Athlete Diary: Ian Crane

Blog by Ian Crane, Klean Team USA – Sponsored Pro Cyclist

Ian Crane is a 25-year-old professional cyclist for the Jamis Hagens Berman team and resides in Seattle, Washington. A severe racing accident changed the path of his career, switching his focus from immediate racing satisfaction to health and body improvements and the sheer enjoyment of bicycling. Although road riding and racing is his true passion, Ian can also be found off-road on cyclocross and mountain bikes.

Training and competing, especially at the professional level, is something special. I do not take it lightly, nor do I take it for granted. This level of sport highlights the importance of attention to small details and making sacrifices: physically, mentally and personally. Take cycling, my sport, for example. Riders will refuse to walk a block or lift their suitcase, all for the smallest of improvements to our physical abilities. Everyone at the top level trains hard and rests hard, pays for massages and the best food, and skips dessert much too frequently.

My name is Ian Crane and I’m a professional cyclist who happily skipped dessert last night. I’m super stoked to be a member of the 2015 Klean Team USA. I would consider myself someone who puts a lot of emphasis on the little things to make my athletic performance better: bedtimes, body work, diets and Netflix marathons. Maybe that last point isn’t so little… Being a professional athlete in an endurance sport constantly reminds me of the choices that we make to help our bodies succeed at the highest level. We all train hard and rest hard, but what else can we do? What’s so cool about athletics is we all have our own story, and I want to share mine with you.

I am a professional road cyclist for Jamis Hagens Berman, and in August 2014 I had the worst crash of my life at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado. A race vehicle slammed on the brakes in front of me and I went headfirst through the rear window. After over 3 weeks in the hospital, I was finally sent home to begin my recovery.

I had a season to be proud of in 2014 and because of that was placed on the Whereabouts program of the US Anti Doping Agency, meaning drug testers can come to my home whenever they want to get a sample. I knew that while recovering I would be taking supplements to aid in my recovery, and I needed to rest assured that what I was taking was safe. I also knew that I would be getting drug tested regularly. Since Klean Athlete is NSF Certified for Sport^® it gives me peace of mind knowing that my supplements are clean and I won’t fail a test because of a tainted supplement.

From August through December 2014, I spent riding the stationary trainer every day, all while wearing a neck brace. When the neck brace came off I had two more months of indoor trainer riding, just sweating a bit less due to nothing wrapped around my neck! I was desperate to not lose too much form, as I had signed a new contract to race professionally in 2015 as well. I suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in the accident so I was limited on many things, but nothing stopped me from riding indoors. So I rode a trainer or rollers every day as my winter training. There isn’t anything that you can do to make a severe TBI instantly better, but there are ways to care for your brain so that you can give it its best environment for health. I have always been amazed that even though the brain is our pilot for everything that we do, we always focus on making other things better. Whether it’s sit ups, hard training or eating right, we focus to improve other parts of our body before even thinking about what we can do to help our brain be as optimized as possible. I knew that in order to recover quickly I needed to do everything I could to exercise and nourish my brain. I incorporated Klean Omega and Klean Cognitive into my regimen.^‡ I was doing brainteaser puzzles, playing memory games, Sudoku and doing reading comprehension worksheets – anything I could do to improve my memory and challenge and strengthen my brain.

In late February I was finally cleared by the doctors to go on my first outside bike ride in 6 months and it reminded me of the pure joy of bike riding. No matter where your mindset is, remember that we are doing these sports simply because it is great fun. If you have a bad training day or lose a race, it’s ok to be frustrated but so important to remember that the whole reason we do what we do is because it’s incredibly freeing to put energy into something that we love. Remember that!

This year I’m putting my all into recovering to the best of my ability all while continuing to challenge my body with the goal of making a successful return to the professional bike racing peloton. Then I can challenge my brain with advanced racing tactics instead of Sudoku.

It’s now late summer and I’m one year post-accident. I want to be at my best every day, both for the simple reason of pedaling a bike better but also for the more holistic approach to my general health and wellness. Being a successful professional athlete is about far more than just crossing the finish line first or however success is determined in your sport. It’s also about striving to achieve a healthy, balanced lifestyle and doing everything we can to maximize efficiency and consistency as athletes, beginning with our health and well-being. Supporting my health has always been a vital part of my success as a professional athlete, and putting in the effort to make sure that my body is refueled to its best helps me to succeed on and off the bike. Do everything you can to be at your best! Especially those Netflix marathons I mentioned earlier.

You can follow Ian on Twitter.