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2007 - 11th Place Overall, U.S. Elite MTB Series: http://www.usmtb100.com/07overall.html
2008 - 2nd Place Overall, State of Texas Pro MTB Marathon Series: http://www.tmbra.org/results/marathon_08/html/om0.html
Cadet vs. Lance Armstrong - "Miles of Discomfort Race":
{Cadet}
Cadet Bryant
2009 Elite U.S.Team Member for Ellsworth Bicycles:
Room 115: 1st,2nd,3rd Period (8:40 AM-11:20 AM)
Room 215: 5th Period (12:15 PM-1:10 PM)
Conference: 6th Period (1:10 PM-2:00 PM)
To learn a little about Mr. Bryant, please read the following article that was printed in the Big Spring Herald in March of 2008 . . .
"LOOKING FOR A LITTLE RESPECT"
CYCLIST CADET BRYANT AIMS TO PROVE THAT HE'S AMONG THE ELITE
By Jonathan Hull - Big Spring Herald, Sports Editor Nothing comes easy. This is a lesson well known to Cadet Bryant. Bryant competes in a sport where respect and advancement is difficult to achieve - cycling, or endurance mountain bike racing, to be exact.
Bryant, 32, is a 1992 graduate of Coahoma High School, and after spending two years at a Howard College and finishing higher-education studies at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, returned to his home county to teach Freshman Composition at Howard College in 2003. However, teaching is truly just a means of financing his true passion.
"I never planned on being a teacher. The opportunity just kind of arose," Bryant explained. "I do enjoy teaching, but then when I'm trying to get across the country, traveling through whatever means I can come up with just so I can get from one race to the next one, it seems that in the end teaching is a way to make ends meet so I can do what I believe I was put on this earth to do."
Although the road, or trail in Bryant's case, to success in competitive mountain biking has been long and trying, it's no longer foreign for the semi-pro rider. "I've discovered that all you can do is get your body used to doing this," Bryant explains.
"It's taken years for me to get my body conditioned to endure this. It takes years and years to get to that level. If I was still competing just locally, I'd never be able to compete with the elite guys. It takes seeing those guys to understand what you need to do to get better. Everytime I've moved up a division, I've gotten my butt whooped. But I just work my way back up."
"It's funny how it works," he continues. "You feel like you're never going to get to that next level and you when you do, you don't even realize it."
Bike riding has long been a part of Bryant's life. LIke most of us, he started riding at a young age, but unlike most of us, he never stopped. It's always been a means of escape for Bryant, allowing him to free his mind of burdens.
"I've been riding all my life. I was in my first bike-a-thon when I was seven or eight years old, and I outlasted just about everyone in the event," Bryant said. "When I was a kid, my dad wasn't around much, but I didn't want to be at home when he was. So, riding was a way for me to get out of the house. I'd ride my BMX bike 20 miles a day."
Competitive riding; however, is fairly new for Bryant. "I didn't start seriously competing until 2003 when I started doing some triathlons," Bryant says. "I went to just racing on the bike after a few of those races, though. I wasn't a good swimmer. I'd be the last one out of the water usually. But when I got on the bike, I would pass everyone and make up a lot of ground. I figured, 'Since I'm doing so good on the bike, I might as well just ride.'"
Since focusing on cycling, Bryant has steadily climbed up the ranks of professional mountain biking. He recently completed the 2008 season in the State of Texas MTN Bike Marathon Series, earning Second Place Overall. That’s an improvement of five spots over his seventh place finish in 2007.
Bryant is the 2007 ACA West Texas XC MTN Bike Series Champion in the Expert Cat Division while earning his semi-pro ranking in the process. He begins the 2008 version of the National Ultra Endurance MTN Bike Series April 19 with a 100-mile race in Ducktown, Tenn. Bryant enters the circuit after placing highly overall in the 2007 series. Bryant’s expectations are high this year with the possibility of winning the national circuit implanted firmly in the back of his mind.
“I started out at some local races, then moved up to some statewide events, and I started competing on a national level just last year,” Bryant notes. “I’m a nationally ranked racer right now. I finished 11th last year in the Elite Ultra Marathon Series, and I’m ranked Second in the State of Texas. I’m competing with guys that get paid to ride. That’s all they do for a living, and I’m keeping up with them.”
Bryant would love to ride for a living, but lacks having enough notoriety from sponsors in order to do so. He races for a company called Giant Bicycles, which furnishes him with a bike and clothing. However, he lacks extra funds to help pay entry fees as well as gasoline, among other expenses.
“The places where I travel on the national series are several states away and anyone that knows how much gas is costing right now understands the type of money I need to get there,” Bryant says. “Last year, I was only able to compete in five of the eight races because I ran out of money. I simply couldn’t afford to make the trip to the last three events. I finished 11th despite that, and if I could’ve finished the circuit, I would’ve had a chance to win it all.”
Money has proven to be the biggest hindrance in Bryant advancing to the next level of competition, and he was actually worried he wouldn’t even be able to compete in the national circuit until recently. “I didn’t think there was any way I was going to get to compete in the national circuit this year because I was out of money after the Texas Series,” Bryant confesses. “So over Spring Break, I sold all of my bikes on eBay except for the one Giant has provided me. It’s sad when I have to sell off my bikes just to compete because no one will help me.”
Because competitive biking isn’t in the mainstreams sporting world at all, gaining sponsorship or a team to ride with hasn’t come easy for Bryant, despite the success he’s having. Several nationally recognized teams have simply ignored him.
“I’ve been blown off by a lot of these guys,” Bryant says. “I’ve written a lot of teams and asked them to pick me up because I’m doing well in the national series. Lance Armstrong’s team, Trek Volkswagen, blew me off. There’s a national Trek VW team from Texas, and I wrote the leader, asking if I could join his team. The guy pretty much didn’t even give me the time of day because he didn’t know who I was, even though I was having some success nationally. We rode against each other in the Texas Series. I finished Second Overall, and he finished a distant Third. He knows who I am now.”
Another challenge for Bryant is training in an area that isn’t exactly known for its mountainous terrain. “I have to get creative sometimes with the way that I train,” Bryant explains. “There’s not really any big mountains here. There’s Scenic Mountain, but I’ve been kicked out of Big Spring State Park by the park ranger because he says I’m riding too fast. I’m going to have to just create my own trail with my mountain bike or something. Sometimes I just ride to Stanton and back. A typical ride for me lasts about 50 or 60 miles.”
However, despite all the odds pitted against him, Bryant has beaten some of the better rider to ever compete in the sport. In the 2007 national series, he finished one place ahead of 1995 Pan Am Games Gold Medalist, David “Tinker” Juarez. Bryant has also lined up next to a couple other riders whose names are much more synonymous with the sport - Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis. It’s a situation that can be overwhelming to an unknown rider, if he can’t control his emotions and focus.
“Being right there at the starting line with these guys is a bit intimidating. I tell myself, ‘I’m not supposed to be here,’” Bryant says. “Some of these guys like Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis are guys who I’ve watched race and compete for years. I have to take them off of the pedestal and learn that I can be just as competitive as them. I might not be able to beat them, but I can at least give my best effort no matter who they are.”
Means of travel and living conditions at the races even differ between a guy trying to make his way into the sport, as compared to the Armstrongs and Landises who are already established. Bryant has gone as far as to hitchhike his way to a race. Stuck in Chicago and needing to get to Manistee, Michigan, Bryant’s train had been delayed to the point that he wouldn’t be at the starting line in time. So he and his best friend who’d joined him for the trip, hitched a ride from a family, making it to Manistee in time to compete.
“It’s different to see how these guys get to each race. The big guys making a lot of money doing this show up in fancy RV’s, while I might have taken a train just to get there,” he continues. “They’re sleeping in a bed, and I’m in a tent. Still, I take those guys off the pedestal and I tell myself I’m just as good as they are. I might not win this race against them, but in the end, I’m going to try and beat them in the series.”
As a teacher, Bryant doesn’t try to be an inspiration with his commitment, although students should admire his dedication. Instead, he tries to relate his lifestyle to their in order to reach a positive result in the classroom.
“My students think I’m crazy. They don’t understand it,” Bryant says. “They don’t get that I ride my bike competitively. I don’t try to inspire anybody to ride. I try to relate to the students by means of showing how much can be completed in the college despite having a busy life outside of school. I know they have families or athletics to deal with, but if I can get my stuff done for the classroom, then so can they.”
So the pursuit goes on for Bryant, not just for a national title, but also for recognition from sponsors and the respect of his opponents. It doesn’t matter how much more difficult the road, or trail, may become. Cycling is a sport of perseverance and Bryant appears to have that part of it figured out.
“It seems like the better I get and the further I advance, the harder it becomes to earn respect and get recognized,” notes Bryant. “It can be frustrating. There are moments when I don’t want to train. We all face things like that. I keep going though. I have a goal this year to finally impress enough people so that I don’t have to worry about financing my way to each race. I don’t want to have to sell personal possessions anymore to do this. This year, I want to become known for my achievements so that all I’ve sacrificed to get here proves to be worth it.” |
Copyright © 2002-2008 Schoolwires, Inc. All rights reserved.
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| Copyright ©2002-2008 Schoolwires, Inc. All rights reserved. | ||