Ben Stein founded On the Bike/OTB Endurance Sports Coaching, in 2012 in the Treasure Valley, the year he received his master’s of exercise and sports studies from Boise State.
Since then, he estimates he has worked with about 200 endurance athletes, 20 to 25 a year, triathletes and runners but primarily road and mountain bike racers of all types, including ultra-distance and cross-country racers. He also works with about the same number of youths each year through the Wild Rockies Development Team, coaching and preparing up-and-coming athletes to race at elite levels.
He is also an exercise physiologist and the director of athletic testing and performance at the Idaho Sports Medicine Institute. Previously, he had helped to develop the rehabilitation program within St. Luke’s Cancer Institute.
“I kind of feel like I’m living the practical life of an exercise physiologist,” he notes. “I am living proof that you can do it.
“To be able to tell people, ‘Hey, if you work hard and have a vision …’
“I’ve completely built a business out of it.”
Stein attributes his success to the relationships he made while at Boise State; his understanding of the TrainingPeaks app, introduced by Ransdell, is at the core of his coaching, he says. Biomechanics lab involvement put him on the road toward his business; he learned how to be a bike fitter at Boise State.
“I would not be here without Boise State,” he said. “Everything I do, I owe to Lynda and Boise State.
“I love Boise State.”