Steve Larsen dead at age 39: Farewell to a cyclist who had an epic journey from lava fields to Italy

May 20, 1:46 PMCycling ExaminerJames Raia

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Steve Larsen and his five children

Steve Larsen, arguably the most versatile professional cyclist of our time, has died after suffering a heart attack while on a training run near his home in Bend, Ore. He was age 39 and leaves his wife Carrie and the couple's five children.

I first reported on Larsen, who was raised and attend high school in Davis, Calif., nearly 20 years ago. I've followed his career since his early days riding for the U.S. National Cycling Team.

I wrote the following article as the running/cycling columnist for the Sacramento Bee in June 2003.

In more recent years, I saw Larsen periodically at the Sea Otter Classic where he often competed in age-group mountain bike events. Steve was a cordial man and unique in cycling and in triathlon. He found his own way in the sport and excelled as an athlete, husband and father. May he rest in peace.

***

The windy, flat and relentless agricultural fields surrounding Davis offer little for endurance athletes. The scenery is stagnant for miles with little reprieve.

Runners and cyclists can train for hours while bonding only with farm equipment and pungent air.

No one knows better than triathletes Steve Larsen and Dave Scott.

Now two decades into a career that has catapulted Larsen from athletic child protogey to the Tour of Italy, the 33-year-old has returned to train in the same fields.

A quarter-century ago, Scott, a former UC Davis swimming and water polo All-American, thrived in his extended Yolo County back yard. He built his nomadic training mystique amid the far-reaching crops and won the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon six times.

Like Scott, who turns 50 in January, Larsen wants to reach the pinnacle of triathlon. He wants to win the 25th anniversary edition of the Hawaii Ironman -- the sport's World Championships -- in October.

"Mentally, you have to be of a certain type to train in Davis," said Larsen, who two years ago moved back to his hometown from Oregon via Italy. "It's a great place to train, but it's a hard place to train.

"Especially in an individual sport. You just have to get out there and ride in the wind. It's miserable. There are no hills, and there's not a lot of scenery. It will either crack you or make you tougher."

Larsen has experienced both.

With Carrie, his wife of 10 years, the couple's two children and a growing Davis bicycle retail business as additional responsibilities, the former teammate of Lance Armstrong has begun an unusual four-month countdown.

Call it marital multitasking.

Carrie Larsen, a former NCAA volleyball champion at Stanford, manages the store bearing the name of the man she met when he was in the fifth grade. Steve Larsen continues to pursue his cardiovascular dreams and works in the store when he can.

A few other pro cyclists have competed as invited amateurs in the Hawaiian event. But Larsen will prepare for the 2.4-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run with an intense racing schedule. His itinerary includes one-day and stage cycling events and trail and road triathlons.

While many triathletes use a balance of swimming, cycling and running miles, Larsen will rely on a unique approach. With nagging knee problems, he will emphasize cycling, swim as needed and run minimally.

"Every triathlete should develop different strategies, because unfortunately the three sports in triathlon are not the mathematical sum of the different parts," said UC Davis Medical Group physician Massimo Testa, a former cycling team doctor.

"Steve isn't the typical triathlete, though. He's the first one who's experiencing the sport at this level. He's opening a new way."

Larsen's athletic pedigree began early. He tried mainstream sports, but before he was a teenager he had completed the Clarksburg 20-Mile Run and the Davis Double Century, both in age-group record times.

In the latter event, Larsen completed the 200-mile cycling journey in 18 hours. Two years ago, he returned to the event for the first time in 20 years and finished in 8 1/2 hours.

With contemporaries such as Tyler Hamilton, Bobby Julich and Armstrong, Larsen first left Northern California to pursue the cycling life when his Davis High School days were still a recent memory.

With Armstrong, Larsen rode away from a large field at the 1991 National Championships in Park City, Utah. Armstrong won the race, but the two riders' careers were cast.

Both cyclists turned professional in 1992. Armstrong's four successive Tour de France titles and his battles with cancer are well-documented. Larsen landed on the same team and moved to Italy. But his journey involved a different route.

"I've got a degree in pain and suffering from the 'University of the European Peloton,'" said the 6-foot-1, 160-pound Larsen, who never seriously attended college. "In all honesty, I could probably have a couple of degrees in exercise physiology, another in sports marketing and an MBA in pro contracts."

Julich, who has finished as high as third in the Tour de France, first rode with Larsen in 1988, when the two were juniors competing in Austria.

"Steve was never a natural talent like Lance (Armstrong)," said Julich, who lives in Reno when not riding on the international circuit. "But he gets the most out of his talent through hard work and sacrifice. I remember he could always see the silver lining in his efforts, even if they didn't look so great from the outside."

Although he twice completed the Tour of Italy, Larsen was never selected to ride in the Tour de France. When mountain biking's popularity soared through the 1990s, Larsen literally and figuratively switched gears.

He succeeded quickly in mountain biking and won several national titles.

He was initially selected to compete on the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team, but he lost his spot via a political firestorm after he didn't race well in certain Olympic selection races.

Angry, Larsen became disillusioned with the politics of cycling.

With Larsen's wholesome good looks and boy-next-door image (he was sponsored by L.L. Bean), the cycling community was taken aback when he arrived at the subsequent 2000 National Championships with a shaved head and "attitude."

Snubbed by his sport's decision makers, Larsen dominated the longer cross-country race and then crashed in the short-course event. A picture of the bald Larsen, a snarl on his face and blood dripping from his hairless scalp, was many photographers' freeze-frame fantasy.

Although Larsen said he had decided to shave his head before his Olympic team debacle, the incident further added to his sometimes less-than-flattering image, and Larsen let the media play with his rebel approach.

While aware of his newfound and lingering reputation, Larsen dismisses it.

"It's typically people who don't know me at all," he said. "It's more based on perceptions of the way I look or the way I've conducted myself. I am confident in my abilities. I think any athlete who has achieved what I have or any athlete competitive in this arena has to have that kind of confidence, or they are not going to be a factor.

"But I don't necessarily call that cocky. I'm just very serious about my business, and I'm not necessarily as interested in 'hangin' with the bros' at the race."

Larsen's mountain biking career ended abruptly. He was the reigning cross-country national titlist in 2000, but he didn't like the atmosphere in which he was competing.

"All of those of victories were fueled by anger and real negative energy that became pretty burdensome," Larsen recalled. "It was not enjoyable to compete in that environment. I began to look for other avenues."

Without any running training, Larsen in 2000 entered a trail triathlon in Half Moon Bay. With his superior cycling fitness -- his resting heart rate is 40; his maximum is 203 -- Larsen won easily.

With three-sport events further intriguing him, Larsen began to incorporate running and swimming into his training. Again, he found quick success. He won half-Ironman distance events, and another endurance sports career had arrived.

Larsen marketed himself, and he now has nearly a dozen financial sponsors, from apparel manufacturers to shoe companies.

The Larsens lived in Italy for several years and then in various Oregon locations. Two years ago, they purchased a home in Davis near where the couple spent their youth. They also bought the same store in which Larsen bought his first bike.

Remembering his Davis connection with former Hawaii Ironman multiple winner Scott, Larsen began to contemplate Ironman-distance events.

"I used to see Dave (Scott) out on the roads, but we've become closer in the last few years," Larsen said. "When I decided to take on the triathlon experiment, he was the first guy I called."

As he had done with mountain biking, Larsen made the Ironman-distance triathlon a quick study. He won his first race, the 2001 Lake Placid event. He set a bike-course record and concluded the race with a 2:55 marathon, the first he'd ever run.

Larsen has completed three other Ironman races -- in Hawaii, Germany and New Zealand -- and all were top-10 finishes. His sixth-place New Zealand performance last March qualified him for this fall's Hawaii Ironman.

Despite his good finishes, he has been frustrated. In several instances, he has led Ironman races only to falter on the run.

At the 2003 Wildflower Triathlon in Chico, Calif., on May 3, he finished second in the half-Ironman event.

A nagging knee injury thwarted Larsen's return to Hawaii last fall, when he was touted as a favorite after a ninth-place finish in 2001.

With the Hawaiian Ironman now on the not-so-distant horizon, Larsen awaits the challenge. He travels to diverse races and returns to log miles in the Davis farmlands.

The Tour de France and Olympics are conspicuously missing from his career highlights, but Larsen remains unfazed.

"Certainly not doing the Tour de France is a big disappointment," he said. "But I'm still young enough, so who knows? I think I would be more valuable to a team now than when I was younger.

"But I think a successful professional is one who continues to get a paycheck over time, and that's something I've done. I've done that because I've continued to enjoy doing what I do, and I've challenged myself in different ways to keep motivated."

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