From Nate.... on Chad.... "You're a Fuckin Looser"!

Folsom Cyclebration Experience

Monday, September 15th 2008 @ 4:21 PM

Posted by Nate Freed

I raced this weekend at the Folsom Cyclebration, but both races were pretty unevenful. I do have a great/sad story from after the circuit race, which was on the second day. After the sprint finish of the race, I did a cooldown lap by myself, and rolled back toward the finish. I noticed a guy sitting on the curb all by himself under the shade of a tree. He had an old beat up bike sitting on the ground next to him. He was very tan, and looked to be about my age or a little bit older. I just passed by the guy, and he looks up at me and says out of nowhere, "Hey buddy, I hate to break it to you, but you're a fuckin loser." I just looked back at him and said "Yeah well you're a fuckin drunk". Then I went to meet up with Matt, Katie, Ramsey, and Alanna who had stuck around to support me and watch my race. I talked to them for a minute about the race, and told them the story about this crazy guy who was still sitting under the tree about 100 yards away. We said goodbye, and for some reason, I decided to ride back by the guy again on the way to my car. I wasn't trying to start a fight or anything, I was just curious to see if he would say something again. He looks up at me this time and says something to the effect of: "You would make a great sandwich in loserville." At this point I realized that he was either nuts or on a lot of drugs, so I kinda just rode past him. At the same time, he gets on his old beat up crappy bike and rides next to me. He just looks at me, and I look back at him.


Then I recognize him! He was on an episode of the A&E show "Intervention".... so I say to him, "Hey, I know you." He says, "I doubt it." And I say, "I know you from TV." Then he instantly takes off down an alley and I just let him go.



When I got home from the race tonight, I did a little bit of research on this guy. At first I forgot his name, but I do know that he was a pro bike racer for US Postal at one point. He had a troubled childhood, and was sortof a loner as a bike racer. He got kicked out of the Olympic trials because he poked Lance Armstrong in the stomach, and called him a "doughboy". After that, his career seemed to spiral downwards. Then he started smoking crack..... In the episode of "Intervention", he did accept treatment at the end, but obviously he relapsed. What I have taken out of this is that, as bike racers(or athletes in general), we almost have an "addiction" to the awesome feeling we get when racing our bikes. We finish one weekend, and look forward to the next. We are lucky that we are addicted to something so positive and productive and healthy... and it is now apparent to me that it could very easily go the other way.



His name is Chad Gerlach.