Lara Kroepsch Interview-March 2004
by Trish Albert
Lara Kroepsch is a new coach with Cycle Smart
Coaching. Cycle Smart was founded several years ago by pro road rider Adam
Hodges-Myerson
in an effort to refocus coaching on riders as individuals with unique training
plans rather than coaching from a knowledgebase. Lara is 25 and a resident of
Boulder, CO. She has a degree in Biology from the University of Colorado. Lara
also races for the T-Mobile women's professional cycling team and will be
focusing on
the NCS series in 2004.
SE Cycling: Lara, how did you get into cycling?
Lara: Began cycling in college racing for the University of Colorado. I
kind of fell into the sport on a whim when I went to a C.U. Cycling club meeting
in order to find out where I could ride the new bike I had received over the
summer from my parents. The team kind of adopted me and before I knew it they
had me racing in toe baskets and tennis shoes!! Four years later, 7 team
national championships (4 mountain, 3 road), and two individual national
championships (criterium 2000 and 2001) later, I was hooked and ready to make
the step into the big leagues on a professional team. In 2002 I rode for Trek
Plus In 2003 and 2004 I am riding for T-Mobile. And very excited to be with
them!!
SE Cycling: How did you get into coaching?
I was approached by my friend Ben Turner, who also coaches for
Cycle-Smart, because they were looking for a female coach to replace their
previous coach who had to leave to have a baby. Ben and I both worked together
at the University of Colorado's Human Performance Labs doing our respective
theses. I did an undergraduate Honors thesis examining Maximal sustainable power
output among elite male cyclists. Under the guidance of my mentor Allen Lim I
learned a ton about physiology and cycling while doing my research.
When Ben approached me about coaching, I was really excited at the opportunity
to use my degree, and my experience gained over the past years of racing to help
others, especially women. I have been working crappy part time jobs to make ends
meet while being a pro cyclist, and was excited to actually take a job I would
enjoy and that would challenge me as well.
SE Cycling: What do you want to accomplish with coaching?
Lara: What I want to accomplish - I am just getting started at coaching,
but I think I have a unique background in that not too long ago, I was a pure
beginner on the bike. I had never ridden before college, and since beginning my
sophomore year, I have been able to accomplish great things so far. I want to
help other beginner women experience the fun of improving, tackling new
challenges, and taking a "fearless" attitude into cycling as I
did...i.e. Just jump in and learn as you go instead of standing on the sidelines
wishing you could participate. I guess that is sort of my philosophy too though
I haven't thought a great deal about
this yet. Overall, I want to help other women accomplish things they never
thought they'd be doing, just as I have. I never would have thought I'd race
downhill or Dual Slalom on my mountain bike, but yet I competed in those events
for 4 years while racing for C.U. If I can do, anyone can. Before cycling, I had
never participated in an endurance sport. Instead I played tennis and volleyball
all my life. But with focus, training, and a little "fearlessness",
anyone can reach their goals.
SE Cycling: Your background is in Exercise Physiology and Biology. How
will this help you with coaching cyclists?
Lara: Well hopefully my education wasn't a total waste and I actually
learned something pertinent to cycling!!! No really, I always took school very
seriously in college, and even though my major was in biology, I was always more
interested in the human physiology than in plants, animals, and bacteria.
Therefore, when the opportunity arose for me to put together my own independent
honors thesis, I took it as an opportunity to step outside my field and examine
sports science and exercise physiology. I approached Allen Lim at the C.U. Human
Performance Lab, and with his help we put together a very interesting study on
cyclists. I learned so much conducting my own independent laboratory testing
such as VO2 max, LT, and economy tests. I got a first hand knowledge of all
those performance indicators and how to decipher them and then use them as an
athlete. So I feel I have all the pertinent knowledge to help my athletes find
and then use these valuable numbers. However, I also came to learn, that an
athlete's numbers in the lab are not the sole determinant of their ability and
performance on a bike. So much makes a good cyclists besides just their ability
to produce high power at threshold or have a tremendous lung capacity. So in a
long answer to your question, I believe I have a very well-rounded educational
background with both Biological knowledge and human physiology knowledge.
However, I also have a grasp and understanding of all the different components
that go into producing talented cyclists and am determined to explore those even
further with my athletes.
SE Cycling: What unique perspectives can you give your clients as a woman
bike racer and professional cyclist that other coaches may not be able to give?
Lara: Well I don't necessarily think that a woman needs to be coached by
a woman, and a man by a man, seeing as I have only ever had male coaches in my
career. However, I think as a female racer, I understand what happens in our
peleton, what makes a successful competitor, as well as all the other inn’s
and out's of being a woman. As young kids, boys are given bikes and set loose on
the neighborhood to ride with their buddies. However, how often to you see
little girls rolling around the neighborhood on bikes compared to young boys??
See my point. At a young age, boys are introduced to bikes, learn to be crazy,
fearless, and showoffs, whereas girls are playing dress-up at home. I know this
is a big generalization, but I think women fall into this sport later in life,
so therefore the learning curve happens later as well. As racers, we always
start off a little bit tentative, and I want to help other women competitors
come into their own on the bike. I know what it is like to be a beginner, as
well as to compete against the best in the world, so I think I have a pretty
well rounded perspective and knowledge base to share with my athletes.
SE Cycling: When looking for a coach, what characteristics should a
cyclist consider?
Lara: Most importantly, I think a coach and an athlete need to have very
open lines of communication. It is hard to be best friends when a coach is in
Colorado and an athlete is in Atlanta, but as long as both parties can
communicate without any barriers, success can happen. All of my past and present
coaches are also my friends, and we talk about life and not just the bike all
the time. As a
coach you really need to understand your client, the type of riders they are as
well as their personality type. At our first camp for T-Mobile we took the
Briggs personality test so that we could all learn what personality type we were
as well as how to approach each other and how we each communicate. This
knowledge has been very helpful over the past two years. And of course, the
ultimate goal for both coach and athlete is improvement, so it is imperative
this happens to keep both parties satisfied. Otherwise, I think it is up to the
athlete to choose a coach that they think best suits them and who they can feel
comfortable working with. It is no good if you get nervous or embarrassed to
call your coach, as it is also not okay for a coach to just give a generalized
coaching plan to their athletes. This is also why I think Cycle-Smart is a great
coaching firm. Our goal is to be very personalized and cater to the individual
athlete. Also, we are a small company which also means all the coaches
communicate and share ideas and knowledge with each other. So in essence, you
aren't just working with one coach, but with 5 or 6.
SE Cycling: How can someone contact you if they are interested in your
coaching services and what kind of coaching packages does Cycle-Smart offer?
Lara: They should check out the Cycle Smart web site, all the information
is there. The site is www.Cycle-smart.com. My bio is there, as well as the other
coaches on the team. Pricing and coaching plans are also available. We take
clients who
just want a one-time season plan, to athletes who want consistent coaching and
feedback on a weekly or daily basis. The head coaching director is John V. You
can either contact me at Lara@cycle-smart.com, or contact John and ask to be
set up with me and then he will direct you and we'll go from there.
Thanks for talking with us Lara!
Lara at the T-Mobile training camp in 2004.
Lara testing out her new Giant.
Photos by Jeff Tse and courtesy of Lara.