Former CHS athlete hits the trail

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Jed Gammell negotiates a tight turn on a 10-mile cross-country course in the Center Time Trials in Des Moines. (Contributed photo)

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Growing up in northeast Creston, Jed Gammell remembers having to ride his bicycle everywhere he wanted to go.

“My parents wouldn’t let me get a mo-ped,” said the 35-year-old son of Eldon and Margy Gammell, now residing in Waukee. “Looking back now, I suppose that was a good thing.”

These days, a weekend getaway for Gammell is driving to some scenic, remote mountain bike trail, and pedaling for 60 to 100 miles on a bicycle worth $2,000 to $4,000 against a bunch of ultra-fit competitors.

Driving himself to win in rugged, unpredictable terrain takes him back to his days as a Creston High School wrestler and football player. Gammell shared the CHS Outstanding Male Athlete award with B.J. Hellyer in 1993. After knee surgery to repair damage from a district wrestling match, Gammell went on to play defensive safety for three years at Simpson College.

It was a decision in his late 20s that paved the way to becoming one of Iowa’s top endurance bicycle racers today. Last weekend, for example, he competed in a 68-mile race in Breakenridge, Colo., in a national-caliber race held at high altitude.

“I did some flag football and softball after college,” said Gammell, account executive with Holmes Murphy & Associates in Des Moines. “I played some racquetball. I’ve always enjoyed the competition. But I’d had multiple knee surgeries and cartilage taken out of both knees. I played football at about 205 pounds (at 5-foot-10) and I was still carrying around over 200 pounds. A lot of things I was doing were hard on my body.”

One day Gammell went out and bought a mountain bike. There were some dirt trails near his Ankeny home at the time. He made an important discovery.

“I could go as hard and as long as I wanted and it wasn’t hurting my knees,” Gammell said.

Gammell spent about $250 for that first bike. He soon heard about a seven-mile time-trial race coming up in the area.

“I entered it. It was pretty comical,” Gammell said, chuckling. “I had this clunker bike, I showed up in tennis shoes and this god-awful gold helmet and aqua green jersey. I was horrible, but I finished about mid-pack. My lungs felt like they were bleeding, but I was hooked.”

Gammell wanted to be a cyclist.

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