Team GBF Racers

David Viens:

David Viens retired from the U.S. Army as a Special Forces lieutenant colonel in 2007. His 25 year military career included assignments throughout the United States as well as over 10 years overseas in diverse assignments in Latin America, Europe, and Central Asia.

David is an avid ultra endurance road and mountain biker. He was a member of the winning four-man team in the 2013 Race Across America (50-60 category). As a solo racer in 2017 he won the 928-mile Race Across the West (50-60 category). He is currently coached by Susan Hefler of Hefler Performance Coaching and is planning to solo race the 2019 Race Across America.

Gino Elsea:

Gino retired from the U.S. Army as a Chief Warrant Officer-Two in 1995. His 20 year military career included assignments in Airborne, Special Operations, and Conventional units with 9 years in overseas assignments in Europe and Latin America.

Like David and Andrew, Gino is passionate about cycling and regularly competes in the 50+ and 55+ Master’s Category in the Mid-Atlantic Bicycle Racing Association (MABRA). His best finishes in 2012 included a 5th, 8th, and 9th. Gino competed in the 2012 BMC Cascade Cycling Classic stage race in Bend, Oregon. Like David, Gino is also coached by Susan Hefler of Hefler Performance Coaching.

Dave Johnson:

Dave Johnson has served his country in the Navy for over 30 years.  A 1982 USNA undergraduate and MIT graduate, he is a marathoner, triathlete and biker.  He’s run 10 marathons, culminating in the 2001 Boston Marathon.  Since then, he’s competed in a half dozen Sprint and Olympic length triathlons, many road century rides and in 2013 – Race Across America on Team GBF – a 4-man, over 50 military team.  He’s also done 40k TT’s, nearly breaking the hour barrier and the Jeremiah Bishop Gran Fondo in Sept 2014 – 108 miles with 11K ft of climbing – mostly on dirt.  That got him interested in doing the Leadville 100 MTB Race in 2015.  He’s a father of three daughters, has two grandsons and son-in-law and has been happily married almost 30 years.  Around family, church and a very demanding work schedule, he finds the time to keep in shape by riding his trainer during the week, some running and gym time and putting in the distance miles biking with his RAAM teammates on the weekend – all under the direction of his RAAM coach Sue Hefler (www.heflerperformancecoaching.com).

Andrew Schaaf:

Andrew graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1990 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a reserve commission in the Army. Shortly after commissioning he attended and graduated Army Flight school as a rotor wing pilot and served the following 6 years as platoon leader and company executive officer in his local National Guard aviation unit.

Andrew now owns his own engineering and consulting company and is currently supporting the Under Secretary of the Army on various transformational initiatives.

He has been a life long cyclist (road and mountain) enthusiast. Most recently he has been competing in various adventure races and ultra endurance mountain bike races across the country. He is also an avid runner and just completed the 2012 Marine Corps Marathon in 3hr 31min. Andrew is a dedicated husband and father of 6 children all of which are following in his fathers’ footsteps as an athlete. Andrew is also coached by Susan Hefler of Hefler Performance Coaching.

Team GBF Crew Chief

John Roberts:

John studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with an NROTC scholarship, graduated and received a regular commission in the USMC in 1983. As a Naval Aviator, he flew UH-1N helicopters and operated with the 3rd Marine Air Wing out of various locations in the western USA, Asia and afloat in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

John left active duty with the Marines as a Captain in 1989, and has spent the past 23 years in advanced technology development in the automotive, semiconductor, computer and defense industries. He presently works at BAE Systems, Inc. doing massively-parallel GPU accelerated software development for advanced sensing and surveillance systems.

John is the proud father of three children and enjoys running, swimming, backpacking and cooking in his spare time.

Team GBF Cycling Coach

Susan Hefler M.S. – USAC Elite Coach/Exercise Physiologist

Susan combines the science of coaching with the experience of competition to yield an effective method of coaching that produces great results! Susan holds a Masters Degree in Exercise Physiology and Peptide Chemistry from University of Virginia. She is highly experienced as a elite level athlete and has extensive knowledge in sports performance, physiology and sports nutrition. Susan works closely with her athletes and provides real skills to help them focus in areas of planning and strategic thinking.