Tour de Todd

Dr. Jason Galeah is with a program called "Headset Sports." They work with elite athletes. He also has a private practice working with people dealing with anxiety, depression as well as working with athletes with focus and confidence issues. But for this interview we're discussing issues around concussions and concussion rehabilitation. 

Dr. Galeah has a long standing working relationship with with former pro and team owner Danny Van Haute. The two worked together to be the first to bring concussion testing protocols and baseline testing program to professional cycling. 

In this interview with Dr. Galeah we touch on what is a concussion, what does a concussion do to the brain, what are the symptoms, and how a concussion is treated. 

Thomas Craven was raised in Winston Salem, North Carolina. At first he had not interest in racing bikes. He played soccer. Yet, there was a bike race held in front of his childhood home. That race would lead to his family hosting guys like Australian great Danny Clark. Once he watched Athens Twilight criterium in person he knew he wanted to race a bike. Once he got started he progressed quickly. As time passed he would eventually turn pro. He would eventually ride for teams like Wheaties - Schwinn, 7-Eleven, Poland Spring - Globar Travel, to Chevrolet L.A. Sheriff. 

He would eventually retire from racing. Once retired he learned how to cook, went into business but eventually came back to cycling as a director sportif for Hincapie and recently Best Buddies.  

Jason Allen is a kiwi legend. He was initially into soccer before he discovered the bike. He got on the bike to stay in shape for soccer. He quickly gravitated towards track cycling. He got good at racing a bike pretty quick. In 1998 he did the Junior worlds in Cuba. He says he began traveling the world to race an it opened his eyes. Eventually he decided to race in the U.S. He based himself at T-Town. Jason says he struggled a bit in the beginning. 

Jason turned pro after he won the U23 time trial Champs in New Zealand along with a 2nd in the road race. His destination? Italy for the Miche team. He says his time there was a disaster. He ended up moving over to a Belgian team. Jason did several stints in Europe racing for teams like Marco Polo to Plowman Craven team. 

On and off he did five years racing in the U.S. with McGuire -Langdale, Kodak Gallery - Sierra Nevada to Land Rover - Orbea. 

Jason eventually returned to New Zealand to race the track. And he ended up racing for one of the most iconic teams in New Zealand, the "Subway - Avanti Cycling Team.  The team was stacked with heavy hitters like Hayden Godfrey to hard man Gordon  McCauley. 

He would eventually retire and currently Jason is working as an electrician.  

This is the third and last episode with Freddie Rodriguez. We sit down and talk about the foundation he started after retiring, coaching, his clothing line, and life with his wife and three kids. 

In the 2nd part of my interview with Freddie Rodriguez we start where we left off at, coming off the Poggio in Milan San Remo in 2002. We dig into what he was thinking, feeling, and his positioning to set him up for the sprint. From there we talk about Ghent Wevelgem, his first ride in Paris Roubaix, and whether he did anything special to his bike for that race. 

Eventually we touch on him leaving Domo Farm Frites. Why he ended up riding for Vini Calderola and the Aqua & Sapone to the Lotto teams. 

Freddie eventually had enough of Europe and decided with having kids it was time to head home. That adventure brought Rock Racing, Team Exergy and his final team Jelly Belly. 

Freddie Rodriguez followed in his dad's footsteps when it came to racing his bike. His dad was a racer in Colombia in 50's and 60's. His inspiration came during the 1984 Olympics when he saw Alexi Grewal win the road race and a gold medal. 

At 11-years-old he got a used bike from his dad. Freddie quickly realized the freedom of riding. His first race was a criterium and his first club was out of the Montrose bike shop. 

Freddie says the first bit of interest from the junior national team was after racing the La Vuelta de Bisbee. He was invited to a national team camp.  From there he would be given the chance to race in Europe He says one of his greatest accomplishments as a junior was helping Jeff Evanshine win the Junior Worlds Road Race in 1991. 

During his Under 23 years Freddie rode for Spago and the national team racing all over Europe. At 18 he was living in Ghent, Belgium learning the ropes of kermesse racing. From 92-95 he continued to ride with the national team with Rene Wenzel as his coach. 

In 1996 he turned pro with Saturn. The team gave Freddie an opportunity to mature as a rider and man before heading to Europe to ride for Mapei.

This is one of two interviews with Freddie about his career and what he's doing now.   

Today's episode is all about music. Since I'm having  road bike issues I'm forced to get on my trainer in the garage and go at it. Music is a must so I've created a few playlists. I'll be sharing them as time goes on and hope to hear from you about what you like listening to. Maybe ya'll can introduce me to some new music. 

1) Artist: A. Billi Free & The Lasso, Album: Holy Body Roll, Song: Thrive, Despite
2) Artist: Alison Wonderland, Album: Run, Song: Run
3) Artist: Amine, Album: One point five, Song: Hiccup featuring Gunna
4) Artist: Animal, Album: Retrospective, Song: Don't let me be misunderstood
5) Artist: Apathy, Album: Honkey Kong, Song: Check To Check
6) Artist : Augustos Pablo, Album: Augustos Pablo, Song: King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown
7) Artist: Big Remo & 9th Wonder, Album: 9th Wonder Presents Wonderbread, Song: Wonderbread (featuring Big Remo)
8) Artist: Big Tone, Album: Business, Song: Business
9) Artist: Borns, Album: Dopamine, Song: 10,000 Emerald Pools
10) Artist: Chaz Emphatic, Album: Postcard, Song: NyQuil on Ice
11) Artist: Coconut Records, Album: Night timing, Song: Night timing 
12) Artist: Cymande, Album: Second time around, Song: Crawshay
13) Artist: De La Soul, Album: Grind Date, Song: No
14) Artist: Death, Album: For the whole world to see, Song: Where do we go from here
15) Artist: Dice Raw, Album: Single, Song:100
16) Artist: Electric Citizen, Album: Sateen, Song: Light years Beyond
17) Artist: Gary Numan & tube way Army, Album:Replicas, Song: Heartbreak
18) Artist: The James Hunter Six, Album: Minute by Minute, Heartbreak
19) Artist: Kid Ink, Album: Missed Calls, Song: Rain Dance 

The "Star Track Youth Program" is based around the Kissena Velodrome in Flushing, Queens. The program focuses on kids between the ages of 8-16 from under resourced communities. Star Track is a 100% free program. The kids set goals, participate in a weekly training schedule and become part of a competitive cycling team. In 2022 Star Track starts a UCI track team. Members on the team include current national team member Josh Hartman, Grant Koontz, who just won a gold medal in the Pam Games scratch race to Joe Christiansen. This program is  funded by sponsors like Felt Bicycles and private donations. Star Track is a program solely focused on bettering the lives of kids whether they go on to race or not. 

Tommy Nankervis comes from a cycling family. His dad raced and his grandfather raced. But, it was the great Sid Patterson who first got him on the track. Patterson was a world champion as an amateur and professional. He also won countless Australian national championship titles. And it was Tommy who won the 1st ever Sid Patterson Grand Prix  which is held annually. In his younger years he rod for the famous Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club. Track was Tommy's bread and butter. But he had his eyes on crits and road races. He progressed quickly. Once he made the move to the road his eyes turned to America. Former Tour de France green jersey winner Baden Cooke helped get him to the U.S. Tommy rode for teams like Priority Health, Jittery Joe's  to Bissell to name a few. He also did a stint  in Belgium with Cinelli-Down Under with Frank Vandenbroucke. After years of living abroad it was time to head back down under. He would ride for Team Budget Fork lifts. He would eventually retire in 2016. He's still riding, married with two wonderful kids, and he works for Tineli Custom Cycling Clothing. 

Michael Maarten started out knowing he always wanted to be a biker racer. His parents made him wait to race. Michael's parents wanted him to focus on school. He did get started at 17 years old and a few years later he won a silver medal in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal in the kilo. Here's what you didn't know, he won without ever having coach to guide him. Track racing was always his favorite discipline. But Michael raced road races at a high level. He also raced multiple events on the track like the Madison, points race, kilo, sprints, six days to the keirin. in fact he was a keirin world champion. Vaarten raced in Japan on the keirin circuit and race for many years here in the states. Once he retired Michael says his friend and former coach Patrick Sercu asked him to become a derny pilot in the six days. Now days he's enjoying retirement and his granddaughter.