The next cycle: Supporters believe their sport can build on buzz created by Lance Armstrong
(By MECHELLE VOEPEL, Kansas City Star) :: LAWRENCE — Members of the University of Colorado cycling club often wear yellow uniform jerseys. That represents the school color. But to many observers, it means only one thing.(“School kids will yell, ‘Go, Lance!’ when we ride by,” cyclist Adam Blanchard said. “Noncyclists always ask about him, because that’s their connection to the sport. There’s a lot of association there, and it’s obviously increased the popularity of the sport.”
Indeed, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong made people who never before paid the slightest attention care about watching him conquer the world’s most famous bicycle race.
Armstrong was just on the cover of the May 8 edition of Sports Illustrated. The story focused on how Armstrong, now retired from cycling, is putting his energy into the fight against cancer. That battle he won was a huge reason, of course, that he’s become so famous in what remains an obscure sport in the United States.
But is that changing? Are more and more young people in this country becoming involved competitively with the sport? And at this weekend’s USA Cycling Collegiate Road Championships in Lawrence, is it possible that the “next” Lance Armstrong was racing?
Ask some of the visitors here who live and breathe cycling, and the answer to all those questions is: “Absolutely.”
“Culturally, cycling has never been embraced here the same way other sports have,” said Kam Zardouzian, USA Cycling’s national director of collegiate cycling. “We’re seeing that change slowly. It all goes back to the idea that every kid growing up has a bike. This is a viable competitive option for a lot of people.
“And we view the genders the same; we’re equal in our support of both. It’s very important to us to keep growing our number of women in the sport. I think it’s a fact that the next Lance Armstrong — and the next great female American rider — is out here competing.”
The world of collegiate cycling, though, is arcane in comparison to a lot of other sports. It’s a club sport and is not governed by the NCAA. The governing body’s acronym is similar, though. It’s the NCCA: National Collegiate Cycling Association.
The NCCA is a part of the national governing body, USA Cycling, and traces its roots to the early 1960s, when it was founded as an East Coast organization. The first official national collegiate championships, as defined by USA Cycling, were in track cycling in 1987.
Now, there are collegiate championships in road racing — that was the event here in Kansas — track cycling, mountain-bike racing and cyclo-cross, in which riders must navigate obstacles over difficult terrain. At times, they have to carry their bikes.
All forms of the sport are high-tech and can be expensive to participate in. Cycling also can be dangerous. You are going to wipe out sometimes.
“I just try not to ever think about that,” said Amy Mackey, part of the California-Davis team that won the women’s time trial here Friday.
It wasn’t long ago that she never even thought about cycling. Mackey was a competitive swimmer in college. When she ran out of eligibility, she went looking for something else.
“I hadn’t even ridden a bike much,” she said. “I lived in the pool.”
Mackey’s experience is part of why many involved in collegiate cycling really wouldn’t push for it to become an NCAA sport. As it is, the only eligibility requirement for competitors at these championships is that they must be full-time students. Thus, there are many graduate students who can either continue competing or pick up the sport for the first time, like Mackey did.
Cycling competitors tend not to begin reaching their peaks until their late 20s anyway.
Another advantage to cycling’s club status is that it engenders a type of “entrepreneurial spirit” among riders. They’re usually responsible for setting up their local races, and that’s a lot of work. It means getting permits, negotiating with law-enforcement and transportation officials to close off sections of road if need be, setting up the courses and dealing with businesses to secure possible sponsorships and get discounts on equipment.
Many riders hold down jobs while training and going to school. They must pay for their equipment (many have at least two types of competitive bicycles), travel and race-entry fees. Some schools are able to provide some help financially for club sports, others provide nothing at all.
“That’s the biggest difference between us and (varsity sports) at schools,” Blanchard said. “Our sponsors help us out, but it’s mostly just with discounts.
“But the hardest part is the time commitment. It’s an endurance sport. The top riders will do 15-20 hours a week. I’ve (trained) up to 25 hours a week at times. A typical professional who races in Europe would do 35. I also work in a research position part time and am a full-time student in aerospace engineering.”
The competition in Lawrence this weekend was road cycling. But the aforementioned other disciplines are also under the broad umbrella of USA Cycling. And the newest to become an Olympic sport is BMX — like motocross on bicycles — which will make its debut in the Beijing Games in 2008.
In all, there will be 18 medal events in cycling in those Olympics: 11 for men and seven for women. Both genders have two events in road cycling and one each in mountain biking and BMX. The difference is in track cycling, where the men have seven events and the women three.
Armstrong was a three-time Olympian, winning a bronze medal in the 2000 Games. The Olympics certainly were not where he achieved his greatest fame. Yet the Games are the focal point of USA Cycling, and events such as this weekend’s are likely steppingstones for some racers toward making an Olympic team.
This collegiate competition was also in Lawrence last year and will return next year. Event director Mike Vickers, a board member of the Lawrence Sports Corporation, said it’s a huge undertaking that requires year-round preparation. But he added that area businesses, Douglas County law-enforcement and emergency medical personnel and the Kansas Department of Transportation all have worked together to make the championships run smoothly.
“There’s a lot of merit to having it in the same place year after year; it’s so much easier,” Vickers said. “The competitors seem to love Lawrence; we have almost all 50 states represented here. This year is bigger than last year, next year will be even bigger. We’d love to have it for 10 more years.”
Realistically, it’s probably not fair to say any rider who competed here — or anywhere else — can truly be the “next Armstrong.” Some athletes are one-of-a-kind. But there’s no doubt much of the present and future of American cycling spent the weekend battling the Kansas winds and peddling through downtown Lawrence.
Some of these athletes will keep racing competitively for a while. All of them, though, are likely to ride for as long as they possibly can. The aim of USA Cycling isn’t just helping produce champion riders, but also encouraging people to get on their bikes.
“I think I’ll ride for my whole life,” Blanchard said. “It’s so good for you from a fitness standpoint. It’s something I’ll never give up.”
Indeed, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong made people who never before paid the slightest attention care about watching him conquer the world’s most famous bicycle race.
Armstrong was just on the cover of the May 8 edition of Sports Illustrated. The story focused on how Armstrong, now retired from cycling, is putting his energy into the fight against cancer. That battle he won was a huge reason, of course, that he’s become so famous in what remains an obscure sport in the United States.
But is that changing? Are more and more young people in this country becoming involved competitively with the sport? And at this weekend’s USA Cycling Collegiate Road Championships in Lawrence, is it possible that the “next” Lance Armstrong was racing?
Ask some of the visitors here who live and breathe cycling, and the answer to all those questions is: “Absolutely.”
“Culturally, cycling has never been embraced here the same way other sports have,” said Kam Zardouzian, USA Cycling’s national director of collegiate cycling. “We’re seeing that change slowly. It all goes back to the idea that every kid growing up has a bike. This is a viable competitive option for a lot of people.
“And we view the genders the same; we’re equal in our support of both. It’s very important to us to keep growing our number of women in the sport. I think it’s a fact that the next Lance Armstrong — and the next great female American rider — is out here competing.”
The world of collegiate cycling, though, is arcane in comparison to a lot of other sports. It’s a club sport and is not governed by the NCAA. The governing body’s acronym is similar, though. It’s the NCCA: National Collegiate Cycling Association.
The NCCA is a part of the national governing body, USA Cycling, and traces its roots to the early 1960s, when it was founded as an East Coast organization. The first official national collegiate championships, as defined by USA Cycling, were in track cycling in 1987.
Now, there are collegiate championships in road racing — that was the event here in Kansas — track cycling, mountain-bike racing and cyclo-cross, in which riders must navigate obstacles over difficult terrain. At times, they have to carry their bikes.
All forms of the sport are high-tech and can be expensive to participate in. Cycling also can be dangerous. You are going to wipe out sometimes.
“I just try not to ever think about that,” said Amy Mackey, part of the California-Davis team that won the women’s time trial here Friday.
It wasn’t long ago that she never even thought about cycling. Mackey was a competitive swimmer in college. When she ran out of eligibility, she went looking for something else.
“I hadn’t even ridden a bike much,” she said. “I lived in the pool.”
Mackey’s experience is part of why many involved in collegiate cycling really wouldn’t push for it to become an NCAA sport. As it is, the only eligibility requirement for competitors at these championships is that they must be full-time students. Thus, there are many graduate students who can either continue competing or pick up the sport for the first time, like Mackey did.
Cycling competitors tend not to begin reaching their peaks until their late 20s anyway.
Another advantage to cycling’s club status is that it engenders a type of “entrepreneurial spirit” among riders. They’re usually responsible for setting up their local races, and that’s a lot of work. It means getting permits, negotiating with law-enforcement and transportation officials to close off sections of road if need be, setting up the courses and dealing with businesses to secure possible sponsorships and get discounts on equipment.
Many riders hold down jobs while training and going to school. They must pay for their equipment (many have at least two types of competitive bicycles), travel and race-entry fees. Some schools are able to provide some help financially for club sports, others provide nothing at all.
“That’s the biggest difference between us and (varsity sports) at schools,” Blanchard said. “Our sponsors help us out, but it’s mostly just with discounts.
“But the hardest part is the time commitment. It’s an endurance sport. The top riders will do 15-20 hours a week. I’ve (trained) up to 25 hours a week at times. A typical professional who races in Europe would do 35. I also work in a research position part time and am a full-time student in aerospace engineering.”
The competition in Lawrence this weekend was road cycling. But the aforementioned other disciplines are also under the broad umbrella of USA Cycling. And the newest to become an Olympic sport is BMX — like motocross on bicycles — which will make its debut in the Beijing Games in 2008.
In all, there will be 18 medal events in cycling in those Olympics: 11 for men and seven for women. Both genders have two events in road cycling and one each in mountain biking and BMX. The difference is in track cycling, where the men have seven events and the women three.
Armstrong was a three-time Olympian, winning a bronze medal in the 2000 Games. The Olympics certainly were not where he achieved his greatest fame. Yet the Games are the focal point of USA Cycling, and events such as this weekend’s are likely steppingstones for some racers toward making an Olympic team.
This collegiate competition was also in Lawrence last year and will return next year. Event director Mike Vickers, a board member of the Lawrence Sports Corporation, said it’s a huge undertaking that requires year-round preparation. But he added that area businesses, Douglas County law-enforcement and emergency medical personnel and the Kansas Department of Transportation all have worked together to make the championships run smoothly.
“There’s a lot of merit to having it in the same place year after year; it’s so much easier,” Vickers said. “The competitors seem to love Lawrence; we have almost all 50 states represented here. This year is bigger than last year, next year will be even bigger. We’d love to have it for 10 more years.”
Realistically, it’s probably not fair to say any rider who competed here — or anywhere else — can truly be the “next Armstrong.” Some athletes are one-of-a-kind. But there’s no doubt much of the present and future of American cycling spent the weekend battling the Kansas winds and peddling through downtown Lawrence.
Some of these athletes will keep racing competitively for a while. All of them, though, are likely to ride for as long as they possibly can. The aim of USA Cycling isn’t just helping produce champion riders, but also encouraging people to get on their bikes.
“I think I’ll ride for my whole life,” Blanchard said. “It’s so good for you from a fitness standpoint. It’s something I’ll never give up.”
posted by Ryan Amirault at Monday, May 15, 2006
