Ron who is one of the Wheelbrothers placed 4th in the Men’s California Climbing Championship. We caught up with him this week to bounce a bunch of questions of him!
Ron, tell us a little bit about you. How old are you, family? What got you into cycling?
I’ve been living in Texas since 1999. Before coming to the Lone Star state, I spend most my life in California. I’m 42 years, been married to my college sweetheart Kristie for 18 years and have two daughters aged 12 and 9.
What got me into cycling is kind of a sad story. My father was a great cyclist and rode every day. When I was younger I thought riding a bike was about the dumbest thing you could ever do. Although he would have loved for me to ride with him, I never did. It wasn’t until he passed away in 2005 that I got into cycling to honor his memory. Once I started riding, I fell in love with it. Now I know what made him so passionate about riding. Every time I get on the bike I think of him and do my best to make him proud.
How often do you train?
I train every day. Some days are harder than others but training for me is no different than eating and sleeping in the sense that it’s something I know I’m going to do every day in some capacity.
Do you have a life?
Besides cycling? Yes I do. I enjoy camping with my family and watching sports when I can catch my favorite teams on TV.
Do you listen to music while you train?
Absolutely. I couldn’t imagine training without some tunes to listen to.
What kind of music?
Mostly 70’s and 80’s music. I’m not a real fan of current day music which means I sound just like my Dad.
Do you train indoor/outdoor?
Both. I like training indoors so I can really focus on getting a hard workout in a controlled environment. It’s nice to be able to go all out to the point where you feel like you’re going to collapse and not have to worry about cars, bad roads or an aggressive dog.
Where is your favorite place to train?
I have a favorite route, which I’ve taken a lot of the Wheel Brothers on, near my house. It’s a 30-40 mile route with some good climbs; well good for Texas.
What’s the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you regarding cycling?
When I first started riding a friend told me to remember that at the end of the day, the only person you’re truly competing against is yourself. This is the best way to measure your progress on the bike. In order to know if you’re getting better, keep a daily log and track your results. Since a lot of races and rallies are annual events, it’s always a great way to see if your performance is improving.
What would you advise a new rider to do that would be most beneficial to them?
If your goal is to become a strong rider, try to ride with people that are better than you. I’ve found that most people in this sport are always willing to support and encourage new riders. Also, don’t forget to do one ride a week by yourself. This training is important so that you understand what it feels like to not have the benefit of sucking someone’s wheel for 60 miles. There will come a time when you get dropped that you’ll have to bridge a gap on your own. When this happens, and it will, you need to know what it feels like to get in the drops, put your head down and pedal without the benefit of a draft. I see more people than you can imagine that don’t know how to ride by themselves and just give up once they’re dropped from the pack.
What does a typical day/week look like for you training wise?
During the week I train indoors and focus on a routine of various intervals and hill climb workouts for about 1 to 1 ½ hours. On the weekends, when I’m not racing, I’ll do a group ride on Saturday and an individual training ride on Sunday.
What got you into racing?
After a couple of years of training on my own and doing some rallies, which can be a great way to get prepared for race speed and tactics, I decided to see how I would do against other racers. My first race was in 2008 in Greenville. I finished 8th and had such a great time that I knew it was something that I had to do on a regular basis.
What kind of bike you ride?
I ride a Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL2.
What do you eat before big races?
Probably not the food you should. As my friends will attest, I’ve been known to go to Cici’s all you can eat pizza buffet and get my carbs by sucking down pizza and bread sticks. I’m not sure I’d recommend it for everyone but it seems to work for me.
What made you enter the climbing championship?
Since I love to climb, I was looking for challenging races across the United States that focused on climbing. When I came across the California Climbing Championship in 2008, I knew it was going to be a challenge. I mean any race that’s classified as the undisputed hardest 2-day race in the U.S. has to be the ultimate experience.
How long is the course,etc.?
The race covers 2 days and 6 mountain passes. Day one is 120 miles and 15,500 feet of climbing. Day 2 is 88 miles and 13,500. What makes this race even more challenging is that the last climb each day is the toughest. The day one climb up to South Lake is 19 miles and 6,100 feet with the last ½ mile averaging 12%. As for day two, the climb up to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine forest is the hardest climb of the event. Its 20 miles and 6,500 feet with the first 5 miles averaging 9% and the last 3 miles averaging 10%.
Tell me a little about how the race played out?
My objective was to try and not go out too hard and try and save something for the last climb each day. With the adrenaline pumping, it’s sometimes hard to back off and ride at a 90% effort. This approach worked pretty well as I felt great after the first two climbs and had something in the tank for the last climb each day.
Every day a small group of 8-10 riders would take off within the first mile. My natural tendency would be to stay with the group but I decided to stick with my strategy and not push myself too hard to soon. This approach worked very well as I caught the remnants of the lead group on the third climb and was able to pull away from them on the steeper sections of the mountain.
How do you feel about it?
Great. Now that I know what it feels like to do this ride, I’m looking forward to next year where I hope to improve my overall time by 1 hour.
What was the final result?
I raced in the men’s Public/Open classification and finished 4th on day one, 4th on day two and 4th overall with a cumulative time of 15 hours and 40 minutes.
How long did it take you to recover?
I took the next day off but go back on the bike the following day for a recovery ride. Although I kept riding and training since I had a few upcoming races in October to get ready for, it took me a good week to get back to 100% where I could go all out for an extended period.
Lastly, how did you end up becoming a Wheelbrother?
I started riding with the Wheel Brothers in 2009 via an invitation from Eugene and joined them for several training rides. Most recently we all rode the Hotter N’ Hell bike ride in August together.
Riding with the guys is a lot of fun. There are bunch of great guys, who are also pretty strong riders. I really enjoy the training rides, when some of the guys will take a run at me on a climb. I’m always on my toes when I see a climb and have to be prepared, to chase someone down who takes off. I can honestly say, that I have to go pretty deep in the effort tank to hold off some of the guys, who are definitely up to the challenge.
All in all, the best part of the Wheel Brothers is, that it’s a group of guys with varying skills that all enjoy being on the bike. Everyone is out there to make sure, that each teammate stays with the group and has a good time.
We don’t quite buy the part, about going deep in the tank but you are to kind
Congratulations on riding an incredible race and just maybe, you have one or two brothers join you next year!
Thank you Ron for taking the time to do this Interview!
Day1:
Day 2:
More about the Everest Challenge here: www.everestchallange.com
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