Born in Las Vegas, moving to Reno before studying in Davis, California, Jeff now lives in Zürich, Switzerland working as a software engineer for Google.
Afraid of the hills in his adopted country of Switzerland, he didn’t ride for almost three years and took up running to burn calories in the meantime.
He said that when he first got a power meter, it was to tell more accurately how much extra pizza he could eat after a ride, something here at FulGaz HQ we stronger endorse.
Favourite style of riding?
Moderately hard efforts going up big climbs. Anything with an incline of at least 7% and an elevation gain of at least 400 meters is great. Even though my body type definitely says “sprinter”.
What’s your favourite ride to do in the real world?
Ooooh, that’s a hard one. Obviously the local stuff is my most ridden. But in terms of rides that I would most likely drop whatever I’m doing, or travel out of my way to go back and do again, I would say:
Sphakia and Kalikratis, Island of Crete, Greece. Pristine asphalt, gorgeous sea views, and enough climbing to earn your afternoon (and night-time) pita.
Bay Area coastal classic (Page Mill from Palo Alto, Pescadero, Stage Road, San Gregorio, Tunitas Creek, descend via Kings)
Sella Ronda clockwise from Corvara in Alta Badia
Favourite FulGaz ride and why?
Probably Stelvio from Val Müstair via Umbrail, because it’s long enough that I can do a 1.5 hour interval session and not run out of climb! = )
How did you get into filming rides for FulGaz?
As an American who did not grow up cycling (neither watching or participating), when someone says “mountains in Europe”, the first thing you tend to think of is the Swiss Alps.
Obviously for American cyclists, you would instead think of the French or Italian Alps, or maybe the Dolomites, first.
So when I got into FulGaz after moving to Switzerland, I was really surprised that none of the big, popular passes used by the Alpenbrevet race series were on it. I think the only real Swiss pass was Klausen from Altdorf. And don’t get me wrong, it’s great, but there are so many more. So I decided that I’d take the opportunity to try to put a few on FulGaz. Then I also figured that my local area, Zürich, actually has tons of really nice and varied riding around it.
My wife and I also go back to visit her parents in her hometown of Kalamata quite often, and we consider it to be a hidden gem for cycling.
You can ride flat, you can ride bumpy, you can ride up a 1500 m pass starting three minutes from her parents’ front door. And all on quiet roads with cars that, this might surprise some, are super respectful to cyclists.
So I also figured it’d be really nice to show the world what her hometown is like (Actually, I’m here right now and while the internet is a bit too slow to upload 200 GB of video files, I have a trove of new rides to contribute as soon as I get back to Zürich and a super-fast pipe.)
Favourite cycling memory?
My wife and I, the day before the official race, did a modified version of the Maratona dles Dolomites medium course. Gorgeous route and perfect weather. Close second would be a random day I snuck away with work colleagues to ride the Furka-Nüfenen-Gotthard passes loop from Andermatt.
