You may also know him as one of the brains behind Rasputitsa! Which is kind of our thing at Bivo! We worked with Jeff to design a series of Bivo t-shirts to illustrate how we aim to fuel more fun. Clinging to a homemade cardboard sign, tightly clustered on course with my fellow UVM teammates, I shout at the top of my lungs, "Spandex is my favorite color! For someone who tends to be long-winded, this small phrase perfectly captures the essence of my UVM Cycling experience.
Growing up in Northern Michigan, I simply loved mountain biking from all angles. It was part of a family tradition that started in the 5th grade and continues today. As a kid, being surrounded by more prominent influences from traditional team sports made escaping into the woods even more adventurous. It was an outlet, a sense of freedom, and anything but conventional. The same sentiment was synonymous off the bike between my school work and creative outlets with art and design.
I vividly remember my first bike team meeting at Billings Student Center during my Freshman year. The lightbulb went off, and it was the first time that both worlds collided with a new community of friends, which would eventually evolve into a lifelong family.
At first, I had only intended to ride during the fall mountain bike season; however, that quickly changed. The team inherently had this magnetic energy, where it was clear the question was not, "Are you going to race road? I didn't grow up with any hopes or ambitions to be a road cyclist; I didn't even have a road bike. At this moment, I realized the depth of the team's roots when alumni John Berlinger sent a list of college-kid-affordable tour support bikes from Mavic for anyone who needed a bike for the season.
Game on! With the fall semester under my belt, the level of fun and talent on the team was crystal clear. However, it wasn't until the first road race that I openly asked, " Why is everyone so serious? This question was answered quickly by the end of the weekend when I realized the level of "holy-shit-fast" riders on the team and within the ECCC. In reality, I knew no matter how much training I put in, there was no way to reach that level, and that was alright with me. However, I could still find a niche, skillset, and role on the team to contribute, support, and encourage.
