Shane Moran

Shane Moran has been an athlete since high school. He played football through high school and was a standout wrestler, the co-captain of the Bergenfield wrestling team. He went to the University of Texas and got into mountain biking after graduation.

He eventually switched to the road because he was tired of having to drive to the woods to ride… The owners of Westwood Cycle Shop talked him into a road bike, then road racing, and Shane can remember cutting his teeth at Prospect Park, “The scariest place on the planet to race.”

A police officer in New York City, working in the Scuba Unit, Shane trained diligently this year and was super-strong for 2007 but had a horrific crash in the beginning of the year, then fought off illnesses during the summer, never able to race to his ability… Shane is a fierce climber with excellent endurance, and look for him to have a breakout year in 2008.

Height: 5’5”

December Weight: 146 lbs.

Race Weight: 136 lbs.

Birthdate, Location: Westwood, NJ

Childhood Heroes: “Walter Payton, Ronnie Lott, Greg LeMond, and my grandfather.”

Hobbies and Interests: “Rock climbing and bouldering, mountaineering, playing guitar.”

Favorite Movies:American Beauty, Little Miss Sunshine, Fight Club, Glory, Old School, Breaking Away.”

Musical Tastes: “Rock, classical, folk, almost anything. But no rap or country.”

Favorite TV Shows:The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Friday Night Lights, Lost, Heroes.”

Favorite Meal: “Really good pizza, either in Brooklyn or the Bronx.”

Favorite Breakfast Cereal: “Blueberry Kashi Heart to Heart or Health Valley Oat Bran.”

Favorite Pre-Race Meal: “Either of the above. Low-fat organic yogurt. V8, especially when it’s hot.”

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: “Vanilla.”

Childhood Dream: “Wanted to be a cop. Aim low and you shall succeed!”

First Car: “1986 Nissan Sentra, sky blue.”

First Job: “Washing garbage cans at my uncle’s pizzeria. I was about 12 years old…”

Favorite Vacation Spot: “New Hampshire or Vermont.”

Pre-Race Feeling: “Nervous about taking my final piss as close to the start time as possible.”

Early Racing Memory: “Prospect Park – I couldn’t believe how scary racing in a group was.”

Funny Racing Memory: “There was a near-crash and a woman – the Prospect Park race had combined the women with the Cat 4s – in the group screamed at the top of her lungs, like she was being murdered! Then nothing happened. It was pretty funny at the time. Guys just crash silently I guess. Well, I did, I think. Actually I was knocked unconscious so I may have been screaming like a girl… lol.”

Greatest Racing Moment: “Not getting dropped on the 5-mile climb at the Tour of Hilltowns. Not falling off my bike when both my quads cramped along with my right calf on the way up the finishing climb at Unionvale. I was proud I made it to the top.”

Most Painful Moment in Life: “Realizing at age twelve that I wasn’t getting any taller.”

Worst Injury from Racing: “Double fracture of the right clavicle and assorted abrasions.”

Closest Racing Friends: “Everyone on Westwood Velo…oh and you, Ken.”

Funniest Racer: “Everyone’s pretty serious. I can’t decide.”

Favorite Race: “Tour of Hilltowns, Housatonic, or Unionvale.”

Embarrassing Racing Memory: “My first time doing a feed zone at the Tour of Hilltowns didn’t go so smoothly. I didn’t have a musette so someone suggested using a plastic grocery bag – he will remain nameless!

“My girlfriend and I didn’t have time to rehearse the hand-off beforehand and neither of us had ever done it before. I was in the lead breakaway but I was dying for more fluids and food. No problem, the feed zone was only a few miles away. I moved to the back of the group, dropped my empties, saw my girlfriend, put my hand out. She thrusts the bag at me, causing it to hit my handlebars. I reach in just as, one by one, the bottles and gels fall out of the gapping hole in the bottom of the bag!

“The next turn was into a fierce headwind which didn’t help my attempt to close the gap as I was bonking. I could barely pedal the rest of the way to the finish. I went from a top 10 finish to finishing 75th. Worst bonk of my life. I’ve learned to better regulate my caloric intake since then.”

Toughest Competitors: “Gravity, the wind, the heat, and anyone in the race.”

Favorite Athletes to Watch: “Non-dopers.”

Qualities You Most Admire in People: “Honesty, integrity, compassion.”

What You Love Most About Riding Your Bicycle: “The spandex.”