Gonzalez launched the CRC Janitorial cycling team four years ago and has watched it grow along with his janitorial company. This year, the team started taking on elite junior riders to train and send to races around the region.
“I’m putting all my energy into the team, and I’m excited to get junior riders this year and mentor them with whatever knowledge I have from my pro career,” Gonzalez said. “The team is a way for me to give back to the community. Now, I’m trying to do something with more meaning for younger riders.”
Gonzalez has teamed up with Richard Stanley and Caleb Thomson as well as a myriad of sponsors to provide quality training and equipment to the team that now features four of Durango’s top high school cyclists in Keiran Eagen, Katja Freeburn, Lucas Robbins and Camryn Sippy.
“To come from local development teams and move onto this where we get some more support and mentorship from guys like Rolando and Caleb, it’s great,” said Eagen, a junior at Animas High School. “I’ve been racing since I was in sixth grade and have a few years under my belt, but these guys are giving me great lessons on things I’ve never seen before.”
Thomson admitted there was some early tension in sharing some riders with the wildly popular Durango DEVO program but said the animosity has cooled in recent months.
“The process has been stressful in the big cycling community in Durango,” Thomson said. “There was some drama taking talented kids from the DEVO program, but it is a great next stepping stone for kids.”
Sippy, daughter of Iron Horse Bicycle Classic Race Director Gaige Sippy, said she has enjoyed the increased focus on race training and nutrition during her time with CRC Janitorial.
“This team is helpful in realizing we want to race and train the same way now as we are going to need to later in life,” she said. “They are helping us with those goals.”
Freeburn said it is a huge benefit to be surrounded by successful cyclists. Thomson raced professionally for 15 years, and Gonzalez is a former member of the Costa Rican national team.
The aspect the riders enjoy most is the sense of camaraderie.
“Rolando tries to get everybody to come together,” Eagen said. “It’s so important for us juniors. We’re not just a team, we are all friends here, and we’re going to work together because we have one common goal.”
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