Junior heroics highlight year for freelancer

By Kathie Reid

Editor’s Note:VeloNews cartoonist Patrick O’Grady and web editor Steve Frothingham have offered some year-end perspective on this site recently. Now for a different take we turn to freelance writer Kathie Reid. Reid helped us cover some of the biggest races on the calendar in 2008, but saw some of the most memorable performances from junior racers at the national championships in California.

With the 2008 road cycling season behind us, American fans have a lot to be proud of, from Kristin Armstrong’s Olympic gold medal in the individual time trial in Beijing, to Amber Neben’s World Championship gold medal in Italy. Though their stories didn’t make it into the cycling headlines like Armstrong’s and Neben’s, two junior men at the Junior, U23, and Elite Road National Championships also gave fans a lot to be proud of. Nathan Goldberg of Overland Park, Kansas, and Jordan Hirschmann of Tustin, California, each crossed the line last in their respective road races, but along the way, they showed gold medal-worthy character.

Goldberg: Nothing Could Stop Him

Nathan Goldberg is an 11-year-old sixth grader who competed in his second national championship competition this year, and arrived with his GP Velotek/SPIN! team, knowing full well that the racing would be more challenging than it was back home in the Midwest.

During the regular season, he “had mostly podium finishes,” his dad, Nolan, explained by phone in November. “I’m not taking anything away from his results, but going to Nationals is a bit different!”

Their assumptions about the level of competition were confirmed when Nathan finished almost 13 minutes behind the winning time in the first day’s individual time trial. Not one to be deterred, though, he happily lined up at the start of the next day’s criterium. He finished with a group at the back, despite crashing and earning what he described as “a bit of road rash.”

The final morning of junior competition, Nathan woke up excited to do the road race, road rash and all, and initially felt good. “But I started feeling worse,” he said, referring to intestinal difficulties that cropped up as the morning progressed.

Right after the start, Nathan crashed. He got up and kept racing, unaware that his saddle was damaged and would soon fall off completely.

Unable to stand up for too long, Nathan had to sit down on the metal. “I chased about 8 kilometers with no saddle. And then the officials came and duct taped it back on.

Even with the help of the duct tape, the saddle came off again. Then with just about 750 meters to go, he jammed his chain between the cassette and spokes and he couldn’t get it out.

“So I picked up the bike and started to run with the bike on my shoulders … While I was doing that, the Shimano people came and freed the wheel. I hopped on my bike, and I raced as fast as I could to the finish.”

His dad said it was typical Nathan.

“He gets quite determined at times. We told him that morning, ‘You know, you don’t have to race,’ because he had really bad lower GI problems … But he was like, ‘No, I want to do it’ … We barely got there in time, and then with everything that went wrong, it was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe he’s still going!”

And how did Nathan feel at the end of the race? “I wasn’t going to quit no matter what. After that, I said it was the most fun three days of my life!”

Hirschmann: Putting a Friend Before Himself

Jordan Hirschmann (Tustin, California) is a 14-year-old ninth grader who came to road racing from mountain biking just this year. He found road racing when he stopped by his local bike shop one day and mentioned that he was tired of riding alone, and wanted to find a group of kids with whom he could ride. Soon he was involved with a new junior team and at nationals he enjoyed helping his friend and Sho-Air/Sonance teammate, Chase Carpenter (Anaheim, California), finish the two-lap, 24 kilometer 13-14 men’s road race.

There was an attack at the start, and Hirschmann was able to stay with the break for the first lap and a half before his legs, tired from the previous two day’s racing, began to cramp. He knew that his best friend, Carpenter, was somewhere behind him, and that he hadn’t finished the criterium the day before. “I just wanted him to finish so he could say he finished the National road race,” Chase said.

Jet Tanner, the organizer and co-presenter of the competition, gave Hirschmann credit for doing even more when interviewed right after the race. “Chase had no water, he was dehydrated, he was hot. (Jordan) gave him all his water and everything, and he looked at him and said, ‘You and me, all the way to the finish.’ … He sacrificed his placing to help his teammate.”

“I think I would have been about 10 to 20 minutes further back if he hadn’t helped me,” Carpenter said.

Hirschmann’s ride was not only a great model of character and friendship, but helped Carpenter learn about teamwork. “I kinda learned how to rely on people and not just to do things myself,” he said. “And I kind of learned that there are people who will help me, and I shouldn’t just do things on my own. It was kind of a teamwork thing that I learned during that race.”

FILED UNDER: Road