Proification of the New York City peloton

By Ian Landau

With the 2010 race season bearing down on us, it’s time to address something that’s been bugging for me the last few years.

The creeping proification of the New York City peloton.

That’s right. Proification.

What do I mean? I will explain.

When I think back to my first days racing, in 2003, it was rare to see a power meter. There was some talk of coaches, for sure, but most people were self-coached, relying on the advice and suggestions of veteran racers to learn the ropes and improve.

Yeah, Chris Carmichael founded CTS in 2000, ushering in the concept of endurance athletes to the masses with a Yes, you too can train just like a pro campaign. In fact, in my early days, the local masters division was dominated by the now-defunct CTS team out of Connecticut.

But there was no pressure to have a coach, no sense that it was a necessary investment in getting a leg up on the competition.

The proification of training has extended to hours spent on the bike as well. There has always been a one-upmanship aspect of bike racing. Who can ride the most? Who is the hardest of the hard men?

But I feel when I started out people just didn’t train as much as they do now. There’s a sense out there that if you don’t have 15 to 20 hours to train, even as a Cat. 4, you can forget about upgrading.

I am not saying you can’t improve on fewer training hours, just that the general feeling seems to be that 15 to 20 hours is normal.

Connecticut native Tom Danielson looks like a pro, and he is. Photo: Courtesy of Tom Danielson

I can say that for myself, with two kids and a job, I couldn’t fit 15 hours in to my schedule unless I slept only about five hours a night. I would burn out in a month.

And I know I’m not the only one in that position.

We are weekend warriors, for the most part. And Tuesday-night warriors at Floyd Bennett Field.

Yet many of us act like pros. Where once it was enough to have heart-rate monitor, now a power meter is de rigueur.

Not many seasons ago, it was somewhat rare to see deep-section carbon wheels in park races. Now it seems like half of the Cat. 5s are racing them.

And don’t get me started on custom-painted team bikes.

Sure, it’s fun to have a cool bike, but just because you and your mates are on matching frames doesn’t mean your Team Sky. Or even Mengoni.

Of course, it’s not all bad that the training methods of elite racers have trickled down to us.

You could argue there’s been a democratization of the knowledge it takes to be better.