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.