Over the Top Cycling - Robin Farina interviews Ally Stacher

Ally Stacher is a professional cyclist with Specialized-Lululemon. She's a support rider who does everything she possibly can do to help her team succeed.  Stacher

inherited a love of homemade juicing from her aunt, who bought her a Jack LaLanne juicer during her sophomore year of college. “I was instantly hooked,” she says. “My roommate and I started juicing like crazy.”

It’s a habit that Stacher continues today—even while on the road. “I was traveling with a little Omega juicer,” she says. “It was perfect—it fit into my backpack so I never had to put it in my checked bag. Then the travel got to it and it died on me. It was an incredibly sad day. I now travel with a Breville juicer my teammate bought me for my birthday. It’s pretty easy to lug around. I will say, though, when you go through security with a juicer in your backpack it tends to set off the alarm.”

Stacher claims to be a frugal juicer—“I don’t do too many add-ins…the occasional wheat grass, but that’s about it.”—but admits to being crazy for beets. And for good reason: Research show that drinking beetroot juice can boost a cyclist’s endurance. In one study, volunteers were able to ride about a minute and a half longer compared to when they drank a placebo. Ninety-two seconds may not seem like a lot, but in the world of professional cycling, it’s more than enough to separate the winners from the losers.