Joe Gardner

You guys need to check out this guys website! A quote from his site "MY name is David Michael Anthony and I am training for the 2004 OLYMPICS Bicycle Road Racing, Bicycle Road Time Trials and Velodrome Sprint Cycling.

I have been training in an EXTREME and UNORTHODOX MANNER. I am pulling Over 1,000 lbs behind my bicycle though the Bigest/steepest Mountians I can Find. I have traveled over 40,000 miles and through all 49 States with this load. "

fubar5

wowzer.

MichaelW

Certainly an impressive feat of endurance, but not exactly the training program for a 1k sprint or a 25k time trial.

If this guy is serious about winning world class races, he should be using the most scientific training techniques, not simply yomping across the county. I wouldn't expect Maurice Green to train for a 100m sprint by lugging a heavy rucksac across the USA.
A US coach once said, you dont train to get fit, you get fit to train.

There is a role for resistance training for cycling. Cycling with bricks in your pannier is an accepted method of fitness training (but not one that many racers use).

mike

Yes, it would be quite a feat for somebody to pull that load, BUT... Think of the bike!

I am surprised a bike can handle that kind of load for any amount of time/distance.

Somethings got to give.

Going uphill is one thing, but think about going DOWNHILL in the mountains with a 1,000 pound trailer behind you. No way! You would be doing cheerios as you went over the side of the mountain. Of course, it would be neat to see that, but 'Oh My God".

Something stinks here. This has to be a spoof.

toolfreak

I can see why he need the discbrakes!!! Impressive trailer.

orguasch

He must be very serious about his plan or there is something wrong somewhere???

Weasel

Good luck to the guy.

Moose

While I can appreciate Mike's skepticism, I don't think someone would go this far, creating a rather extensive website, with many quite credible looking photos documenting his travels. Just browse around his site from the Homepage and judge for yourselves.

https://www.davidmichaelanthony.com/index.cfm

Joe Gardner

I just found out he will be riding in the SLC critcal mass tomarro night, im thinking about going just to see his setup

from his site: 2-15 02.. Today's milage is 41,013 pulling over 1000lbs...849 Flat tires.....
I am in PARK city UTAH...LOOK for me during 2002 Olympics on Parleys Canyon Pass InterState 80...I will pull 1500 lbs UP and OVER 10 X

catfish

Joe:
you got my attention now 849 flat tires, geeze I am headed to this guys site now the courisosty is killing me here thanks for the heads up
Catfish

Guest

Hey Joe-

Did you get to take a look at this guy's setup? If so, I'm waiting for the pictures! Did you get a chance to talk to him too?

Koffee

Greg

A twenty tooth chain ring!

This guy is nuts.

Does he really plan to get into the olympics?

DanFromDetroit

I think he is just plain crazy.

Of course most folks said the same of Emil Zatopek and his training methods, and he proved much of the conventional wisdom or the day about training wrong.

More Zatopek Quotes

MediaCreations 

I use a very similar training method. I too ride with a large amount of unnecesary weight. However, I don't keep it in a trailer, I pack it tightly underneath my skin, mostly around my belly.

MediaCreations 

I find it interesting that his webpage says that he will compete in a range of events at the 2004 olympics. I'm sure he'll find that he will only compete in those events if he meets the criteria and is chosen in the team.

HalfHearted

Hey! I resemble that remark!

Rotifer

I think this guy took a blow to the head when he hurt his back (the Mountain Bike article). Is there an explanation as to why he never actually makes the Olympic team?

HalfHearted

Well, it's all the IOC's fault. They haven't added the "pull six times your body weight up the side of a bloody mountain" cycling event yet.

John

Dougmt

No darn wonde his bike is able to handle the stress... it's a schwinn
Doug
proud owner of a 1988ish schwinn

beowoulfe

I wonder how many chains he's popped! What kind of components can handle
that kind of stress?

Raiyn

KMC chains the rest is advertised on his site.

Gordon P

Have you seen the legs on this guy! Makes me want to cycle around North America just to get legs like that! I must commend him on his charity work; fighting hunger is a noble cause.

Is there really hunger in America?

"Hunger Facts
Hunger hurts! Hunger respects no boundaries and never takes a vacation. No matter what type of human suffering you wish to end...no matter what hopes you have for your brother or sister or neighbor...you cannot educate, jobtrain or heal a hungry person or family. Visit these expert links to learn more about hunger in the U.S. Remember, 100% of your pledge supports local and national hunger relief agencies in your community and all across America! Register today! "
David Michael Anthony

HalfHearted

I don't think there is hunger if you're talking about starvation and distended bellies like you see in the photos of some third-world countries (and I've travelled quite a bit of the US including several inner cities). However, there are an awful lot of kids, especially, who never get enough to eat and many who are poorly nourished because what they do get is empty calories. In the latter category we're not just talking about the poor, either. You'd be surprised how many American kids from two-income upper-middle-class families live almost entirely on empty calories because their parents are too busy with their own lives to put real food in front of the kid. One popular brand of instant, microwavable, tasty, empty calories blatantly targets parents who leave their young children at home unattended -- "the meals are so easy to cook in the microwave your kids can serve themselves." Then we wonder why those kids grow up to be little monsters that attack bicyclists from the safety of a schoolbus... Ooops, you got me wound up, again.

Anyway, yes, there is poverty and real hunger in America but nothing like I've seen in Asia with my own eyes and like you often see in Africa and S. America on the tube.

It's not just inner-city kids that go hungry either. In fact, in many cases it's the rural poor who really fall through the cracks in the social safety net because when hard times hit a rural community the support agencies usually aren't staffed (or even present at all) to deal with the situation. For example, the nearest unemployment office may be a hundred miles away, you have to apply in person, and often those who are hitting bottom are already without transporation.

In many (but by no means all) cases the parents actively thwart government and charitable agencies trying to help their own kids. It's not unusual for parents in the inner city to sell the foodstamps that are supposed to feed their kids so they can buy crack cocaine for themselves. In the country the same situation isn't unusual, but there the drugs of choice are usually alcohol and tobacco.

I once worked with a woman who had been a mail carrier in some LA slums. She said she dreaded the day government checks came out because on every block she'd be accosted by guys trying to wheedle her into handing them the welfare check instead of taking it to their house where their wives were watching for it.

Probably the thing that does save a lot of kids is mandatory schooling. Even terrible, selfish, crack-addicted, etc. parents usually pack their little ones off to school because it gets them out of the way. Once in school there are responsible adults around that usually spot and act on the worst cases of neglect.

John

Gordon P

Thanks John for taking the time to answer my question and to be honest it was in jest. That’s my humanitarian black humour. The city I am living in is considered to be the poverty capital of Canada and we have a socialist provincial government in power and a social safety net! So I see this on a regular basses. I once participated on a nutritional survey of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and we found a 35% malnutrition rate with children under the age of 5. That level was considered normal! It would be interesting to do a nutritional survey in some of North America’s inner-city children to see what the norm is. David Michael Anthony is helping to bring attention to this problem and I hold people like him in very high regard.

HalfHearted

I kind of figured your question was in jest, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to get on my soap box

John