Ossining teen hopes to turn cycling in to a career
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- July
- 5
This is a recent article on 13 year old Sam Morkal-Williams of Ossining. I’ve written about him a few times and I’d expect you’ll hear more about him in the future.
Justin Jones
jusjones@lohud.com
At some point down the road, Sam Morkal-Williams is hoping to turn cycling into a career.
The 13-year-old Ossining resident has been riding his bike since he was 4 and has increased his workload over the years to the point where he’s now riding miles on end while building up his endurance, getting faster and stronger.
By the time he was 7, he was able to pedal for 12 miles per hour. Now he’s up to 24 and is capable of hitting speeds of up to 40 mph.
Morkal-Williams and his father, David Williams, who has been cycling for 20-plus years himself, recently joined the Westchester Cycling Club, and that’s where Morkal-Williams became intrigued with the sport.
“The reason why I got into racing was because of the club, and now it’s what I love to do,” Morkal-Williams said. “I love the freedom and the speed and the ability to constantly challenge myself. The feeling of being on the bike and feeling like you can go anywhere is what just keeps me wanting more.”
Morkal-Williams has recently become a sensation in racing circles. In March he became the New York State Road Race Champion (13-14 age group) at the Balloon Festival Classic in Cambridge.
He has also raced as a member of the Century Road Club Association, a Manhattan-based cycling organization, in five races. The CRCA holds races in Central Park that begin at 6 a.m., mostly on weekends. Morkal-Williams gets out of bed at 3:20 a.m. to start his preparation.
“How many 13-year-olds do you know that are getting up at 3:20 on Saturday to race?” David said. “Since my fire station is about a block away from the race, the whole crew drove over there to watch him race, which was great.”
Morkal-Williams is regularly the youngest at a race or in a group ride, but that doesn’t bother him at all. Thanks to some new workouts – including hills and one-legged pedals – he’s able to keep up with the pack.
“It’s exhilarating riding in the middle of a pack with people to the front, back, and side of you,” he said. “Before I used to just ride, but now I’m really working on being strong and efficient with my pedal strokes.”
When he’s not racing he’s often out doing practice runs, usually following a trail from his home down to Sleepy Hollow Road, up to Pleasantville and Millwood and back to Ossining.
His long-term aspirations are to follow in the footsteps of his idols Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer and become a pro who races in Europe.
“That’s the goal, to turn pro one day,” Morkal-Williams said. “It’s some time away, but that’s what I’m shooting for.”
This entry was posted
on Sunday, July 5th, 2009 at 6:54 PM by Randall Wolf. 
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