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Ronnie Strange made the Chronicle
By Dave Svahn | March 13, 2009
Hey Guys;
I contacted Mr. Dale Robertson of the Houston Chronicle about writing a story on Ronnie Strange…Dale is the writer who wrote the article on me when I met and raced Lance last year…..I asked him if he could write a story about Ronnie and he did…This article was in the paper yesterday… Enjoy…..David Svahn
Cycling Notebook: A Strange story on two wheels
Dobie product finds his calling aboard road bike
By DALE ROBERTSON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
March 12, 2009, 4:21PM
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Ronnie Strange was a good enough athlete at Pasadena’s Dobie High School to earn a track scholarship to Texas A&M, and he enjoyed a successful career running the 800 meters. But it turns out he may have missed his true calling.
Based on Strange’s rapid rise through the cycling ranks, it appears he should have been using his strong young legs for pedaling instead of pounding the pavement. Still, only 26, he’s making up for lost time, having surged to the top echelon of Houston-area riders in less than two years.
“I hope to have that (professional) contract in front of me by the end of the year,” Strange said. As for his long-term goal, a Tour de France yellow jersey would be nice. This is a man with very big plans.
Strange took up mountain biking after he finished at A&M in 2005 “just to lose some weight,” he said. “I’d gained about 40 pounds since I quit running. Being a competitive person, I got into racing pretty quick.”
Then a friend convinced him to get a road bike, so he spent $1,400 on one and entered his first race in February 2007 as a bottom-rung Cat-5.
“I got dropped, just shot off the back,” Strange said. “I was kind of discouraged. But I kept at it. I trained every day for the next three months, and pretty soon I was lapping everybody. When I became a Cat-4, I started winning.”
By June of last summer, he had reached Cat-1 status and subsequently made a huge splash in a grueling ICC Super Week competition outside Chicago, finishing fourth in the points standings over three weeks of competition that included riders from top domestic teams like Jittery Joe’s and Rock Racing.
Now wearing the kit of the semi-pro Ten Speed Drive/BH Bicycles Cycling Team and coached by Gaye Koening of Clear Lake’s RPM Sports — where Strange works as a fitness instructor — he scored his first Cat-1 pro-level victory in the Alsatian County Omnium Crit in Castroville in early February, besting a strong field that included Patrick McCarthy of the Maxxis-OUCH team and Bike Barn’s Kevin Kremke, generally regarded as the No. 1 rider in Houston.
“I’m giving Kevin a run for his money,” Strange said.
Topics: Team News |
One Response to “Ronnie Strange made the Chronicle”
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March 13th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Very nice! Go Ronnie!