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Brent Emerys Athletic Career

Palmares

1/4/11 Under construction with new website:

 

 

Cycling palmares for Brent Emery.

Competing since 1973 . Over 25 state cycling championships. Won over 150 victories to date in Road, 1Km TT, 4 Km TT, 4 km TTT, Match Sprint, Points Race, 10 Mile, Road Race, Criterium, 25 Mile TT, 40 km TT, Cyclocross, Mountain

Former world record holder. Worlds fastest average speed in races over 100 miles 1981, Vuelta a Chile, 10th stage, 174km in 3h33m25sec, average speed 29.2mph

Former Pan American Record Holder 1983 4Km TTT,

Former national record holder 18 year olds 25 mile time trial,

1976 National championships 58m12sec 18 year olds 1 Km TT, 1976 National championships 1m 10.4 sec

1981 Sea level 1KmTT 1:08:03

1983 4Km TTT, 4:21.4

National Championships 1st 1980 1 Km TT, 1st 1981 1 Km TT, 1st 1983 Points Race

many other National Championship top 10 placings in 1 Km TT, Match Sprint, 4 Km TT, 4 Km TTT, Points Race, 25 Mi TT, Cyclocross,

US Pro Championships, 1981, Baltimore, MD 12th place (while an amateur on US National team)

New Zealand SummerGames 1981 an alternate Olympic Competition for the 32 countries that boycotted the Moscow Games. Silver Medal 1Km TT,5th place road race

World Cup-Track 1981 Three 1st places, other top 10 placings Points race, Match Sprint, Scratch races, Olympic Sprint

Competed in 16 countries with victories in 9 countries

 

1973: Brent Emery, son of Marilyn and Richard Emery, did his first bike race on a dare from another Emerys employee. Brent was 15 years old and there was very little information available about the sport in print and most of the advice was passed on from rider to rider.

1975: Brent wins his first race ever, and kept winning week after week, including the State Junior Road Championship. That race was remarkable as he rode with his arm in a sling with 47 stitches, the result of a car accident. He had taken ill the night before and was quite ill in the race with a 103 temp. His dad said he knew Brent was destined to be a champion after seeing what he did that day. A couple weeks later, Superweek was a wake up call. Most racers find that out. It is like doing the Nationals every day as a much higher calibur of racers attends this great race series. His top place was 3rd, but he learned a lot. a few weeks later, Brent placed 10th at the National Championships.

After that first few years of racing, he started to recognize the importance of small changes in fit and began setting up his bike for different types of race courses as well as the different specialties he competed in (flat criterium vs. hilly road races, track sprinting vs. pursuit, cyclocross vs. mountain). His interest in the bio-mechanical end of the sport was all consuming.  At the national Time Trial championships, Brent was a few seconds in the lead when he crashed at the 9 mile mark. He stopped again at the 1/2 way mark to get medical attention as he gashed his arm and had road rash from shoulder to ankle and was bleeding heavily. He finished in under an hour, which was not close to the winner Paul Deem, but was a personal victory to prove he was a tough rider.

1976: First year as a senior competitor. Rose to Cat 1 after a few races. Won a number of races in the midwest. Placed 5th and 11th in the Elite National Championships, setting a national record for 18 year olds in the time trial (low 57 min for 25 mi.) Olympic Trials 1976 regional alternate 1Km TT

1977: Won the Memorial Day race at Moline, Ill in front a huge crowd on a cobblestone course in the Belgian section of town. It doesn't get much better.

1978: Brent wins 5 of 6 state championship events in the course of 2 weeks, setting state record in 3 of the events. A few weeks later, he won 2 of 3 races, and 2nd place in the third race on the 4th of July weekend. 2 weeks later he wins his first Superweek Stage in front of Davis Phinney and Steve Bauer. During this time period, Brent was racing nice rivalry with Noel de Jonckheere of Belguim. Noel was training and racing with Roger Young, a stellar US track cycling pioneer. Well, Brent took Noel in every miss and out and point race for 8 races straight. Brent had high hopes for  the rest of the season. An invite to the new world class track in Trexlertown resulted, which would prove a problem. He did very well the first few races and flew home on crutches. Joe Saunders crashed him on purpose, which resulted in a slap-on-his hand suspension. Brent rode the national championships while still on crutches to prove that they could not keep him down. That season could have been the big breakthrough, but that would have to wait.  Noel went on to win the World Point Racing Championship.

1979: Brent took somewhat of a break at the end of 1978 and intot he spring of 1979, bummed about the crash situation from the previous year. Once back into serious racingm he qualified for the Pan American Trials. Just before the trails, he came down with a kidney infection and placed poorly. But, he did impress the National team coaches enough, which resulted in an invite to the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Co. He raced for the first time with the US team in the Can-Am challenge at the Olympic Velodrome in Montreal.

1980: Won the Olympic trials and later his first National Championship on the track in the 1km event. His first trip to the World Cup circuit proved very successful winning 4 or 9 point races or omniums. These races were in BudaPest, Hungary; Berlin, Hanover, Frankfort and Munich Germany: and Brno, Czechoslovakia. Considering it was an Olympic year and he was racing against the best communist riders in their home countries, this, along with wins from the rest of the US team, suddenly placed the US on the mens world track cycling map. One highlight was that this was the first time in modern history that the USA track cycling team had depth, thanks to the coaching of Eddie B. Once back in the US, Brent placed 2nd in the Holy Hill stage of Superweek. He won the 5.4 mile Lacrosse Hill climb, taking 40 seconds off the record. The next day, he took 15 minutes off the Octoberfest 100 mile event course record. In November, he raced his first international stage race, the 10 day Tour of Guatemala, where he found out just how much better the rest of the world was above the level of the US riders. There were a group of women from the US that had beaten the men to world dominance in the 1970's, but that was about to change as an entire generation of US riders was on the rise, led by Jock Boyer, Mike Neel, and Greg Lemond. We rode on their coat tails and were brought up by Eddie B.

1981: Brent designed the first of the new generation of Olympic style of bikes in the U.S. with the bullhorn handlebars, small front wheel and sloping top tube. That bike was the first bike of its type raced in international competition in the Free World. note: the East Germans were working on a similar style of bike the year before Brent, but he got his into international competition in the western world before they did. This was the breakthrough that prompted the USA National team to develop this concept further into the bikes we set records on for the next few years.That bike was later on display for 4 years in the Milwaukee Public Museum.

1981: In January, the US Team traveled to New Zealand for a competition for all the countries that boycotted the Moscow Olympic Games, Brent won a silver medal in the Kilo and placed 5th in the road race. A controversial disqualification for rough riding kept him from a medal in the points race. Brent was part of a US National team to race major spring stage races in France. Circuit LeSarthe, Ruban Gretania Breton, and Circuit Ardennes are well attended and serious! Brent got the rude awakening that to this point in his career, he was a big frog in a smallpond back in the US. Most fo the team was dropped off the back and came back to the US with our tails between our legs, except for Jeff Bradley, who won a stage against former world champion Richard Szurkowski. It was time to work much harder! Brent wins his second National Kilometer Championship in USA record time. At the World Championships in Czechoslovakia, Brent placed 6th & 9th in the Team Pursuit and Kilo events. Eight weeks later, at the 2 week long Vuelta Ciclista de Chile, Brent won the the 174km 10th stage out of an epic breakaway in a time of 3h 33m 25sec. This was the fastest average speed pace the world had ever seen in any race over 100 miles, professional or amateur. A record 30.2 mph for 107.5 miles. That record stood for over 15 years.

1982: Great start to the season, winning a major road race at the Tour of Texas against the national road team. Brent was named to the national road squad at the same time he was already on the national track squad. A twist of fate resulted in Brent taking a pass on the early season amateur road classics and stage races to return home to help his father in the family business. Richard had a terrible accident, nearly severing all his fingers on one hand. This was the fork in the road for Brent. After the help to his dad, he went to Japan for track racing. The road opportunity never came back. He ended up having quite a good season until his performances got erradic. A number of doctors could not identify the exact nerve problem he was having in his back and leg. He took a pass on the World Championships to keep seeking help. He ended up the season in a rigid back brace for 6 months. Many thanks to the US coaching staff and Dr Lyle Michelli for finally diagnosing and correcting a nagging back problem. And many thanks to some dear friends in Pennsylvania the kept him grounded while laid up. Brent took a job with Bicycling Magazine as he did not know if he would return to a world in racing.

1983: Began the season to get form back, but increased his training at too rapid of a pace and was beset with chronic tendonitis. He worked through that, while still rehabbing his back. Just as he was placing well against great fields, he had a serious crash, which set him back again. Once healed from that, he went on a tear, winning many criteriums and track events, placing 12th in the US Pro Championships while still an amateur, and won his 3rd National Championship. In Venezuela, he won a Pan American Games Gold Medal in western hemisphere record time of 4:21.4 with his Team Pursuit teammates. A track stage race in Columbia late in the year was as fun as anything he had done, except for a devastating crash, again on the same hip he had damages in other crashes,

1984: Brent had a great race on the toughest stage of the Tour of Texas against the tops racers from 12 countries who were all prepping for the Olympic Games. With only a few miles to go, the attacks were flying and riders were getting dropped out of the break. when it came down to just Brent and Alexi Grewal, Alexi attacked what he thought would be the last time to get clear. When he looked back, Brent was right on hi, Alexi is not a predictable rider, and simply locked up his brakes to crash Brent. Problem was, Alexi crashed too. Brent had a major gash in his arm, and Alexi asked for brents help to untangle the bikes, so Alexi could continue. (More on how that all turned out at another story time).A great time and a great race was had at the Tour of Willamette, a stage race in Oregon. Brent won the king of mountains title there. There was another couple of great stories from that event which will be for another time.

There were other major victories that year, but the crown jewel for Brent was being on the U.S. Olympic team that wins a Silver Medal in the exciting 4000 meter team pursuit event. A few weeks later, Brent raced the Bob Evans Hill climb in Colorado, finishing under the celebrated 2 hour mark. The next 2 weeks he raced in Mexico where he won a 75 mile mountainous race and took 45 minutes off the course record. The very next day, at the Olympic track in Carson, Ca, he won 4 of the 5 track races against a stellar field of Olympic hold overs at the final of the Christian dior series. The best part of that year for Brent was meeting the love of his life, Julie Hegg. Julie came to the Olympics to cheer for her brother Steve Hegg, who won a gold medal in world record time. Steve and Brent were 2 od the 5 Team Pursuit riders for the US who won the Silver medal. Well, Julie and Brent fell in love and got married 1 year later.

1985: Brent retires from the international circuit . To this point he competed 16 countries. He is one of a very few cyclists in the history of the sport to achieve a very high level of international results in all disciplines and distances of the sport. He goes to work as the plant manager for a bike manufacturer (Detel) headquartered in Green Bay, WI. Because of problems with one of that companies investors, the company was forced to close 7 months later. Brent came back into the Emerys family business to work with his brother Ben, who was now taking on a more important role in their business.

1986: Brent and Julie have a son, John Robert.

1987: Taking a lead from a "rumor" about a new handlebar (Scott bars) allowing a new way to get aerodynamic, Brent designed one of the world's first aero bars. Aerobars immediately were recognized as a major breakthrough in going faster. He used it in June of that year in the 225 mile Race Across Wisconsin, a single day individual time trial from Lacrosse to Milwaukee. That same year, those aero bars were used in the Hawaiian Ironman by a couple of Wisconsin competitors from the Tri All 3 tri team that Brent coached in the 1980's.

1988: Brent and Julie have a daughter, Ashley Charron

1992: Brent makes a comeback! With only 8 months to get ready for the Olympic Trials, Brent theorizes a new training protocol that revolutionizes his training. He trains only 4 day per week, but 2-3 times per day. He uses the rest days to take on nutrients and rest/repair muscles. This plan works perfectly and he is in superbe shape. A few weeks before the trials, he tears a tendon while power lifting. He competes in the Olympic trials shooting for the grueling Points Race, a 200 lap event with 30 sprints!  At the 1/2 waypoint of the race, in a breakaway of four riders, Brent had just take the lead from prior national champion Jame Carney. Jim Pollack attacked from the break to cross to the field, Brent saw this as a dangerous move and jumped hard to get across. Just at that crucial point, Brents tendon tore again. After being off the circuit for 8 years and getting back to such a high level in only 8 months,  he proved that he knew how to train and still had the desire to compete. It was as satisfying as anything he had done in his career.  

1995: Brent and Ben begin to buy the family business from their parents.

2002: Customers are now traveling from other states to work with Brent for technical fitting for road and triathlon. The 2002 Wisconsin Ironman Pro women's winner, Heather Gollnick, has spent a number of hours getting her position fine-tuned by Brent. Her results speak for highly for her and our services. A particular aspect of the theory Brent has put into the triathlon fittings setting the position to enhance the athlete's ability to run better after the bike leg. Nearly every triathlete Brent has fitted has immediately gone on to set personal records with better bike splits and also a faster run. Brent was on to a great race at the Downer Avenue stage of Superweek when sudden pain jolted him to a stop. Somehow, he had torn a hard to tear muscle deep in his hip, which caused him to be off the bike for 10 months. He took this time to educate himself on the stability and core exercises he was apparently lacking. The result is a program he put to video on our Emerys.com website.

2003: Paul Swift visited Emerys recently. Paul is the creator of "The Wedge", angled pieces to go between the cleat and the shoe for correcting foot angle. Paul has visited hundreds of shops promoting his product and doing fitting clinics. He was impressed with how we go about the fitting process and mentioned "you are one of the top 5 or 10 shops in North America for fitting". Most of our other factory reps say we are most certainly the best fitting store they are aware of in this part of the US. Our goal is to be #1.

2004: Heather Gollnick gets fitted on her new Q.R. with custom aero bars that Brent made for her, and goes on to blow away the field at Wildflower. She credits Brent with being a part of the win!

Brent is increasingly analyzing the recovery part of the pedal stroke phase for riders in advanced positions, particularly for smaller riders. He is working on a protocol for a definitive test to prove that short riders need shorter cranks than the industry standards. With the sheer volumeof bike fits he does yearly, he has all the feedback he needs. now to jsut get the bike and component companies to get on board, which proves to be very difficult since no-one makes the stock cranks that would be compatible with the shift systems of the day.

Over the years, the staff of Emerys two stores has done involved fittings for over 45,000 people. Continually searching for more precise ways to fit customers has led Brent to develop criteria for making those subjective decisions for varying the position for each customer. This is why you should buy you next bike at Emerys, and your friends should buy their next bike at Emerys, and their friends, and so on.... Call ahead, talk to Brent and we can get the bike of your dreams built to you!

2005: In recent years, Brent was competing locally for fitness and fun. he entered Masters and Pro events in criteriums, road, track cyclocross and when the opportunity presents, triathlons and mountain bike races. This year, Brent took on the challenge of entering the Ironman in Madison, Wi. Brent has coached and fitted many of the top athletes in our area. Athletes he has coached or fitted have won their overall category in the International Cycling Classic, won many state championships, placed top 5 in national championships, and won many triathlons including the 2002 & 2003 Wisconsin Ironman Pro womens winner.

2007: Brent wins 4 National Masters Championships and goes on to place 6th in three events at the World Championships in Australia. Traveling with Jim and Leona Host and Reid Schwartz was a highlight!

2008/2009: Brent wins multiple stages of Superweek in the 30-40 event and the 40-50 events.

2009/2010: Brent wins the overall title at the International Cycling classic for the masters events. He had 2 of his best PRO Elite races of the past 20 years this year. In one of the masters race field sprints during Superweek he topped out at 43.7mph.

2011: Brent sets his sights on getting his time trialing form back, running and swimming regularly enough to make real progress in local running and triathlon events. A prelude to entering another Ironman in 2012.