Bicycles

Winning Legs

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Winning Legs Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/01/2020 - 00:00

Joshua Nelson

Sepp Kuss (Advert'17) grew up riding his bike through the mountains of Durango. Last year, he won stage 15 of Spain's La Vuelta, one of three Grand Tours in professional cycling, and is becoming known as one of the best rising American cycling climbers.

This year, he is competing in the Tour de France.

We caught up with him this spring to hear more about his cycling.

For most kids, bike riding is a hobby. When did it become a sport for you?

When I started out, riding was simply a way to explore the outdoors and go on adventures with friends. As I progressed, cycling became more competitive, but I never rode or raced with the idea or expectation of riding professionally. Everything progressed pretty quickly and naturally because I enjoyed riding so much. Even now, in the results-driven professional world, riding still feels like a hobby rather than a ‘job.’

People refer to you as a climber, in reference to your racing style. For those unfamiliar with the sport, what does that mean?

A climber is a rider who excels in mountainous or hilly terrain. Climbing itself is all about a rider’s power to weight ratio, so climbers need to be strong, but also very light and efficient.

Would you attribute your style to growing up in Durango?

Absolutely. Growing up riding in the mountains and high altitude around Durango gave me the skillset and endurance to ride in hilly terrain. As a climber, you also have to appreciate the suffering involved with riding over multiple mountain passes. Growing up in the tough terrain of Durango and Boulder helps make climbing feel more natural rather than a fight against gravity.

Do you have a favorite memory racing for ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ?

Racing for ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ was a great experience. I’ll always remember when we won the Team Overall at the 2015 Collegiate Nationals in Snowshoe Mountain, WV. ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ is just a club team and we were going up against teams with varsity-level university funding, so pulling that off was pretty cool. Special mention to the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ coach Jeff Winkler who always went above and beyond making our club team competitive with the varsity-level teams.

You won Stage 15 at the Vuelta, what was that like?

Unforgettable! Racing through the final kilometer with the whole atmosphere of crazy fans lining the road, screaming in your ear was an adrenaline-filled experience. I never expected to win a stage in a Grand Tour at this stage in my career, so that made it even more special. After three weeks of racing, we won the overall with our leader, Primoz Roglic, so it was pretty amazing to win a stage and help Primoz to the overall win.

For many, a single stage seems like a grueling endevour, but a grand tour like the Vuelta lasts for weeks. What kind of physical and mental endurance does that take?

Racing for three weeks is all about endurance and knowing how to manage your energy. When you make a big effort during one stage, you sometimes pay the price in the following stages, so you have to use your energy wisely and stay on top of nutrition and recovery. There are two rest days during a three week race, one after the first week, one after the second week. Mentally, the rest day is a great time to decompress, but physically they take you a bit out of the racing rhythm. Sometimes the day after the rest day you feel worse than after a hard stage, so it’s important to ride at least a few hours, or even do a harder workout so the body doesn’t fully enter ‘rest mode.’ No rest for the weary!

Were you able to take in some of the Spanish scenery?

It’s funny because we travel to all these beautiful locations — mountains, oceans, deserts, historical cities, but most of the time the racing itself takes so much concentration that you sometimes forget your surroundings. When we see the stage on TV after the finish we realize how much scenery we missed! I always enjoy racing in Northern Spain. The people are fanatical about cycling and the mountains are so green and rugged.

Lastly, what's the next career milestone you have your eyes set on?

For the 2020 season, a big goal is to race the Tour de France. I’ve raced the other two Grand Tours, but being part of the Tour de France team would be a huge opportunity.

Condensed and edited.

Photo courtesy Team Jumbo Visma

Sepp Kuss grew up riding his bike through the mountains of Durango. This year, he is competing in the Tour de France.

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Cycling America

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Cycling America Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/01/2020 - 00:00

For 31 years, Rob Drugan (MPsych’81; PhD’84) has taught a course on behavioral medicine at Brown University and the University of New Hampshire. Last year, he decided to take his course — which focuses on the benefits of exercise — to the streets. He took a year of unpaid leave and, with his wife Connie Eppich (Psych’80), set out to cycle the continental U.S. starting in June 2019. They rode counterclockwise around most of the country, 9,560 miles in 285 days, until the COVID-19 pandemic halted their trip in Florida.

What was your inspiration for an around the country bicycle trip?

Before we met Connie had gone on an eight-week, 3000 mile solo trip from Boulder to San Francisco through the Canadian Rockies. This has been a dream of ours for so many years that neither of us can remember where it came from. It just seemed like a good idea, spending the summer bicycling across the northern U.S., the fall down the west coast, winter across the south and spring heading north along the Atlantic coast as it warmed up

Have you always been an avid cyclist?

Connie has been bicycling all her life. I have been a runner and took up bicycling after we met. We've gone on numerous shorter tours (one to two weeks) throughout our marriage.

How did you train for the trip?

Not as much as we had hoped, given a wet spring in New Hampshire where we live. We went on a number of 30 to 50 mile rides, some with the gear we'd be carrying.

What was the hardest stretch of cycling?

The second week riding through west Texas with few places to stop, barren scenery and lots of trash and dead animals on the side of the road.

Can you explain what WarmShowers.org is, and how was your experience?

Warm Showers is a worldwide organization of bicycling tourists and people who enjoy hosting them. It's sort of like couch surfing but is only available to bicyclists. No money exchanges hands. We met countless generous and fascinating people who often treated us like royalty, often cooking dinner and breakfast for us, offering beer and wine and use of laundry facilities. Perhaps more importantly than the free lodging was the opportunity to have an insider's glimpse into what excited people about the places where they lived.

What was your favorite stop?

Christmas in Tucson. We spent a week staying with three different couples through Warm Showers. One of our hosts took us on a hike Christmas morning, and a bike ride up Mt. Lemon the day after. We spent time exploring the many murals in the city and bicycling through East Sonoran National Park.

What was the prettiest view during your trip?

The Oregon and Northern California coasts with so many incredible views of rocky cliffs and sea stacks.

Lastly, what were your biggest obstacles?

Headwinds, the invisible foe. With a mountain pass or long hill, you could at least celebrate getting to the top and enjoy the descent. Headwinds offered no relief and no end, just creative profanity.

Condensed and edited.

Photo courtesy Rob Drugan

Rob Drugan, with his wife Connie Eppich, set out to cycle the continental U.S. starting in June 2019. They rode counterclockwise around most of the country, 9,560 miles in 285 days, until the COVID-19 pandemic halted their trip in Florida.

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Q&A: Grant Ellwood, Cyclocross Champ

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 17:29:55 +0000

Q&A: Grant Ellwood, Cyclocross Champ Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/01/2019 - 10:29

Andrew Daigle (PhDEngl'16)

In December, Grant Ellwood (MechEngr’19) claimed the 2018 cyclocross collegiate club national championships title in Louisville, Ky. Here the Boulder native talks cyclocross, what it takes to win and why it might be fun to see a race up close.

What is cyclocross?

You use a road bike, but with knobby tires. You ride through grassy fields and go over obstacles. There are barriers to run over, or people jump them. Some inclines are impossible to ride up. You end up having to get off the bike and run up hills. It's a mix of sports.

Are you allowed to get off the bike as often as you want?

Some sections are faster when you’re off the bike and running, because it might have a slippery turn where you will crash nine out of 10 times. There are no rules against running, but it’s usually faster to ride, if you can.

What makes cyclocross different from mountain biking?

The bikes are quite a bit lighter and you can’t have flat or mountain bike bars, so you have to have drop bars. There are also rules that limit tire width.

How did you get started?

I had been racing mountain bikes since I was nine. In high school, some parents from my team started a top-level cyclocross team in Boulder. I tried it, and it was super fun.

Did it influence your decision to attend ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ?

ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ’s a great school for engineering. I was looking at cycling-specific schools, with varsity programs, but none of them had the academics like ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ.

You’ve raced for five years at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ. How has the sport changed?

The biggest thing is how much riding you do. When I started, everyone ran over all the barriers. They’re pretty tall and not easy to bunny hop. The bikes are fully rigid, too. Now, everyone’s riding over everything. Riders have gotten more skilled.

What is a typical cyclocross race like?

The only thing you know is where the course is going to be and how long you’ll race. We typically race for 40 minutes. It goes by minutes, not miles. Each lap can be about three kilometers and six to 10 minutes. After one or two laps, you get a sense of how many laps you can fit in.

What does it take to be competitive?

A lot of time. We’re training 15 hours a week, just on the bike. I usually have an off day, but I’m on the bike every other day. Depending on the schedule, I might take it easier on Friday, and then race all weekend.

You finished second at nationals last year. How did you put yourself over the top this year?

The different course helped. I’m a good runner, and nationals was so muddy that there was a lot of running. It was a hard, hard race. It wasn’t tactical. Put your head down and keep going hard. I just had a better day and didn't make many mistakes.

What is most challenging for you?

School. Especially last semester, with senior design. Some weeks, I rode once, for an hour. But it’s a good trade off.

Do you have plans for after ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ?

I want to give racing a shot. Ideally, I’d find part-time work that’s flexible, in engineering, but that’s kind of a fantasy. I’ll probably race for a year or two and then reevaluate.

Can you race cyclocross professionally?

There’s prize money, but not enough to live off. You have to find the right team or get sponsors.

What don’t people know about cyclocross?

Most people don’t think it’s fun to watch cycling. But we’re doing short laps and there are a lot of crashes. We have races at Valmont Bike Park. There are vendors and food trucks. It’s festive. There are races all day, and you’ll see a person five or six times from one point on the course, since it wraps around itself. It’s a cool sport.

Condensed and edited.

Photo by A. Yee/Cyclocross Magazine

In December, Grant Ellwood claimed the 2018 cyclocross collegiate club national championships title in Louisville, Ky. Here the Boulder native talks cyclocross, what it takes to win and why it might be fun to see a race up close.

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Talking ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Revolutions

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 21:08:46 +0000

Talking ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Revolutions Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/01/2018 - 14:08

Sarah Tuff Dunn

Sweet on chocolate? There’s a shop in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood you might want to check out — a bikeshop. Gregory Crichlow (Arch’95) has transformed a former drug den into a boutique bike shop that also sells artisanal bean-to-bar chocolate.

The story dates to 2009, when the Great Recession brought the American economy to its knees, dramatically slowing work for Crichlow, then employed as an architect.

“I had to make a decision to use a different skill set,” he said.

By 2011, the wheels were in motion to turn a 400-square-foot Downing Street space with no roof into a place where locals could come for bike repairs and frame fabrication, and also chocolate.

He’d often noticed the building while biking to his architecture job nearby. It became Chocolate Spokes, the subject of a recent short film of that name.

Opening the business wasn’t the first major gear shift for Crichlow, the rare cycleshop owner who wears a dress shirt and bow tie on the job.

After finishing high school in Aurora, where he played ice hockey, he’d lived with his grandmother in New York for a year. There an interest in architecture gathered momentum. Dually inspired by the city’s aesthetics and by Olympic speed skater Eric Heiden, a multi-gold-medalist who reinvented himself as a pro cyclist, Crichlow came back to ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ to study architecture at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ and joined the cycling team.

“My first ride was a real eye-opener,” he said. “I was dropped by the group and left somewhere near Lyons — I realized there was a lot more to the sport than just getting on a bike and going.”

He eventually left competitive cycling to focus on architecture and attend graduate school at the University of Illinois. But Crichlow has remained committed to life on two wheels: He doesn’t own a car and cycles everywhere, as do his two children, ages 13 and 9.

And, of course, he owns a bike shop that doubles as a neighborhood gathering place.

“My hope is that we’re creating a space where everyone feels welcome and respected as our immediate neighborhood context evolves,” he said.

The bow tie is a nod to Crichlow’s grandfather, who wore them also, and to his own attitude toward work.

“I listen to clients and make their wants and needs come to a tangible reality,” he said. “My appearance is a refection of how seriously I take this.”

Crichlow decided to sell chocolate bars alongside handlebars partly because of his own fondness for them, and because he believes fine chocolate reflects the studio’s attention to craftsmanship.

“People come in just to buy chocolate — nothing to do with bikes,” he said.

Now, that’s sweet.

Photo courtesy Gregory Crichlow

Gregory Crichlow has transformed a former drug den into a boutique bike shop that also sells artisanal bean-to-bar chocolate.

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Campus News Briefs – Winter 2017

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 18:45:00 +0000

Campus News Briefs – Winter 2017 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/01/2017 - 11:45

Saturn Finale

The dramatic September end of NASA’s Cassini mission concluded a 20-year run aboard the spacecraft for ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ’s Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS), which helped analyze Saturn’s rings and moons.

1997

Year Cassini left Earth

4.9

Billion miles traveled

294

Saturn orbits completed

$12M

Cost of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ-built UVIS

Moons discovered

453,048

Images taken by Cassini

9/15

Cassini vaporized in Saturn's atmosphere

Heard Around Campus

In Boulder you're more likely to hear the whoosh of a cyclist than the shrill of a siren...”

— National Geographic, which in October named Boulder “Happiest City in the U.S.”

A Legend Among Us

Dance Magazine this fall named Lorenzo “Rennie” Harris, an artist-in-residence at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder, a “Living Legend,” placing him in the company of Fred Astaire, Pina Bausch and Misty Copeland, all past honorees.

A hip-hop choreographer from Philadelphia, Harris has received high praise before: In 2015, The New York Times called him “the most profound choreographer of that idiom.”

Harris is the founder of Rennie Harris Puremovement, a dance company that preserves and disseminates hiphop culture. He has taught at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder since 2009.

Dance Magazine annually recognizes artists who have “left a lasting impact on dance.”

Twins Aid Marijuana Research

As more states consider legalizing recreational marijuana use, scientists are trying to understand how it plays out in people’s lives.

With a $5.5 million award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a research team from ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder and the University of Minnesota will assess whether legalization promotes use, for example, and try to identify the consequences of use for work, family and mental health. There’s little existing scientific evidence.

The team will study 1,250 sets of previously researched twins in ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ, where sales of recreational marijuana have been permitted since 2014, and 1,250 sets of twins in Minnesota, where it remains illegal. Using the Minnesota twins as a control group, the scientists will look for behavioral changes in the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ twins since 2014.

“There is clear need for solid scientific evidence,” said study co-leader John Hewitt, director of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder’s Institute for Behavioral Genetics.

The study could result in more concrete guidelines. ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ and Washington were the first states to legalize recreational marijuana use, in 2012.

For more details, visit ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder Today online.

Boulder named happiest city, Cassini's dramatic end, a dance legend and new marijuana research.

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Adventure Dentist

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 18:35:00 +0000

Adventure Dentist Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/01/2017 - 11:35

Clint Talbott

John Warner has climbed and skied mountains in the United States and abroad, raced motorcycles and mountain bikes and, by the way, also served as a mayor, search-and-rescue volunteer, orchestra backer and dentist-of-mercy in Guatemala.

If life is what you make of it, Warner (Bio’73) knows the drill.

As a ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder student, Warner liked the natural sciences and initially planned to pursue medical school. But as an undergrad, he happened to work with a group of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ dentists who were pioneering a protocol to stimulate dental-bone growth using bone marrow that Warner harvested from cadavers. He went on to dental school instead, at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ’s School of Dental Medicine, and later opened a practice in Breckenridge.

When Warner and his wife, Carre, moved there, Breckenridge was a lot smaller and his practice didn’t keep him too busy. Civic engagement filled the gap. He led the Breckenridge Music Institute and volunteered for the Summit County Search and Rescue Group. He also founded the Summit Huts Association, a nonprofit that rents backcountry cabins, and served multiple terms on the town council and as mayor.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he provided free dental care in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. Later, he volunteered similar services in Guatemala.

The Guatemalans Warner treated lived far from dental clinics. Many had never seen a dentist. His patients sat on bags of grain while he mostly pulled teeth and filled cavities. He did this without basic diagnostic tools, such as an X-ray machine.

Like many Coloradans, Warner, who spent much of his childhood in Denver, answers to yet another calling: The outdoors.

He and some buddies have skied hut to hut in Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy and Canada. They’ve trained at Mount Rainier and climbed Denali and Aconcagua — North and South America’s highest peaks, respectively.

Living at 9,600 feet gives Warner an edge at altitude, he said.

Recently, he completed the Double Triple Bypass, a cycling event in which he rode 220 miles and climbed 22,000 feet in two days.

He’s also a seven-time finisher of the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse, a midnight ski race from Crested Butte to Aspen. In 2015, he and teammate Jack Wolfe became the oldest team — combined age: 123 — to complete the race.

In his mid-60s, he skied the Cristo Couloir, which tumbles down the southern flanks of Quandary Peak, a fourteener. He also skied down Torreys Peak, descending a route no more than 50 yards wide in spots, with rocks lining both sides.

That might sound like a daredevil stunt; Warner insists he’s careful.

“I don’t want to make a mistake,” he said, adding that he doesn’t want his former search-and-rescue colleagues to have to collect his body.

When not pushing limits on skis, peaks or bikes, Warner channels his energy into community service. It’s “helped me professionally,” he said, “and helped me be a better person.”

Read a longer version of this story in ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Arts & Sciences Magazine online.

Photo courtesy John Warner

John Warner has climbed mountains, raced mountain bikes and served as a mayor, search-and-rescue volunteer, orchestra backer and dentist.

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Campus Photo of the Week

Anonymous — Mon, 08 May 2017 20:19:36 +0000

Campus Photo of the Week Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/08/2017 - 14:19

Snow-capped Rocky Mountains greeted all who commuted into Boulder from the US 36 highway or the 18-mile bikeway, which opened early last year. As the spring semester draws to a close, traffic along the highway will increase significantly for ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder graduation ceremonies The main commencement ceremony will occur in Folsom Field Friday, May 12 beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Photo by Casey A. Cass

Snow-capped Rocky Mountains as the spring semester winds to an end.

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Sports Q&A: Laura Knoblach

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Sports Q&A: Laura Knoblach Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/01/2017 - 00:00

Jennifer Osieczanek

As Tough as They Come

Even in Boulder, Laura Knoblach (Span’16; Edu’17) stands out among endurance athletes. The ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder senior, 22, competes in Anvil Triathlons — races two and three times the length of a full Ironman — while managing schoolwork, a bike shop job and certain memories she’d rather forget.

The Boulder Ironman in 2015 was your first triathlon. You know they do sprint triathlons and half Ironmans, right?

Yeah, that was not a good idea. I had never done an open-water swim before with a bunch of people. It was terrifying. I think the swims on these longer (anvil) races are easier because you don’t have to deal with 3,000 people getting in the water, all clamoring for a spot.

How many people competed in the Double or Triple Anvil races you were in?

The Double was under 20 and the Triple was nine, I think.

How many hours a week do you spend training?

It depends. For the double in March [‘16] I had a crazy class schedule. I was working and I was taking a full load of credits and, since I’m an Ed student, I had a practicum component where I was in a school for 10 hours a week. So I trained one day a week or two days a week. Every Saturday I would bike 150-200 miles and then I would go on a run afterward. I just made sure every Saturday I was out. I went out one time and it was 20 degrees, my water bottles froze and I had broken my arm that January, so I was biking with a broken arm. I had no idea how to train for something like this.

What’s the worst part of training?

It got lonely when I was training for the Double because I would do all these long bike rides alone. I would end up just calling people, I would have one earbud in and I would just call my friends. Thankfully in ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ there’s a higher population of ultra people, so for the Triple I ended up training with people almost the entire time. There was a group of us that did two or three all-nighter workouts together. It sounds terrible, but it was really fun because we brought a bunch of pizza and coffee to 24-Hour Fitness and just hung out all night long riding on our bike trainers.

Is there any point during an Anvil race that you sleep or take breaks?

You can rest all you want, but the clock is still running.

What is the farthest distance you’ve run at one time?

In the Double I ran 46 of the 52.4 miles and that’s the farthest that I’ve run before.

What about biking?

Probably the 336 I did in the Triple.

How do you stay mentally focused during a long race?

Stopping can’t be an option. Quitting the race can’t be an option. You can’t let your mind go there, otherwise, once you go there, once you think, ‘I could stop right now, I could be done with this,’ you probably will.

What were you thinking when you crossed the finish line in the Triple Anvil in Virginia?

I was honestly just glad it was over.

What made you decide to raise money to fight sex trafficking through your racing?

I was molested for a little over 10 years growing up. When I came to college, I ended up getting involved with Empathy Week on campus, and there was a club on campus called ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Students Against Modern Day Slavery that worked with iEmpathize, a local nonprofit. I found out that a crazy number, a crazy percentage of girls who run away in the U.S. are trafficked. I think it’s 1 in 7 within 48 hours. And it kind of hit home, ‘that could have been me.’ And then I found out that my hometown was a huge hub of sex trafficking and I was like, ‘Oh, okay, so if my situation had been a little different, that literally could have been me, that could have been my life.’ It makes you care.

Is there anything you’d like to try, to push your limits?

I’d really like to do an ultramarathon, like a 100K or a 100-miler. Someday.

Condensed and edited by Jennifer Osieczanek.

Photo by Patrick Campbell

Even in Boulder, Laura Knoblach stands out among endurance athletes.

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The Bike

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 22:34:01 +0000

The Bike Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/01/2016 - 16:34

Eric Gershon

Rob Foster’s hands are full.

The 34-year-old ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder senior is married with four children, all daughters. He’s loaded up on physiology, biomechanics and anthropology courses and knee-deep in medical school applications.

He’s also leading a small research team in the development of a bicycle for a potentially vast ridership — obese people of up to 450 pounds.

Foster (IntPhys’16) used to be one of them.

“I have a lot of empathy for people who are in that position,” the now-slender former banker said in a spring interview at the Locomotion Lab in the Clare Small Arts & Sciences building.

Hard at work for more than a year now, Foster’s team aims to produce a final prototype by the end of 2016 and make the design publicly available at no charge.

“Take it. Apply it. Use it,” he said, emphasizing that the group has no commercial intentions. “Help some folks drop some pounds.”

Foster, 5’11”, knows the burdens of obesity. Four years ago he weighed 327 pounds.

“My earliest memories are of being picked on,” he said.

But in early 2012 Foster and his wife, Jessica, decided to slim down. They’d seen obesity’s toll on others, and their weight was keeping them from fully enjoying life with their girls, including twins Autumn and Abigail, now 9.

“We couldn’t go out to the playground,” he said.

Jessica did Zumba; Foster took up tennis, then started jogging and cycling.

Using Google Scholar, Foster, then working as a bank manager, dug into the academic literature about obesity, looking for guidance and understanding. He and Jessica set what felt like reasonable goals (lose two pounds a week) and let themselves continue eating foods they liked, but at far smaller portions. Their success landed them on Good Morning, America.

Today Foster is a trim 172 pounds. He wears eyeglasses with rectangular lenses, a close-cropped, neatly trimmed beard and often a baseball cap. He’s finished two marathons and the BolderBOULDER 10K three times. He gets around town on an off-the rack Fuji. You’d never know he was once seriously overweight.

But millions of Americans are — about 80 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control, or 35 percent of the adult population. Foster wants to improve the odds they’ll slim down, and he and his academic adviser, Rodger Kram, think a customized bicycle could help.

“For very heavy people, even walking, let alone jogging, imparts high forces on the hip, knee and ankle joints,” said Kram, a ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ integrative physiology professor. “Swimming is another form of aerobic exercise, but many people are not comfortable wearing bathing suits in public. Bicycling is a fun, social and low-impact way to get aerobic exercise and hence burn calories.”

Foster grew up in Westminster, Colo., a strong high school student keen on science. He briefly attended the University of Northern ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ, but dropped out. He married, had kids and spent nearly a decade in retail banking. Occasionally he rued quitting school; he’d seen himself as a medical doctor.

Emboldened by his successful weight loss and encouraged by Jessica, Foster decided in 2012 that it wasn’t too late. A year later he enrolled at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ and dove headfirst into the study of integrative physiology.

Last fall he approached Kram about doing original research. Kram suggested the bike project, attempted once before and suspended after a previous team failed to connect with obese people. After hearing Foster’s story, Kram knew he’d found the right guy.

“‘You have what we would call ‘obese experience,’” Foster recalled Kram saying.

Take it. Use it. Apply it. Help some folks lose some pounds.

So Foster and a fellow undergraduate, an engineer, began working on a bike that’s more comfortable and safer for the obese than off-the-rack bikes, seeking input from heavy riders, including a Boston blogger who writes as “The Fat Cyclist.” The team is developing a bike obese people could ride on Boulder’s bike paths, uphill or down, at greater than walking speed.

Bicycle manufacturers have previously produced bikes for heavy riders, but Foster has found them lacking, especially when it comes to the braking systems, which he called “in no way adequate.”

After testing all available types of bike braking systems, the researchers found the best ones required at least 43 feet and 4 seconds to stop a 450-pound person traveling at 15 mph. The team wants brakes that stop the same rider in 1.5 seconds and no more than 15 feet, in line with existing federal standards for a 170-pound person.

The researchers are not trying to reinvent the bicycle — they’re trying to adapt it, mainly by identifying an optimal combination and configuration of existing parts. The bike will look more or less like regular bicycles, an important point for obese people they interviewed.

“They didn’t want anything that was goofy looking,” Foster said. “They don’t want to be the bear on a bicycle.”

Beyond the brakes, the team is rethinking the wheels and gears, seat post (solid rather than hollow), aspects of frame design (optimal height for the top horizontal crossbar and handlebars) and saddle (a tractor-style seat, perhaps).

The braking system will be the most complex new element, and the challenge is to generate greater braking force without warping any parts. The tentative solution calls for a hydraulic system with two front rotors (as in a motorcycle) and two sets of calipers, effectively doubling the friction on the front tire when the brakes are applied. It also calls for doubling the force applied to the rear wheel.

By spring Foster and team had produced an initial prototype and were raising money through a ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ-sponsored crowd-funding campaign to finish the project.

Ultimately they want a bike that appeals to obese riders — but still requires them to work.

“If it’s too easy,” said Foster, “we’re defeating our purpose.”

Photo by Patrick Campbell

Making a bicycle for obese riders.

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Triathletes and Swimmers Remain Best in Country

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 06:00:00 +0000

Triathletes and Swimmers Remain Best in Country Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 06/01/2013 - 00:00

Gary Baines

Follow the Herd

Former ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ football player Jeremy Bloom (A&S ex’06) was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame April 13.

Emily Talley(Comm’12) appeared on Golf Channel’s reality show Big Break Mexico, competing against 12 golf pros.

H.B. “Bebe” Lee, who coached ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ to the basketball Final Four in 1955, died March 31.

Chuck Fairbanks, ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ football coach from 1979-81, passed away
April 2 after battling brain cancer.

It came right down to the wire, but the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ triathlon team extended its streak of consecutive national titles to four with its victory in April at the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships in Tempe, Ariz.

The Buffs edged Cal-Berkeley by a mere two points, 3,926 to 3,924. ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ won the men’s division by 60 over the Bears, while the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ women placed second, finishing 58 points behind Cal. In all, 1,015 athletes representing 108 schools competed in the Olympic-distance race.

“Winning has always been secondary to this team and it’s just the cherry on top of what we are trying to teach the team about being responsible, hardworking leaders,” says head coach Mike Ricci.

Michelle Mehnert, a graduate student in her first season competing for ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ after graduating from the University of Illinois — and swimming for the Illini — won the women’s Olympic-distance race in 2:01:13. That was 75 seconds ahead of her nearest competition.

The ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ men placed three athletes in the top eight, led by Rodolphe Von Berg who ended up fourth.

Meanwhile, the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ swimming and diving club team also won a national title in April, claiming its third straight. The Buffs prevailed in both the men’s and women’s divisions.

Kate Booth placed second in the women’s individual scores as ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ put four competitors in the top five. Bryan Bonack led the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ men, finishing fourth in the male individual scores.

The ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ triathlon team extended its streak of consecutive national titles to four with its victory in April at the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships in Tempe, Ariz.

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