From the pages of Peak Region Cyclist
By Cameron Chambers
Perhaps my favorite part of riding and racing in Colorado, and specifically Colorado Springs, is the number of world class riders that we bump elbows with throughout the season.

It is rare in most riding circles that you get the opportunity to join a group ride or stand on the start line with riders like cyclocross superstar Katie Compton, Giant pro mountain biker Kelli Emmet, Subaru-Gary Fisher pro Russell Finsterwald, or HTC-Highroad pro Danny Pate.

It is both humbling and inspiring to see champions like these folks ride as beautifully and powerfully as they do and then be chatting and laughing moments later. The thin, clean air and ample roads and trails of Colorado Springs have long attracted the top talent in the world. Our riding community has benefitted greatly by the example and leadership that so many have exhibited over the years.

It is always worth looking to the people who paved the way ahead of you to learn the hard lessons that either came naturally to them or were learned through years of dedication to their passion. Watching and learning from top cyclists will probably not make any of us pull on a world champion’s rainbow jersey next season, but learning from the pros can be very helpful for maximizing your enjoyment and performance on the bike.

One of my favorite lessons first: Start Slow! Never will you see the top pros unloading their bike and sprinting off, or punching the pace right at the start of the group ride. You have to take some time to warm up, evaluate how you are feeling and then pick up the pace naturally as you loosen up. It is a rookie mistake to gap everyone on the first climb only to spend the rest of the day dangling off the back in the hurt locker. The ride is long and there is plenty of time to twist the throttle and leave it all out there, the first 30 minutes of the ride is not that time.

The same goes for racing. It takes great wisdom and patience to just race the first half the race well within yourself and pour it all out later on. But you will find yourself having a lot more fun when you finish the race strong and most likely pulling down better – and more consistent - results at the same time.

And my least favorite next: Cool down after the hard effort. I generally collapse and lay down as soon as I can after I am spent. But you will never see the top guys flop onto the ground like the rest of us B squad’ers. Instead they pull their arm and leg warmers back on and go spin around for at least 30 minutes while they relax back down. It is not our job to race bikes so we may not need to take it to the levels that pros do, but giving yourself some easy spinning at the end of a ride is a very good habit to adopt. Rather than time trial all the way back to your car or front door, spin a few laps through the neighborhood or make circles in the parking lot in order to stay loose and let your heart rate return back to a somewhat normal level.

Hand in hand with taking time to spin down on the bike is quickly getting a recovery drink in you as you cool down. Watch pro racers finish up a big day at a training camp or come across the line at a race. They do not waste any time getting a bottle in hand. Drinks like GU Brew Recovery provide the perfect recipe to shuttle spent glycogen back into hungry muscle and begin the re-hydration process. This puts your recovery on the fast track so you will be able to ride hard again sooner.

Another tip when riding with pros: Watch how they handle the bike. Many people ride rigid as a plank, crashing into whatever they cannot steer around.

I have had the opportunity to ride with downhill mountain bike racing great Elke Brutsaert; watching her bob and weave with her body while fluidly moving the bike side to side was an important milestone in my progress as a rider. The bike did relatively little mumbo jumbo underneath her while she constantly moved and shifted her weight up and down to keep the ideal traction to the ground. She of course was better at it then I will ever be, but emulating her style made me a better rider.

If you’re watching a race – road or mountain - make it a point to get out where you can watch the leaders cornering through a twisty section of trail or a hard road corner in a crit. All they really do is the basics and do them correctly. Set up on the outside of a corner with a quick counter steer, lean the bike and keep your weight low and weight your outside foot, come into the inside of the corner through the apex, exit back to the outside. It is not complicated, but watching the pros reveals how it looks when done correctly and at high speed; you’re seeing the result of great technique, talent, and tons of practice. Working to emulate what you observe can be just the mental edge you need to get over the cornering hurdle that many of us face.

And the number one rule to always follow: Never ever stop having fun. Our local pros are an awesome example of this. The people that congregate on the podium time and time again, year after year are always enjoying themselves and the journey they are on as much or more than one-off victories.

I’ve won my share of races and I’m fortunate to be friends with riders much better than me, and one thing I’ve discovered is that we diminish the value of the achievement when we do not enjoy the process by which we got there. Our local up-and-coming Pro Kalan Beisel is inspiring to me in this department. Not only does he ride fast and tenaciously up, down, and through anything; but he also always carries a positive and supportive attitude with him the whole time (win, lose, or draw - and he usually wins). On top of heaps of talent and a great work ethic, it is this approach that makes riders like Kalan soar to the top.

We were lucky a few weeks ago at the Sand Creek Series Race at Palmer Park to be joined by multiple National Champ MTB power couple Jeremy Horgan Kobelski and Heather Irmiger. Despite the fact they travel the globe racing their bikes in a high-stakes, high-stress atmosphere, on a week off they chose to come down to a local race that offered a well-crafted homebrew as the top prize. Both of them ripped around the course and put on a spectacular clinic on how to race a bike. Both before and after they were jazzed by the technical trails of Palmer Park and the chance to get out and do what they love. There is a reason they have amassed 13 National Championships between them and see no end in sight to their careers. They really love riding their bikes and therefore they are really good at it.

It is said emulation is the sincerest form of flattery. Although I do not think it is necessary to go get the new Rabobank Katie Compton look-alike kit (do it if you want), taking cues and watching the way our local heroes conduct themselves on and off the bike will no doubt teach you a plethora of lessons and save you a ton of grief making mistakes you could avoid. Follow their line and put yourself on the fast track to enjoying your bike riding more.
Cameron Chambers is an Athlete Services guru for Carmichael Training Systems and a 2-time US National Champion in 24 Hour Mountain Biking. For information on CTS coaching, camps, and performance testing, visit www.trainright.com or call 866-355-0645.