RAAM 2016 will bring another new face to the team. Preparing for such a time commitment can be tough to get the right number of cyclists and crew. Maybe things happen in life that affect the amount of time people can get away from work, school or other commitments. We are pleased however that after originally being considered to crew, Kaleb Naegeli will be riding his bike instead of navigating from a car.
Kaleb will be joining his father, Markus Naegeli, on Team Vampire this year to tackle those night rides. Kaleb is currently a member of the Duke Cycling Team where he attends as a graduate student working on his Ph.D. in Molecular Cancer Biology.
Kaleb would say that being exposed to cycling by his father throughout his childhood played a hand in his interest to pursue the sport in college. He started by becoming involved with the Little 500 at Indiana University his freshman year of undergrad. His father Markus has been on the Gears twice already and will return to ride with his son for 2016. Kaleb said about his dad's previous RAAM rides, "His experience was so great and so positive that I hoped to join the team as a crew member for 2016." Thankfully though a spot opened up on the cycling side of the journey and Kaleb was there to fill it.
Kaleb has been in constant training since he currently rides with his collegiate team at Duke. They even placed second in the Doughman recently in Durham, NC. This event consists of eating local foods and biking, running and/or swimming. Don't worry Kaleb we won't make you shove food in your mouth to complete the RAAM race. Although you may want to do that yourself just to keep up the energy.
Though Kaleb isn't directly impacted by MS, he does have an interest in study it from the research side of things. He also wants to help spread awareness and help raise funds by participating with Gears 2 a Cure in RAAM 2016.
If you would like to help support MS by donating to Kaleb click here!
'You don't have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great.' Zig Zagler
Kaleb has been in constant training since he currently rides with his collegiate team at Duke. They even placed second in the Doughman recently in Durham, NC. This event consists of eating local foods and biking, running and/or swimming. Don't worry Kaleb we won't make you shove food in your mouth to complete the RAAM race. Although you may want to do that yourself just to keep up the energy.
Though Kaleb isn't directly impacted by MS, he does have an interest in study it from the research side of things. He also wants to help spread awareness and help raise funds by participating with Gears 2 a Cure in RAAM 2016.
If you would like to help support MS by donating to Kaleb click here!
'You don't have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great.' Zig Zagler