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Underdogs and the American Way: The Great Bike Debate

by Scott Jerome
April 19, 2006

Americans love the underdog, the person who bucks the system and does it “his way”. We love the person who takes on the system and wins. We love Team USA Hockey from 1980. We beat the Soviets OUR way. We love the guy who proves conventional wisdom wrong. We love the exception to the rule.

I have been round and round with many young athletes on the question of whether biking is a good training method for cross country ski racing. This is where the American love affair with the underdog rears its ugly head. There are many, many kids out there who think that they can be the one who can sit on the bike all summer and still be a good ski racer. The name we hear most often cited by these kids is Carl Swenson. I have the highest respect for Mr. Swenson. He proved to be a top American skier and a top ranked, professional mountain biker. He is the exception to the rule. But the word we should focus on is “exception.” Very few people will be able to do what Mr. Swenson has done. And in my next statement I mean absolutely no disrespect to Mr. Swenson. Though Mr. Swenson came darn close in the 2003 World Championships, he never reached the podium in major international competition.

So here it is: one of the best American skiers in a generation is also a top mountain biker. He is the exception to the rule. He had a fifth place in the World Championships, but never reached the podium on the World Cup, in the World Championships, or in the Olympic Games. He is the one skier out of 100 who could make this work. But why do most kids think that they are also the exception to the rule? One out of 100 will be able to do what Mr. Swenson did. What this tells us is that we need kids to train according to the rule, NOT the exception.

What does this mean for summer training? What is the “rule”? Rollerskiing and running, bounding and ski walking; rollerskiing and running, bounding and ski walking; rollerskiing and running, bounding and ski walking; then repeat.

If a kid wants to be in the top five at Giants Ridge in the Minnesota State meet, he can probably bike all summer and still have a fare chance of doing this. (This speaks to the weakness in Minnesota skiing right now as much as anything.) But this same kid will get his butt kicked at Junior Olympics, US Nationals, World Junior Championships, and NCAA Championships. Let’s all wake up to the reality of the situation. Not every high school skier in Minnesota has international aspirations in skiing, but the ones who do should train properly in the summer. Biking and hiking and canoeing, and all the other “fun” stuff just won’t do the job.

Do you think that the best high school basketball players in the state of Minnesota play softball all summer? Do the best junior hockey players in the state, the ones with NCAA and NHL aspirations, play soccer all summer? Why would skiers play Ultimate Frisbee and ride bikes all summer? To quote a friend in the U.P., “It makes no sense!”

The fact of the matter is that the best basketball players, the ones with collegiate scholarships on their minds, play hoops all summer. The hockey players who want to get an offer from the Golden Gophers and perhaps get drafted by a pro team train for hockey by playing ice hockey. The best basketball players don’t shoot Nerf balls into garbage cans and call it training (even though it is similar to basketball). The best hockey players don’t play floor hockey in the gym all summer with plastic sticks and a rubber ball and call it training (even though it is similar to ice hockey).

Since most Americans don’t have access to snow in the summer, we must train in a way which mimics skiing as closely as possible. This is called specificity. Rollerskiing is pretty good. Running is pretty good. Bounding with poles is pretty good. Ski walking is pretty good. To quote Dick Taylor, “Skiers are four-legged animals.” Biking does not require much upper body power. How much time double poling in the winter do you think Lance did? None! His sport does not require it.

Here is a quote from former USST coach and former NCAA National Champion Trond Nystad in his Q&A interview with Torin Koos: “This lack of work ethic is not shared in other American endurance sports. If you compare skiing with a high school swimming program, the swimmer goes to practice twice a day, everyday. They are training hard, really getting after it at fifteen years old.”

The lack of work ethic to which Mr. Nystad refers is in American high school ski culture. He goes on to say, “Germany, Norway, Estonia, Sweden -- everywhere there are good skiers, they also train. It’s purely something that we have created in American skiing… it’s always about going out there, not exerting yourself too hard and enjoying things. We equate lots of skiing in America with not enjoying the sport. Those who have a desire to ski lots of kilometers and train lots should be given not be held back. We need to give these kids a chance to become good.” Amen. The bottom line: if you want to become good in your sport, train for your sport by doing your sport—a lot.

I love the whiners who complain about Europeans competing in (and winning) the NCAA Skiing National Championships. Are these skiers Martians? Do they possess supernatural powers? Are they doping? Do they have special genes which intrinsically make them better skiers than Americans? The skiers from Europe put their pants on one leg at a time just like the skiers from Fairbanks, Ely, Hayward, Minneapolis and Marquette. (Except the Swedes who get confused and have to do it twice…) “Those Euros are stealing scholarships!” From whom? From slow skiers? Quit whining and start training properly.

Please, prove me wrong. Be the exception to the rule. Bike all summer and win the World Junior Championships in skiing in the winter. I love the underdog as much as any red-blooded American (I cried like a baby when I watched “Miracle”). Just don’t whine about your poor results when you are one of the 99 who should have trained properly in the summer.

About the author...

Scott Jerome is the head coach for skiing at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. A self-described "hack" as a college skier, Jerome earned a masters degree in exercise science at Northern Michigan University while working as an assistant to head ski coach Sten Fjeldheim. Jerome’s UAF Nanooks earned two silver medals at the 2006 NCAA Skiing National Championships and four All America honors. In Nordic points only, the Nanooks placed 5th.