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FEATURES: BEING THERE: A REGULAR "JOE" JOINS THE UNITED HEALTHCARE TEAM CAMP
Zap
January 13, 2012
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Every Pro team training camp has its exciting moments and between new staff and team riders there is always an equal amount of wide-eyed apprehension as everyone starts the process of getting acquainted for the long race season to come. If there was one person at this year’s United Healthcare Camp who was entitled to be the most nervous, to feel the most outside of their comfort zone, it would have to have been Lester Ross. Lester, who hails from Gallipolis, Ohio, was the lucky winner in the “UHC Pro Cycling Experience” and received an all expense paid trip from team sponsor Cytosport to attend the team camp.
Lester is the first to admit that he is not a hardcore roadie. Back in Ohio, he tells how his wife thought he was crazy for spending $500 on his Trek FX hybrid bike. Still, after watching the Tour de France on TV two years ago, he became something of a big fan of the dropped bar and lycra set. “I got hooked,” he recalls thinking back to the days when he would bring cycling magazines to his job as a logistics supervisor at a plastics manufacturing facility. “My co-workers all thought I was crazy looking at photos of guys with shaved legs and wearing spandex!” On one foray to the local supermarket, he scanned the magazine rack and found Road Bike Action which he said he took a liking to because “it had a broad spectrum of information that I think appealed as much to the average rider as it did to top riders.”
 
Cytosport has been a UHC sponsor since the team's inception ten years ago.
Over the months Lester would go to the RBA web site to keep up on the latest news and last month when he clicked on and saw the Cytosport sponsored promotion that awarded one lucky person the chance to visit the United Health Care team camp, he shrugged and gave it a try.
“When they first got an e-mail from Cyto I thought it was a bogus e-mail! My wife didn’t believe it either. Once I realized it was real and I talked it over with them, I had to think about the flying part. I hadn’t flown in over 30 years since I reported to basic training at Ft. Jackson, Florida and it made me a little nervous. Although somehow I boarded a flight to New York at first, eventually I worked it all out and I was fine with it. The flight flew straight into Palm Springs and here I am.
 
Lester in action - go Lester, go!
Although Lester gets in most of his miles on the local Rails to Trails routes, he did admit to having ridden sixty miles in one day with a friend last summer. Still, there were trepidations. “I’ve never ridden a road bike like this and I’ve never ridden in a group before either.” As the team ride was readying itself, there was an excited moment when a search for some flat pedals was conducted. No, Lester had never ridden with clipless pedals before either.
 
During the ride Lester got some tips from various UHC team riders.
“You know, coming out here, I was pretty apprehensive about being some old guy with all these Pro riders. But, everyone has been so nice and accommodating. I think one of my biggest take-aways is the sense of camaraderie I found between everyone. The riders were all so friendly with me…I didn’t expect that and I’m not sure it would be like with other sports. Also, there is such a sense of community with this team, like the way they point things out on the road to each other. I mean, that stuff may be trivial, but it’s important.”
After the ride, Lester was justifiably proud of what he had accomplished. “I made it! That was so much fun. I did run into a little trouble on that one hill, well, maybe it wasn’t; really a hill for you guys, but it felt like one to me. I have to tell you, this whole experience that Cyto put together was a dream come true for me – I never would’ve expected to have this experience in my life! I’d like to get myself a real road bike for sure. I think my next upgrade will be the clipless pedals because I realized how much power I’m losing with the flat pedals. If I tried to shave my legs, my wife would dis-own me, but the clipless pedals I think I can try.”
Cyto brand manager Greg Sellers was equally pleased with the way things turned out. “We were really happy that Lester won because he really represented just a regular guy who was someone that the camp would be such a new experience for. Sometimes we forget that there are real cycling fans out there that aren’t as deeply involved in the sport as we are and having a first-hand experience like this, I think, really goes a long way in building their enthusiasm and passion for riding bikes. ”
Look for more UHC team camp reports to come. Thanks to Surf City Cyclery for supplying Lester's bike. |
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