Jeff on Bikes

I won my first heat. It wasn’t even close. Got second in my second heat. It wasn’t even close (lost to the guy who got third overall). Tons of fun! Beer, bikes, craziness. Gio won the overall (of course) and auctioned off the Soma Rush he won for the Matt and Kristy Memorial Fund. Seth bought the backpack that was auctioned off by the guy who got second overall for the same cause. Very good idea. Got some great pictures.

More pictures!

On Sunday, March 9th, 2008 Matt Peterson, my friend and team mate, was hit and killed by a deputy sheriff on Stevens Canyon Road in Cupertino. The sheriff drifted across the road coming from the opposite direction and hit the training group he was riding with head on. He died instantly. Kristy Gough of Third Pillar was also hit and died later at the hospital.

One of the few pictures where’s he’s not got a huge grin or has his tongue hanging out. Really poignant for some reason.

Matt Peterson was one of the first few guys that really introduced me to racing and to the Mouse. When Ben, Paule, Julie, and I were stopped by a Third Pillar racer out on Canada that same day and were told the news I shut down. I didn’t know what to do and still have trouble believing he’s gone.

I remember my first ride with the Mouse. Matt, Mike, James, and maybe a couple of others did a headlands loop with the optional dirt sections included. Of course I got spit off the back on the climbs, but Matt came back, despite being much heavier then than he was when he died and not much of a climber, and offered his wheel to tow me to the top. Despite being a dedicated racer with his own personal goals Matt was a very selfless guy.

He was a motivator. Even after his Merco win he told me that he was impressed with how I had ridden that race coming from being sick the week before. That meant a lot because I was kind of disappointed with the mediocre result. In that respect he didn’t shill any bullshit either, he told you exactly what he thought and I appreciated that a lot.

We once rode out to Fairfax so that DP could hit a ‘cross clinic on his singlespeed ‘cross loaner. We went up White’s Hill to get in one climb after DP spanked us on Camino Alto. Matt was still not much of a climber at that point and I left him in the dust at the beginning of the climb. But he wasn’t about to let some scrawny dude beat him up the hill. I got to the bridge just as he caught me. I was cooked at that point, he passed saying “No gifts” and I got a second wind and took his wheel up the rest of the road.

One thing he told Seth after he’d said he’d like to improve was, “Well until we start winning pro races every weekend, I’d say we’ve got plenty of room to improve.”

Matt went out on top. He won Merco with a crazy solo flyer in the last lap. He was pulling when he was killed. This was the beginning of my first full season with Matt and he was dedicated. The team won’t miss just a dedicated racer but also a friend and a great guy. I know I do.

• Memorial Service
• Memorial Ride

All photos courtesy of Larry Rosa Photography.

I need to get better on the rollers…then get a Wii…

If you’ve spend any amount of time in San Francisco in the last decade, especially the well stereotyped Mission District, or SOMA, and even downtown to some extent you’ll have noticed that the track bike is the new skateboard. This fad is fully matured and has been going on longer than I’ve been riding a bike seriously, so I’ll skip the apologetic disclaimers – I’m not here to pass judgment one way or another.

The Mouse women had their first meeting last night at Gestalt, a very uniquely San Franciscan bar, insofar as San Francisco is a cyclists city (at least in our own minds). We (that is the Mouse women and me, the sole RMC guy) arrived early enough that most of the 24 bike racks along the wall were empty. As the night went on and more and more beer glasses were emptied the racks became more and more full.

It started as a good cross section of what I typically see riding around town: a beat up mountain bike, a couple of old 12 speeds in decent condition, a nice Bob Jackson leaning against the wall, and a track bike and fixed gear conversion or two – not including Bergen’s Felt. Mo’s Cross Concept, Ashley’s Brava, and my IRO.

By the end of the night this was the approximate inventory: a Look 595 Ultra (~$6,000) hanging by the handlebars from a pipe on the wall; below, a half dozen track bikes (Barenuckles, Brassknuckles, some Keirin frames, among them several Aerospokes, a Specialized Tri-spoke, and a Zipp 606 front, etc; on the racks, a vintage mint chrome Pinarello. Outside I thought I cought a glimpse of a 85th anniversary Tange carbon fiber track bike – with risers. Among the track bikes inside and out there must have been at least four or five pairs of Phil Wood hubs.

You get the idea. Bikes are cool. As sad as it makes me that people are out spending thousands of dollars on track bikes and NJS parts that will never see the Velodrome (to be fair some of them must race), it also makes me happy to see so many bikes in, of all places, a bar.