By Sue Vorenberg (Contact)Friday, February 9, 2007
Riding the back streets and bike trails of Albuquerque while working on speed and endurance is only part of the grueling effort it takes to go from amateur to professional cyclist.
Making the leap is as much about your style, your favorite food - and your willingness to shave your legs, said two young hopefuls training with a group of amateur and professional teams in Albuquerque over the next few weeks.
"It's always learning, learning," said Christopher Allison, 23, a member of a Belgian amateur team, the Cycling Center. "The good guys pick up on the details. It's how you live, how you dress, what you eat."
You travel constantly, he said. Some months you're in Europe, others in America or Australia.
You have to communicate and get along with people from different cultures, different backgrounds.
You rarely see home.
"More than anything, you have to keep a good, positive attitude," Allison said. "You're away from family, from friends."
At that, teammate Elliot Gaunt, 20, reached over and patted him affectionately on the shoulder as the pair chatted in the breakfast area of the Embassy Suites Hotel near I-25 and Lomas Boulevard Northeast.
"You've got friends," Gaunt assured him with an easy smile.
While professional cycling may seem like a sport of individuals, it's really all about teamwork, Gaunt said.
In a race, some team members sacrifice their chance for a win - wearing themselves out to make racers from other teams chase them - so a designated racer on their own team can be victorious, Gaunt said.
"We sacrifice ourselves for the good of the team," Gaunt said. "We mess up their plans. We try to scramble their plans by sending another rider out in front. That's where the strategy is."
That's actually the most misunderstood part of cycling, said Kristin Armstrong, the current women's world time-trial champion and U.S. time-trial and road national champion. Armstrong, who shares the same name as the former wife of Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, is also in Albuquerque for the next few weeks to train for the 10-month cycling season.
"People may not realize this is a team sport," said Armstrong, who rides on the all-woman pro Team Lipton. "When you win, it's the whole team. When you win as an individual, you go up to the podium as an individual, but it's really the team that won."
Part of the reason members of the Cycling Center team, Team Lipton and the Navigators Insurance Pro Cycling Team are riding the bike trails around Albuquerque this week is to practice teamwork so they will be ready to compete in events worldwide, said Ed Beamon, managing director of the two pro teams.
"We're here to build the framework of the team," Beamon said. "It's the only time of the year when the whole team is together."
Team members may split up to cycle in different events, depending on their strengths. The entire team never participates in the same race, but building chemistry is nonetheless important so the team does well in a spectrum of events, Beamon said.
"Over the season, they mix - depending on their condition, the event - skills like climbing and speed," Beamon said. "It's not unlike a baseball event where you're rotating pitchers and resting players."
For the amateurs, training with the two professional teams gives riders a chance to see what the next level is like and pick up some tips, Beamon said.
"It's a pretty dramatic jump from an elite amateur to a pro," Beamon said. "Amateurs from the Cycling Center have an opportunity to go up and become professional, but it's not an open door. It's a locked door. They need to find the key. It has happened in the past, though."
Gaunt is one of three hopefuls that Beamon placed with the Cycling Center this season. He plans to watch the recruits and see how they improve over the next year.
The job of training them falls to Bernard Moerman, manager of the Cycling Center. He develops young riders by bringing them to Europe, where they ride against much stiffer competition, Moerman said.
"You can't blame them for not knowing everything yet; you can only blame them for not learning," Moerman said.
That's almost a 24-hour job for Allison and Gaunt, they said, but it's not everything.
Another part of training is learning that it's OK to take a break, they said.
"If you are turning this into a career, you can't work 24 hours a day," Allison said. "We're encouraged to have a hobby that's not cycling. You have to step back and recharge."
Still, those hobbies should be healthy ones, they add.
In Allison's case, it's reading, traveling and learning new languages, he said.
"I'm getting there in my Dutch," Allison said with a little smile.
Gaunt likes movies, reading, hiking and fishing, he said.
"You have to just be able to refresh your batteries," Gaunt said. "No matter how much you love it, you have to step away or you'll be sick of it."
That's something even the pros have to remember, Armstrong said.
Her hobby? A part-time job at Home Depot, where she mixes paint, she said.
"I mix paint, and I recommend colors for about 20 hours a week when I'm home," Armstrong said. "At first, I was surprised people were listening to me, but now I know what I'm doing."
The amateurs realize that going from their level to Armstrong's will require even more sacrifices in the coming years, but Gaunt and Allison said it's worth it.
"You have one shot in life to do what you have a passion for," Allison said. "To really excel, you have to give up everything - a financial net, a security system - and you have to step out on faith."
Photos by Erin FredrichsTribune
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