Welcome to the 2012 professional cycling season at JustGoHarder.com. This is the place for news, photos, and insight from Olympian and 2012 USPRO National Champion Timmy Duggan (Team LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE). Follow Timmy here at Just Go Harder, as he races the WorldTour in search of big wins for his Italian ProTeam.
Timmy and former teammate Ian MacGregor run the Just Go Harder Foundation, a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization creating scholarships that give kids an opportunity to get involved and find mentors in the unique and extraordinary sports of cycling and skiing. Please support the Just Go Harder Foundation through donations and Pros Closet Online Auctions. Make sure to check in with us often for new good rants, photos, funny stories, and even some talk about bike races here and there. It's easier now than ever with Just Go Harder on Facebook and Twitter.
Make an online donation to the Just Go Harder Foundation |
London Olympics 2012: |
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Check out these jerseys on offer via The Pros Closet. Bid on a signed jersey from the Olympics and Team Liquigas and the proceeds go to the next Just Go Harder Scholarship!
Liquigas Jersey signed by the whole team!!!
Team USA Jersey from the London Olympics, signed by the men’s Road Team!!!
The offseason continues. Ive been pretty busy actually, packing in a lot of stuff from my offseason bucket list.
I did a whirlwind camping/mountainbiking trip out in the desert with some friends when it started snowing and being freezing cold for a couple days back in CO. Hit up some trails in Fruita, then over to Moab where we did the Whole Enchilada. If that ride is not on your list, it should be. Just classic awesome mountain biking with a little bit of everything over 7,000 ft of descending from the high alpine to the desert.
Post-Whole Enchilada…
It was a nice little road trip (also on the bucket list) which consisted of high speed interstate driving, listening to country music and the presidential debate. I also checked off Kentucky Fried Chicken, Oreos, and cheap supermarket donuts under ”Dont Need to Eat That Again for Another 51 Weeks.”
In the meantime, Ive been doing a little fire mitigation around our house with the chainsaw, getting rid of all the dry slash and stocking up on fire wood.
That was a serious core workout. Gotta keep the fam warm this winter!
Also this week, i had a wonderful opportunity to speak to a big group of realtors at the Remax Professionals conference at Keystone Resort about my experiences in elite athletics as a professional cyclist, and how the lessons Ive learned can be applied to business. I was really excited to meet and talk with such a great group of passionate people there!
Enjoying an iconic hot dog from Mustards Last Stand
Looking back, Ive ridden my bike (almost always my mountain bike) HALF!!! of my offseason days. I cant resist when its fall in the mountains around here. But nowIm really gonna start resting up because Im taking off today for New England for some more fall awesomeness but not so much bike riding. Im saving the bike riding for the Krempels King of the Road Challenge!
More Offseason Chronicles updates from the right coast coming up soon…
thanks for checking in!
JGH Scholarship Recipient Ellie Welshon leads the field
Ellie , from Edgewater, CO is already an accomplished cyclist on the road but only started mountain biking this season. In fact, she won the Junior Varsity race last weekend on a borrowed bike!
Ellie Welshon began cycling after watching her brother compete in a cyclocross race at the end of cycling camp. She began racing Road and Cyclocross when she was nine. She ranked fourth at Cyclocross Nationals in 2008. She competed again in 2010, placing ninth even though she was injured during the race. She has earned the American Cycling Association Best All Around Rider and Best Cyclocross Racer many times.
In 2011 Ellie joined the Green Mountain Composite Junior Mountain Bike Racing team. The next week Ellie raced in the Snow Mountain Ranch Stampede and did well. That was all it took to get Ellie hooked into mountain biking. The skills that Ellie brought from riding Road and Cross have given her a great basis to launch into mountain bike racing. She has learned a ton and is having a wonderful time on her mountain bike. Ellie has competed in each of the Epic Singletrack races in Winter Park this summer. She will be the overall winner in her category. More importantly, she has developed strong relationships with her team mates and other competitors.
Racing mountain bikes is a wonderful thing for Ellie. It has helped her in many ways, connecting her with interesting, supportive cyclists, given her a platform on which to continue to improve not only her biking and fitness, but her over all self confidence. She says that when she is an adult she will have a nice, small apartment so that she can afford to have nice bikes and ride them all over the world.
Ellie is a junior cycling mentor for some of the younger girls on Black Sheep Cycling, her Road and Cross team.
We hope the Just Go Harder scholarship will help her to even more successes in another area of the sport!
Jacobo, of Boulder High School, is a former recipient and has made good on his promise to continue working hard and excelling in the sport and was rewarded with another scholarship to aid in his progression.
Jacobo lunges for the line in a 2011 race
Congratulations Jacobo and Ellie! Wishing you luck on an amazing season.
Thank you for your support and donations to make these scholarships possible!
Stay tuned for another scholarship announcement for the Lake Eldora Racing Team!
Thursday Oct 4, 2012 | accessadmin | add comments
With the 2012 King of the Road Challenge just a few weeks away, Dr. Kevin Heaton had the opportunity to talk with professional cyclist Timmy Duggan about cycling and recovering from a traumatic brain injury.
Dr. Heaton:
Timmy, I know that you have had a good year on the bike. Can you tell us a little about that?
Timmy Duggan:
2012 has been a great year in that I’ve accomplished a couple of big goals that I had wanted to check off during my career, winning a national championship and competing in the Olympics.
Dr. Heaton:
Can you tell us a little bit about your career before your traumatic brain injury (TBI) and then tell us about your injury?
Timmy Duggan
I began my athletic career as an alpine ski racer, and tranitioned late into cycling after high school. I raced for the Garmin Pro Cycling Team for several years, when I had my big crash in 2008, competing at the Tour of Georgia. I suffered a subarachnoid hemmhorage and a subdural hematoma.
I was very lucky to recover and not only get my normal life back, but my elite cycling career back as well. In the 2 years after my injury I questioned myself many many times whether I would be able to be my normal self again. But because of the support of my wife, family, friends, and cycling team, and the grace of God, I eventually felt back on top again.
Dr. Heaton:
How common are TBI’s in cycling? What have cyclist done to prevent these injuries? And following your injury what have you done to raise awareness about the dangers of TBI?
Timmy Duggan:
While TBI’s of the severity that I had are not very common, Concussion are unfortunately a lot more typical. The medical authorities in cycling are becoming more aware and implementing better protocol in terms of concussions and return to competition.
Dr. Heaton:
Do you have advice for other cyclists on head injury prevention and awareness?
Timmy Duggan:
Obviously, always wear a helmet, even during a non-threatening ride on the cruiser bike to the grocery store. Also, if a concussion does happen to you, appreciate that it is a rather serious injury even if you are feeling good. Give yourself more than enough time to recover. Second impact syndrome is no joke.
Dr. Heaton:
We see athletes that play sports at all levels. Many of them are recovering from concussions and mostly mild TBI but they still deal with post-concussion syndrome, depression and the frustration that can come along with recovering from this type of injury. What advice would you give these athletes to help them with their recovery? How did you stay motivated?
Timmy Duggan:
I definitely dealt with the problems of depression and frustration after my injury. And it took a long time to get back to a normal place. The best advice I can give is to just realize that the process is a roller coaster, you’ll have good days and bad days and that totally normal. A bad day doesn’t mean things are regressing. I stayed motivated by staying focused on a long term goal, and setting smaller, daily goals to stay focused and monitor small improvements.
Dr. Heaton:
Can you tell us about JustGoHarder? What is this and what does it mean?
Timmy Duggan:
The Just Go Harder foundation provides scholarships to kids to get involved in grassroots cycling and skiing competition programs.
Dr. Heaton:
What are your plans for the 2013 season and beyond, what are your goals for the future?
Timmy Duggan:
For the 2013 season I will be changing team from Liquigas-Cannondale to the Canadian Spidertech-C10 team. I’ll look forward to more opportunities to race a a team leader and to help grow the ambitious team.
Ah yes. The offseason. That glorious few weeks of the year when a bike racer can live like a normal person.
Ive been having a blast this week just running errands…catching up on the regular life stuff Ive been neglecting the past 48 weeks because of training, racing, and travel. Its incredibly liberating to be able to do some house work, catch up on some accounting and old emails, and run around town getting things done without this cloud of guilt hanging over you because you should be training or recovering instead. I can just go get things done without worrying that it makes me tired or is taking away from training time. My dog Karli is enjoying it…she gets me to take her on hikes and walks a lot more often. My wife likes this time too, because I do all the chores and dishes and taking out of the trash that she has been doing more than her share of the rest of the time.
We recently moved into our new house in May, but Ive hardly been home to enjoy it until now. My first order of business was moving a bunch of construction crap out of the garage so we can actually fit a car (a car!!!) inside. That was amazing…Ive never had a car insided a garage my whole adult life.
Getting a car in the new garage was a big accomplishment
Of course the other side of the garage is taken up by bikes…
The other obvious perk of the 0ffseason is that I can be a little lenient in the diet department. You gotta get those junk food cravings out of the way for the couple weeks that it doesnt matter. Ive been enjoying some bacon and Cap’n crunch and breakfeast burritos in the morning for sure…
A little Cap’n now and then never hurt anyone…
I ve also been devoting a lot of time to giving back to the community and organizations close to my heart. Last week Rory Sutherland and I poured beers at Rocky Mounts at a fun community evening to benefit my Just Go Harder Foundation.
Check out this sweet custom stars and stripes edition bike racke from Rocky Mounts! Thanks guys!
I also visited with my old elementary school, Heatherwood Elementary, to chat with the classes that biked and walked to school the most in the last month. We talked about cycling, safety, the Olympics, and goals and perseverance. It was fun to soak up the kids enthusiasim as well as connect with some of my former elementary school teachers!
Hanging out with Heatherwood Elementary
Im really excited about heading to New Hampshire next week for the Krempels King of the Road Challenge, benefitting the Krempels Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Recovery. My goal is to raise $1000, help me with that by donating here!
More Offseason Chronicles updates to follow. Im off to do some fire mitigation work in the back yard, and then Im heading to the desert for a couple days of camping and Mountain Biking. Should be good times.
Thanks for checking in
Talking about the Olympics with Heatherwood Elementary School kids
My former first grade teacher at Heatherwood Elementary School in Boulder asked me back to school to chat with the kids about cycling, the Olympics, and goals and perseverance. It was really fun to chat with the kids who were all rather avid bikers. In fact, the classes I spoke with were the champions of the school when it came to biking or walking to school. During last month when they were keeping track, 85% of the students from those classes biked or walked to school. Incredible! I bet there are some future cycling champions in those classes. Hopefully I taught them something and gave them some inspiration!
Help me support Operation Smile
Join Timmy on Strava.
Use promo code "JUSTGOHARDER10"
to receive a discount, and the
foundation receives a comission!
Join Timmy at the
Krempels King of the Road Challenge
October 20, 2012
