Sports - Ski to Sea - Ski to Sea trainer

POSTED: Friday, May. 22, 2009

Road bike: After long layoff, Surfrider's cyclist just getting better

As a youngster in kindergarten, Chad Clarke took the training wheels off his bicycles because the neighbor boy, a year older than him, took his off, and Clarke didn't want to be outdone.

Now 45, he still has that competitive spirit. And after years away from the bike, he's back on it and competing.

Clarke, a longtime chef who recently took a job as a cheese maker at Samish Bay Cheese in Bow, will compete in the 90-mile, seven-leg Ski to Sea relay race this year, his third year competing. He'll be doing the 38.5-mile road bike portion for his team, Surfrider, taking the team out of the Cascades from the Shuksan Department of Transportation shed down to Everson.

The Bellingham resident improved his times - and position - over the past two years, and he hopes to again improve this year.

• In 2007, he took 51st overall with a time of 1:32:14:7.

• In 2008, he took 27th overall with a time of 1:27:34:6

Clarke has been into competitive cycling for only the past three years, when he switched to riding after he hurt his back while running. Through weekly rides with the Mount Baker Bicycle Club, Clarke met Stewart Bowmer, who mentored him. Bowmer later established the Fanatik Bike Co. team (the Bellingham-based bike business is the main sponsor), and Clarke now rides with that team nearly every weekend.

"The camaraderie has been really cool," Clarke said. "Then watching people as they get better and better, it's really cool."

Clarke competes as a Category 4, Masters C rider. The category is based on skill level and experience, and Clarke improved from the beginning category 5. Masters C is a class based on age.

"Three years ago, he was just coming back into biking, and this year he's just really improved 10-fold, especially his time trialing," said Bowmer, 40, who will compete in the downhill skiing leg for the Bank of the Pacific team. "He can compete with the best of them. He should do pretty well for Ski to Sea."

If anything, Clarke overworks himself and "burns out his matches" before the end of races, Bowman said.

Clarke described Ski to Sea's road biking leg as a hybrid race and time trial. It's longer than a typical time trial but shorter than a road race. And, while you're racing the clock, you can draft other racers, he said.

On his team, only he and mountain biker Oskar Kollen have competed twice before. Team captain and running leg competitor Eleanor Hines competed last year, but Brita Mjos (cross country skiing), Lance Rottger (downhill skiing), Rochelle Parry and Kevin Olney (canoeing) and Josh Parrish (kayaking) are all newbies.

"I'm hopeful that each year we'll continue having a team," Clarke said. "It's fun to compete in."

SURFRIDER

Division: Recreational mixed

Cross-country ski: Brita Mjos

Downhill: Lance Rottger

Run: Eleanor Hines

Road bike: Chad Clarke

Canoe: Rochelle Parry and Kevin Olney

Mountain bike: Oskar Kollen

Kayak: Josh Parrish