Amgen cyclist Peter Stetina hits the road from South Lake Tahoe to Kirkwood

American professional road cyclist Peter Stetina was in South Lake Tahoe Wednesday, inviting local cyclists to join him on a training run from Sprouts to Kirkwood, and back.

Daniel Knight of Dayton, Nev., the assistant manager of Save Mart in Carson City came to town to join Stetina. Chadwick Clark of South Lake Tahoe, the chef at Camp Galilee in Glenbrook, also joined in. Both ride their bikes to work when weather allows.

Stetina, who is almost local with a cabin in Homewood and a home in Santa Rosa, Calif., can often be seen on his bike hitting the roads around Lake Tahoe. His favorite is Prospector Loop, a route he created a cycling event around. "Stetina's Sierra Prospect" will take riders on one of two rides, a 44-mile race or the "Intrepid" at 88 miles. Both start at Northstar and end on Mt. Rose. The Intrepid takes riders from Northstar to Sand Harbor, down Spooner then to Reno and up Mt. Rose. 250 people joined the inaugural event in 2017, this fall he expects double that.

He is very familiar with all the rides around the lake as he does most of his training there. Today's ride at a high of 40 degrees wasn't his favorite type of weather. "I and a hot weather guy," Stetina said.

In preparation for the Amgen Tour of California, Stetina is spending 2.5 weeks at high elevation before he heads to sea level before the May 13 start in Long Beach. He said it takes a minimum of two weeks for a body to adjust to high altitude.

Athletes like Stetina will train at high altitude because the air is "thinner," meaning there are fewer oxygen molecules per volume of air. Every breath taken at a high altitude delivers less of what working muscles require. By training at high altitudes, athletes aim to allow their bodies to produce extra red blood cells.

Then he'll head to sea level where it is high oxygen.

Amgen takes the rider through flat elevation, rolling hills and mountains which means a body has to be top shape for all oxygen needs.

"Lake Tahoe is good for altitude training," said Stetina. "You can drop down to the Carson Valley and Reno, then back to Tahoe."

Sleep high, train low gives a lot of blood benefits to the cyclist, making Lake Tahoe perfect.

"The sweet spot for altitude training at 2,000 meters," added Stetina. "It so happens Lake Tahoe is optimum, made for altitude training."

He said he is excited about the second to the last day of the Amgen Tour when they leave Folsom, head to Kirkwood, go up Kingsbury Grade and then to Heavenly California Lodge.

"There are steady climbs for so long, then and explosion at the end," he said about the Kingsbury Grade portion of the race. He said the Tahoe portion of the race is the last ditch effort for any contender in the tour since the final day is doing sprints down in Sacramento.

Stetina grew up in Boulder, Colo., entering local mountain bike races with his friends.

"I saw the prize money at age 15 and said, 'Hey, I can make money at this'," said Stetina. His dad was a professional cyclist in the 1970s and won races stateside, so it runs in the family.

Stetina's wife Dyanna, an enginner in Santa Rosa, rides with him in Tahoe when time allows.

During a public meet and greet at Sprouts, Stetina joined staff from Lake Tahoe Visitor's Authority and his two riding partners for the day.

At 135 pounds, Stetina said he has to loose some weight before the race, a benefit for the uphill portions. He explained that cycling is for everybody, for all body types. He races with solidly built men, as well as slight.

Professional cycling is a team sport. Stetina is one of three Americans on the 28 racer strong team Trek–Segafredo. The team sends seven riders to Amgen.

"It is a team sport with an individual glory," said Stetina. "You need teammates to protect you."

Teammate Kiel Reijnen, of Bainbridge, Wash., is a spring specialist, so he'll be the protected rider on that portion. Stetina excels at mountain climbing, so he could be in the position to be the protected rider on that portion.

"You save everything for that one moment that counts," he added.