Doug Aker Coasting with Northeast Bike Club

Doug Aker, Chelmsford resident who formerly trained to compete in road races, recently made the switch to cycling and is enjoying every minute of it.

The decision to swap sports has allowed him to travel throughout New England and make new friends in the biking community. Recently, Aker was named Cat5 Co-captain of his team.

Aker is currently a member of the Northeast Bike Club. He got his start to biking, however, with the Charles River Wheelmen.

“I started two years ago, at the end of 2008,” said Aker. “I set myself the goal of riding a century, which is a 100 mile ride.  I noticed the Charles River Wheelmen had a spring, summer and fall century.”

He completed the fall century with CRW, and then, in 2009, completed all three centuries that the club organized.

After the 100 mile rides rides, Aker began to really enjoy biking, so he made the full transition from running, and has taken off with it since.

 “You get a lot of guys like me who make that transition just about the same time; they  like endurance sports in general, but right around your 40s you start to get more injuries when you’re running," he said.

Cycling is becoming more and more popular, he said.

“Suddenly, people have enough money to afford a bicycle whereas before they couldn’t because they had a big mortgage or were saving for their kid’s college," Aker said.

In addition to enjoying the social and physical aspects of the sport, Aker enjoys the cool gear that comes with bike racing.

“If you run all your life, and then try cycling, there is more going on; you have the bicycle, and you get to dress up in the cool kit,” he said, referring to the spandex shorts, and racing jersey that each team wears during competition.

“With running, the most fun thing you can do is buy new shoes," he laughed.

Despite several setbacks, Aker has been able to successfully make biking part of his lifestyle. Last May, Aker was involved in a bike crash, and suffered a broken collar bone. 

“In May of 2010, I broke my collar bone. Breaking your collar bone is actually a common bicycle injury. That took me out of action for 10 weeks. I kept up my fitness level a little bit using recumbent bicycles that didn’t really affect my shoulder that much,” he said.

Dealing with the frustration athletes often suffer when training is impossible, Aker allowed himself to heal, and started right back training as soon as he was well.  

In August of 2010, he competed in his first race post-injury, and he completed another in October before getting back into the full swing of things this year.

“I’ll do on average, about one race a month. Some people do more than that, but most cyclists in my club will do one, maybe two a month. This next one, Tour de Hilltowns is July 23. There is also going to be a big race in Jamestown in October,” Aker said.

To train for a cycling race, the follower of the Cyclist’s Training Bible by Joe Friel will segment his training into four phases, each one lasting about a month. During each phase, Aker will alter the speeds and lengths of his rides to maximize cardiovascular capability and minimize muscle fatigue by the time the race rolls around.

“One of the things people always ask me is, ‘how many miles did you do today?’ ” he said. “That’s a good question, but it’s not really relevant to training. It’s more about how many hours you spend each week. For me, it can range from as little as seven hours a week to as many as 15 or 16.”

“The highlight of this year was the first race, which was called Tour of the Battenkill. It was 60 miles of pavement and dirt, which is very challenging. You’re climbing up hills on dirt roads, and descending on dirt roads, which is very perilous,” he said.

Aker’s next big race, Tour of the Hilltowns, is a 65 mile race on the roads, the preferred surface for this cyclist.  He will also be competing in the Jamestown Classic in October for the second time. Last year, Aker completed the 19.1 mile race in 50:43, speeding at 22mph.

“The typical bike races I do range anywhere from 12 miles to 60 miles. 65 milers are the longest ones at my level. For my preferred distance, I would say a race that goes between 20 and 35 miles,” he said.

Aker really enjoys biking, and loves the club that he rolls with.

“NEBC is a great club, it’s got many hundreds of members. Although not all of the members race, the emphasis is more on competition and bike races” he said.