AUBURN – He’s been showered with slush by sport utility vehicle drivers who don’t slow down for puddles or recreational cyclists. He’s set aside the typical teenage proclivity for potato chips and chocolate.
So Auburn cyclist Brendan Cornett wasn’t about to back down from a group of more experienced New York and New Jersey cyclists on their home turf. Cornett took those college students to school and won an event called the Grant’s Tomb Criterium in New York City on March 5.
That triumph gave the 18-year-old student at Franklin Alternative School in Auburn a clear goal for this summer: Win races all over New England and get himself noticed by a semi-professional team.
You might have to ask someone else about those aspirations, however. Cornett is no self-promoter.
“It’s a sport that requires hard work,” Cornett said. “It keeps you in shape and helps you maintain a healthy lifestyle. That’s definitely been a big motivation for me. I like it.”
C’mon, Brendan. Big-time us just a little. How about some mild trash talk? Maybe one gratuitous reference to yourself in the third person?
John Grenier of Rainbow Bicycles, who has trained and mentored Cornett along with Tom Gosselin, assures us we’ll be waiting a while.
“He’s quiet, but (New York) was a big win for him,” Grenier said. “We knew he had it in him. We just weren’t sure if he had enough confidence in his ability yet.”
Go fast, turn left
A criterium is a spectator-friendly event contested on a circle track. The course isn’t a velodrome like you might see in the Olympics, however. It’s usually a network of roped-off streets in a downtown area.
The competitors often bump and draft like a NASCAR race, and there’s typically standing room for fans to line up five or six deep around the course.
Auburn hosts the annual Great Falls Criterium. Cornett should be one of the favorites when this year’s pack leaves Court Street on June 5.
“It’s a mass-start event. It can be a lot of fun,” Cornett said. “Sometimes there are a quite a few spectators, although there weren’t that many at this one. It depends how much the event is hyped up.”
Cornett has been riding competitively for more than three years. In the past, he would race from April to December, then take a winter break.
Saying that his pupil usually embarked upon the “teenage junk food diet,” Grenier noted that it took Cornett a month or two to ride off 20 extra pounds each spring.
When the holiday season arrived in 2004, however, Cornett kept his bike out of cold storage. As a result, he isn’t the same rider.
“We’re at a disadvantage being from Maine,” Grenier said. “We have to train indoors or ride in lousy weather all winter. It takes dedication. Brendan has been riding almost every day. I would say he’s 25 pounds lighter than he was at this time last year. He’s lean, he’s mean and he’s ready to race.”
No strength in numbers
As if the longer training season in the Big Apple didn’t pose enough of a disadvantage for him, Cornett raced without teammates.
“I went down with some guys from Bates College who ran as a team,” said Cornett. “I competed by myself in an open division.”
Going it alone is a familiar feeling. The drudgery and the unpredictable conditions of the “playing field” make cycling a hard sell even for its most ardent apologists.
“Brendan trains 10 to 15 hours a week by himself,” Grenier said. “The ball sports are so popular that his peers at school look at him like he’s crazy. It’s hard. Most of the endurance athletes, the track coaches get to ’em before I do.”
Cyclists are ranked in five categories, five being a novice and one signifying a world-class racer. The Grant’s Tomb win should make Cornett a Category Three. He’d like to be a 2′ by the fall.
That would give him the right credentials at the right age for touring semi-pro teams that are seeking riders with a “up-side,” Grenier said.
Cornett wouldn’t be able to make a true living at that level, but he’d compete for prize money almost every weekend.
“I think he’s got a good future. Unfortunately, this is where it starts to get difficult,” cautioned Grenier. “There are hundreds of guys across the U.S. who all want the same thing. That means training at least 15 to 20 hours a week and really watching your diet and staying healthy.
“If you’re thinking of being the next Lance Armstrong, this is the point when you’d better start showing it to people.”
For a still-growing star who’d rather show than tell, anyhow, that challenge is a perfect fit.
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