesday night to do a little ride. The bulk of the ride was spent chasing hipsters on fixed gears around Newark, talking about races, and making fun of college kids.

In general we were just having fun on our bikes, and enjoying the opportunity to dodge in and out of the shadows of town. About halfway through our fun ride, we would always end up on some undisclosed road at the University with very little traffic, and we’d line it up for a “starts” work out.

The workout was one that Mayhew had in my normal routine. Having the opportunity to start with Jeb was certainly a benefit for me, not to mention we were having a lot of fun. Now I admit, Jeff never counted efforts, he never kept score, but I did. I felt like I had to. I get to ride with Jeff and his awesome mother Lauri probably once a week or so throughout the year, but this, this was different. This was “starts”, and even if it killed me, I had to push him. And trust me sometimes, it did kill me. With each passing day there are fewer places that I can help Jeff be a better racer anymore, but starts, are still one of them.

Two weeks ago Jeff dominated me. I could get off the line faster than him, but sure enough he’d crush me come the finish line.

6-0.

Jeff would go on to have 2 podium finishes at the USGP in Portland and Nationals, thus earning a spot at the Belgium House, and a spot on the world’s team. Boo-ya.

I knew that I couldn’t show up and get blanked again, not with my boy going to Belgium in a week. So I geared up the bike a little, I put my file tread tires on, and of course I pumped the tires up to 65lbs. Having been off the bike for 10 days, I knew I’d need every advantage I could to try and push the boy one last time.

As we met at the meeting spot Jeff showed up. I quickly noticed he was on his road bike. “shit, so much for an equipment advantage!” I thought to myself. We bombed around town, and eventually made it our work out spot. “are you sure you want to do starts on that bike?” I asked Jeff.. He replied, “I have two sided pedals on this, it’ll be good”

And so it began, another week of essentially head to head sprints. It was dark and cold, and fun as ever. This week I took the first two, he took the third, I took the fourth in a bike throw, he took the 5th and the 6th pretty handily.

3-3.

I pushed the kid again. I threw up a little in my mouth.
As we spun home I looked over at Jeb. “hey, man that was fun, thanks for coming out…” He looked back at me and smiled, “yeah it was…” He continued, “ my last two starts were by far my best of the season.” He smiled and nodded at me.

You know that final exchange might have made my season more than anything else.

Thanks for reading.

respect
fatmarc