Sterling McBride......

....was a Cat. 1 racer when I was an Intermediate and Junior racer here in northern California, back in the 1980s. There were a ton of great riders in northern California back then(sort of like now too!). Two guys I remember the most were Sterling McBride and Keith Vierra. I remember once in a road race I was in, I was on this one climb - about 10% average grade and a mile long or so - and Sterling flew by me - and I mean FLEW!!! That guy could climb like a fiend! He was going so fast up that hill, I would have had to sprint just to stay behind him for a split second....and even then, I would have been dropped instantly, pulled over, and died.

But one of the great things I remember about some of these guys - and our local guys too(like Andy Paulin and Bruce Gesick back in the day) - was their approach to training. How do you train for bike racing??? Ride your bike - that was the answer. Ride your bike. Of course, they rode a TON. 400 mile weeks? Yeah, that was typical. If I was able to get in a 200 mile week back then, that was cause for massive celebration! But 400??? Typical??? Dude, that's heavy.