|
Hello, and
thank you for visiting Apex BMX.
Who We
Are...
My name is
Troy Krause. I grew up and still live in Wisconsin where
I first raced BMX from 1989 to 1996. I currently live in
Mosinee Wisconsin with my wife Angie, son Trevor, and
daughter Payton. I have been employed as a graphic
designer since 1997. For 8 of those years I was
the graphic design and production manager at a sign
company.
I began
racing again when Trevor was old enough to race.
My BMX Story...
Novice... I was introduced to the sport
of bmx by my friend Lee in 1988. He showed up at
my house one day with a brand new black GT Mach One and
I was hooked. I had never been to a track before, but I
had no doubt that it was the place for me to be. Oh, the
things I could do on a bike like that!!! I convinced my
parents to take me to Winnebagoland BMX to watch. My mom
bought me a used mongoose and I started in 1989. It took
me a while to get the hang of racing. I liked to jump. I
spent way too much time in the air and everyone rode
right by me. In fact, I ended up breaking the rear end
right off of my mongoose. Once I figured how to stay
grounded. I made Intermediate on my sweet
new GT.
Intermediate... At that time in the ABA you needed
10 wins in one year to turn expert. I got eight wins in the summer of 1990. It was
enough to get the attention of Mike Norris the
manager of the Diet Coke Oshkosh Cyclery team. He asked
me to ride for them after I won the state championship
race and the award of 13 boys track champion over my
friend Kris Weborg. Check out those uniform colors in
the 1991 team photo on the right. 1991 was the year we
began traveling to other tracks. My first out of town
race was the Midwest Nationals. Where I met my long time
friend Tim Eiring and his
family. My family became close friends with the Eirings
and we began traveling along with the Weborgs. I turned
expert in July.
Expert...
after turning expert all of years seam to meld together.
The Indoor track in Elkhorn, WI allowed us to never stop
racing. Locally we had some pretty tough comp. I was
lucky to be able to race with Kris Weborg, Tim Eiring, Mike
Marasch, Steve Norris, Jeff Seik, Mark Nelson, Mike Gul,
Eric Tomlinson, Nate Schaefer, Brian Birkholz among
others. Many of whom became pros. All were capable of
running up front. This made winning state champ quite a difficult task.
I was finally able to capture state champion in 1994.
At a national level I was often able to make my mains at
the smaller nationals and the gold cup finals. I could
usually get into the semi finals when the big factory
guys were around. Some of my highlights include being in
a picture that was on the cover of the BMXer along with
my friend Mike Marasch and Chad Elders. Making an expert
main at the 1992 Midwest Nationals in Rockford. I took home a first place
trophy from PA after Inheriting the lead when Kris Weborg and Matt Ortwein got tangled up.
Fun Fact...
My dad built an auto gate lift called RoboGate using
components from wheelchair lifts for vans. The ABA used
it for a while. We were told it was the first lift to
make it through ABA Grands week without breaking down.
Transition to Today...
Like many of you BMX was a big part of who I was, and
like many before and after me I eventually gave it up to
go onto other things. I traded my BMX bike for a fast
car, a fast motorcycle, and a job. I later wrecked the
motorcycle and had to sell the car to pay for it. My job
lead to a career, which lead to a wife and a family and
way too many years sitting behind a desk. I always
wanted to get back into racing. I now race with my son
at the tracks here in Wisconsin. We try to make it to a
few nationals each year. My daughter is beginning to
show her competitive spirit. I think she may become a
racer as well. My wife even took home a trophy in a
mom's race. BMX gives us a chance to get out
and have a good time as a family. We look forward to
many years in the sport. |