|
Bettendorf's Gantzer hopes to join top ranks
Jean Gantzer doesn't know exactly when it happened -- when her son developed such a strong passion for bicycling. She only knows he did. "I remember when he was in fifth or sixth grade," she starts, referring to how Jeremiah, a senior at Pleasant Valley High School, used to continually solicit work at the local bike shop when the family lived outside Cleveland, Ohio. "Or when we moved back here when he was in 10th grade," mom continues, telling how he hung around Healthy Habits Bike Shop in Bettendorf until the owner finally offered him a job. "No. It was when he was in second grade," she concludes, remembering a loaf of "Iron Kids" bread promoting a youth triathlon that caught the attention of then 8-year-old Jeremiah. There are labels of all kinds in sports. A basketball player who spends a lot of time on the court is a gym rat, an avid weightlifter a dumbbell, an motorsports enthusiast a gearhead. Whether it was the bike shop in Cleveland or the one in Bettendorf or the brand name on that loaf of bread that made it happen, Jeremiah now wears the label of cycling-obsessed teen. Riding as a member of the Double-I Cycling Experience team, Gantzer won more than a dozen races last season -- including the Iowa junior road racing championship -- and made the jump from a category five to category four in class. The 18-year-old is hoping that was only the beginning. "You put in the miles and start getting the race results, and you see it's going good," Gantzer said while breaking from a training session last week at Donnie's Indoor Cycling Experience in Moline. "But you always see those next categories up and want to get there. Knowing how good you are is more about knowing how good you're not." How good is he? Potentially, very, says teammate and coach Donnie Miller, who owns and operates Donnie's Indoor Cycling Experience. "If we could get him training six days a week and not having to do the school thing, he could be an up-and-coming star," Miller said. "He's got a lot of talent, and he's got a lot of power for his size. I just don't think we, locally, can take care of Jeremiah the way we need to. It's time for him to move on." Moving on means a contract with a big-name team, which would lead to a national and even international schedule. Gantzer already took a step in that direction by agreeing to ride a Cervelo brand frame throughout the 2007 season. He rode in a preseason race last weekend in Springfield, Ill., but the season kicks off March 18 with the Cody No. 1 road race in Park View, Iowa. And Gantzer expects to enter 20 to 25 races before the end of September in hopes reclassifying as a category three by the end of the year. He'll graduate from PV in May and is looking at community colleges in areas of the country where cycling is prominent. "It's all about chasing a dream," he said. An education, for now, will take a back seat. Besides, Gantzer is a student of cycling. The professional season started with the Tour of California Feb. 18 to 25, and he followed it stage by stage on TV. "It's a really competitive sport," Gantzer said. "It's different from a lot of sports, because there are so many aspects to it. It's an individual sport on one level, but there is a lot of teamwork involved. "To a lot of people it wouldn't be as interesting. But when you understand the dynamics of it, it's pretty exciting." It is, after all, the end goal. And with the success of Coralville, Iowa, native Jason McCartney, a member of the Discovery Channel team, it no longer seems like an impossible one. Gantzer has his share of believers. "Everything Jeremiah does is about the bike," Miller said. "He's been really driven in trying to become the cyclist he is right now. That's going to help him go really far."
|
