“The Younger Guys Got Totally Carried Away with Heart Rate Monitors. They Used Them All the Time — on the Climbs, in the Flats and in the Evening
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“The younger guys got totally carried away with heart rate monitors. They used them all the time — on the climbs, in the flats and in the evening. I think they still had it on when they went to bed with their girlfriends.” GRAHAM WATSON 50 VELONEWS JULY 7, 2008 www.velonews.COM Sean Kelly The original Irish hardman talks bike racing then and now by Sarah Staber f Sean Kelly had his way, race radios would go the way of the dinosaur, monitor. I was one of the guys to first test it out. It came out near the end of my career. I wouldn’t have started to rider salaries would be more evenly distributed, and everyone would use it at that point in my career, but the doctor on my have to race a full season, not just focus on a grand tour here or there. PDM team wanted to work with it. It didn’t change how But what else would you expect from the rough and tough Irishman, I raced, but it did change how I trained. The problem I was that the younger guys got totally carried away with whose career spanned three decades and included 193 wins, four Tour de it. They used it all the time, on the climbs, in the flats France green jerseys, and a penchant for telling it like it is. and in the evening. I think they still had it on when they went to bed with their girlfriends. It was just too much. Today at 52, Kelly is still fighting fit. On a recent What’s the biggest difference in the sport today com- They were more focused on the heart rate monitors then group ride in Mallorca, Spain, he gave a recreational pared to when you were racing? what was happening in the race. I was not the type to be rider a much-appreciated push over the crest of a hill, Back in my day, cycling was just about the sport. It was into that sort of thing, but I have to admit it was helpful then joked that he was feeling a “little tingle” in his a great athlete getting beaten by an even better athlete. at times. You had your max and when you got close to knee. “I was at the disco over the weekend,” Kelly re- But over the past 10 years the drug problem has ruled your threshold there would be an alarm. You knew in a vealed. “After a few drinks, you forget you’re not 16 cycling. It’s changed people’s views on cycling. Because climb if there was 5km to go, you had to knock it back anymore.” of the drug situation, it’s not just the athlete’s natural a bit cause you can’t go into the red zone for that long He may not be 16 — or even 26, his age the year ability that is coming to the fore. a distance. But if it was getting close, say the last 500 he captured his first of four green jerseys — but he’s or 600 meters, then you could go all out and stay with still Sean Kelly, hammering away on a windy day in What do you think about changes in equipment? the leaders. In that respect there was a big advantage, Mallorca, no sunglasses, thin, fit, and living up to his Well, look at the equipment we were using 20 years even at the end of my career. But it had to be taken in reputation as one of the original hardmen. Were it not ago. It was basically the same equipment that was being moderation and I think that is still important for riders for cycling, he probably would have tried to become a used 45 years before that. Nothing had really changed. to keep in mind. pro hurling player. Then came sudden changes with gear, the brakes and “I just didn’t want to stay home on the farm,” he said. the wheels. All a sudden there was huge development in Have race radios helped or hurt the sport? Instead, he raced bikes for eight professional teams, the bicycle. And of course the new TT bikes had a huge I don’t think race radios are a good thing. It takes some taking on a near year-round schedule that started with advantage with the disc wheel. These changes have of the sport out of the race. We had to race on instinct Paris-Nice in March (which he won seven consecutive not only been advantageous for racing, but have also and, to a degree, that is gone today. I see a lot of guys times) and didn’t finish until October’s Giro di Lom- been really great for bike sales. Today, so many more in the races that just don’t know how to ride a race if bardia (which he won three times). people are involved in the sport. The bike is much more they haven’t got an earpiece in. That’s really disap- After retiring from racing in 1994, Kelly took a colorful and there is much more glamour to the bike. pointing. In the junior ranks a lot of the directors are breather from the sport, then came back as a TV Whereas before a bike was a bike — very, very standard. totally nuts. They are on the radio all the time. Every commentator for Eurosport. That said, I think the developments in the bike is going f–ing two minutes they are giving instructions, and the In 2005, he founded the Sean Kelly Cycling Team, to another extreme. The bike was losing the shape of a riders just do whatever comes over the earpiece. Racers which is sponsored by the Irish postal service. The bike and they were starting to develop bikes that were never have to decide a tactic or learn tactics themselves, UCI-registered pro continental squad is based in Bel- unsafe, much too light. It’s good that the UCI decided to and when they turn professional that is lacking. Contact gium, a location Kelly pushed for so that young rid- impose new regulations and enforce them. Otherwise with the car also makes parts of the race really danger- ers would be exposed to the harsh European racing there would have been major problems. ous. Take the first big stages of the Tour de France. In scene. the first week you have 180 guys in the race, and you Kelly also lends his name to a variety of fundraising There’s been big breakthroughs in training and technol- have 140 who are still really fresh, uninjured and feeling races and charity rides, and stays active by playing host ogy over the years. What do you think of all the changes? strong. They all get the news that a dangerous point is for SportActive, an Irish cycling camp based in Mal- It’s all really important. Things like wind tunnels re- coming up, say a narrow road or dangerous bridge. So lorca that offers Tour de France tours. When he’s not ally help in training, and technology has brought racing you’ve got these 140 guys all wanting to be in the front on the road, Kelly resides in his hometown of Carrick- to another level. The problem with race science is that because they’ve been told, ‘Guys you have to get to the on-Suir in Ireland. He’s married and has 19-year-old although it plays an important role for the profession- front 10 or 15km from here.’ Now all of a sudden 140 twins, a boy and a girl. als, casual bikers may get involved in it too much. They guys are fighting to be the front 20 guys. There have VeloNews sat down with the irascible Kelly to talk see big champions using stuff and they have to have it, been some really big crashes due to those sorts of situ- about changes in the sport, and what he’d do to make too. There wasn’t all that much going on in this area ations. That’s all because of the race radios. After about cycling better. in my time, but one of the advances was the heart rate 10 days everyone starts getting tired and the situation is 51 not so volatile, but in the beginning that radio contact can cause chaos. Unfortunately, I think we are going to have to live with the presence of race radios. What do think of today’s rider salaries? The top guys’ salaries are too much, and then as you go down, it falls off too quickly. If you look at a team with a “During my time the new 7 million euro budget and the top rider takes 2 million — I don’t think they merit that much. A lot of them riders had a bit of respect ride only a handful of races a year, and if it is a Tour de France rider, he just concentrates on that and that’s for the top guys, but that it. Then you have 25 other riders on the team, and the lower riders are not being paid enough. Back then I was has totally changed. They one of the lucky ones. It was the time of Greg LeMond don’t give a damn about and he, as a potential Tour de France winner, jacked up our yearly salaries by 25-30 percent, at least for the top the veterans anymore.” 15 guys. So that was a big help to us.