Let me introduce myself: I am Jeroen de Haas (Nov 1972) living in Rotterdam – The Netherlands. I work in a niche area of laboratory software for an American company, as such I travel a lot around Europe.
My cycling career started pretty young. As a 7 year (1980) old I got a membership at R.W.C Ahoy, the biggest cycling club of Rotterdam. Because I was not allowed to race until the year I became 8 I just trained with the other youth on the club outdoor track. Becoming older I got stronger and was in fierce competition with guys that later became pro’s, like Michael Boogerd, Leon van Bon and Koos Moerenhout. Cycling was my everything until I went into the Higher Technical School, about 21. Without the ability to train 7 days a week racing became difficult and less fun so I decided to quit cycling, although it always stayed itching especially when the classics started each spring.
In 2004 and 2006 I became father of my two boys and to get a little more fit, gained 13 kg of weight, I started to get on the bike again in 2009. Immediately the fun came back and not long after I bought a new bike, now owning 7, because shifters on the down tube where outdated.
In 2012, 2015 and 2016 I participated in a fundraiser for cancer named Alpe d’HuZes where I respectively rode 4x, 5x and 4x the Alpe d’Huez in one day to raise about 15.000 euro for cancer research. Putting my health and fitness into something that could help others was a great feeling.
In 2017 I picked up mountain biking again but unfortunately I broke my right hip in July during my biking holiday in Verbier – Switzerland. Almost fully recovered I had bad luck in August of 2018 again, 9 days before I would have tried to go up Mont Ventoux 3x for another fundraiser for cancer, and broke my left hip. All in all I will not quit cycling. Cycling is my passion and life, especially when I can go out with friends and share my passion.
I am grateful share my passion for cycling and I hope to meet you all wherever you are located on our planet.
As they say at Alpe d’HuZes: “quitting is not an option” so keep riding!
See you on the bike soon,
Jeroen