8 years ago
Apr 13, 2012
Crossover
This story from the IDS makes for an interesting debate about the ability of other athletes to adapt to cycling, and specifically Little 500. Brittany is clearly a very strong swimmer but is somewhat mid-pack in the L5. One reason for this is that she is trying to do both sports (until March 17th at least) but may also speak to the ability of good athletes in other sports to just pick up a bike and be good. Little 500 is filled with ex-high school runners and swimmers who needed another outlet. Is there an easy crossover between these (or any other) sports or if you dedicate yourself to riding is it independent of ability in other sports? Examples from the Cutters in recent times show Sam Gasowski/ Paul Sigfusson as excellent swimmers who took up cycling but then Eric Young wasn't a great runner in high school who did pretty well in Little 500. Of course Eric may have been more dedicated to cycling than running so it's difficult to know exactly, whereas varsity swimmers know how to train and probably gave it their all for the bike team as well. Thoughts (and please be nice).
I do think Brittany could put her saddle up a little...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
21 comments:
Triathlons, Running, and Swimming cross over well.
As well as any D1 or varsity sport where the athlete learned a solid work ethic.
Brittany is one year away from being a real force on the bike. It's really hard to adapt from March until now. Her swimming times are amazing. It's just not enough time for her to dominate. Her Vo2 max is probably extremely high, and her threshold is great. However those muscles aren't as developed in her legs, and she could probably get a bit smaller in the upper body because of the shoulder strength for swimming which would also help her on the bike.
Distance running doesn't translate as well because they tend to be weaker and skinnier and not made for the track, however they can still be good with time and weight gain.
I have sort of noticed that male swimmers have had more success than female swimmers on the bike but I am not sure if there is any reason why that would be.
Speed skaters are probably the best fit for cycling.
Smallman was a D1 pole vaulter who made an awesome transition to road cycling and still was a dominate force in the L5 arena. The work ethic that some of these athletes bring can not be ignored as a huge factor.
When did Smallman ride? I have honestly never heard of him in Little 5 so I can't understand how he dominated unless this was in the 60's or 70's.
He rode last year for Hoosier Climber?
Greg Krisko and Chris Wynn are two other IU Swimmers who rode for us and were excellent riders but never won the race. Chris won the Indiana Pro 1/2 State Road Race and Krisko rode the Olympic Trials for the Road Race.
40th in ITT's for Smallman is hardly dominating anyone. Jon Carlson was also a swimmer that was average his first year and top 2 at ITT's the next year.
David Richardson-Rossbach was a solid rider (and MNO champ a few years back) who swam for IU
not L5 but speed skaters, Eric Heiden crossed over well.
He may not have dominated L5 but cat 5 to 2 in one year is impressive.
Nick Torrance was apparently a D1 swimmer before he decided to come go IU and not swim in college. I think he translated pretty well as he got 5th in ITTs
Swimming by far is the sport for Little 5 since I don't know too many speedskaters. Here is a list of swimmers off the top of my head from either high school or college.
Krisko, gasowski, henrick walberg, jon carlson, richardon Rossback and Wynn for college swimmers who were mostly Cutters.
For Highschool: hans, vargo, woj, torrance, CVK and Im sure hundreds of others. Was the dodds house guy a swimmer too that won Little 5?
If those from college started riding freshman year they would have probably been as good as the guys in the high school group or maybe better.
John Grant swam for Ohio State before transferring to IU.
Another sport is BMX. Joel McKay ('96 PDT Champ) raced BMX is high school. Early in his career he went head to head with Kenny "Mayham" May in the Real version of "Helltrack" and dominated him. Rumor has it that Joel was the inspiration for Cru Jones in the movie Rad.
RJ stuart wasn't a speed skater but he did play hockey along with Dave Ellis
Paul Sigfusson was able to parlay his swimming fitness into 2 little 5 wins.
beefcake alex bishop was a wrestler
Alex Bishop can also do a kick-flip on a skateboard. And Grant can do a 360 on a bmx bike
I speedskated and ran both track and xc. Needless to say, I was a much more prolific athlete in Highschool then here on the L5 track.
The muscle motions used for swimming are so much different than those for biking. Very little upper body on the bike (Andy Hampsten was quoted as saying that he only lifted enough weights in the winter to keep his arm warmers from falling off). Very limited range of motion in the legs.
Great crossover from skating (both Heidens, Sheila Young, etc.).
Kayce Doogs (DG?), Andrew Ramos (Beta), Jacob Rich (bkb), Dan Kinn (bkb). Are a few other names that come to mind from IUTF/IUCX. They're all distance peeps, I was a stick jumper/ bad multi (decathlon/hep). I will agree that i wouldn't define my L5 career as "beastly", as previously mentioned my ITT time is not that good. I will say that competing on a Big Ten/NCAA level is entirely different than competing against other IU students. When you compete at Big Tens you know youre jumping/running/swimming against the best in the midwest and often the country. As many will attest to, L5 requires such a unique skill set that even really good roadies don't excel at it. The unique style of the race requires experience, specific training, maturity, and respect that many former D1 athletes (including myself) don't exert or possess.
dancers, Pam loebig was a redstepper
Post a Comment