Northeast Bicycle Club

You have all heard about NEBC’s junior development team over the past season. While the road season has ended for this year, some of the team members are currently making a transition to cyclocross with great enthusiasm. I thought this would be a good time for the club to hear directly from the team members how much they appreciate the support they have received from NEBC, club members, sponsors,and their team director – Mike Rowell.

Let me also add here my personal thanks to all of you who have provided support. The generosity of club members in terms of parts, bikes, rollers, trainers, clothing and more has been truly amazing. So, in addition to all of the team members, I also offer up my thanks.

Cathy

Brian Gugger

NEBC: I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so much in my life for so small a price. Thank you!

Members: We juniors don’t have real jobs, so there’s a lot of stuff we can’t afford in the expensive sport of cycling. Usually that means we have to make sacrifices, but thankfully that’s not the case in this club. With the money I would have spent on various parts, equipment, whole bikes, etc., I was able to buy books and other supplies for college. It’s greatly appreciated.

Sponsors: It’s a given that I’m thankful for all the sweet clothes I got for free, but there’s another aspect of it I don’t want to overlook. When you wear NEBC clothes out on the road, you have a responsibility to the club’s reputation. Before I joined the club,I was one of those sullen, rude riders who didn’t say hi to anyone. Now I’m courteous and I wave to fellow cyclists even when I’m not wearing the club clothes, and it feels good. Thanks.

Mike: I haven’t met anyone else who knows as much about the sport of cycling as you do. Or, more likely, I have met them, but they kept their knowledge to themselves. People like you are hard to find, the ones who know a lot but are still willing to selflessly communicate what they know for the benefit of others. Certainly if I ever achieve my long-term goal of competing in the Tour de France, I will see you asa big part of my success. Thank you.

Emil Baungaard

Dear NEBC and Mike Rowell,

Thank you for building up the junior team! I enjoyed it a lot even though I only got to attend one ride because I was in Denmark for my summer. Mike is probably the nicest coach I have ever met and he made me feel welcome to the club even though I joined so late in the season. The one ride I was on I not only learned a lot but I also met a lot of new guys just like me! I can’t thank you enough for putting your time and money into teaching us young men to become better bikers. I would also want to thank the club for giving us Uniforms and lending us bikes to the people who needed.

Thanks for the Season

Tomás Jurgenson

As a member of New England’s newest Junior Road cycling team, I joined my teammates for
an exciting first season of road cycling. Though our team was formed on relatively short notice,
the tremendous enthusiasm present by all participants made for an amazing season with
great racing, high-quality (and high-intensity) training rides, quality new friendships, and a truly
great season for all juniors as both people in the cycling community and as student-athletes working
to improve. None of this could have happened without the hard work of our Coach, Mike Rowell, and
of course we cannot thank our sponsors enough.

A huge thanks to NEBC for all of the support that we received in the form of cheering at races, clothing, parts, and in the case of truly amazing altruism, entire bikes to use. Thank you for the equipment, support, and clothing that gave us a team identity. Thank you to Cycle Loft, Bank of America Mortgage, Lester’s BBQ,and all the sponsors who, through their incredible generosity, have helped to form the newest team in the New England Junior Cycling Circuit. The first year fora cycling team can make or break the team’s future, and we as a team could not have asked for a better year in both team turnout/success/fun and in terms of support from everyone involved. Thank you so very much for a great year, and expect great things next year!

Brandon Holden

I’d like to say thank you to everyone who helped make the Junior Development Team possible. To the club for funding some of our events and especially for all the clothing we received. To everyone who donated parts or even whole bikes to help us race or experience a new dimension of the wonderful world of cycling. And a huge thank you to Mike and Cathy Rowell without whom the junior team would not have been possible. They organized rides, offered up years of experience,opened their home to us and even personally helped us when our bikes or equipment malfunctioned. It was a great summer during which I improved dramatically because of the support I received. I hope that next year with support from the club and Mike and Cathy that the junior team will be able to continue.

Noah Epstein

Back in February when I had exchanged a few emails back and forth with Cathy, all I was really looking for were a few kids my age who I could ride with and carpool with to races. As the team expanded from three to four, to five, and now ten juniors, the club has exceeded my wildest expectations with the amount of support that they have provided. The team and I would like to extend our sincerest thanks to everyone who has been involved: To the club, for providing clothing (and pizza)! To all of the members who have donated parts and even bikes for us to use, and who have been nothing but supportive. To the great sponsors who make all of the club’s operations possible.

Lastly, a huge thank you to Mike, who has been instrumental in getting the Junior Development Team finally up and running. He has volunteered countless hours of time and effort to give us some incredible opportunities and is a tremendous knowledge base, not to mention he’s a fun guy to ride with – we really can’t thank him enough.

A junior team is such a great thing for cycling; I’m incredibly happy that I know people so willing to support that, and I’m proud to wear the NEBC jersey because of it.

Ethan Young-Kershaw

Thank you so much to everyone on NEBC, its sponsors, and a special thanks to Mike who does a great job coaching our jr team. Everyone helped us out so much. You gave us so much of your time and money. Everyone deserves a big thanks especially to Mike.Thank you.

Thomas Cooper

Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm, effort, and dedication to the newly created NEBC junior development team. For me, this was a dream come true, to race with others in an organized team effort, just like the pros. It was a big first step in bringing the sport of cycling to the high school student level, and overall, inspire interests for the future. Unfortunately for me, I hardly had a chance to share the moments. I promise that I will return to the sport, and hopefully race at the next level in college, with a higher level of education and appreciation of the sport, thanks to all of the folks at NEBC.
Thank you, and lets get some wins next year!

Aidan Keats Kesner

The NEBC Junior Team has been a life changer for me. It not only gave me tools to become a better rider and better person, but also sparked my interest in the values of teamwork, and racing. In June when I first began talking with Cathy about starting a serious junior development team, I had hoped for team training rides, team racing tactics, and gain some valuable knowledge about racing. We got that, and more. Much more.

I cannot thank you enough for the time spent, the knowledge shared, the care and constant support that you have given us. Thank you to all of you, the sponsors, NEBC, the members of NEBC, Scott, Cathy, and most of all Mike. We could not have done this without you, and it exceeded my expectations. I cannot wait for a very successful season with the team next year.