About Me

I started this blog in 2008 as a means to document my cycling career.  It has evolved into much more, reaching topics about racing and training as well as other daily life occurrences, random imagined stories, mostly real stories, horse and food poems, and whatnot.  Above all, it’s kept my writing skills fine-tuned and ready for a job in the real world when I decide (if ever) to go that route.  But most importantly, it’s kept me writing, and therefore thinking, during a large era of my early adulthood, which is something that would have otherwise passed by forgotten or misremembered.

When I was a baby my dad packed me in a backpack during mountain-bike rides in the hills of Corvallis, Oregon.  When I was a toddler the backpack became a bike trailer.  Eventually I rode alongside him (albiet slowly and many times tearfully angry at the steep and muddy gradient) on the mountain-bike trails in the hills of Sherwood, which were inevitably paved-over as gated suburbs.  My first bonk came a while later at the age of 12 when I completed my first real ride, a 60-something miler on a mountain-bike with no prior training and no drafting.  I began bonking half way through the (five?) hour ride, so we stopped at a Taco Bell for bean and tortilla nourishment.  My instant rejuvenation stuck so vividly in my mind that to this day, mid-ride junk food stops remain one of my favorite aspects about cycling.

It wasn’t until I injured my back while training with my university’s rowing team that I became a real cyclist.  My strange, and eventually vanishing, back injury required that I take some time away from rowing so I quickly read It’s Not About the Bike (every noob’s start), began scanning OBRA’s (Oregon Bike Racing Association’s) race schedule, and got a road bike.  Within two weeks of owning the new Trek I entered and won my first race, immediately becoming hooked.

I got serious about racing in 2008 and upgraded to cat 2 under the coaching of Gilad Gozlan.  At the time, my dreams of one day racing professionally seemed close and ripe enough to reach out and pluck from the miraged fruit tree.  Had I known how long of a road it would be (and still is), I’m not sure I would have undertaken the immense task.  I graduated from the University of Oregon that year in the spring and went to Belgium to race and live that summer with an Israeli team that my coach, Gilad, put me in contact with.  The next year, 2009, became my first year as a true cycling low-life, a jobless drifter training too much and racing too dumbly.  I thought nothing about the world other than how it would be benefited by a frame and two wheels.  I grew stronger under the guidance of my then coach, Jeannette Rose.

In 2010 I was handed one of cycling’s few life gifts in the form of a spot on Hagens Berman, an elite amateur team based out of Seattle.  One of, if not THE, finest amateur teams in the country.   I did not realize how lucky I’d been to get a chance to race for this team.  2010 was my first year racing a full season of NRC and other high-level races on a well-organized team.  I raced hard and trained hard, but the elusive breakthrough I so desperately yearned for remained in hiding.

While I knew the majority of the races from experiences gained the previous year, 2011 was somewhat of a repeat of 2010.  I still had no amazing results, though I did fair much better than the prior year and continued to improve in terms of strength as well.  After the majority of the year was spent racing with Hagens Berman in the States, I traveled to Belgium to race for the rest of the summer in kermesses and interclubs with ASFRA Flanders.  I did much better this time around in Europe and realized that my strengths were finely suited to the go-all-out kermess style of racing in Belgium.  While I decided to forgo a full season in Belgium the following year, my trip to Europe showed my that I do in fact have a good pair of legs.   It was just the inspiration and mental charge I needed to keep me on track for another year here in the States in persuit of my dream.  I’m looking forward to racing one final year with Hagens Berman in 2012, and despite the outcome, will be happy with my effort, the places cycling has taken me and the people it’s introduced me to, and the unique outlook on life and the world that it’s imprinted on me.  At the end of July I plan on a return to Belgium for round three.  And, to keep with the typical cyclist’s mind-set, I don’t have plans after that.  We’ll see where my legs and mind take me this year first.

I’m currently living in Boulder, Colorado this winter in an attempt to increase my hematocrit the right way, with thin, cold air and steep mountains.

I’m being coached by Sam Johnson of Team Exergy, who’s attempting to keep me in check with what I think I’m capable of and what my body is actually able to handle.  I recommend him to anyone, but only if you want to get faster.

Full name: Kennett Peterson

Age: 25
Height: 6′ 1”
Weight: 160 lbs
Years racing: 4
Team: Hagens-Berman
Hometown: Sherwood, Oregon
Education: BA Journalism, University of Oregon
Non-cycling work: Heritage Research Associates archaeology firm, writing/editing, working at the movie theater, odd craigslist gigs, whatever I can get my hands on.
Nicknames: Bigguns, Ferdinand, Catfish, Kennettron, Sergeant Stiffy
Favorite foods: Mexican, Thai, Himalayan
Favorite burrito: chili verde with pork
Favorite snack: chips and salsa
Favorite soups: pho, hot and sour, clam chowder, split pea and ham
Favorite fruit: mangos
Favorite vegetable: mushrooms
Favorite cake: a split tie between cherry cheesecake and anything chocolate with a lot of chocolate frosting. Third place: carrot cake.
Other sports I used to do well but now don’t do and suck at: rock climbing, white water kayaking, rowing, martial arts, soccer, running, snowboarding.
Pass-times (some of which I unfortunately only do during the off season): writing, cooking, grocery shopping, other activities that require thinking about or eating food, surfing, backpacking, mountaineering, slowly but surely becoming a grand master pianist, chess–though no one knows how to play, which is a sign our world is in growing despair, watching South Park with probably the only mom on earth who finds it funny, and listening to Enya to lower my cortisol levels.
Favorite color: turquoise, red, or green.