MASTERS NATIONAL CYCLING : Runner-Up Finish Shows She’s on the Right Track

In her first three-kilometer time trial, after only 2 1/2 months of training on a track, Boulevard’s Marti Ray of the San Diego Cyclo-Vets placed second Thursday in the women’s 40-over division in the Masters National Cycling Championships at the Velodrome.

Ray finished in 4:23.88, behind Camille Buchannan of Williamsburg, Va., who won in 4:22.23.

“I’m really happy. I did my personal best,” Ray said. “I pretty much went out and did what Dave Grylls (her coach and a former Pan Am champion) projected I would do from practice runs.

“I’m totally in love with track racing. The depth and intensity of training required on the track will be terribly beneficial to my endurance.”

Ray, 40, who has been competing in biathlons for two years, considers herself an “endurance athlete” and usually does marathon cycling; she began cycling 13 years ago as a form of fitness. There was a five-year span during which she quit the sport, but she resumed five years ago when she began to feel out of shape.

Ray had planned to do the 40-kilometer time trial in Tijuana Monday, but a collision Sunday in the national biathlon in Ontario, Calif., made it impossible for her to ride in it.

“It was an unfortunate mishap,” Ray said. “A women ran into me and poked a hole in my disc (wheel).”

Ray finished that race and took third, but shortly after the brand new, $1,200 wheel was taken off the bike, it exploded. She didn’t have another wheel to use Monday.

Her husband, Ralph, has designed and built approximately 12 bikes for her so far. The couple has traveled to the wind tunnel at Texas A&M; to test the aerodynamics on all their equipment. Marti has been in the wind tunnel four times and has the lowest drag coefficient of anyone who has tested there. This means her style is the most streamlined.

Ralph invented a training device called Spin Coach and had it patented in 1981. It’s unlike a stationary bike in that it allows the cyclist to do isolated leg training in addition to a regular workout.

“You can train one leg at a time for specific training of muscles,” Marti said. “You develop a nerve pattern in the muscles, and it makes the leg more fluid in the entire stroke.”

Ray does most of her training on the stationary bike but takes to the road “to develop road-handling skills or for social fun rides.”

After a fourth-place finish in the men’s 30-34 one kilometer time trial Wednesday, Danny Van Haute of San Marcos won the three-kilometer time trial in 3:45. Another local rider, Peter McCurdy, finished third in 3:48.

“I’m happy, but I wanted to do 3:42,” Van Haute said. “My dad (Frank, also his coach) was clocking me and said I was right on mark with two laps to go. Then I lost three seconds on those two laps.”