This Wasn't My Idea....

In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!

The Influencer:

The entire existence of this blog really hinges upon one individual, and that person is not me! I was, as they might say now, pushed into this gig by an "Influencer" from the internet. 

Influencers. Those personalities that companies will flock to because their social media content is followed by a large number of people that are "influenced" by their content. The "social media" in this instance was a blog. There wasn't really anything else you might call "social media" back in 2005. 

There were "chat rooms". Remember those? There were niche sites where comment threads were commonplace. "Forums", as they are referred to, were really where the discourse happened back then across the internet. The person that influenced me was also a big draw on a specific forum on mtbr.com's Endurance Forum. His name? Jeff Kerkove.

Jeff Kerkove, circa 2004, clowing up for the camera at work.

I knew Jeff better than most at the time because I had the privilege to work beside him from late 2002 to early 2007. For most of that time we were both shop mechanics at a local bike shop called Europa Cycle and Ski. He worked on one side of a Park repair stand, I on the other. It was inevitable that we would get to know one another at that time.

Our lives could not have been more different. I was a good dozen years his senior in age. I had a family and with two young children, I was very busy with that part of my life. Jeff was fresh out of college, single, and very very driven. His main focus was on training for, and participating in 24hr solo mtb races. 

He had a blog which detailed his training regimen, nutrition, and tactics in regard to racing. This blog ended up becoming quite popular and Jeff was fielding questions about his training and racing on a near daily basis back then. It didn't take long for sponsors to come around, and Jeff was excellent at landing more backers to help him in his quest for 24hr racing dominance. 

Meanwhile, here I was having near daily banter with Jeff while we toiled over hybrid bikes and creaky bottom brackets. I seemed to hit it off with Jeff right away, despite our differences. In fact, after the first few weeks of working with Jeff, I was approached by our boss on a day when Jeff wasn't there. He wanted to know what it was I was doing in regard to Jeff. How was it that I was able to "make him laugh" and have conversation with him, because my boss told me that no one had been able to crack him yet. 

Jeff had worked at the bike shop through college, and no one had really gotten to know him, or have animated banter with him like I was able to do. Why that was is anyone's guess. Only Jeff could really illuminate that for us all. But the fact remained that - for whatever reasons - I was the one Jeff seemed to open up to at work. 

Jeff at the GCHoF Group Ride in Emporia, Kansas 2023.

Jeff seemed to think I had a good amount of knowledge regarding cycling and he thought I was 'funny and interesting" enough that others should have the opportunity to get to know me as well. It was around late 2004 when Jeff started insisting that I should start a blog like he had. 

I scoffed at the idea. Me? Who cares about what I have to say? Jeff was, well......a racer. People respected his accomplishments and saw value in his knowledge of training, race tactics, and athlete sponsorship. People wanted to know what Jeff had to say. His blog was a requisite morning stop for many cyclists. Me? No one had ever heard of me. Why would anyone read a blog I wrote?

But blogs were a 'thing' yet in 2004 and 2005. A lot of cyclists had a blog then because there wasn't really anywhere else one could express themselves and their activities. Now? Well now you've got two dozen ways to do that. But back then? Blogging was it. Jeff thought I should join in the fun. He kept insisting I start a blog. He even allowed me to write posts on his blog starting in 2004. Then we cooked up Trans Iowa and that forced me to communicate via Jeff's blog as that was how we presented ideas in longer form than the Trans Iowa blog allowed for due to its format. 

Then post-Trans Iowa Jeff really started twisting my arm to do this blog. He even helped me format the first version of this blog. He taught me how to do a few things, and then, well.... You know the rest of the story. The point is, without Jeff Kerkove being in my life at that time I would never have doine what I have done in regard to cycling. 

Thanks Jeff!