25 random things you didn’t know about ...
Jimmy Watkins The 28-year-old started bike riding in 2005 to stay in shape for his job as a firefighter for the Kern County Fire Department. As he began to get more serious with riding, he started entering races and found out he was a pretty good sprinter. Watkins decided to try track cycling (run on a 250-meter oval track on a single-fixed gear bike, which means you cannot stop pedaling), since there’s a lot of sprint events that suit his athletic abilities. After his first year of racing and qualifying for Elite Track Cycling Nationals, he decided to get serious, so he hired a coach and started training. The following year at the 2008 elite nationals, he won three titles. Since then, he’s won four national championships, a Pan-American championship, set three national records and one Pan-American record. This year has been an exciting one for Watkins because he’s been competing at the World Cups to gain Olympic qualification points. He and his wife welcomed their first child 10 months ago, and Watkins thinks it would be such a great thing to be able to take his family to compete.
1. I was born and raised in
3. I graduated from Stock-
15. I hate being late. 16. I grew up riding horses. 17. I lived on a dirt road till I was 17. 18. I raced BMX when I
dale High School in 2000.
was younger.
4. My favorite movie is
19. I have two brothers and
“Step Brothers.”
one sister.
5. My height is 6’1.” 6. I weigh 218 pounds. 7. Born 8-26-1982. 8. My favorite dinner is
20. I worked on a farm for a
Bakersfield.
2. I started playing football in fourth grade.
T.L. Maxwell’s Gorgonzola filet mignon.
9. My favorite wine is Blackstone cabernet.
10. I branded my wedding ring by getting electrocuted at work.
11. I have no tattoos. 12. I fly radio control planes and
summer in high school.
21. I hate tomatoes. 22. I love tomato sauce.
23. I have a
serious sweet tooth.
24. I enjoy
motor sports.
25. I love being a father.
helicopters.
13. I drag race a ’48 Fiat altered, Photos courtesy of Brian Hodes, Veloimages
which does 7.30 at 180 mph in a quarter-mile.
14. I broke the same collarbone twice.
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