In this podcast Geoff & Gerry speak with Bart Bowen. Bart was a professional cyclist from 1990 to 2000, he was most notably the National Road Champion in 1992 and 1997. He also won the Herald Sun Tour in 1992 and the Tour of Japan in 1997. Bowen participated six times at the World Road Championships with the American team. Bart has been running his coaching and cycling studio business for over 15 years now.
We talked about how Bart got started with cycling during college and being an elite skier at first. It was very interesting to hear all about starting at the Subaru-Montgomery team and the impact Eddie B had.
Bart’s first professional race was on the biggest stage imaginable; the 1990 World Championship in Utsunomiya, Japan. Bart explain how that came about and the contribution he had supporting Greg Lemond who came in 4th that year. Bart did a lot of racing in Europe and explains what it was like to spent and extended period over there during the spring classics time and what it was like to race monuments like: Milan- San Remo, Amstel Gold race and Paris-Roubaix.
Cyclocross had a substantial place in Barts career and it was great to learn how his cyclocross skills contributed to his road racing, racing with and against the McCormick brothers and also doing a couple of cyclocross races in Europe. Today Bart run’s a cycling studio from which he coaches and trains many cyclists.
We touch on Zwift and the possibilities it gave Bart to keep on coaching during COVID and the lockdown, and how Zwift made him expand his reach across the globe organizing structured training rides. All in all this was a fun and very informational podcast, we hope you enjoy the listen and would love to get your feedback!
Photo Credit: Andy Tullis/Bullitin Photo