Exergy's Quinn Keogh takes his Felt F1 through a turn.
(Photo: Velo Images)

Name: Quinn Keogh
Team: Team Exergy

Age: 26

Hometown: Eugene, Oregon

The bike: Our road bikes are Felt F1 frames with Easton EC90SL forks, and our time-trial bikes are the Felt B2 Pro. The F1s are very stiff and incredibly light. At a frame weight of 790 grams for my 54cm, and a tapered steerer on the Easton fork, it really is the stiffest and lightest bike I’ve ridden. We are also on stiff wheels, so the bike handles like it’s on rails. I judge race bikes on how confident they are cornering, and this bike is great. We have an arsenal of Williams wheels for every condition. We will primarily be racing on 58mm carbon tubular wheels with Kenda Volare tires, but we have plenty of the 38mm depth wheels to go around for crazy windy days or big mountain stages. The shifters and derailleurs are Micro Shift. Most people haven’t heard of the brand, but so far the shifting is smooth and responsive.

The gear: The Team Exergy kit is made by Castelli-US. Visually, it is a sharp-looking kit, and more importantly, its materials are superb. The Aero jersey is probably my favorite garment so far. I’m really pumped about our Bont Shoes. I geek out on weight sometimes and was thus pleased to weigh my shoe at 255 grams—that is 25-percent lighter than my second lightest shoes! I have weird feet, so the heat molding allows them to fit properly.

Diagnosed with cancer: Two years ago, when I was 24, I discovered a lump in my left testicle and had to have it removed. Prior to finding the lump, I had been following a plan to be a professional bike racer and everything was going well enough. I had just returned from 10 weeks of Belgian cyclocross racing. The months after surgery were very hard. Beyond recuperating physically, I also had a lot of self-doubt and depression. I was broke, uninsured and not sure how bad things were going to get. The followup tests in June showed no sign of other tumors, but we were still discussing aggressive followup treatment.

I was lucky that Portland was then home to a leading research physician on testicular cancer: Craig Nichols. He had worked with Lance and is very knowledgeable about my exact cancer, so having his opinion gave me a lot of confidence that whatever we did would be the best decision. His plan was for close observation rather than radiation or chemo. So far it has been great. My chance of reoccurrence is very low at this point, but I still get frequent blood tests and imaging. During recovery from surgery, I was riding lightly to get around—and for my own sanity. For a very active person, being bedridden is truly depressing. So when the surgeon gave me the OK to race, I did. I knew before I even started that I wanted to race more than ever before.

I was still weak, but I was just elated to be on the wheels again. Fortunately, Oregon has the best cycling community anywhere, and I was able to find a cheap living situation with people who understood racing and what I was going through. In the 2010 season I got to ride for the Rubicon-Orbea team, which has strong ties to Livestrong; I got to do hospital visits and such, which I enjoyed. Overall, getting cancer clarified my life. It allowed me to feel good about following my cycling dreams, and it inspired me to help other people who face hardship. Oddly, Team Exergy didn’t know about my cancer experience; they signed me for my riding ability. But I hope my experience can help other people see the bright side of overcoming illness through the medium of racing.

Some advice: I think too often people show up to an event already tired from training too hard and get discouraged because they have a bad performance. If you never give yourself a fair chance by resting for an event, you will never know your full potential. Patience is important in the same way; people expect to see rapid improvement, and that generally doesn’t happen. It takes persistence, patience and smart training habits to get the most out of yourself.