O’Malley Versus Bunde

Mengoni team member, Cat 1 racer and Affinity Cycles mechanic, Jared Bunde has a comprehensive race resume, including races in Belgium and France. Bunde has raced in Europe and Asia as well as Central and South America, notably Venezuela, El Salvador and Nicaragua. He is passionate about kids and bikes and works with the Star Track program headed by Deirdre Murphy, at the Kissena Velodrome in Queens. I interviewed him at Affinity Cycles the other day over chicken, beans and rice, sprinkled with lots of laughs.

O’M: What or who got you into racing bikes?

JB: I was a bike courier for 3 years and started doing alley cat races in the city, and built up a decent resume racing in traffic. I started going to Kissena in 2001, in 2002 I began to take cycling more seriously. I got a late start in bike racing.

O’M: Did you do any other sports pre-bike racing?

JB: Soccer, through high school, in Connecticut.

O’M: Where did you grow up?

JB: Upstate in Hamlin, New York and then in Connecticut through the end of middle school and high school.

O’M: What has been your most memorable win to date?

JB: Grants Tomb in 2003 as a Cat 3. I’d been doing a lot of preparation [for races] with David Sommerville, and when I saw the race on the calendar, I said, “I want to win this,” it was the first one I consciously went into thinking I’d win. I was pretty serious about racing before that and I was getting ready to go to Belgium.

Solo Bunde

O’M: Why Belgium?

JB: I was accepted to participate in a developmental program at the Cycling Center, run by Bernard Moerman. That year (2003) I spent three months racing in Belgium and France, the next year I returned for another two months.

O’M: How was racing in Belgium?

JB: Awesome, and really hard. It started to really define me as a rider. I learnt how to suffer and to ride in the wind. This is part of the reason I do well at Floyd Bennett Field (FBF), and similar races. It was also the first time in my life that I could focus only on racing and not do anything else. I gained a lot of discipline in regard to training and nutrition during my time abroad.

O’M: How does it compare to here?

JB: It depends on the level really, like doing NRC races here is as hard as a UCI race in Belgium. A Belgian kermesse would blow away a prospect park race, literally. After 45 minutes of racing, a decisive selection is always made, the average race is 120 km, so a touch over 70 miles.

O’M: Did you get into that selection?

JB: It took me three weeks to just finish. But each race I did, I got stronger and I eventually was able to finish in the leading group, getting my best result in my last race there.

Bunde Being Chased

O’M: How did you get onto the Mengoni team?

JB: Last year I raced for Champion System. I gave Charlie Issendorf my resume at the end of the season and was recommended by Dave Sommerville. He’s organized a lot of the international racing trips that I have been on. I think part of the reason that I was selected for Mengoni has to do with Charlie’s relationship to Champion. I was selected to go and race in China, Malaysia and Thailand for Champion. When I got back from Asia, I joined Mengoni. What I like about Mengoni is that it’s an established program and has been around for a long time. Fred [Mengoni] is a huge supporter of the sport of cycling. The team fostered talent like Steve Bauer and George Hincapie. It’s a regional team with a national reputation.

O’M: Is there anything that irritates you about other cyclists?

JB: Not one specific thing across the board. I get really irritated when people ask me too many questions. [Laughing]

O’M: You must be a very patient human being?

JB: Well you see, I take my racing seriously, but in the end I’m riding a bike.

O’M: Do you ever do yoga?

JB: I’ve done yoga, but lately, only occasionally. I prefer to make love to my foam roller. [Laughing].

O’M: How many days a week do you work at Affinity Cycles?

JB: Just two days a week, Monday and either Thursday or Friday.

O’M: And the other five days?

JB: I work with “Star Track”, a program organized by the Parks Department and Deirdre Murphy. She puts it all together. It’s a youth cycling program at the Kissena Velodrome for young kids between 9 and 17. The program is privately funded.

O’M: How do you make time for training? How many hours a week?

JB: My schedule is very flexible, my days at the track are a two hour commitment so I have time to train. I generally train 15-20 hours a week, sometimes more. I have done countless rounds of Prospect Park, trying to catch my tail, and I have been sighted on 9w.

O’M: What’s your take on Power Meters?

JB: A great tool. I use one. Yes. [Laughing]

O’M: What are your goals for 2007?

JB: I don’t have any particular goal races. Just to have a consistent season. The Masters Nationals on the track and possibly Elite Track Nationals. I feel my team is getting really organized, riding more like a team. If I can do work for others on the team I’ll be satisfied.

O’M: What about nutrition?

JB: A lot of carbs and whole grains, as much as possible. I stay away from dairy with the exception of ice cream. I like all flavors [laughs].

O’M: What about drinking beer?

JB: I drink socially. I find one or two occasional drinks won’t hinder performance. And sometimes the stress of trying NOT to drink is worse than the side effects of having a drink. [Laughing] so I drink all the time!

O’M: What about your winter training?

JB: From the first week in November [2006] to the end of January, I raced twenty-nine days, in Venezuela (November) and in China. So last year the only months I didn’t race were January, February and October [2006]. So in February [2007] I trained lightly, but mostly relaxed. I don’t like indoor training, part of what I enjoy about cycling is being outside.

China Pain, Tour of South China, 2006

O’M: Do you think there is a parallel between cycling and life?

JB: I suppose there is a parallel between everything. Trying to enjoy my life as a cyclist like I’m enjoying my life in general – exercise, eating good food, drinking good wine.

O’M: Your favorite wine?

JB: [Laughing] Red!! Champagne, I like to drink a lot of it.

O’M: Have you ever been to France?

JB: Yes, Paris and I raced in Nogent, Northern France. I also raced in a shit hole, Auby. The race was fucked up, little kids throwing rocks at us. In fact Wilfred Peters [ex-Belgian Pro] asked them to stop and they hit him with a metal pipe. It was an old mining town, really depressed place.

O’M: Did you like France?

JB: I liked racing in Belgium better, Belgium is flatter and the Belgians are more passionate. There seems to be good support [for cycling] in both places and there’s a really festive atmosphere when you race in Belgium. The chocolate is better.

O’M: Tell me about your recent Tour of Virginia?

JB: [Laughing] It was, as far as courses go, the single hardest course I’ve ridden. I raced races where riders race harder, but the course was 6 stages, of which two were crits and every other day was a mountain day. I don’t particularly care for climbing. I’ve gotten better, but my background is the track, it doesn’t convert so well to climbing muscle.

O’M: Does equipment make a difference?

JB: The higher the level, the more of a difference the equipment makes. I’ve done races in Central America where guys beat the crap out of me on their 15 year-old bikes, in Nicaragua, El Salvador and the DR, and really, it’s the passion that makes the difference. We’re generally spoiled here [in US].

Refreshments Hong Kong Style

O’M: If you were to move, where would you live?

JB: Somewhere with better weather, Spain or Argentina. I’m over the weather here. I grew up in upstate New York.

O’M: Where did you learn to become a mechanic?

JB: At Bike Works, Dave Perry gave me the foundation for what I have learned. He gave me the opportunity to learn as I worked, I owe him a lot for that opportunity.

O’M: What did you do before bike racing?

JB: I spent a year at school, Parsons. It was expensive and so I did only one year, a foundation program. I didn’t want to be that in debt for a design degree. I didn’t want to be committed to work forever.

O’M: What do you like about your current schedule?

JB: [It’s] Flexible and with a minimum amount of stress. And I really enjoy working with the kids at the track.

O’M: What are you trying to teach these kids?

JB: Introduction to cycling as a sport and to other exercises. Parents have told us, if it were not for Star Track, kids would be playing video games. The cycling program is an important step in teaching kids about health in general. There is a direct correlation between health, nutrition, exercise and good living. We get kids from across the spectrum. You get an overweight kid and by showing them how to ride, you can make a long-term difference in their lives.

Tour of South China Sea, Solo Bunde

O’M: Jared, thanks for your time today.

JB: Thank you. [Laughs]

Stage 7, Malaysia Monsoon