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Accidental winner
Training ride becomes cycling victory
By John "jaQ" Andrews jandrews@hippopress.com
Investment advisor Brett Walker has been cycling for 20 years and is preparing for the Race Across America (RAAM), a 3,000-mile event that must be completed in less than 12 days. A member of the Granite State Wheelmen, Walker is currently on a 900-hour-per-year regimen. His Web site is www.TeamWalker07.com. He spoke to the Hippo on Feb. 28, a few days after placing first in the non-drafting division of the Sebring 12/24 in Florida, completing 30 more miles than his closest competitor.
Q: It’s not like Daytona car races where they switch drivers all the way through, right?
No, it’s definitely solo. ... Everybody, whether they were in the 12- or the 24-hour division, raced the entire period.
How does anybody cycle for 24 hours straight?
... You asked about race cars — same analogy, as long as you don’t overrev the engine and keep it fueled, you can keep going pretty much forever.
So you’re not trying to go as fast as you can all the time?
No, I wear a heart rate monitor and I race specifically to try to keep below what’s called my lactic acid threshold point, which is where you go from aerobic to anaerobic ... You can maintain that aerobic exercise for a very long period of time.
So do you have a specific target heart rate that you hit for your body?
Yes. And everybody’s different. ... I try to stay definitely below 170, that’s the red zone for me. ... I was really shooting for about 160 for the race.
How did you train for this?
The race itself in Florida was almost a training ride for me ... for the Race Across America ... starting about early October, I had a base-building program escalating hours for three consecutive weeks, and then a recovery week, ... So right now, I’m on a little bit different ... schedule, where I do ... three consecutive long rides on the weekends, smaller rides during the week. This coming weekend, I’ll do two 12-hour rides and a 14-hour ride on Friday, Saturday and Sunday ... two weeks from now, it’ll go to two fourteens and a twelve.
Where do you ... do these long rides?
This time of year ... I’m in Contoocook and Warner, Salisbury, Webster, Sutton and all this. ... Soon, if it gets a little bit warmer ... I’ll get up to the White Mountains and start doing some of my favorite training loops up there. I ride from here up into the White Mountains and over the gaps and stuff and then home.
So you ride your bike, you don’t take your bike on your car to a training place.
Yeah, I’ll get up first thing in the morning, usually before the light’s out, and head up north. ... it looks like Friday might be a little bit cruddy, so I guess I’ll stay a little bit closer to home, but Saturday, I’ll probably ride up to Conway and over the Kanc and maybe do Bear Notch and Gonzo’s Pass and come on home. And then get up Sunday and do it again.
Do you have any favorite places to ride in southern New Hampshire?
I usually don’t go south of Concord very much. If I go north, there’s better climbing and less traffic, which is my preferred route. Earlier in the fall, I’d gone down through Mont Vernon, and there’s some great climbing and riding out through there.
For both the Sebring race and RAAM, it sounds like you have to deal with cruddy weather sometimes, so do you train in that weather intentionally?
I have a training schedule, and I don’t necessarily worry about what the weather’s going to be like. ... I will admit I did change a couple rides over the winter here to avoid what I thought were going to be some of the bigger snowstorms ... just for safety reasons.
Is it fun for you?
Yeah, I do enjoy it. Since I’ve been really training, for the last two years or so at this point, some of the fun’s out of it. It’s definitely a job at this point.
So what’s the motivation, then?
... If I don’t do the work, I may not finish the Race Across America. You gotta do it or you just won’t finish.
What [does your family] think of your riding?
I don’t know if the kids know what to make of it. Particularly, the oldest son’s 12, and he’s just, you know, Dad’s off riding his bike; I don’t think he thinks much of it. He thinks it’s cool when I do a radio interview.
Oh yeah, his dad’s a star.
Yeah, exactly. ... My wife is very supportive ... obviously it adds some stress to the family situation, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m not going to be at this kind of training regime for the rest of our lives, which I think would definitely result in some conflict.
— John "jaQ" Andrews
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