n April 2000
during the Fléche Wallone World Cup a relatively
unknown 18 year old shattered the field on the first steep
climb of the Flemish Ardennes. She would end up riding away
from the world's elite on the slopes of the Mur de Huy, a
leg-breaking 1.4 kilometer climb that finishes in a 22%
grade wall. That rider was Canadian revelation
Geneviève Jeanson.
Since that day, the then diminutive teenager from Lachine,
Québec focused her racing itinerary on the North American
circuit
the
National Racing Calendar
winning
practically everything in sight including the Redlands Classic, Sea
Otter, Tour of the Gila, Tour de Toona, Montréal World Cup,
and both the time trial and road race at the Canadian national
championships.
Her time of
54:02 on the infamous Mt. Washington Auto Road Hillclimb
(53:40 for the actual 4,667 foot ascent phase) was more than
4 minutes faster than the previous record pace set by
Jeannie Longo "This value
[1590 mv /hr], it is not so far from the
best male riders and it is the highest VAM made by a female
that I know of," says renown Italian sports doctor Michele
Ferrari. Ferrari is credited as the first to apply VAM as
the single most important test to scientifically quantify a
cyclist's performance. Such an
observation by someone with Dr. Ferrari's clientele is
hardly to be taken lightly. Armstrong himself refers to the
Italian as a "brilliant mathematician." Once, during the
2000 Tour de France, Armstrong even had his director sportif
call Ferrari on a cell phone from the team car for a quick
VAM calculation to see if rival Marco Pantani could continue
climbing at a pace that would threaten the Texan's bid for a
second Tour victory. ©2003
Jonathan McElvery
the
de facto international standard of women's cycling.
Perhaps even more revealing was that Jeanson's time was only
2 minutes slower than Tour de France ironman Tyler
Hamilton's 1997 record. Her VAM (Velocita Ascensionale
Media, or average vertical climb rate) during her record
ascent was 1590 mv /hr
a
number that objectively puts her within the same
physiological capabilities as a top 20 GC finisher in the
men's Tour de France. Comparatively speaking,
five-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong, when in peak form,
generates a VAM of a little over 1800 mv
/hr.
...on
cloud nine
However, as any scientist worth their salt will concede, mathematical theory does not always equate to real-world performance. Fortunately though for Jeanson, it thus far has produced nothing less than resplendent confirmation.
Now, at a womanesque 22 years of age, Jeanson's palmares reflect three seasons of indomitable performances against the best cyclists in the Western Hemisphere. Using mountainous stage races as a proving ground to push the envelope of her already untouchable climbing forte, Jeanson's been the proverbial thorn in the side of all the U.S. trade teams, a steady rain on their parade week after week.
And the forecast isn't getting any better.
"I have watched her out of the media van climb Blue Knob like no one who has ever raced the International Tour 'de Toona," says Pennsylvania State Representative Rick Geist, promoter of the richest and longest women's stage race in the United States. "She is the future world champ if that is what she wants. She has the heart of a lion and does not have a big ego to match."
But a less-than-stellar performance in the 2000 Sydney Olympics (11th in the road race, 15th in the time trial) fanned the flames of the rumor-mill that she's overtrained and burned out come September. However, supporters cite the relatively flat parcours in Sydney that wasn't selective enough and favored the sprinters.
"People say Geneviève is overtrained because that's the buzz," dispels Team Rona-Esker media director Daniel Larouche.
Such diametric viewpoints will soon no longer be the hypothetical up for debate: this year's World Championships in Hamilton, Toronto, in early October should definitively answer that question.
My first look at
La Machine was back in May of 2001 at a low-key stage race
called the Tour of the Gila centralized in an old copper mining town
called Silver City, New Mexico (the town's name comes from the fact
that silver is a by-product of copper mining). Gila is a five day
rite of passage amongst U.S. racers that takes place in the middle of
the southwest desert mesa where javelinas
little
feral pigs with formidable appetites for residential gardens
and
the real version of the cartoon-made-famous roadrunner bird call
home. Each day's stage starts at over a mile high in altitude and
features course profiles that look like an EKG strip of someone in
ventricular fibrillation.
Back in
2001, I had only heard of this phenom who was taking
the women's peloton by storm. I didn't know much about her
other than the results I had seen on the cycling websites
and the fact that she had the same first name as the actress
who played alongside Michael Douglas in the movie
Coma. A mix-up
with my shuttle ride from El Paso International airport
caused me to miss my Jeanson debut in the 16
mile prologue,
one that former 7-Eleven director sportif Mike Neel called a
tougher time trial than any he'd seen in the Tour de France.
But a quick glance at the results taped to the side of the
gas station convenience store near the start/finish
confirmed she was most certainly here, and not surprisingly
at the top of the leaderboard. Jeanson's time was better
than Jeannie Longo's time the year prior on the same course,
and the winds were absolutely growling. ©2002
Phil Marques
A walk around the convenience store aligned me with the Rona camp. A
group of bronzed female figurines in various states of undress were
warming down, conversing in a language I could recognize as French,
but not a word of which I could understand. Under the shade of the
store wall was a lone rider who resembled the photos I had seen on
the Internet taken by fellow photographers.
Tour
of the Gila
"Are you the superstar?" I asked, somewhat sure of my choice.
"I'm not a superstar," was the instant reply in English.
"Well that's because you don't know the definition of a superstar in America," I suggested, trying to break the ice. But no smile greeted me back, and the svelte rider with curly blonde hair continued what looked to be a rather serious warm-down on her fixed trainer.
I managed to sneak in a few photos, but was met with a guarded look by a chiseled fella who I have since come to know as Jeanson's long-time coach and team manager, André Aubut. I eventually deduced he wasn't too pleased about my lens trained on his franchise rider clad only in her jogbra, the team's title sponsor logo draped inside-out over her belly by the unzippered skinsuit. I was never good at the whole etiquette thing.
Such a seemingly
revealing sight around the staging apron at women's races is nothing
out of the ordinary. And in fact the sports bras worn by the girls
these days eau de Brandy Chastain resemble more of a Type IV
floatation vest used by jetskiers than some lacy underthing out of a
Victoria's Secret catalog. But I wasn't about to start a boxing match
with a guy more cut than me, so I holstered the camera and kept a
respectful distance. Had I brought my 300mm telephoto lens
le
paparazzi lens
I
could have gone under the radar and dropped my ordnance without
raising anyone's DEFCON level.
©2001
Phil Marques But I still
wanted something of the new kid on the block, and I wasn't
going to leave until I got it. So I asked Jeanson
nicely if she would mind if I could get a photograph
of her tattoo above her left ankle. The artwork spoke a
universal language: the five interlaced rings symbolizing
the continental unity of the Olympic Games. Sitting on the
ground with her back perched against the wall, her body
language obliged. "The yellow
ring needs to be done again, it's fading," noted Jeanson in
between swigs of her water bottle. I really
didn't think the yellow ring was fading as much as it had
poor contrast to her fair skin, but I didn't want to argue
with a girl wearing skull & crossbones socks.
Over the
next four days, I was witness to what another reporter
friend would liken a year later to a changing of the guards
similar to when Jacques Anquetil surpassed an aging Fausto
Coppi. Or later when a brash, young Eddy Merckx took the
reigns of international cycling from the senescent
Frenchman. In the 2002
Tour of the Gila,
the players would be French legend Jeannie Longo
Good
girl, bad girl
the
undisputed Madame of women's cycling in the 20th century
being
displaced by the 'heir-apparent Mademoiselle Jeanson.' Such
moments in time are never gradual transitions, but rather
explosive cataclysms of profound change. Idols must be
destroyed before they can be dethroned.
And although Longo wasn't at the 2001 Gila, Saturn did bring their "A" team in the hopes to jack the upstart French Canadian with some gang-banger tricks.
The second stage was where I would finally get to witness the young protegé in her element: a 70 mile point-to-point race that finished with a 6 mile climb in Mogollon (pronounced mo-goy-OWN), a place in the middle of nowhere. In fact, the road to the summit just ends. Team vans are required to park at the base of the climb some 10 miles before the finish.
As usual, the Mogollon stage started off at a tourist pace as it left the oasis of Silver City. Jeanson's Rona team led the peloton ahead of their team leader wearing the white race leader's jersey. But with 12 miles to go, the gauntlet was thrown down. Jeanson, who had been sitting pretty in the slipstream of the blue wall of her teammates, decided it was time to put away the dolls and bring out the Tonka toys. With what I can only describe as raw horsepower, Jeanson initiated a gradual acceleration on one of the uphill rollers that wouldn't subside until she crossed the finish line at the summit. One by one, like flies atomized with a can of Raid, the riders clinging to Jeanson's wheel began to drop off and fade into the heatwaves emanating off the rough asphalt.
Not once did she so
much as even glance back to see the utter destruction in her wake. It
was almost arrogant, yet muito bom at the same time. Behind
her the shredded field littered the road like an MS 150 ride, and
only three Saturns remained within sight of the lone Rona rider
Bessette,
Bruckner and Millward, who herself was making an incredible comeback
from a mysterious leg injury that would ultimately end her career the
following year.
The brutal
25 mph crosswind didn't seem to phase Jeanson in the least.
As she approached the undulating base of the 6 mile climb,
she began to reel in the shelled riders from the amateur
men's race ahead and proceeded to solo the ascent, taking
the stage win with a panache I never thought I would witness
in women's racing. I truly
wondered just how indestructible was this rider who couldn't
possibly weigh more than a freshman cheerleader standing on
the moon scale in a science museum. In the
following day's Inner
Loop stage,
I would find out. On the first
acclivity in the road Jeanson attacked and nobody could
follow. During one of the high-speed descents into the
Sapillo valley, she crashed after failing to negotiate a
switchback. Remounting her bike, Jeanson continued her solo
breakaway as if nothing had happened. I never saw the actual
crash because I had migrated back to her chasers to give
splits, and would only notice the road rash and dirt on
Jeanson's jersey after examining my photos later in the day.
The splits were hovering around the 2 minute gap the entire
race, but her chasers would never see her again that day.
The main field had relegated itself to another race that had
nothing to do with Jeanson. ©2001
Phil Marques
One
cool potato out to
Mogollon
Right before we hit the penultimate climb through what has to be the longest feedzone in any NRC race, I took the opportunity to roll alongside Jeanson on the moto and began snapping away, assuring myself I was photographing the Lance Armstrong of women's cycling. But Jeanson was growing tired of the constant buzzing back and forth of my moto and the incessant strobing of my flash several feet from her face. And she was about to let me know it. Rolling across the road next to me until I could touch her, she shook her hand to let me know in no uncertain terms that this picture-taking nonsense wasn't going to continue all the way up the final climb.
It was an affront that caught me a bit off-guard. I must admit it was also somewhat amusing to me at the time. This one had all the standoffish traits that all champions must ultimately possess. There was something unique about the feistiness of this rider that was intrinsic to her constitution. I just wanted to observe it, rather than even attempt to tame it. Assuring my trusty moto driver, Dave, not to take it personally, I told him to hang back and we'd follow her up the climb from behind. Out of sight, out of mind, I figured.
©2001
Phil Marques Trailing
Jeanson up the climb, I noticed she took nothing from her
feedzone handlers except for a peeled banana dunked in her
jersey pocket by a soigneur running alongside her. After
cresting the summit knowing nobody would catch her before
the finish, I told my moto driver
Over
the next four days, any bullets intended for Jeanson bounced
off her like a plot out of a Marvel comic. Day after day,
North America's best stage racers were reduced to jettisoned
flotsam strewn along the category 1 climbs that jutted up
from the desert floor like serpentine monoliths paved into
the sandstone. Jeanson would go on to claim four out of five
stages, taking the GC by an almost unheard of 15 minutes
over second place finisher Bruckner, who later that month
went on to sweep the U.S. National championships in both the
time trial and road race.
Taking
the express lane in the
feedzone
a
former motorcycle racer not afraid to take his souped-up
Honda to a buck forty with me hanging on for dear life
(that's one four zero miles per hour)
to
zip back to the chasers and stragglers suffering down the
road. We ended up salvaging the rest of the day nurturing
the rolling wounded, giving splits and the occasional water
bottle to the prettiest beggars.
After seeing Jeanson at subsequent races, the armor-plating she wore during our first encounter was gradually buffed down to a much softer, approachable young woman. It was a niceness that I was almost sorry to see evinced. It sort of clashed with the total domination and destruction of her riding style. People on newsgroups were already penning nicknames like "Dominatrix." And for us writers who dream of Genie, it's better fodder to play up the bad girl image. But no amount of camera flash since that time has ever evoked a similar reaction, and there was something nostalgic about seeing it go.
Watching elite
cyclists up close from the moto in the heat of action has given me a
million dollar seat to see them at their most vulnerable
at
the limit of their physical and mental endurance. You can hear them
gasping for air; you can see the look of capitulation on their face
when they lose the wheel in front of them. To peer into the sanctity
of such a special moment, I must confess, is a transcendental
epiphany of sort that endears me to many of the riders as people.
What is surely a beautiful moment of athletic achievement for one is
always another's tragedy. It's something not always conveyed in
photos or the TV video on OLN.
After spending many such special moments with Geneviève during races, I finally corralled La Machine in the back of a plush RV during The International.
PM:
How did you get started in cycling, how old were
you? Jeanson:
I started at 11. I was going to be 12 years old, and just
because I wanted to be in shape, I thought that my little
friends that were going to the mall everyday, going to
McDonalds, and I thought that was very boring. I wanted to
be in shape and have muscles. I don't know why I took
cycling. My dad had a bike, and there's a great bike path in
Lachine. So I said, 'I'm going to take the bike and
go.' PM:
Where do you call home these days? Jeanson:
I
live in Arizona from December until April. In May I go to
Gila, and then after that I leave [Arizona] because
it's too hot. I go back to my parents' house on the East
Coast. Some of my teammates, they stay with me.
André, most of the time, well, part of the time,
stays there. I rent a condo in Phoenix, so I can have a
place and settle, and not be in my luggage for six
months. ©2002
Phil Marques
PM: So that explains the early season tan lines and why
you're always in top form in March. You just couldn't train like that
up in Canada.
Different
colors, same result
Jeanson: Yeah, in Canada in the winter you have to cross-country ski and stuff. Now I think with women's cycling, you need to be riding a good 10 months out of the year.
PM: Do you get tired at any part of the year, because you don't really peak...you seem to be just consistently good throughout the entire year, you seem to be able to win anytime?
Jeanson: For me there is the World Cup in Montréal. That is very important. It has a special place in my heart. My family is in Montréal. It's at the beginning of June. If I want to be in good form at the beginning of June, in March and April and May I really need to work because, you know, I really want to win this race. Thanks to my team, and André did a good job with the strategy.
PM: Last year
an unknown rider to you, Dede
Demet, came
off the back the last time up Mont Royal, and then attacked on the
descent with Anna Millward
they
split you guys [the lead group]. Were you concerned something
like that could happen again?
Jeanson:
[grins]
This year I was aware of their strategy and lots of times in the last
four laps, T-Mobile, they were always trying at the same spot
at
the top
and
I knew it, and I was like ehhhh. The finishline is at
the top, and right after there is a big downhill. So every time we
were going up to the line, they were attacking, and I knew...I
was looking behind, I was waiting. I had teammates up until the last
lap. But you know, I could take care of them. I knew their
strategy.
PM: Cookie Monster [Nicole Cooke] gave you a run for your money.
Jeanson: Yeah, she finished second, but I finished alone at the top. It wasn't a close sprint. I attacked with maybe 500 meters to go, and I really thought she was going to jump on me and stuff, but she was really at her limit.
PM: Do you train with a power meter?
Jeanson: I do. I have a Power Tap. I also train everyday with a heartrate monitor, and I race with it.
PM: So when you do a time trial you just look at your heartrate monitor, right?
Jeanson: [laughs] No. I just go all out. And sometimes I see, you know, I see I'm 185, and that's good, that means I'm pushing hard. And, you know, I just have to continue at that pace. And if I'm 185, then the other girls are working too, you know. I take it like that.
PM: So what is your maximum heartrate, about two oh something?
Jeanson: No! The maximum is 197.
PM: Do you know what your power to weight ratio is?
Jeanson:
No,
but I know the max I ever did in a sprint was about 900
watts. PM: I
have a hair dryer that puts out 1,500 watts. How about
VO2 or wind tunnel tests
Jeanson:
No,
I never did such tests. I'm pretty basic. I have a bike and
time trial position, and I just go. PM:
What do you think you need to improve on
most?
Jeanson:
I could
improve on everything, okay
Name,
rank, serial #...
ever
do those?
time
trialing, climbing, sprinting...but I think I need to improve
how to train. Because I can work hard, but I still, in
training, need to think about the race situations. You know,
sometimes it happens when you're going like blast and you're
like eeehhh and somebody attacks
maybe
sometimes in my training I just go one pace, you know, and I don't
use my training partners. Sometimes I don't use them. When I'm
feeling good, you know I'm like, 'Okay, today I'm feeling
good,' but I should tell them, 'Attack,' you know,
'Make me work so I'm going to burn my legs!' Yeah, I think I
need to learn how to train.
PM: Who do you
train with in Arizona
do
you ride with local racers?
Jeanson:
Yeah, I have
my training partner. His name is Corky
well
Jeff Kurtz. And we train always together. Maybe not on easy days but,
you know, hard days he's always there.
PM: There's a dirty joke in there somewhere. A lot of the cyclists live down there. How about Gord Fraser?
Jeanson: Yeah, but Gord is in Tucson. It's a little bit far. And other friends that are not, you know, super-strong, but at least in the sprints or in the long downhills they can, you know, they can give me a good run.
PM: Do you go on group rides down there?
Jeanson: I hate group rides! I hate them. Because people in there, they always want to race you. They're like, 'Okay, today we're going easy'...they're going, 'Oh, we're going easy today.' So I'm like, 'Okay, we're going easy today.' But then every climb, they push, they push, they push, and I'm like ohhhhhhh!
PM: That's just because you're there. If I were there it would be gruppo compatto. So right now you're up in Lachine?
Jeanson: Yeah, but I don't train there really very much. I try to, one week there, and the other week I try to go to Vermont, New Hampshire...
PM: So do you
come across the bridge [over the St. Lawrence into the United
States] a lot to train
is
that fairly easy for you?
Jeanson: Well, when I cross the bridge to train, then I'm going for a week or two because I don't want to drive the car for 3 hours a day.
PM: But when you were younger, before you went to Arizona, you would just train up there in the Montréal area?
Jeanson: Yeah! When I won two gold medals at the World Championships just training on city streets, you know. But it's hard to do a hundred miles in Montréal. And now, juniors, they only race 30 miles, 35 miles, so. I mean the time trial is like 5 miles. But, you know, I mean like today [the 5th stage of The International] we did 100 miles. Well, I cannot do a little loop of 20 miles [in training].
PM:
What are your plans for the Grande Boucle
Féminine Jeanson:
Well,
I would like to do it in 2005. I don't know how to race now.
I think I would get outraced by the others. We are too young
team to go there, and you know, yeah, I could win some
stages. Maybe I could be in the yellow jersey at the start
and stuff, but I think we have to take out time, and learn
more about the tactical stuff. I'm not ready yet and I don't
think the team is ready yet. I would really like to go with
Rona cycling team. It's a great sponsor. They're a hundred
percent for us, and yeah, I would plan to go there and win
it at one point in my career, but I mean I'm 21 so I still
have a couple of more years. I'm not planning on retiring
soon. But eventually, yes. But next year it's an Olympic
year, so I don't want to go there.
ever
plan on going over there? Word is there are some climbs in
it.
PM: Now Athens
have
you seen the course profile?
Jeanson: Nope.
PM: I was talking to Gerard Bisceglia, the CEO of USA Cycling, earlier and he said he thinks it's going to be a selective course. But a lot of times, the people with the Olympics who design those courses, they don't race bikes, and they think a little hill is a big hill. You know, they thought the course in Sydney [2000 Sydney Olympic Games] was going to shatter the field or whatever, and that ended in a field sprint.
Jeanson: Yeah, I heard the roads are all old pavé and it's really slippery. It's like ice!
PM: Well, it won't rain in Athens in August. I think they get like point two inches of rain in August, so the the chances of wet cobbles seem unlikely.
Jeanson: It will be hot and humid.
PM: You went over to Sydney early in 2000. Are you going to do the same for Athens?
Jeanson: Yeah, but you know, it was maybe a mistake.
©2001
Phil Marques PM:
Will you race The International next
year? Jeanson:
We'll
see, maybe. Yes, I will do this race, but I still need to go
on the Olympic Team. It's different every year. PM:
Oh, I think they'll take you. Jeanson:
Nothing
is certain but...the Olympics, I don't know why but, it's
not something that I'm driving for four years to have a gold
medal. For me, it's so tough, I mean the Olympics, it's a
one day race. It's a big deal for everybody, and I
understand that because it's the biggest sports happening.
But for me, ahhh... for me, world championships are
really exciting. I don't know why but the Olympics is too
big. It's too, I don't know. You know, I still want to have
some medals, but I don't think too much about
that. PM:
Where did you for a vacation this year
Jeanson:
Well
last Fall after Worlds, I went to Guadeloupe with my parents
for two weeks. It was great.
PM: What did you do there?
Happy
at altitude
did
you take one?
Jeanson: Nothing! I did some beach, and we drove the car around and we went on the boat islands and we shopped, and we drank some rum. So nothing, I did nothing. I did some pool.
PM: No bike, huh?
Jeanson: Ahhhck, no!
PM: Ever been to Florida?
Jeanson: Yeah, I went to Daytona Beach. I went to Disney World three times when I was younger.
PM: When do you take your break in the season?
Jeanson: I take a break, a real break, in November. Well, no, the last two weeks in October.
PM: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
Jeanson: Uh uh [no].
PM: How about any pets?
Jeanson:
I have a dog.
A small
it's
not a poodle, it's a Bichon [Bichon Frise]. Miniature. She's
like 5 pounds. She's old though, she's 12.
PM: You had her since she was a puppy?
Jeanson: She was one and a half years old.
PM: Do you take her down with you to Arizona?
Jeanson: No, she's staying with my parents. And, you know, I know she's going to die pretty soon. It's hard to, well you know it's.... and I would like another dog but I can't, I can't bring my dog everywhere to races and stuff. And my parents are taking care of the dog, and you know if they want to go out, and blah blah blah, and the dog is..yeah, but I love her, she's great.
PM: When you are racing do you primarily rely on how well you feel as to whether or not you are going to attack or do you usually get directions from André to do that?
Jeanson: Well, we have a plan.
PM: Well,
let's take the Johnstown
to Altoona
stage [stage 3 in The International]. You attacked in
the opening mile on those huge rollers coming out of town into a
nasty headwind. Did you do that just to see if it could work
were
you really prepared to take it the whole way?
Jeanson: [laughs] Yeah! I really thought I was going to do it! Maybe I overestimated myself.
PM: The wind was tough.
Jeanson: Ahhhh, the stupid wind. That's what killed me at first. And you know in Gila there's some climbs like that, but the downhills are not that long. So at Gila I can attack at first and then I can get away, because you know, it goes down for a little and then there's a long, another climb. But this [The International]...the downhills were too long.
PM: Yeah, everybody and their sister caught back on.
Jeanson: No, but last year I heard that Heather Albert, she did that. And I was like, 'Oh, maybe I can try that,' but...
PM: ..but Lyne [Bessette] wasn't there. And it was very hot, like 95 degrees, so nobody wanted to chase. They said, 'Let her fry in the heat' or some kind of girl-on-girl anger like that...
©2003
Phil Marques Jeanson:
No,
nobody was there. PM:
So do you think this race is harder than
Gila? Jeanson:
[nods
affirmatively] That day that I attacked in Johnstown
to Altoona [stage 3], I lost 34 seconds. I lost it
there. If I would have stayed, you know, like Gila...stayed
with Lyne, relied on my teammates and stuff, I think I would
still be in yellow. But I made a mistake at first, and then
we made some team mistakes. I was chasing and chasing and
chasing her [referring to chasing down teammate
Magali Le Floc'h]. PM:
Well, you live and learn. I saw Lyne sitting in your
draft, coasting at times, and I knew, I knew she was gonna
do you in the last few k's. Jeanson:
Oh well, I tried...
Sisters-in-arms
PM: Hey, it [initial attack] was good to watch.
Jeanson:
[grins]
Yeah, I'm still mad at myself for that race. What, it's been two,
three days
and
I'm still not sleeping good. I'm like my mind
most
of the time I get to sleep and in two minutes I'm sleeping. But now,
ahhh...I'm thinking, my brain's like vrooommm.. I'm not
over it still, but anyway. I'm happy that today we did a super job
and we wrapped up with the team GC. You know, sometimes when you want
to win everything, you lose everything.
PM: Well you gave Lyne a hard time at least. I remember in 2000, when nobody was close to her. Now for UCI points, you don't seem to care much about that?
Jeanson: I don't care.
PM: Rona doesn't put much emphasis on that?
Jeanson:
No. What's
important for Rona is Montréal World Cup. That's really
important, they like that. You know, there is great energy in
Montréal, and then you know, Nationals
Tim
Horton, it's like Dunkin Donuts
they
are happy when we win, they are happy about our efforts.
©2003
Phil Marques PM:
For the national team, when you ride Worlds for Canada,
obviously you will be riding with Lyne. It's pretty tough to
come up with a strategy that's going to make everybody happy
if you have a lot of chiefs but not enough Indians. I mean
that's kind of the dilemma of every national federation who
sends a piece-meal team to a worlds or Olympics. The
federation might think you two are the designated riders,
but a lot of the time the other riders think they can win.
You know they're wearing the same jersey, but aside from
that they don't ride as a team. Are you guys going to train
together before you ride as a team? Jeanson:
You know, really my first time for the Worlds I know that
Lyne and myself are the top two riders. I believe that
anyway. As far as the strategy I know that the national team
are waiting for us to be there at the end. And then there's
going to be some communication between Lyne and myself. You
know, if you don't feel good or something...I believe it's
important for the country to perform well and if it's myself
this year, well good. And if not, well, I have other
times.
Jeanson
leads Bessette over
Blue
Knob
PM: Have you ridden with any of the girls who will be on that team?
Jeanson: Well, there's Manon Justras, there's my teammate Erinne [Willock]. Sue Palmer is already...
PM: ...well, let's take Manon. She'd probably be more loyal to Lyne given the team situation [Editor: Saturn has since announced it is no longer sponsoring a team after 2003]. If you remember the men's race in the Sydney Olympics, those three guys up the road had one thing in common: they all rode for Telekom. The dynamics of Worlds and Olympic races seem to be adulterated by trade team loyalties that displace the federation strategies, rendering the national team concept somewhat of an illusion.
Jeanson:
Men's and
women's is different. You know on Telekom, it's like, 'Hey man, do
you want a contract for next year? Then, okay, finish second.'
But it's not like that in the womens'
I'm pretty sure it's not like that. But, you know, I believe Manon
wants to work for the country and she wants to work for her
teammates. And at that time we will be teammates, so she don't care
if it's Lyne or myself or Sue Palmer, you know. She wants to
work.
PM: What happened there [pointing to a bruise on her arm], you crashed?
Jeanson: Yeah, I bumped into André. [laughs]
PM: So André trains with you a lot?
Jeanson: Mmmm huh, and I crashed. And I have this huge thing, I never have that [displaying bruise]. I never get colored like that, but then, what, it's been 3 weeks now, so.
PM: So what do you do for hobbies? Do you go the movies?
Jeanson: Yeah, I go sometimes, but I read a lot.
PM: Books or magazines?
Jeanson: Books. Well, intensive racing, I read magazines cause it's lighter, so you know.
PM: I saw that
response you wrote to Maynard [Hershon] in Velonews.
He was just giving you a hard time. What was his comment
that
you burn out fast or something?
Jeanson: I never met him.
PM: There is a presumption that you are overtrained, that you are doing too many miles.
Jeanson: Okay, I had one injury because of my pedals. So I had a tendon problem because of my pedals. Because I really walk like a duck, and I pedal like that too. But with LOOK cleats I can. But with TIME cleats your feet are like that. I use LOOK because TIME, that killed my knee. So I had an injury like very technical with the pedals.
PM: Yeah, I noticed from the first time I saw you ride that your heels are towed in.
Jeanson: Yeah, and the following year I was off the bike for 5 months and when I came back I wanted to do too much and then that's what caused all the little problems, because I wasn't ready yet. But that's just because of my first injury with TIME pedals. This year, I'm still on LOOK pedals and I was able to train the way I wanted, get the miles in, and I'm fine.
PM: Do you use that 6 degrees of rotation thing?
Jeanson: Yes.
PM: You like that?
Jeanson: Yes, and I have special pedals, you know the CX-7 or something like that, and we can move it out of the axle. And my pedals are really far apart.
PM: Now when you won Mt. Washington last year and set the record, is that related to the new pedaling style you are talking about?
Jeanson: No no no.
PM: So it was more like the Lance Armstrong 'coffee grinding' pedaling style?
Jeanson: No, I don't pedal fast. I pedal efficient.
PM: I stand
corrected. You know, you broke the previous record on Mt. Washington
by 4 minutes. Let me let you in on a little secret: you should have
only done it by a little bit because every year they seem to have a
$5,000 bonus for a new course record. Now see, what you did when you
beat Longo's record by 4 minutes is you just robbed yourself of some
guaranteed easy money in future races had you only broke it by a
little that year, and then a little more next year, etc.
you
see what I'm saying? Now, with that little 4 minute stunt you pulled,
now you have to really have a super day to set a new record to take
home the 5 G's.
Jeanson: You never know! How was I suppose to know that I was beating it by 5 minutes?
PM: Ever hear of a watch? You almost beat Tim Johnson.
Jeanson: I know, I should have. I let him go, but I should have sprinted.
PM: They use to give away a car.
Jeanson:
Yeah, I know
I
got the car! Yeah, I took the money.
PM: What kind of car did you get?
Jeanson: The Audi A4.
PM: How much did you win for that?
Jeanson: $32,500. I took the prize money instead of the car. I didn't have a driver's license and I needed really bad the money. The year I won the car, Tyler Hamilton was there, and he won too. And he took the money too. Because when they give a car, it's not that bad. But when we take the money, the insurance is paying, and their insurance said, 'Uh uh, no more.' So now they just give $5,000.
PM: Somehow I get the feeling the guy already finished engraving your name on this year's trophy.
[Editor: Two weeks after this interview, Jeanson won the Mt. Washington Auto Road Hillclimb for the third consecutive year].