Dirty Chain Podcast Episode 13: Alexey Vermeulen - 2019 Iceman Men's Champion
Alexey Vermeulen sits down with the Midpack to discuss his rise through professional cycling including his recent win at the Iceman Cometh Challenge!
Trevor Gibney:
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Dirty Chain Podcast brought to you by Michigan Midpack Media. The podcast that covers the Michigan cycling scene from the viewpoint of the midpacker. I'm your host, Trevor.
Sheldon Little:
This is Sheldon. In this episode we venture outside of the midpack and interview former World Tour Pro, current Pro Mountain Biker, and your 2019 Iceman Men's Overall Champion, Alexey Vermeulen.
Trevor Gibney:
If you've been following our podcast the last few weeks, you know that we have been leading up to the Iceman Cometh Challenge. You heard different perspectives of people's races from Sheldon himself, to a few other call ins, but in this episode we will hear from the champion himself.
Sheldon Little:
Recently Trevor, our friend, rider, and photographer Nicole [Cotton 00:02:19] and I were able to go to mid-Michigan and were graciously hosted by Alexey and his family.
Trevor Gibney:
Including his dog Gus, no wait, what's his dog's name?
Sheldon Little:
Gus.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Sheldon Little:
Gus, Iceman, Vermeulen.
Trevor Gibney:
Including his dog Gus. Alexey goes into detail about his Iceman race and some stresses of the weekend leading up to it. We hear about his passion for promoting Michigan and developing youth cycling, but more so he takes us on a journey that starts here in Michigan, leads him all around the world, eventually bringing him right back home. Let's let Alexey tell you the story.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I broke a bike, I backed a car into a tree, I ran a kids ride.
Sheldon Little:
Oh, speaking of the kids ride, we have something that we want to talk about with the kids ride.
Trevor Gibney:
Oh, yeah. We were talking to Sean [Kickbush 00:03:15] and he was saying stuff like, "I have to drop something off for Alexey's kids."
Sheldon Little:
He and I looked at each other and we're like, Alexey has kids? We didn't say anything at the time. Afterwards we were talking about it like-
Trevor Gibney:
It took a long time to figure out-
Sheldon Little:
... "Did you know Alexey had kids?" Then after the race one of our teammates had a daughter in the kids race and was talking about the kids riding with Alexey. We're like, oh. Sean said kids plural and we're like, okay.
Trevor Gibney:
I didn't know you were such a family man.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. Sean [inaudible 00:03:47] helpful, but no, it was a great plan. When I was younger all I wanted to do was hang out with pros. That's kind of what I tried to create at Iceman. That's the only race I can do that, I know Cody, I know everyone up there. It's super easy to walk in and plan things before. Working with Shimano was so easy. They sent like 1,000 little swag items, hats, and sunglasses, and scarves, and bottles.
Trevor Gibney:
You didn't do that last year, did you?
Alexey Vermeulen:
No. I didn't have the support of all these guys. Last year was me trying to prove myself.
Trevor Gibney:
Okay.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Anyways, then it just happened. You can think of everything, but you don't think of everything.
Trevor Gibney:
We were actually riding with Sean and putting signs in, and all that.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yes. Do you know why you were doing that? Because Dana and I were sitting at Subway at 1:30 when the thing started at 3:00. I had decided to set an interview with CBS at 2:00. I then we realized that there's no way anyone can park, so where's anyone going to go? Pure chaos.
Trevor Gibney:
I was waiting for Sheldon at Timber Ridge-
Sheldon Little:
Because I was running super behind. I was like three hours behind coming up.
Trevor Gibney:
I'm pretty sure I walked by you because you were parked right in front of the area there.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah, and the parking Nazi was yelling at us.
Trevor Gibney:
I'm like, he looks stressed out.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Oh, dude. Well, I had already broken a bike. I was already late for CBS.
Trevor Gibney:
How'd you break the bike?
Alexey Vermeulen:
You know Dan Ellis?
Trevor Gibney:
No.
Alexey Vermeulen:
He owns up.bike, it's that little stainless steel company.
Sheldon Little:
Oh, yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
Oh, yeah. We met him. Yeah.
Sheldon Little:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I backed his tree with his hardtail that his son was going to ride, and his son was in the car next to me, into a tree on the way out. Just tagged the edge.
Sheldon Little:
Just enough.
Alexey Vermeulen:
It just slowly pushed. I called him and I was like, "Hey dude, we got to deal with this." My bike and his bike were on the back of the car, didn't get hurt. His son goes, "Yeah dad, we didn't even hear it break." Broken like five times, just obliterated this Niner frame, obliterated it.
Trevor Gibney:
Did he have a bike to ride the next day?
Alexey Vermeulen:
I found him a bike, yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
Okay, cool.
Alexey Vermeulen:
That's the one perk of knowing people [crosstalk 00:05:45] you just start calling like, "Hey, I broke a kid's bike. We need to fix this."
Trevor Gibney:
How did the Alexey's kids ride go then?
Alexey Vermeulen:
So well at the end, but it was just, you don't think of parking, you don't think of how you're going to collect kids and get them there. Because of how unplanned it became I didn't get to see the course. I was like, I'm going to off course, I'm going to take these kids on a 15 miles ride.
Trevor Gibney:
Is that how long it was?
Sheldon Little:
I'm going to teach you what a bonk is.
Alexey Vermeulen:
No, it was supposed to be 2.5.
Trevor Gibney:
Oh, you thought you'd get lost.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I didn't even talk about it, but there's one point we were going down this hill. It was me and Geoff Kabush in front, and then I had Katerina and Brian Matter in the back, kind of separate, keep contained. It was only 65-ish kids. Solid though, I was afraid of losing a kid. There was enough kids. At first it was like 4, then three minutes before the sun came out and then there was a lot of kids.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I just remember we started going down this hill. I had been trying to like, "Left, right, brakes, climb." You just start gaining speed and there's this girl who's sitting there beside me talking about her spirit animal. I'm just taking this in, and I'm slowly processing, okay there's 60 kids careening down a hill behind us. I just see the kid's bike I'd broken earlier that morning was in front ripping. He's strong, he was trying to show off. He hits this sand and barely keeps it up. There's a hard right, right after the sand.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I just saw death in front of me. At first I yelled, "Brakes." Then I was like, "No, no brakes, that's bad," because then kids started stopping right in front of the turn in the sand. This girl, as she's like, "My spirit animal's a wolf," careening into the woods. It was just carnage. Then everyone stopped and there's a kid with pedal back brakes who just comes again, just T-bones my friend. I was like, okay, no one's dead, okay, and we continue. It was so fun. Honestly, it was so cool to be a part of something like that.
Sheldon Little:
You had 65 kids.
Trevor Gibney:
Not only be a part of it, but to put it on and see it be successful.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. Then there was all the people up there were my idols when I was growing up. All of us finished on the podium, every single one.
Trevor Gibney:
Kabush-
Alexey Vermeulen:
Kabush, Brian Matter, and Katerina. Katerina won.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
It was the entire men's podium and then Katerina.
Trevor Gibney:
Katerina. That's incredible.
Alexey Vermeulen:
She's the coolest.
Sheldon Little:
Was this the first year that they did a kid's event like this?
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. I brought I up to Cody-
Trevor Gibney:
I mean, they've always had the Slush, right? Not always, but-
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. They've always had the Slush but CLIF used to make a kids zone, and they pulled out of that. I was like, what can we do here? That's the difference that I make to sponsors, right? I'm a human face. I'm not bigger than Shimano. I might be bigger than up.bike, like if I post things for up.bike I actually might have progress on that and interaction, but for me with Shimano it's just, I will never be as big as them I guess is my point. What I need to be for them is a big fish in a small pond, which is Michigan.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Then being a human face. You have all those kids, not that they're going to be yelling ... They just want to be a part of something without forcing it.
Trevor Gibney:
Does a sponsor like Shimano or another big sponsor you may have, do they find it to be a benefit that they're bigger than you and then you can be that face in a place like Michigan.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I mean, that's kind of their point. Even Kabush is not as big as Shimano. Nobody can be unless you're Sagan. Even then maybe not.
Sheldon Little:
That's just temporary.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Sheldon Little:
Right now he's bigger, but-
Alexey Vermeulen:
Exactly. It's just little things. Even Vittoria sold a crap ton of tires in Michigan. I don't know if there's a Facebook post about, Jordan [Lakely 00:09:39]-
Trevor Gibney:
Jordan Lakely.
Alexey Vermeulen:
... was trying to figure out what tires he was going to run. Someone said, "Alexey runs Mezcals." Then we were talking about it. All of a sudden Vittoria-
Trevor Gibney:
They see a bump.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Vittoria after freaked out. They're like, oh my gosh, how are we not a part of this? It was super cool. They went on the site and Alexey Iceman was 20% off the entire Vittoria site.
Trevor Gibney:
Really?
Alexey Vermeulen:
Those are the impacts you make. I wasn't a big fish for Vittoria, but I was a big fish in a small pond.
Trevor Gibney:
Do you think it's easier for you to have the opportunity in the mountain bike spectrum of things? Or is that seen, this is not a road team kind of model, right?
Alexey Vermeulen:
Which I'm really happy about.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I mean, right now I definitely took a big pay cut, in the last two years, but I'm also in control of everything, man.
Sheldon Little:
Yeah. Your stress level.
Alexey Vermeulen:
For the first time, it's not even stress, like I was stressed before Iceman, right?
Sheldon Little:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I can still become stressed, but nothing's forced. I get to really set standards for what companies I want to work with, and how I want to work with them. That's one of the big things. That was the kids ride, Iceman didn't have to be a part of it, they helped it happen. The minute they showed initiative and they wanted to be a part of it I was like, cool, all in, I'll write Shimano.
Sheldon Little:
And it's for a great cause.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Then it became big. [crosstalk 00:10:51]
Sheldon Little:
Those 65 kids, they're going to remember the year they rode with-
Alexey Vermeulen:
Both the winners and Kabush.
Sheldon Little:
... the entire podium, I mean. That's going to be in their minds forever.
Alexey Vermeulen:
It's positive for everybody. It's positive for Shimano. Everybody is excited about it.
Sheldon Little:
Oh yeah, the swag that they got that has Shimano on it. They're going to hold onto that because they remember riding with you, and there's a fan for life.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
That's what I think. When I was younger it was just trying to figure out, when I was younger I wanted to ride with those guys. I wanted to ride with Larry Warbasse, I wanted to ride with Brian Matter. It was hard. There's a wall. That was one of the reasons I was moving away from road racing, there's a big wall between road racing and fans.
Sheldon Little:
We were just discussing this the other night at the bar, we were talking about how you're seeing this migration to the gravel scene. The pros are definitely way more accessible. You go to say Land Run, you're starting at the same time. You can look over and see your idol. Where you go to a Grand Tour, they're behind a rope by the RV on their trainer. You can never do that race, ever. It doesn't matter, there's no comparison.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah, and you're not participating.
Sheldon Little:
You are strictly a spectator.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Sheldon Little:
It doesn't matter how good you are in your local scene, you're a Cat 1, you're never going to be there. Where you can go to a gravel, and mountain bike's kind of the same way to an extent.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. The best part is it's positive for everybody. Again, the pros are happy because the sponsors are happy. That's our entire goal, at least for me. That's the beauty of Shimano. Of course Shimano wants results, they want different things, but they're also invested in actually making a positive impact on the community, whether it's their community, or Michigan, or anywhere.
Sheldon Little:
Cycling right now needs it more than anything. I mean, how often-
Alexey Vermeulen:
Between us, I'm hoping that the kids ride can become a thing at all the races Shimano's at.
Sheldon Little:
That'd be amazing.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Which would be really cool. It just becomes bigger, it becomes Shimano's more involved, and then Shimano gives a [inaudible 00:12:55] away. Then kids actually care to be involved in it. The couple friends, Dan who owns up.bike, his kid, he won Slush Cup. There's a picture of me cutting, I promised him I'd cut a piece of the Ice Trophy off for him that night.
Sheldon Little:
No kidding?
Alexey Vermeulen:
He's dipping it as I'm drinking it.
Sheldon Little:
Oh my god.
Alexey Vermeulen:
It's a great picture.
Sheldon Little:
We'll have to look that up. Did you put it on your Instagram?
Alexey Vermeulen:
I can send it to you guys.
Sheldon Little:
Yeah, that'd be amazing.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I want to.
Sheldon Little:
That's amazing.
Alexey Vermeulen:
There's so much I wanted to post but had to take time.
Sheldon Little:
It's someones kid and, yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. They all went and signed up for TrainerRoad. They all want to train. Dan hasn't been able to stop him. That's so cool to me.
Sheldon Little:
Wow, wow.
Alexey Vermeulen:
That wasn't me, but it's everyone being involved and I don't know, giving them the lifestyle a little bit.
Sheldon Little:
It wasn't you just showing up somewhere signing an autograph and saying, "Hi, kids."
Alexey Vermeulen:
It wasn't saying, "Hey look, I won." They don't give a crap.
Sheldon Little:
It was the experience.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yes.
Sheldon Little:
I mean, they rode with you, they got to hang out with you.
Alexey Vermeulen:
We're going to the Keen Loft for the party after, and all the kids wanted to come. I was like, "I'm so sorry. This is not going to work out. I love you guys, and now I'm going to go enjoy myself." Did you get any of the 30 year, the Bell's bear?
Trevor Gibney:
The Bell's 30 year.
Alexey Vermeulen:
How was it?
Sheldon Little:
It was really good.
Trevor Gibney:
What type of beer was it?
Alexey Vermeulen:
It was a bottle upstairs. It's nothing special, but it was special because it was special.
Sheldon Little:
Yeah, it was the bottle. Not really even what was in the bottle.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
You weren't born in Michigan.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I was born in Memphis.
Trevor Gibney:
Memphis. Then, when did you guys move to Michigan?
Alexey Vermeulen:
When I was four years old.
Trevor Gibney:
Okay.
Alexey Vermeulen:
For my dad's grad school he went to U of M here.
Trevor Gibney:
You're basically raised in Michigan. Iceman is the quintessential Michigan race that now you have won, but you have totally taken an interesting path to get there, right?
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. I'm getting goosebumps right now.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah. I mean, it's kind of like if I pitched this story people are like, that's too far fetched. I mean, it's that good. Talk to us a little bit about just getting into cycling in general. Were you a mountain biker early? I mean, you did a ton of road and I know that, so how did you get into the road side of things?
Alexey Vermeulen:
Just cycling as a whole I think for me started with my grandfather. He's from Holland, he grew up racing. We would go and we'd go on rides when I was younger. Nothing big, just as you do something with any of your grandparents, my grandfather did riding so I went and road. My mom started doing some triathlon so I jumped into some kids tris and I enjoyed it. Hated swimming, loved running, loved riding. It just slowly progressed.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I think what my parents always did really well was I just did everything. I was way too hyper so that was one of the big things, was like, put him in every sport and maybe he'll go to bed at night. That's kind of how it went. For a while there I was playing soccer, and running cross country, and riding, and all of the above.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure, yeah. Like a normal athletic kid.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah, like a normal kid. I don't know, all these parents are trying to not do that anymore. That was my claim to fame.
Trevor Gibney:
That doesn't exist anymore, actually.
Alexey Vermeulen:
No. Well, oh you're going to be pro, this is how you're going to do it, which is literally the reason I think I'm pro is because I didn't. The reason I think I'm living my dream is because I've been able to figure that out.
Trevor Gibney:
That's interesting.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. It just kind of progressed. I think in 2007 my dad took initiative a little bit and he could see that I was enjoying riding. We had a mileage sheet, a literally piece of paper that you wrote down every mile, like 17.1, or 8.3-
Sheldon Little:
That little black book of all-
Alexey Vermeulen:
... or 1.2, right? When I got to 1,000 miles we were out at [inaudible 00:16:50] Metropark and we sprinted, and I beat him. That was probably the last time we actually road a real ride together. He saw I was putting effort into it, so he looked around. My coach, to this day, started working with me, but very minimally. Just like, "Hey, these are some workouts you can do. Maybe you also go run." He started mixing things. I was really big on hockey, running, and cycling. That was kind of what it boiled down to when I got a little older. Yeah. It kind of just progressed. That was 2008. 2007 I started working with him. 2009 was when I was like, this is awesome. I dropped hockey 2009.
Trevor Gibney:
How old are you at this point?
Alexey Vermeulen:
In 2009 I dropped hockey, the summer of going into high school.
Trevor Gibney:
Okay.
Alexey Vermeulen:
[crosstalk 00:17:38] become a freshman. I decided that same sport thing is, I'm going to pursue this but I want to have a social life. I want to be involved. I kind of committed, I want to do all four years of cross country. Whatever it takes I want to do all four years of cross country. Already 2009, 2010 I was doing well in the sport. I got to go to the Olympic Training Center twice for talent ID camps. I was already traveling. I think at the beginning, as a young kid, that's what I fell in love with. It's so cool to see the world.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Even if it wasn't the world, I got to travel by myself to Colorado Springs, and in the Olympic Training Center. You watch the Olympics, you dream of that.
Sheldon Little:
Then you walk in there and the flags are hanging from the ceiling.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. There's athletes walking around. I don't remember who we saw but people walking around that you know.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
It just kind of progressed. Each year I would be a little bit more involved. 2010, so halfway through my sophomore year of high school, the option was going to have to be that I was going to online school. My principal figured out a way for me to do that and still be able to run cross country for my high school, for Dexter, and graduate, walk in the class if I was there, and go in and take any classes I wanted if I wanted to, really big help because I'm a social student person. I don't want to be not involved. That was a big help. 2010 was actually a really hard year. Season '09 had been this big breakout year for me, I'd felt like I'd done things but I was also 14, 15 years old. I was young, right?
Trevor Gibney:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Alexey Vermeulen:
2010 was just, I feel like cycling's a big build, it was one of those years where I just felt like I was just below every single time. Every race just struggling. My parents were putting a lot into it, and we were driving around, and doing things. Just nothing really worked out. All those goals you set, you write down at the beginning of the year, nothing happened. Then 2011 was like, okay, let's see if this happens. We're getting into the end. I knew also with parents, there's college coming. There's a time limit on this.
Sheldon Little:
The sand was just falling through.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. Even at my age I could see it, right? I was loving what I was doing, so 2011 Nationals were in Augusta, Georgia. Really hot it was going to be, I knew it was, so I went back home where my mom's side of the family still lives, to Memphis, and I did a little heat adaption camp there. I'm out there training, riding with some friends, and pretty much done. We're five days out from Iceman, or sorry, Iceman, already on my head. Five days out from Nationals.
Sheldon Little:
Different temperature, different temperature.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. We're five days out and I'm doing an easy ride before I fly to Augusta the next day. I just absolutely eat it on this bike path on a speed bump, just not thinking. Just reality sets in immediately. You're just like, oh my gosh, I've actually sacrificed for something in my life and I just screwed it up by taking my hands off the bars.
Sheldon Little:
Yeah. It's always the slow crash that you're not paying attention, that's the one that gets you.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. I just can't believe it. In that minute of, oh I'm okay, I run into the bathroom in the community center bleeding, a trail of blood behind me. A woman comes screaming in, "You can't go die in there." I am bleeding profusely.
Sheldon Little:
She had priorities, she didn't want to clean this up.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I was like, "I'm not, I'm cleaning it. I already called my aunt." My aunt comes. I have a big, I have this gash here and I have one on my knee. Bike's trashed, helmet's trashed, head's marked, blood all over the glasses. I just remember I got to the hospital, got a bunch of stitches. I had the doctor double stitch because I was like, "I'm going to ride in five days. It's going to happen, so you make sure it's going to stay shut and we'll deal with that." Could not move my leg the next day, because the stitches were right here. Just the worst possible place. I had a crappy time trial and struggled with that. That was something I was aiming for, I thought that was the really pure effort. I always loved the time trial.
Sheldon Little:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Alexey Vermeulen:
It comes into the road race. Now it's like seven days post crash. I have all the stitches in. I'm angry. It was the first moment that everything just, it was kind of [inaudible 00:22:07] moment, it worked out, I run the road race solo, with a two man sprint with a friend in a breakaway. It just, cycling clicked. The cogs hit and quick way of saying it is from there I got the change to go to Europe with the national team. It just tumbled, and tumbled, and tumbled.
Trevor Gibney:
That's amazing.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Then from each level it's the same as anything. You have to show yourself and prove yourself. I got to Europe and you got to win races in Europe. You win races in Europe you get to go to Worlds. You show that you're on the world stage, you get to come back the next year. You get to the end of juniors, you're 18, and you have to show that you earned enough to sign a contract with a development team, it's semi-pro I guess is the best comparison.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
That, for me, was BMC. That was the first point where I told my parents, "Can I defer school?" For two years I'd applied to all the colleges and I'd deferred. I was going to go to Simon Fraser in British Columbia, deferred. I was like, okay, I can do this, I can make it. Three years on BMC and signed World Tour. The dream was unreal. You put sacrifices in-
Sheldon Little:
How old were you when you went to the World Tour?
Alexey Vermeulen:
I would be 21 when I started. It was unreal. I remember, I actually had a broken wrist. I had crashed in Italy and I couldn't do Worlds in Richmond. I was so pissed.
Sheldon Little:
I think about myself at 20 and I was eating Hot N Readies, I'm struggling to do my laundry, like it's just easier to throw this out and buy something new.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. It's just funny, I remember getting the email and reading it like four times. I was just like, this isn't the real email. This is a joke. This is spam, someone made this up. Going, searching the name on the email-
Sheldon Little:
What friend is messing with me?
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Sheldon Little:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
This isn't a funny joke, I don't find this funny right now, but yeah. It's been unreal. I think slowly I've realized that the bike is what I enjoy. The simultaneous thing inside of all of that is that it's never become a job. There's points where World Tour you have to do something that you probably don't want to do, you don't want to go ride the front, you're already red lined, you're going to get dropped, but at the same time it was an experience that ... I will never regret when I went up. Hindsight I think I went up a year early, but at the same time, dude it was so much fun.
Sheldon Little:
Yeah. What amazing-
Alexey Vermeulen:
And it set me up for what I'm doing now. What I'm doing now I love almost more than what I was doing then.
Trevor Gibney:
Is it typical for someone to get out of the World Tour and still love it as much as you do?
Alexey Vermeulen:
It's hard to say because I was only there for two years. I feel like I'm not privy to be able to say that. Guys who spend 15 years and have gone through "more difficult" years, back in the '90s. I mean, there's guys who were racing back in the '90s and just finishing when-
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I mean, that's a hard era to make it through.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure. Oh yeah, for sure. I was just listening to something with Ted King. He said he got out relatively early, he still had a couple years that he probably could have raced in the World Tour. I don't know, but he said he left the World Tour still excited about riding bikes. That's why he still rides a bike.
Alexey Vermeulen:
You see it. Ted is a happy guy, all the time. He was at Iceman. We were talking right before Iceman and he was just so ready for the race, but at the same time so not ready because he was like, "So, gravel bike?" I was like, "No, not my opinion, but go for it."
Trevor Gibney:
Did it ever even cross your mind?
Alexey Vermeulen:
No. Well, I'm not going to lie, I had so many setups ready. I was always going to run hardtail, but I had a 40 tire set up, I had big mud tires set up, I had all the options.
Sheldon Little:
What tires-
Trevor Gibney:
But not like a drop bar, anything like that?
Alexey Vermeulen:
No. Kabush is very, very talented. I don't want to point anybody out, there's other people on gravel bikes you did not see the same success.
Trevor Gibney:
Same output, yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
This year was also hard, comparatively. The course was very, very intense, but it's a mountain bike race. It just is, in my opinion.
Trevor Gibney:
Talk to me about then, your transition to becoming a mountain biker because the story that you're telling us now, you're primarily a road biker. How did you go from road cycling to mountain biking? Even in a technical way you're used to riding 200 kilometer races, stage races, things that aren't very technical. Now you're on a mountain bike and that's a whole different ballgame.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. It's actually just crazy how it happened. I guess I'll just take one tiny step back. When I wasn't going to resign on the World Tour, kind of had a crisis of my being, right? Everything I had done to this point I had everything planned out. If you had asked me, "What are you doing in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years," I knew the answer. I thought the answer was the World Tour and I had made that. That's my life, that's it.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
It was the perfect thing to happen to me. It was a wake up call that life is not always how you plan it, first off. Life's not always what you expect. I had a year where I raced Continental, for about a half a year, from like March to July with the Japanese Continental team. It just wasn't, I immediately realized-
Trevor Gibney:
Is that an A-team?
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. It's an A-team.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah, yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I immediately realized first off, wow I've had it good. BMC development team, it's a pro team, it was a professional outfit to the T, almost the same level as LottoNL-Jumbo was.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure.
Alexey Vermeulen:
That's insane. As an 18 year old you go over there. They have a house for you, here's a BMC credit card for groceries, the whole nine yards.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I really realized first off I was a spoiled brat coming from the World Tour. I just expected things. Also just for how hard I trained I wasn't in control of anything or enjoying to the point that I was, I was still enjoying it but not to what I was. July I did my last big race in China, in 2018, with the Japanese Conti team.
Trevor Gibney:
With the Conti team, yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Tour of Qinghai Lake. It was insanity. It's on the Tibetan Plateau at 13,000 feet.
Trevor Gibney:
Holy cow.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Just a whole culture shock, chaos. It took me like 48 hours to get there. I arrived 10.5 hours before the race started, built my own bike. Just the perfect ending to be like, okay, next chapter. I raced really well. I had a blast. I finished top 10 there. Racing at that, it's just an experience of a ... We were 3,000 feet below the Everest base camp at the highest altitude we were at.
Trevor Gibney:
Oh my god.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Just insane. I came home from that in July. I guess I was still in Europe, I moved home from Europe end of August, maybe October of 2018. I already kind of like, what do I want to do? Do I really want to push to get back to the World Tour, to a Rally, or a UHC? Or do I just want to take my career into my own hands right now?
Trevor Gibney:
Sure.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I don't know. It's hard to talk about myself like that, but at 23 that was a big decision for me. Always knowing and always having a path, and then deciding to take that less traveled path, honestly most guys are just like, okay, that's my career let's go to school.
Sheldon Little:
It's essentially a career change.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Oh yeah. I mean, there's a lot of guys that go from mountain biking to road biking, but kind of like you were saying, you don't go from the road to the mountain. It's just, you're too far behind. Trust me, I realized that at the beginning of this year. We'll get back to that. Luckily my reputation preceded me. I had contacts with different companies throughout the cycling world and industry.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I was able to reach out to them and, "Hey, so [inaudible 00:30:17] if I do well at Iceman," the beauty is everyone knows Iceman, it's unique, it's big, it's special, and it happens to be the last big race in the calendar for most guys. I talked to a couple companies and I was like, "Hey, if I can prove myself at Iceman can we sign a contract in late November," which is super late to sign anything in cycling. Contracts are done in August for the most part.
Trevor Gibney:
Hold on, I want to make sure I understand this.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
You bet on yourself, basically.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yes.
Trevor Gibney:
This was last year.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
You said, "If I do well at Iceman let's make something happen."
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
Then you went and you got second.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. I talked about that sacrifice I made back in 2010, 2011, I could not have been more of a cluster. For three months, I don't think anyone can understand, I guess a lot of people can understand but for me full on for one race that I had never been ... Just, that was all I focused on. I didn't drink. I ate correctly. I was just so emotionally involved in what I was doing. There was nothing that was going to get in my way, I guess. I had never made sacrifices like that. You always say, "I'm all in," right?
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
It is my job, I'm all in, this is a World Tour, I'm giving it all, but it's just a different level. Just obliterated myself.
Sheldon Little:
Now, was that your first Iceman?
Alexey Vermeulen:
No. That's a good question. The year I finished high school and I stopped running, because cross country states are always the same weekend as Iceman so I had always wanted to be at Iceman but it was never possible to get there from MIS. 2013 was my first Iceman. I did it but always for fun. I'd take a break right after season. The road season kind of ends September, and I'd take three weeks, and that would be my first race back. I remember the first time I did Iceman my heart rate was 190 for an hour and a half, insane. Just completely [crosstalk 00:32:23] obliterated.
Trevor Gibney:
That sounds right, though.
Alexey Vermeulen:
It wasn't much different from this year, but yeah. I'd done, the year before that had been the first year I'd come in with a little training to Iceman, 2017, but I was still on Lotto. I was just, it had worked out like that. I'd come home early and it's just what I was doing. Yeah. 2018, it was the first time I had worked so hard for something, I think, and more just focused so hard I guess is the point. I had always worked hard, but just this is the one, singular focus of my entire life for three months.
Sheldon Little:
You were waking up thinking Iceman, going to bed thinking Iceman.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah, thinking Iceman. It's hard because it's also, you put so much pressure, you always put pressure on yourself, but that is an insane amount of pressure. I was up there and I had a plan of where to attack that year, like this is where I'm attacking and I'm throwing all of my cards in. Until then I'm not doing anything. I'm going to sit. I'm not going to do anything, and I'm going to go. We got about halfway through. I was sitting and a breakaway went out with Brian Matter, and Payson McElveen, and a couple other strong guys.
Trevor Gibney:
McElveen, yeah. Payson McElveen.
Alexey Vermeulen:
McElveen, yeah. I just let it go. I was like, okay, this is your point. Those guys aren't going to win the race, you're going to. Literally saying this to myself because you don't really believe it. You believe it but you don't believe it. Then we came into, it's called Boonenberg, it's right before Anita's, and it's this inconspicuous climb, just slow and steady for a little bit longer.
Sheldon Little:
Is that the one, it's almost like a right turn?
Alexey Vermeulen:
A hard right, yeah.
Sheldon Little:
Where Sean goes, "This is where the break will happen?"
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah, yeah. He was showing us before.
Alexey Vermeulen:
The year before that's where it had happened because I had punched it. I had planned to punch it down that hill into that weird right.
Sheldon Little:
You hit that sand and then [inaudible 00:34:26]
Alexey Vermeulen:
Kabush did, which I wasn't expecting. He was on the gravel bike like the year before, and he shoved into that and he started going up. He was going probably 90% up the hill. I was like, here we go, pedal to the ... I was already taxed. That was that moment of, do you have it? Do you have the mental capacity to throw it in 6th gear right now. You're maxed, but you're going to do it.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I went over the top of him. There was a gap behind us and we rode away. It was the weirdest feeling because I'd worked so hard for something but the minute I was there I was content. Second place, I want to win, but I was happy, right? [crosstalk 00:35:04] I was like, oh my god I'm going to finish second. I'm going to finish second at Iceman. As a Michigan kid it's big, for me want to prove to sponsors-
Sheldon Little:
For your future, your future was riding on it.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. I was like, I got it, content, I'm done. That's a horrible way to think as an athlete, but I was ready for it to be over. I was ready to be at the finish. I was ready to be second. I was ready to get on the podium in second.
Trevor Gibney:
It's not a horrible thing to think when then-
Alexey Vermeulen:
The circumstances, but-
Trevor Gibney:
... you turn around next year ...
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
In a way you weren't just riding for second place, or first place, or the podium, or whatever. You were riding to make Alexey 2.0 happen, right?
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
It did happen. Then you had the support for an entire nother year. Then you went a couple weeks ago and you crushed it.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. It was surreal because you talk about how I had felt going into Iceman last year, it was like the same thing. Given all of 2019 I had been mountain biking because I had been able to get those sponsors after last year and I had made it my job again, so this whole year was mountian bike races, getting my butt kicked for the most part. In August I spent a week out in Colorado with a skills coach which changed my entire season. All of a sudden I wasn't losing minutes on corners, and descents, and things like that. I went to Chequamegon and that was the first eye opener. It's not a huge stacked field, but there's good guys there, and just road away.
Sheldon Little:
That was the one that I struggled to pronounce in the car.
Trevor Gibney:
Oh, yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
We were looking up [crosstalk 00:36:43]
Alexey Vermeulen:
It's in Chequamegon and it's that race out in Podunk nowhere but [Lemon's 00:36:46] won it twice, it's a big race with a very storied history.
Sheldon Little:
Wow. It was what, the 37th year or something like that?
Alexey Vermeulen:
I think so.
Sheldon Little:
High '70s I think.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. I mean, it's just big. The real thing in Michigan, around here, Midwest is Ore to Shore, Chequamegon, and Iceman. That's the Triple Crown. This year I won two. I didn't do Ore to Shore because I was at family's wedding. I try to always put family above what I do. I went to Chequamegon and that was the first, hey, okay we're on this, let's refocus. Three or four weeks before that I had taken a complete week off. Kind of like off season but just go do you. Drink, eat, don't ride your bike, if you want to go running, go running, you want to ride, go ride, but nothing. The mental state of an athlete is really, really big and I just knew it was going to be the same two and a half month slog into Iceman, just all in.
Trevor Gibney:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Alexey Vermeulen:
It's kind of the same thing where I was so, so focused but the funny thing is we got to Iceman this year and it wasn't that crazy, cluster, stressed Alexey. It was like I deserved to be there, right? I had not only trained hard but it wasn't that I couldn't do it. It was like, I can do this, I deserve this.
Sheldon Little:
And it's your home turf.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I'm not going to be content with second this year. That's how I raced that race, with my heart on my sleeve. I think it was also different just being me from Michigan, I was a target this year.
Sheldon Little:
Oh, absolutely.
Alexey Vermeulen:
That race is blurry to me. I remember knowing all the sections and literally not leaving the top five the entire race, did not leave the top five the entire race and mostly it was top three the entire race.
Sheldon Little:
When you started your breakaway the woods went nuts.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Oh, dude.
Sheldon Little:
They were announcing over the speakers. All of a sudden they're like, "Alexey, 25 second lead." This is, I don't know, you probably what, 5K out maybe at that point?
Alexey Vermeulen:
I was, yeah.
Sheldon Little:
I mean, you attacked pretty early. When they said that the woods got electric. They were just counting you off. Hearing the crowd when you first came up Ice Breaker, you could follow where you were through the woods.
Trevor Gibney:
Just by the sound, yeah.
Sheldon Little:
It was absolutely insane.
Alexey Vermeulen:
We came across Williamsburg, you guys raced or road also, that was the minute it turned from that soupy mud to sand, the Iceman that we know that last 10 miles. It was 20K to go, pretty much there. [inaudible 00:39:34] across Williamsburg everyone just kind of set up. I was like, well time to see how the legs feel, where's everyone sitting? Just threw it and just went. Russell Finsterwald came with me from CLIF Bar but he just sat there. I remember riding, knowing it was coming back but being like, yeah, you guys know what's up. I knew Russel didn't want to pull through. I knew he knew I was going to come back but I also felt like it was one of those things that just, no one's got the legs I do right now.
Sheldon Little:
You were hurting them.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. Not that, and I don't want to take away from my win, but it's the beginning of November. Everyone wants to win Iceman but I don't think they wanted to win it like I did. We got brought back, Kabush brought us back and maybe someone else, he's the one that brought it back in the end. It got out to maybe 10, 15 seconds maximum but on that right across Williamsburg it's like a straight two track. I wanted to be full Michigander so I didn't have any leg warmers on so I was warming the pistons up a little bit. You can't let the heart rate down or you're going to get cold, you've got to keep that. I remember then the whole race I was relaxed. The whole race I was chatting guys up. I could just tell they were kind of angry that I was just talking.
Sheldon Little:
This is the end of everyone else's season and this is the point of your season.
Alexey Vermeulen:
The point of my season, right? Still, it'll never not be the point of my season.
Sheldon Little:
That's amazing.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Then I had always, Geoff, Owen, Sean Kickbush, I always told everybody, "No one attacks up Anita's. That's the stupidest thing anyone would ever do." We got caught, I set up for a second, ate, drank. Matt Acker came to the front. As he passed he was kind of like, "Hey, I haven't done any work today." It almost felt like he was setting me up. I thanked him so much after. I mean, I just sat there second wheel while he just rode into Anita's. I stepped off of his wheel and I was just in bliss. I was like, okay, all in. I looked back, no one followed. I was like, okay, we're gone.
Trevor Gibney:
That's incredible.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Anita's is steep, [crosstalk 00:41:41] it's hard, but everyone goes hard that's the point. When I had a gap I was like, you idiots. I didn't expect it. I was expecting someone to be on my wheel and then have to deal with that.
Sheldon Little:
Yeah, they're all experienced enough. Why isn't someone chasing?
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. Idiots is mean, but you know what I mean.
Sheldon Little:
No, yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I was like, wait, what? Really?
Sheldon Little:
You just saw the mistake.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. It was immediately a gap.
Trevor Gibney:
And then capitalized.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah, but it's also you have your brain. I like, okay, all chips in, screw it, here we go. That was it. I remember just head down, and I think what people don't realize is, yeah you guys heard it at some point but there's 25 minutes from where I attacked to the finish.
Trevor Gibney:
Holy cow.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Right? You're alone. You don't have gaps. You can't see anybody. You're just passing people. It's interesting because it's so much of you trying to be yourself, trying to remember why you trained, trying to remember what you want. It's more of that self talk, reminding yourself you can do this. You trained for this, put it down, don't think, don't look back. The entire 25 minutes I maybe looked back three times, and just reminding myself that, this is what you trained for. I remember I came into Woodchip and someone said, "You have 25 seconds." I started bawling. Riding up the hill crying my eyes out because it was that minute-
Trevor Gibney:
That you-
Alexey Vermeulen:
For 12 kilometers I had no time, I was just riding all out, just everything I had into the bike. I was like, why am I crying? I kind of knew it but it was just overwhelming emotion for me. After I'm like, why were you crying Alexey, what the heck? But I'm a kid growing up in Michigan, and winning Iceman, and winning it in front of a home crowd, and winning it in front of people that really matter to you and care about you, it was unreal. Until Ice Breaker I was just crazy, couldn't take it in, overwhelmed. I hit Ice Breaker with everything I had just for the heck of it. Now I knew I have it, right?
Sheldon Little:
Yeah. Not only do you have the emotion of knowing this, but now the fans are, I mean you're encircled. All you can hear is everybody cheering. I almost feel like that's a sensory overload.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. It was, but it's also like-
Sheldon Little:
You're entire body hurts but you're probably the happiest you've ever been in your life. Then you can't hear anything because it's just so loud in that forest at that time.
Trevor Gibney:
You probably didn't even think about this, but as you're telling the story I feel like you're on kind of autopilot. I mean, you're telling yourself, okay I can do this, this is what I trained for. You're on autopilot. Then you got to the point where the emotion hit. Were you worried at all that you were going to lose it or did that actually help propel you further?
Sheldon Little:
Then I knew it. Then it was more, it was almost an issue because the whole race, for those of you that have done Iceman, if you're winning the pro race you're catching the amateurs finishing.
Trevor Gibney:
Oh, yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
That becomes a major-
Sheldon Little:
When you went by me there was someone to your right and they started to drift to the middle.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Sheldon Little:
You had to take that wide-
Alexey Vermeulen:
After Woodchip I was choked up. I couldn't yell anymore. The really important pinch point is going down into Ice Breaker, right? It becomes single track. All I wanted was daylight. I'm screaming with all I have, like I did not have my voice the next day, because that was the only thing that could actually take it away from me, I thought. It wasn't that it was going to take it away, but if they had a free ride, it was completely clear, and I didn't, you can lose a lot of time.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure.
Alexey Vermeulen:
But I was also like, 25 seconds is 25 seconds. A second is, in terms of bike racing it's a long time.
Trevor Gibney:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. I think I kind of knew honestly from the moment I attacked and I didn't see movement. I didn't know I'd won it but I knew at the end I would be happy. I had done the right thing and given everything I had.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
It just got better from there. It was so surreal. I was trying to tell myself, stop crying. The cameras are going to see you at the end. There so many pictures of me bawling my eyes out across the line. It was just so embarrassing but also I'll never feel like I did winning a race like that. I will never feel like that winning a race ever again, because you just can't. There's such a buildup to it. Finishing second last year, the work I put in last year and this year, it was surreal.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I didn't want to write the same thing to everybody but everybody that sent me a picture on Instagram, or texted me, or called me ... First off, I could not touch my phone for the next 24 hours. It was incredible because it's one thing when people who don't know you congratulate you, but when people that do know you, and know your person, what you've been through, and the trials you've experienced, that's emotional.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Seeing, there's a couple pictures with Dan Ellis' wife and one of my mechanic's wife, Emily [Kleinglass 00:47:50] we were bawling hugging each other after the race. All I was seeing was just horse blinders to all the people that had been there through me not being something, I guess. Yeah. It was surreal, I guess is the only thing. I just, I couldn't, that's all I could say was, "I can't believe it." For those that don't know, the Ice Trophy you win melts all night. Walking around with this thing I didn't realize I was going to be sore but I was more sore the next day in my arms than I was in my legs. It's like 50 pounds before it starts melting.
Sheldon Little:
Cyclists' arms aren't always known for-
Alexey Vermeulen:
No. It was so amazing. Oh, I still never truly knew that I could. Anything could take it away, right? Your bike can break in that mud. I was barely drinking my water. I was spraying it all on my cassette. I just wanted a couple gears. Anything can happen. You can be as fit as you want and then you crash in the beginning, or someone takes you out, and it's over. That's racing.
Sheldon Little:
[inaudible 00:49:02] goes into your spokes and your entire day's gone.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. Knowing that I had won the race once, I had won Iceman, I am an Iceman winner, and then for it to be the 30th year, and then so many things on top of so many things just, I'll never feel the way I felt ever again.
Trevor Gibney:
There was some great pictures of you right after. I remember one, I feel like you're just looking up.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
I loved that. I could sense your emotion in that picture.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. I think it's also, like I said, winning Iceman for anybody is big. Anyone can train hard, and anyone can do it, but growing up in Michigan and watching Iceman and not being able to do it because of cross country states. Then being able to do it but not really focusing on it. Then for a couple years focusing on it but not being a mountain biker. It's such a build and I think just being from Michigan was just so real. There's not many things I think in my life that are that just real, in your face, wow.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. Then everything, you go home and you shower. You come out and you're like, oh my god, it's there. The trophy's there.
Sheldon Little:
There's a puddle, but-
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah, but it lasted for like 40 hours.
Sheldon Little:
Holy [crosstalk 00:50:20]
Alexey Vermeulen:
It just melted. Oh, yeah. I kept it the entire, I drove home with it.
Trevor Gibney:
You drove home with it?
Alexey Vermeulen:
I was freezing in a winter coat. I had the AC on.
Trevor Gibney:
Seriously?
Alexey Vermeulen:
Oh yeah. I wanted it to come home. I can't believe none of us are sick. I think 1,000 people drank out of it that night.
Trevor Gibney:
Did it you put it in the sink or something? How does that-
Alexey Vermeulen:
No, they give you a box to carry it with because otherwise it will really just be a problem.
Trevor Gibney:
Did you ever weigh it? I wonder how much it weighs in its fullest-
Alexey Vermeulen:
No, I would guess 50 pounds but maybe 40.
Trevor Gibney:
Seriously?
Alexey Vermeulen:
Oh yeah, to start with. I mean, it's heavy. You're picking it up on the podium you're like, don't drop it, don't drop it, don't drop it. Then you have guys on either side chirping you like, "Don't drop it, don't drop it." Then you have them adding weight, pouring their beers in. You're like, okay don't drop it, now don't spill it. Even Steve Brown handing it to you, just the whole situation.
Trevor Gibney:
That's incredible.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Then not being able to leave because there's so many people you want to thank, and you want to hug, and you want to give part of this day to because it wasn't just me. Yeah, I trained hard but Seth spent hours on my bike. There's so many people that have been a part of this whether it was in the final weeks, or in the months, or in the years. It was so much, I guess. I've won things, and I've done things, and I've accomplished things in my life but it was the first time I felt like I was really able to give back to people that had done something for me.
Sheldon Little:
It's got to be amazing for them because they have something personally invested. They're not just some spectator that's like, oh he's our hometown favorite.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
But it is-
Sheldon Little:
They're like, my fingerprints are on that bike.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. I hated most of Michigan for the whole week before. "Hey man, you're going to win." "Stop saying that." I didn't hate them but it was just like, okay, I already have that in my mind I don't need you to tell me three times during the day.
Sheldon Little:
I can imagine you just stayed off Instagram, stayed off all social media.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I try, but I also wanted to be involved with everybody, right? I wanted to just ... Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
Can I change batteries real quick?
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah, cool.
Trevor Gibney:
I mean, I don't know how much time you have tonight but I just-
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. As long as, I mean you guys are going to have to edit this so I'm doing [inaudible 00:52:42]
Sheldon Little:
... through the whole time.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Is she the Slush Cup?
Sheldon Little:
No, she's 17?
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah, a little older.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Okay
Sheldon Little:
She was in Juniors but she was too old for Slush Cup. I was grabbing my bike from the bike corral and all of a sudden I see these two orange jerseys coming up. I'm like, oh those are Spin people. She's coming up. When you were talking about just the bawling, I mean she was just bawling and he was behind her just glowing. He's [inaudible 00:53:10] and she's coming through. It's that pain, it's that I'm so glad to be done, all these people are cheering. It's so funny. Someones very first event, their wave 40 or whatever, and then they have this similar emotion to crossing the finish line as the pro who won it.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Sheldon Little:
And it's just kind of funny, being there that day and being able to witness both ends of the spectrum having these almost similar responses to the finish.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure, yeah. That's the great thing about Iceman, too, is that the amateurs get to watch the pros finish. I think the model is pretty fantastic.
Sheldon Little:
Yeah. Their model for the way-
Trevor Gibney:
Except when you have to run into them when you're trying to finish.
Alexey Vermeulen:
No, it wasn't an issue. I just think that it's amazing that I can have an amazing day and she can have an amazing day. Everyone can enjoy Iceman and have a different story about it, but they still have a success.
Trevor Gibney:
Gus the dog just totally bit the microphone.
Sheldon Little:
Gus wants his own interview.
Trevor Gibney:
Is that working?
Sheldon Little:
I think it's good.
Alexey Vermeulen:
There we go.
Trevor Gibney:
Tell us about Gus here.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I got a little puppy in my hand. He's nine weeks old. He's teething. My arm hurts. My parents chose him over me during the Iceman weekend. It was kind of a funny story. They decide they were going to get a dog. I heard, I couldn't believe it. Then all of a sudden I heard they were going to go fly to get the dog. Then I heard they were going to go fly to get the dog on November 2nd. Then put two and two together and I realized what that meant. They flew to Iowa to pick up our dog Gus, now. They were driving 12 hours back and watching in the car. He was sleeping in my mom's arms. They were watching the live stream. I ended up winning the race so now the dog's name is Gus Iceman Vermeulen. I don't know if dogs really have middle names but he does.
Sheldon Little:
I doubt he was still asleep after you won.
Alexey Vermeulen:
No, and he ate part of the ice trophy so he's officially in the club.
Sheldon Little:
Oh, yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. It's just funny how things work out. Pressured, Alexey was happy his parents weren't there, and then it worked out perfectly.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure.
Alexey Vermeulen:
But I'm sure they wished they had been there, but it's just kind of a-
Trevor Gibney:
Well, now you have this adorable dog.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Well, now I have a dog.
Sheldon Little:
Now you have a new spectator for 2020.
Alexey Vermeulen:
That's true, that's true.
Trevor Gibney:
You mentioned a lot about Michigan, being from Michigan. What our focus is, is just talking about Michigan.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
You chose to come back to Michigan. You are based out of Michigan. I mean, that was a conscious choice of yours. Is it more of a choice to come home and train from home or was it now you want to base yourself here in Michigan and get the most out of Michigan, or give back to Michigan?
Alexey Vermeulen:
I think it's the final one. I mean, it's hard for me to say that, say I want to give back and then also be a pro athlete were you need things. You need to take to give back, in a way.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Gus is gone.
Sheldon Little:
Oh, there goes Gus.
Alexey Vermeulen:
He's going to go by Nicole.
Trevor Gibney:
He's tired of this conversation.
Sheldon Little:
Oh, he sees the camera.
Alexey Vermeulen:
But yeah, that's my goal. I mean, my main goal is obviously there's a lot of bike companies and things that aren't from Michigan but my main goal is to work with companies from Michigan. Just being able to be a part of community, and the people that gave to me in the beginning before I was doing anything real in mountain biking or road riding, it's just my chance to give back.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Being able to work with any Michigan company not only do I feel like I care more and possibly they care more, but I can be more impactful. It's hard to really put into words, but I think that's my goal and the beauty of moving from the road to the mountain is I'm in control of all of that. Being able to really be, this is cliched if you're from Michigan, but really be pure Michigan.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure, yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Really be a part of it and try to experience different races around. A part of me wants to do Lumberjack. Time will tell if I actually do it, but things like that. I want to experience the different races and be a part of different things that are Michigan.
Sheldon Little:
I'm surprised, has Todd been knocking on your door about Marji?
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah, come on, Marji Gesick man.
Alexey Vermeulen:
No one has.
Trevor Gibney:
Really?
Sheldon Little:
Oh, Todd.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Which is fine.
Trevor Gibney:
We should throw it down right now.
Alexey Vermeulen:
But that's also fine because it's also funny that most people I'll ride with, they won't ... I don't know. It's funny to be back. My reputation doesn't precede me when I'm back which is kind of fun. You'll have guys telling you what they're doing and what their goals are. You're like, cool.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah. You're able to be-
Alexey Vermeulen:
Oh, I try, because I don't like people be like, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Not that everyone does that, but I also want to hear their story. If a lot of times they know who I am I don't always get to hear that, the genuine what are you doing? What are you in it for?
Trevor Gibney:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Alexey Vermeulen:
I don't know. That's my goal is to continue making this my job but also be able to be a part of things that are Michigan, possibly Marji and possibly Lumberjack.
Trevor Gibney:
Well, you've already started in a way with the Alexey kid ride, Alexey's kids, Alexey and the kids?
Alexey Vermeulen:
It's a work in progress, the first year.
Trevor Gibney:
Okay, yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
That was the least of our issues.
Trevor Gibney:
Still, we might need a branding-
Alexey Vermeulen:
It's a very fluid title right now.
Trevor Gibney:
I mean, you already started there with just getting children excited about cycling and grassroots starting to get a community going. I think that in itself is giving back. What about female cycling? You mentioned Katerina and that's on the pro level, but where do you see that, where are there places that we can encourage that in Michigan?
Alexey Vermeulen:
It's really hard for me to even compare myself to even just Juniors who've grown up and have made it to a place that, I made it, wasn't lucky but I went through the system very easily. I had the best of the best. It wasn't that I didn't work hard, but there's always other guys who can get injured or something happens. I always try to take myself outside and look in. It's hard for me to do for female cycling because I feel like cycling's already a hard sport.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Without even going to deep, it's definitely harder for females.
Trevor Gibney:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Alexey Vermeulen:
One of the coolest things was that the kids ride wasn't mostly males. Right now it's really cool to see that there is a mix. Hopefully there's girls who were just as excited as the guys were. That's why I wanted Katerina to be there. I wanted someone, and I don't know a lot of the female pros either, but I met Katerina and she's just one of the coolest people.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Take away gender from it, just freaking awesome to hang out with, cool athlete. That's not mentioning she's an Olympian in winter and summer. That she's leading the Cyclocross World Cup, that she's 10 times better than me, and Geoff, and Brian, and any other pro you want to mention in the men's race. I wanted everyone to be a part of it, right? I don't know that from a male's perspective it's easy for me to set or be an example. I can try to be an example for girls coming up, but it's hard for me because I had not a silver spoon, but I had it easily.
Trevor Gibney:
I understand, yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
There wasn't a women's BMC development team. There wasn't those pathways and helping hands to reach down and pull up. That's the goal is if the kids ride continues is just continue it being a deal of getting people to enjoy riding bikes together than it is to like, hey this is a race. That's what it was, it was just beautiful. We didn't talk much about the kids ride but it was chaotic. There was nothing that went well on that kids ride. Overall it was great, but there was nothing that went great during it.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah. I'm not surprised about that.
Alexey Vermeulen:
No, of course, okay. But I'd spent like-
Trevor Gibney:
You had 65 kids and there's four of you watching them.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I pride myself in planning everything. I make lists every day. I have lists, on lists, on lists. I had people, and we made signs, and we planned. It was just chaos.
Sheldon Little:
As you have kids flying in the woods.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Well, yeah. Yeah, it just started with I had a friend setting up because I was doing an interview with CBS. He's trying to pound these signs in and his tire's going flat, and he loses his hammer. He calls his other friend to come pound signs in. His friend recruits you guys. I didn't know where the lab was because I'd never seen it, and I'm doing interviews. It just grew and then some kids made some tumbles, but it was amazing.
Alexey Vermeulen:
In the end there's all these pros sitting up on stage who honestly, at that point, could care less about their race tomorrow. I think that was the beauty of it, is that each of us are very different. At that point I was the only one who hadn't won the race on stage. Everyone else had won it at least twice.
Sheldon Little:
Oh, wow.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I think that is also telling because what you do as a pro is you go and you sleep. You pre-ride and you go to bed. You focus on the race. We were talking less than 24 hours before the race, because the kids ride started at 3:00 and the pro ride started at 2:30 on Saturday. These pros are out riding, standing on their feet, and being a part of something that doesn't have their name on it, and they don't have to be there.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
It was an impact on the kids because me as a kid didn't just want to ride with one person. I wanted to experience what it was to be a pro. You can't see that from one viewpoint.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
For a girl to possibly see it from Brian Matter's viewpoint, and then see it from Katerina's viewpoint, and then my viewpoint, I think that's what gets kids excited and into the sport. I think it starts low, is I guess my point.
Trevor Gibney:
Sure, very simply making these opportunities for any kid to get involved, and giving them the opportunity to see-
Alexey Vermeulen:
I can ride out here with-
Trevor Gibney:
... I can ride out here, I can meet these pros, I can meet female pros, male pros, and ride, talk about my spirit animal, all these different things.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
No, that's incredible. What does next year look like for you, next season?
Alexey Vermeulen:
More of the same. I think we were talking a little bit off mic but my move to controlling my career was that I really wanted to work with companies, I wanted to make an impact. I think the beauty of me doing well is that nothing changed. I'm still with Bianchi, I'm still with Shimano, I'm still with companies that want to be a part of it. The cool part about that also is my reach got a little bigger in Michigan. I get to work with a couple Michigan companies, can't announce those yet but it's exciting to have people who are ... I'll just preface it by, they reached out to me.
Trevor Gibney:
Okay, cool.
Alexey Vermeulen:
That's just incredible, right? They're, honestly, this is possibly getting a little bit too much into contractual stuff, but they're not asking for much. They want to be a part of the journey.
Trevor Gibney:
Perfect.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. Just seeing them be involved, then that just motivates me to be further involved in kids rids or other things that motivate more of the sport. I don't know. There's so many ways we can take it but I think it all just starts with people enjoying riding bikes. Racing's the end of it. Yes, it feels great to stand on a podium, feels great to win, but today I've been on my off season for two and a half weeks, I've pretty much eaten candy and drinking beer for two and a half weeks, honestly. I've eaten more candy than any of you think is possible. Today I went out and rode in the crappiest, muddiest conditions. Covered in mud.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah, your bike was pretty muddy when you pulled up.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Here, I'm going to show them a picture so you can get their reaction. I mean, the point where-
Trevor Gibney:
Oh my god.
Alexey Vermeulen:
... your jersey is never the same again.
Sheldon Little:
Let me put it this way, he was cleaner after Mudman 2019 than he was today.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Oh, I think it's like, I got out there and I didn't want to go home. I didn't want to stop riding my bike. My teeth were gritty, I couldn't feel anything, but I think the love of the sport comes from really, truly enjoying what you're doing. The more kids that have a passion for cycling, whether it becomes their job or they just do it for fun, that's where the sport is. That's why gravel's growing, that's why mountain biking is growing, because it allows you to share it with somebody, and be a part of something on the weekends, or go to a Thanksgiving ride.
Trevor Gibney:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Alexey Vermeulen:
That's where I think, that's the cool part. There's nothing I'll ever cherish more than, even when I was in the World Tour coming home and doing a group ride with friends. Great, they're not as strong. Great, it's colder. Great, it's gray, but it's home, and it's the people that I want to ride with, and talk to, and be a part of something with. Yeah. I think that was the element of Iceman, it was like yeah, it was a race, but that's how I felt. I felt like I was in this massive hug at the end of Iceman. That's cycling to me. That's what it's been for me. It's been a massive family. At times a very small family, it's a very small sport.
Alexey Vermeulen:
It's just funny because I remember growing up, it just feels forever ago now, but just every little level you meet somebody, you see somebody, and maybe you don't talk to them that much or maybe you do, but they come back into your life. The director of Iceman actually wrote me before the kids ride, because I was more nervous about the kids ride than my own race. To be fair, it was the right reason to be nervous. I finish and he goes, "I can only hope that this is the first 30 years of the kids ride." That was surreal, goosebumps. Being a part of something that is more than you is all I can ever hope to be.
Trevor Gibney:
I think we're at a pretty good spot to just, I mean this is a great spot to just let it be.
Alexey Vermeulen:
No, that's awesome.
Sheldon Little:
I love it.
Trevor Gibney:
We could, yeah. Alexey, one, thank you for allowing us to chat with you. Thank you for taking Michigan seriously and winning Iceman this year.
Alexey Vermeulen:
I think Michigan took me seriously.
Trevor Gibney:
Well, it was a gift to you and it was a gift to all of us. It was incredible. An incredible race and I'm excited for your season this coming year.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Start thinking about Iceman 2020 right now.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Sheldon Little:
Oh yeah. Oh, as soon as I was done I was like, this was my first iceman ever and I was just like, I can't believe I never did this event before.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah, you grew up in Michigan.
Sheldon Little:
Yeah.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah, nothing like 5,000 people on bikes.
Sheldon Little:
It's insane.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Nicole.
Nicole:
Yeah.
Sheldon Little:
Absolutely insane.
Trevor Gibney:
Anything you want to add to the conversation?
Nicole:
No. Well, I mean, not on mic.
Trevor Gibney:
That's fine, just ...
Alexey Vermeulen:
Come on in.
Nicole:
No. I do actually want to say, I'm super impressed with what you had to say today. It was really nice to meet you and get to know you.
Alexey Vermeulen:
She said she hates me, and she said time was a waste. She can't believe she drove an hour out to my house in the middle of Michigan, in snow, mist. I put her by the weights in the workout room. No, thank you.
Nicole:
Stuck me in the sauna.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah. You can thank my parents.
Nicole:
I felt a little bit [crosstalk 01:10:06]
Trevor Gibney:
Oh yeah, let's talk about this, there's a sauna next to it. You're just a normal Michigan kid that has a sauna in his basement.
Sheldon Little:
See, now you have to go to Marji. That's the most UP thing ever.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Oh, you go play five hours of hockey on the lake, you come into the sauna, you go play five hours of hockey. That's all I do in the winter. I barely ride my bike.
Sheldon Little:
We now know the secret to Iceman.
Trevor Gibney:
Thank you, Alexey, this was awesome.
Alexey Vermeulen:
Yeah, thanks a lot guys.
Sheldon Little:
Alexey, this was fantastic.
Trevor Gibney:
Sheldon, how much did Alexey deliver on the interview, man?
Sheldon Little:
Well, I think we just lost our podcast to our interviewee.
Trevor Gibney:
I mean, this makes me a little upset, not only is he a pro, he wins Iceman, but he was fantastic. He was better than us.
Sheldon Little:
This was our 13th episode and we just got dethroned.
Trevor Gibney:
Yes, absolutely. That's okay. We'll gladly hand it over.
Sheldon Little:
Your new host, Alexey Vermeulen.
Trevor Gibney:
Seriously, thank you Alexey for being so gracious with your time, sitting down with us, and just giving us such an honest and-
Sheldon Little:
Personal.
Trevor Gibney:
... personal account of your life as a cyclist.
Sheldon Little:
It was absolutely amazing. Hopefully we'll be able to get you on a few times next year maybe, as your season develops.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah, certainly.
Sheldon Little:
I got nothing else.
Trevor Gibney:
I mean, what else can you say?
Sheldon Little:
Yeah.
Trevor Gibney:
Before we go, Sheldon, I just think we need to thank all the listeners, all of you who have stuck with us for the past few weeks and just been so encouraging and supportive with your comments and your feedback.
Sheldon Little:
Yeah. Your listenership has enabled us to continue this project of ours, the Dirty Chain, interviewing those that are novices to the sport, into racing, all the way up to those that are racing in the pro circuit.
Trevor Gibney:
Yeah.
Sheldon Little:
We can't say thank you enough. It really does mean a lot to us.
Trevor Gibney:
The Dirty Chain Podcast is a Michigan Midpack Media production.
Sheldon Little:
Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook @DirtyChainPodcast. Email DirtyChainPodcast@gmail.com.
Trevor Gibney:
Call our hotline, 616-522-2641.
Sheldon Little:
Audio editing and original music by Trevor Gibney.
Trevor Gibney:
Sheldon Little handles the social media, graphic design, and bad decisions. Whether you just won your first Iceman, or your spirit animal's a wolf, keep your chain clean ...
Sheldon Little:
But get your chain dirty.
Trevor Gibney:
See you in the midpack. (singing)
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