Random AG Mike Egan
Mike Egan lives just outside of Philadelphia, PA and he is this week's random age grouper. The man known as Eganski has been racing mostly on the road the last few years but hopes to hit the tri scene hard again this year.
Slowtwitch: Thank you for your time Mike and we are glad to feature you in our random interview series.
Mike: It is my pleasure Herbert. I’m interested to see how my interview turns out, because on one hand there’s nothing more you should know, but on the other I have all of these food ‘likes and dislikes’ I feel compelled to share!
ST: We'll get on that later but as you may know, we are curious about nicknames and we'd like to find out where Eganski came from.
Mike: One of my best friends is from Belarus. The day I met him, my freshman year in college, I joked that I spoke Russian. I did so by ending every word with the suffix ‘ski,’ he called me ‘Eganski’ and a lifelong bond and username was born.
ST: Does anyone still call you by that name or is it limited to being a username?
Mike: Some people do refer to me as Eganski but my friends just call me Mike, Michael, or Snake.
ST: How is life outside of Philly?
Mike: Living and training here is highly underrated, I love it. There is a great group ride every weekend in the winter, and then come spring/summer there is the Drive’s Ride and the Great Valley training crit. I have a great group of guys to train with through my LBS, Cadence Cycling and Multisport in Manayunk, and in my experience, the motorists here a very friendly. They’re always honking at you to say hello or waving at you to tell you that “you’re number 1” or making sure you can draft off them by passing by you only a few inches away. Philadelphia is Greek for “The City of Cycling Love” and it shows. I’m just teasing, this is a great city and as long as you respect the rules of the road, the motorists reciprocate.
ST: Your family used to live in Alaska, do you remember much of that experience?
Mike: My dad worked on the pipeline with Atlantic Richfield, so I have no memory of my first experience in Alaska–being born there! We moved back when I was just starting 5th grade. It was during this time that I began what has turned out to be a lifelong struggle with an unusual medical condition (Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma) and even then, it never seemed to affect them. I often wonder how many nights they struggled with being in Alaska and having a sick kid, but we got through it and moved on. My sister and I are both resilient, and Alaska is perfect when you are 10 years old and once I put the medical issue behind me, life was amazing. I would ski with friends every weekend in the winter, and spend all day playing outside in the summer. It would be 60-70 degrees in Anchorage all summer long, there was no crime or fear for safety, and the sun stayed out until 10 or 11. Looking back, I really loved it there but I wonder how difficult it was for my mom. She’s amazing, we moved a lot and we never saw it affect my parents, who were always looking to protect us. It was the move to Philadelphia when I was starting High School that really felt ‘traumatic.’ You go from mountains and lakes to the concrete jungle of Center City Philadelphia, where I went to High School, and it’s a wake-up call.
ST: We know you have been dealing with injuries for quite some time now. How frustrating is it when it just does not seem to end?
Mike: This interview is depressing – I need Tigerchick to send me some hugs. I started this sport in 2003 and missed time in 2005 due to surgery and treatment of the lymphoma. I had an injury-free 2006 and 2007, but at the end of 2007 I herniated a disc in my back (L5-S1) and I haven’t been the same since. I struggled with compensatory issues starting at the end of 2008 and stopped triathlon completely at the end of 2009 when I couldn’t run off the bike. I love this sport, and after 2 years away, I felt the itch to return to racing and finally deal with my hip injuries. The doctors have “narrowed” it down to SI Joint Dysfunction, Piriformis Syndrome, and a possible torn labrum.
ST: But there is light at the end of the tunnel?
Mike: I think that I like many who deal with chronic injury, dream of training and competing ‘pain free’ someday. It’s no secret that this sport can beat you up a bit, and I wonder if that is just a pipe dream. I don’t want to make compromises to compete at less than my best, so an honest assessment at this point is that I may not race triathlon again. Which is a shame for me personally, but I’ve always had a good perspective and it is just triathlon.
ST: We could not help noticing that scar, would you tell us how it came to be?
Mike: Yes, the scar is from the same type of surgery used for lung transplants. For me it was to remove a tumor behind my sternum. 12 weeks later I raced Ironman Florida with a guy that had a double lung transplant, so we compared scars.
ST: So Tour of Battenkill is on the schedule, is that the bike racing highlight?
Mike: It is a target race, but “age-group” bike racing is not like triathlon. Triathlon is the only sport, other than the U.S Open in golf, where you can dream of participating in a race and actually go out and make it happen! Even races outside of Kona, like St. Croix or Roth, are races that I fantasize about. So from that point of view, calling Battenkill a “highlight” is a stretch as to me, there are no bike races that I am passionate about. I raced Battenkill last year and finished 9th in the Cat3 race but after the race, and all bike races really, I just didn’t have that visceral feeling of accomplishment like I do after finishing a tri. While the results in tri are honest and pure-I put out my best effort and got my best result-in bike races there are tactics involved and while many bike racers love that component, I’ve always enjoyed sports where the best man wins.
ST: Do the guys you ride with on the road know that you have a thing for triathlon, and do they respect that or are you getting mocked?
Mike: We’ve all seen “The Rules” that Fleck likes to link when he isn’t questioning the racing motives of a n00b or wondering why triathletes put so much junk on their bikes, and I follow those rules. My coach, Brian Walton, is a former pro cyclist and has all the confidence that comes with that, but is also Canadian so deals with a competing feeling of inferiority and the insecurity that comes along with that. So how that manifests itself with me is that he does like to bust my chops with “Oh, he’s a triathlete” whenever I overcook a corner, or drop the group during warm-up, or show up to a group ride with my TT bike. Lance Armstrong (there, I said his name) is helping to bridge the gap between the two sports but I think he’s also done a disservice by making it look so easy, though that isn’t his fault so much as an indictment of our pros. The guys I compete with don’t respect triathlon, but as cyclists who inherently take themselves too seriously, they don’t respect anything. Cycling is a dog-eat-dog sport, those guys don’t care if you’re their mother or you’re a triathlete, they want to tear your heart out. Cyclists reading this are nodding knowingly, but that just isn’t me.
ST: If your running legs find you well again, what is a realistic goal for Eagleman and Vineman?
Mike: Realistic? Triathletes don’t hang out in the realm of the “real”! One of my favorite reality distortion themes on Slowtwitch is the “I swam 1:50 at Lake Placid last year but am swimming Masters twice a week and am looking to swim around an hour, where should I seed myself?” But honestly, if I’m on the start line at Eagleman and Vineman, it means that I’m healthy enough to compete. I’m a strong swim-biker, which is triathlete for “weak runner.” I’d love to qualify for Vegas if for no other reason than to go to Vegas, but if I’m racing then I’ll take any result as long as I’m not forced to limp home. Slowtwitcher Carl Spackler has extended an invitation to my wife and I to stay at his place for Vineman, so if I’m racing it means we’ve finally met, and I love meeting Slowtwichers. I smacked “Carl” around at Coeur d’Alene in 2007 so bad that he quit the sport and left to begin what has turned out to be a mediocre career as a “World Class, National Champion Masters Cyclist,” or as I call it, the tallest midget in the circus. Just kidding Carl.
ST: Talking about slowtwitch, how long have you been on the site?
Mike: I joined at the very end of 2003. I was shocked because the same week I joined, Lisa Bentley replied to a thread and thought, “wow, this place is amazing!” Well, this place is amazing, but ironically that was the only time in the 8 years I’ve been here that Lisa posted. Too funny.
ST: Have you learned anything beyond that Lisa doesn't post as much as you thought?
Mike: I’ve learned that there’s a place for humor in every thread. I’ve learned how to make flat coke. I’ve learned that no matter how bad the pain is, a warm shower is the best remedy. I’ve still not learned how to find ironCLM, but I’ve learned whom to ask. I’ve also connected with quite a few people through the forum. Levity aside, I’m passionate about this sport and love talking about it with people. I hope that this interview compels people to say hello, even if we’re just two ships passing in the night like it was on the Kona pier with runlikeamother and myself.
ST: We have to ask you about eating out. Do you still leave your phone number for the waitresses?
Mike: The story here is that I met my wife in 2006 while she was waitressing at a fancy sushi restaurant. I really turned on the charm but the truth is that she didn’t notice. I think this endeared me to her, so when I left my number on the comment card, she called! We were married in September of 2010. Marry someone that doesn’t laugh at all of your stupid jokes, it keeps you sharp.
ST: You mentioned earlier that you have some food likes and dislikes you want to share. So hit us.
Mike: I only started eating fruits and vegetables in 2005, so I have food loves that were ‘lusts’ until recently. I love avocado to the point where I wonder if it’s possible to eat too much. I dislike most fruits. I love desserts, especially the chocolate-covered twinkies that Kilwins sells in Naples. The best savory I’ve ever had was a pizza in Venice. I dip wheat thins in just about anything, and I eat Sriracha like ketchup, and I love the fish tacos at Lava Java if for no other reason than it allows me to “backdoor brag” about racing in Kona.
ST: Anything else we should know?
Mike: I got into this sport when I watched Tim DeBoom running down the Energy Lab in 2002 on NBC to the tune of Jeff Beck’s “Space for the Papa”. Tim is one of the few athletes I “idolize” in sport. Triathlon, and endurance sport in general, differ from mainstream sports in that you can’t rely on God-giving ability to be successful; you have to put in work. You should know that I love this sport.
ST: We do. Thanks for the chat.
Mike: Thank you! I often wondered just how “random” these random interviews are. I’m truly perplexed as to how I was given consideration, something I’ll continue to wonder about.
ST: We want you to stay perplexed.
