He can often be seen on his Merlin titanium frame at the Wells Avenue training series in Newton. He enjoys noncompetitive riding too. Every August he rides the Pan-Mass Challenge from Sturbridge to Provincetown, and this summer, to mark his 40th birthday, he plans to bike the length of Vermont. He got right to work for Saturn when 1992 U.S. road champion Bart Bowen, one of the top talents on the automaker's team, fell in the Redlands Bicycle Classic last month in California, injuring his elbow. Breen operated on Bowen at UMass, and Bowen is back on the road this weekend at the Tour of Willamette in Oregon, getting ready for the start of the Tour DuPont next week in Delaware.
Cycling is generally very forgiving to the lower extremities.
It's often used as rehabilitation for knee and hip injuries from other sports. However, that can lull cyclists into a false sense of security, Breen said, and they can still overdo it. Most common are knee problems related to poor bike fit or stemming from misalignment of the foot, ankle and knee, he said. Breen hopes to develop a cycling clinic at UMass, similar to Dr. Andrew Pruitt's practice at the Western Orthopedic Clinic in Denver, where cyclists set up their bikes on a wind trainer and are videotaped so doctors can critique their riding for injury factors.