Andrew Hood of Velonews recently caught up with Johnny GoFast’s Cross Bike. In a lengthy discussion regarding everything from having Johnny GoFast as an owner, other bikes in the peloton, and the future, Johnny’s bike was very candid and outspoken on many topics. I’ve interviewed Johnny himself on many occasions so I wasn’t that surprised to find that his bike was equally as spirited. Below is a brief excerpt from that interview. The full interview will be available in the next issue of VeloNews due out in November.


VN: How long have you been under Johnny and what have been some of the things that you have enjoyed the most.

J’sCxB: I’ve been with Johnny for about three years now. Prior to that, I was ridden by Steve Ouzounian. There were many advantages to being ridden by Oz, but I have to say, it’s been really great to be partnered with Johnny. No doubt, Johnny enjoys riding me the most. He gets better results on the mountain bike and he definitely rides his road bike the most, but nothing makes him as happy as riding me. We do a lot of rides in the Open Space near Walnut Creek and it really is pretty great.

VN: You failed to mention the Single Speed that Johnny speaks of so highly.

J’sCxB: None of us really take that bike seriously. It rarely goes out and when it does, it just gets racked and ignored.

VN: How much time does Johnny spend tending to your needs? In other words, how much wrenching does he do on you to make sure you are in top performing order?

J’sCxB: He definitely spends most of his wrenching time on me as compared to his other bikes. But then again, I think he is the most abusive on me as well. The road bike doesn’t have to consistently take the same beating as I do and the mountain bike really only gets raced. The mountain bike racing season is really when Johnny is the lightest during the year so it’s easier on him than it is on me.

VN: That’s interesting. You recently wrote into Johnny’s blog complaining about the extra weight Johnny carries this time of year. Do you two fight about his girth?

J’sCxB: I wish that didn’t get aired. We had just come off of a really bad weekend where one of my parts let go. We were both really upset with our relative performance and there was a lot of finger pointing going on. I should have never written that letter. But now that it’s out, it’s important that everyone knows that I wouldn’t want anyone other than Johnny racing me. I know he struggles with his weight and the last thing he needs is me to give him shit for it.

VN: Obviously you have heroes. Can you name a few?

J’sCxB: Well I think every bike that works for a bigger rider has a crush on Magnus Backstedt’s bike. It’s really earned a tremendous amount of respect especially his Paris Roubaix bike. But like Johnny, I don’t really go for all the pro stuff because I have my suspicions regarding whether those bikes are doped or not. Closer to home, I have a lot of respect for some of the bigger local rider’s bikes. I get a chance to talk to Morgan Fletcher’s bike quite a bit. If you know Morgan, you know that his bike takes a beating week in/week out and does so admirably. It’s obvious that Morgan is a much better wrench than Johnny and even dresses up his bike with fancy things like tubulars and carbon wheels, but Morgan’s bike is really down to earth. We talk about things that we can do to lessen the blow on a remount or little squeaks we can make to get our riders to ease up a little. I’ve picked up a ton of little tricks from Morgan’s bike and it’s really helped me continue in the sport.

VN: There’s been some discussion that Johnny may be getting ready to purchase a new cross bike for next year. Thoughts?

J’sCxB: I think all of us bikes know that we have a very short window of time to be appreciated. We’re lucky to have Johnny as an owner as he tends to ride us longer than some of the other racers in the area ride their bikes. No doubt my parts are starting to get fatigued. I wish I could alert him sooner to some of the things that need to be replaced, but he’s somewhat slow to recognize my signals and by then it’s too late. I’m hoping that he’ll just overhaul my parts but if not, I’m hoping that I will get to stick around as a back-up bike or rain bike. I can’t imagine going somewhere else and having someone else ride me, but sometimes it is what it is.


Anyway, hope you are well and we'll see you out there this weekend.

Johnny GoFast