Pacific Sun Weekly 11.11.2011 - Section 1

Page 21

H. HUNGERLAND

›› BIKES

Swift-ing gears

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Cycling is definitely experiencing a generational ‘shift’

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by Jacquie Phe l an

t 3FMJFWFT *#4 BOE PUIFS (BTUSPJOFTUJOBM 5SBDU 1SPCMFNT t 3FTUPSFT )FBMUIZ #PXFM 'VODUJPO ‘Swifties’ like Libby Caldwell ARE Marin’s future of cycling.

bastopol. The proceeds make it possible for a grassroots, anyone-can-join team of road riders in the North Bay. For years, Marin girls and boys have passed through the Swift program, like former Drake rider Lauren Catlin, who is the current collegiate offroad champion. “Swiftiesâ€? who aren’t into competition per se develop into conďŹ dent, thoughtful “road sharersâ€? for the rest of their lives. According to Charameda, many adult Swifties return to ride Cycle with Champions each year, as mentors. As the sun rose into clear blue skies (along with a couple of hot air balloons), West County Revolution bike shop in Sebastopol was an anthill. At the rear of the roomy asphalt lot stood an imposing red truck the size of Liechtenstein. It’s the team van for BMC (pro road team), full of race bicycles and a cozy den, complete with washing machine and two-way radio holster for a couple of dozen instruments... a perfect intimidation vehicle when it rolls into a race venue. Charameda’s partner, Gavin Chilcott, was an off-road pro who “switched surfacesâ€? as a road pro in Italy. This day he was second in command, as Charameda directed setting up tables, tents and dispersing food, supplies, even breakfast for everyone. Gavin’s brother Kent and their dad were also on hand... Dr. Chilcott has housed dozens of riders at the pink palace, the bicycle racer’s halfway house of Santa Rosa. A couple of hundred coffeejacked riders rolled out, the speedsters like Chilcott and Fast Freddy Rodriguez in the lead and the reasonable day-trippers (i.e., my friend Paula and me) rolled along at our race pace (15 mph). Sprinkled between these two populations were the mini-racers in their appy jerseys, baggy Lycra shorts and perfectly ďŹ tted bicycles. They were smooth and calm. I recognized Calvin, a 12-year-old who’d beaten me at a race in Annadel State Park last summer. I let him go. Libby and Brandt were waiting for me when I rolled in after a pleasant four-hour tour, and I got a superb plate of polenta, salad and pasta to enjoy while the rafe items, photos and speeches unfurled in the Technicolor autumn afternoon. The best image of the day was the huge group of riders, half of them under 16, posing with Charameda and her champions. Looks like a famiglia to me. < For more on Team Swift, check out www.teamswift.org. Downshift with Jacquie at Jacquie@batnet.com.

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nyone who spends a weekend outdoors in the North Bay encounters platoons of cyclists, from “modern maturesâ€? to teens to tots on their wooden balance bikes. It’s the next-best thing to being in Italy. Combine Northern California’s quasiItalian climate, stunning topography and overwhelming bicycle presence and you get “spontaneous generationâ€?—a river of riders on any ďŹ ne day. It didn’t happen overnight. For two decades, momentum has been building, with better road striping and trail markers (thank you Marin County Bicycle Coalition)—not to mention at-school cycle education (pioneered by Marin County’s Safe Routes to Schools program). Each high school has a mountain bike team; races pit one school’s team against another, with regional and national championships. The legendary Trips for Kids has dozens of volunteers who take at-risk children up Mt. Tam to mitigate their “nature-deďŹ cit disorder.â€? It is little wonder that this last decade the county has felt an explosion of youthful participation. The only element missing from this smorgasbord of two-wheeled opportunity was a nonproďŹ t children’s road cycling team program. Enter Team Swift, founded by Laura Charameda in 1999. This much-decorated world-medalwinning sprinter moved to California after 10 years racing in Italy. Charameda saw the need for a grassroots team, and dove into it when a back injury ended her pro career. She dragged her way out of the “slough of despondâ€? by turning her considerable energy toward children. My neighbor, Drake senior Libby Caldwell of Fairfax, is one of them. Libby wouldn’t ride with her biker parents—soccer was her true love for a decade. But a reconstructed anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) required rest and weeks of rehab... on a bicycle. When a friend asked her to ride on the Drake mountain bike racing team, she jumped at the chance. “The fun, camaraderie wasn’t that different from my soccer gang,â€? she smiled. The following year she progressed, joined the Swift program and entered some road races that are very different in tactics, training and terrain. Libby’s mother, Cat Caldwell, puts it this way: “The Swift community was inclusive, very family-oriented. I began riding more, and saw non-rider parents take it up inspired by their children.â€? Before dawn on a chilly fall morning I joined Libby and her coach/mechanic/team assistant Eric Brandt to help set up the club fundraiser (“Cycle with Championsâ€?) in Se-

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