April 14, 2007 in HandleX

Tri Club offers info, support for athletes

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Jesse Tinsley photo

Mike Gaertner, right, owner of Vertical Earth, helps Doug Krumpelman, pump up a bike tire before a regular training ride.
(Full-size photo)

At this time last year, Chris Shelton was 20 pounds heavier, never had trained for a triathlon and was living a much different lifestyle.

That all changed last summer when Shelton stopped in at Vertical Earth in Coeur d’Alene for a new bike and had a chance encounter with the shop’s owner, Mike Gaertner.

That conversation led to Shelton joining the Coeur d’Alene Tri Club.

The club, which coalesced from a handful of local veteran triathletes last fall and officially met for the first time last month, offers weekly clinics for everyone from beginners to seasoned athletes. It also offers athletic gear and some much-appreciated personal input from one athlete to another.

“The Tri Club’s mission and philosophy is to introduce the sport of triathlons to each and every person with a new and old love for the sport,” a club handout states.

Before joining the Tri Club, the genesis of Shelton’s personal journey came after spending four years as a volunteer for the Coeur d’Alene Triathlon. The 54-year-old North Idaho resident, who works in construction in Spokane, was so encouraged by the men and women triathletes that he decided it was time to take action himself.

“Watching what those guys do, it’s amazing,” Shelton said. “It totally got me inspired.”

But inspiration alone sometimes isn’t enough; a solid exercise routine and some coaching guidance can make a world of a difference. That is where Gaertner and other Tri Club members came in.

“It was actually a bunch of us who got it started,” Gaertner said. With more local people inquiring about a triathlon club, Gaertner; Bill Travis, who will compete in his 20th Ironman this year; and a few other friends realized there was enough interest in the area for a club. When the wheels finally started to turn for a club, the triathletes came in droves.

With a $75 membership fee, the USA Triathlon-recognized club has developed a dedicated base of nearly 80 members. They get together to train and exchange ideas with one another and a knowledgeable staff.

On Monday evenings at 6, they transform the back of Vertical Earth into an informal clinic with rows of chairs facing a tarp-turned-projector-screen for each week’s presenter. The approximately hourlong clinics cover a different topic each week ranging from nutrition to training workouts to repairing a flat tire to fundamental physiology concepts. The topics often spark discussions among members of the audience.

At a recent Monday meeting, Jenni Gaertner, a physical therapist at Lakewood Physical Therapy who is married to Mike Gaertner, presented the topic “Injury Prevention, Stretching and Treatment” to an audience of about 25 triathletes.

“I think there was a need for it,” she said after the subsequent question-and-answer session had wrapped up. At her workplace alone, she said, she is seeing more and more individuals with questions about how to prepare and train for a triathlon.

“There is definitely a market for it,” said Jeff Miller, 48, a self-described “relative newbie” to triathlons who recently joined the Tri Club.

Though he has been a regular runner for 17 years and has competed in a few marathons, he has his sights set on next year’s Ironman. With that goal in mind, Miller said, the club and its benefits already have been worthwhile. “It has been really informative,” he said.

As for Shelton, who has many questions as a rookie to the sport, the club and the camaraderie among its members have proved to be a huge boon to his training routine and overall motivation.

“I needed some guidance,” he said, adding that triathlon training requires a complete lifestyle change.

“Something I have learned is that there is a whole culture (dedicated to triathlons). … It is a whole culture, and it is a whole group of people who are supportive.”

Now 20 pounds lighter and feeling much healthier, Shelton is on-track to compete in this year’s Coeur d’Alene Triathlon instead of watching from the sidelines as he has in the past.

“I’m a motivated person,” he said, “but it’s nice to have someone who can say, ‘Well, if that isn’t working, have you tried this or maybe change this?’ You get to hear a lot of ideas from people who really know what they are talking about.”

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