Getting to know breakaway artist Dan Ramsey
Posted on 08. Jul, 2009 by lyne in interviews
Dan Ramsey (Mt Khakis)
Can’t locate Dan Ramsey of Team Mountain Khakis in the middle of the peloton? Wait a few minutes and he’ll be off the front working to get a break going.
“That’s my style of racing, I’ll attack at very inopportune time sometimes, I know most likely it’s doomed to failure but I’ll still give it a shot because I know there’s no way I’m going to win in a field sprint. I’ll give it that shot because every once in a while it does work.”
Most often than not it doesn’t work but when it does, well it’s thing of beauty. It worked last Sunday when Ramsey won a 2-up sprint at the Oakland Grand Prix after being in the break for most of the race. It worked earlier this year at the Tulsa Tough Riverview Criterium where Ramsey launched his patented move with five laps to go and held off the field to claim his first NRC victory of the year. It worked at the 2008 San Francisco Twilight Criterium where he made his move with three laps to go. And again at the SRAM Pro NRC Circuit Race at the 2007 Sea Otter Classic.
Developing young riders. The 30-year old Ramsey has been racing bicycles for almost half of his life now. On his second year with Mountain Khakis – which has a stated mission of identifying young talent and teaching the trade of professional cycling – Ramsey is both a mentor and a hunter of results.
“From an athletic standpoint, we have a lot of guys that people have never heard of or barely heard of so we have to make a names of ourselves. The rest of the guys on the East Coast, there are a lot of diamonds in the rough, I think that there are some pretty talented bike racers that have the capability of joining a big team in the next 4 or 5 years or even sooner than that.”
Getting the team noticed is not all about winning. “For us, it would be great to win, also just being positive members of the cycling community, doing the right things just try to be as positive as possible. Just try to promote our team positively.”
But that doesn’t mean the team doesn’t want to win. In order to do that, other experienced racers such as Jason Snow, Adam Myerson and Jon Hamblen were also brought on board to mentor and deliver results.
Dan Ramsey at the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix
While yes he would like to be on a bigger team, Ramsey relishes the role of mentor.
“I love doing that. To be honest, it would be great to be on a bigger, better team and the way the market has been going, it’s been difficult for everybody, I’m really grateful for where I’m at. And I’m happy, I really like the group of people that I work with, everybody, one of the biggest things that I like is that the directors and the owners of the team are all honest people, like whatever they say they are going to give to you, they give to you instead of promising and under-delivering like the sport of cycling does. I’m not getting much but I know I’m going to get it, that what makes me happy, they’re honest with me, that keeps me calm and relaxed at the end of the day, I’m not stressing about the check or anything that is detrimental to life.”
From Southern California to Italy. Like many others, Ramsey got started with mountain biking and slowly migrated over to road riding and racing but there’s a lot more to his story. At 19 years old, as a cat2, Ramsey jumped on the opportunity to race in Europe and got thrown into the deep end.
“I was in way over my head for the first few… I was in over my head almost the whole time I was there, still am most of the time but it was really difficult but I learned so much.”
For five years, while living with his grandmother in the North Eastern part of Italy, near Treviso, in the foothills of the Alps, Ramsey raced in the amateur ranks at the same time as many other riders that are now toiling their trade in America.
“Bike racing is my passion. I love big racing and I had the opportunity and I jumped on it. It was great, I really gosh it was the experience of a lifetime, like in general, not just the bike racing but the lifestyle, all that was unique and different, it was fun. ”
Being half-Italian, Ramsey didn’t experience the culture shock that many Americans feel when they move to Europe and it helped that he was staying with family.
“I’m fluent, my mother spoke it to me when I was a kid so that makes a world of difference, being to integrate within the society. I knew the area, for me the integration part was easy and that’s the hardest part of going to a foreign country to be a bike racer. Some of the guys crack not because of the bike racing aspect but because of the culture shock and for me it wasn’t that much of a culture shock.”
But what about doping? I had to ask the question. Ramsey agreed that it was prevalent in the professional ranks but added that it wasn’t discussed much in the amateur races.
“It was prevalent for sure, and you knew about it but I did what I could, I got my ass handed back to me every weekend.”
But he refuses to use doping as an excuse for not making it to the pro ranks in Europe.
“I can’t say that’s a reason that I didn’t turn pro there because I don’t want to use that as an excuse or anything like that but that’s why I was lucky enough to come back over here and try to prove myself over here. The racing made me so much better as a bike racer when I came back over I was able to be competitive but over there it was for sure a problem, and I think it’s still a problem but I think it’s gotten so much better and that’s a good thing.”
Even though it was difficult, he did not get discouraged. “I just loved it so much, I had fun doing it, every once in a while I had some good rides so you’d keep yourself motivated by having a good ride here or there or a lot of times, I had some teammates that were better than I was and I could always help them out. For me that was satisfying, I love to work for somebody else or help out a teammate when I can. For me that was a motivator enough to keep me going, to keep me motivated even if the results were not there at the end of the day. ”
“I grew up.” Everything changed during that period of living away from home, in a new culture from the way he dressed to the way he acted to his racing.
“As a bike racer, I was always as fat as fat could be, always had to lose weight, you never good enough, that’s one thing they are always harping on you, you’re never good enough. I was able to learn how to be more diligent as far as training, eating and that’s carried over to now for me like I’m always worried about my weight, all bike racers are.” he chuckled. “At the end of the day, it taught me to be more serious, to take cycling as seriously as possible.”
Back to America. In 2002 he came back to the United States after his team folded in Italy and experienced a culture shock.
“The racing style, just everything was different, it was a bit of a culture shock at first, the bike racing aspect … but it was home so that made it easier for me, but never easy.”
Ramsey in one of the moves at the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix
He did bring over the aggressive style of racing – the constant attacking. “The pro racing here is controlled by a couple of teams, those are the teams that can truly control a race, the rest of the guys are just hanging in there, trying to get that space at the front of the pack but over in Italy, it’s just aggressive all day long, instead of 100 attacks there would be 200, it’s way way more aggressive.”
But since then, he’s “learned to calm down a bit, try to calm down especially when the fitness is good.”
In the seven years since his return, he’s raced for many teams and has experienced ups and downs. He was part of the SeaSilver team that totally fell through when the company was audited and had to pay millions back. “That was pretty bad.”
He pulled through, found other teams and to help pay the bills, Ramsey also coaches the US Santa Barbara cycling along with Ken Hanson of Team Type 1. In that role, it’s all about actual training and guidance as the level of skills and experience across the team varies tremendously. “We’re just trying to get them to the races fresh, the race tactics don’t play as big of a role.”
Coaching is very different than the professional team where it’s much more sink or swim. “If you’re going to keep on making that mistake, we’re not going to send you to anymore races, if somebody doesn’t get it, there is somebody else that will take your spot, it sounds bad but that’s just the way it is, being a quote/unquote professional cyclist.” laughed Ramsey.
2009 and the future. His stated goal earlier this year was simply stated “pretty much any NRC win would be great.” Well that was accomplished in Oklahoma.
“A good year for me, especially knowing the way the market is and the way it will be next year, I’d love to stick with my team for next year and I would be happy with that, I’d still like to get results to possibly go somewhere or just to up my salary if possible.”
But what about the future? “I haven’t thought of how much longer I want to go. As long as I keep enjoying doing it, and as long as I can keep making a living at it, I’m happy with it. 2, 3, 4 more years if I can, maybe I’ll go as long as [Eric] Wohlberg did, he was still ripping our legs off.” laughed Ramsey. “He was incredible.”
A smiling Ramsey before the start of the race in Philly
Wherever the road takes him, it will be in the cycling industry.
“I like cycling, I’d like to work in the industry if possible, either work for a cycling team, direct it, maybe start my own cycling team if I ever have that motivation to find a sponsor or for a bike company. I don’t have a college education and that makes it a little bit more difficult but I feel that the bike racing helps me get known and get to meet people and at the end of the day, I’d like to be able to get a job in the industry if I can.”
We finished our conversation by talking about his love of cycling.
“I like everything about it, the lifestyle is interesting, unique. There are so many things that I love about it, and sometimes I completely hate it, being on the road too long, sleeping on the floor for a couple of days. Sometimes I love that, being with teammates. Most of my teammates are younger that I am, it keeps it fun, it will be a lot of fun hanging out with them and sometimes I just need to get away.”
So at the next race, look for Dan Ramsey in the break. “It’s kind of luck a lot of times and also reading who is going up the road. I pay attention to which teams are up there, always guess and play your cards but it’s difficult. “
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