Final Days of Training Camp

Sorry to all that I did not update last night. Yesterday was a particularly rough day, and after 2 Steaks, tons of chocolate milk, and bad Sci-Fi movies, we retired early. So we shall start with yesterdays report from Boone, NC.

Stuart has a sick sense of humor and awesome routes for 3 college kids who want nothing more than to punish their bodies for long term gain. after our 105 mile, 9500+ foot day on Wednesday, he assigned us a 95 mile, 10k+ foot ride which culminated in the climb up epic Beech Mountain. Unlike the ride Wednesday though, all of the climbing was contained within 4 major climbs, the first of which was about 4 miles at a 7% average grade, the second being non-memorable. The 3rd major climb of the day took us from 3300 feet in elevation all the way up to 5500 feet. It started at mile 55 and ended at mile 60. Fortunately we found an awesome grocery store at mile 55, ate lunch and replenished before tackling Iron Mountain/Carters Gap. Not only did the elevation change as we headed up the mountain, but the long awaited cold front rolled in as we headed up the mountain. When we started the climb it was about 50 degrees at the bottom and the wind was picking up. At the top of the climb it was at best 40 degrees with 15-20mph winds at the top. The descent was epic, almost 9 miles straight down into the bitter headwind. At the end of that descent we began our leadup to Beech Mountain. For about 6 miles we gradually went uphill before hitting Beech Mountain. For the majority of the day, with random exceptions, it was Joe, Me, and Sam finishing the mountains in that order. Be it a lack of nutrition attention on my part or mental fatigue, the moment I hit Beech Mountain my legs disappeared from under me. For 2 miles the grade never dipped below 10%, and heading into and out of every switchback (as well as the 1/2 mile leadup to the 1st switchback) we saw 17-20%. I let Sam and Joe go and focused on establishing a rhythm. Hitting a 4 mile climb (with an average grade of 11%) at mile 86 hurts, and I had no legs for it. To make it better, it was raining at the top (about 5200 feet where we turned around). We spun around, Sam and Joe bombed down the descent (Sam hit 51mph!) while I spun easy. Apparently it snowed something special in Banner Elk last week and the roads are still caked with salt and sand. I prefer not to crash in training rides, so I took almost every descent this week pretty casual (with the exception of the rocking descent on the LMC race course....I felt I needed to know that pretty well). So, as I mentioned before, after 94 miles, 10,000 feet of climbing and 6 hours on the bike, we showered, cooked up 2 steaks each and passed out. Our "recovery" ride waited for us...

Apparently we are ensuring we hit such a ridiculous high mileage this week that we will feel like failures if we dont at least match HALF of it every week this year. Our recovery ride was 47 miles with 5500 feet of climbing, While our descent elevation was more than our ascent, our uphill distance was VASTLY more than our descent distance. We spent at least 2/3 of our ride going uphill, and on most of our downhills it was gentle and short. We got 2 dive bombing descents, the first one only 3 miles into the route (although dropping 2000 feet in 8 miles was amazing...Joe caught a car on the way down). We kept to our recovery pace, though, and rolled up to the cars easy and ready for our drive to Athens. After our epic Monday/Tuesday rides (3 mechanicals, 2 crashes), we experienced much smoother riding. I personally felt terrible today, and made a vow to stay in zone 1 and 2, a vow I broke only on the first climb, and maybe a little bit on the last climb. I take my rest days very seriously, and when it got vertical, I did my best to spin easy.

So, in summary:

Joe was definitely the stud of the week. If it was uphill, he attacked almost every time. If I or Sam decided to follow his pace, he made sure to make us feel it. I found the best strategy to staying on his wheel was to ride a fast tempo up to him, allow him to make mini attacks, and stay far enough behind him that he couldnt use my presence as a motivator. When i did that, I usually finished about 10-15 feet behind him.

Sam definitely rode smarter than all of us. He picked his battles well. Both of the long days, he saved his best efforts for the last climbs, Zone 2 on the rest. When Sam decided to push the pedals, it was up to us to follow, Joe being no exception. Before losing sight of them on Beech, I saw SAM put a gap on JOE for a brief period. To my knowledge it did not last particularly long.

I wont pat myself on the back, I did ok. Rode my own pace up pretty much every climb. Sometimes that was with Joe, usually it was between Joe and Sam, and towards the end of the week it was more behind them than anything. Hopefully the week did the job it needed to, and after my coming recovery week, I will be ready to steal some money from the Cat 3's at Tour of Tuscaloosa.

I currently blog to you from a MASSIVE hotel room in Athens, GA. Thats right, after racing last weekend, 350 miles in 5 days, we return to racing tommorrow at the University of Georgia race weekend. Clinton has joined us, and tommorrow he will be participating in the ITT and Road Race in the C's (Cat 5/4). Joe and I are skipping the ITT (As is Sam....but now that Training Camp is over, no more updates on the competition ;O ). I have 66 miles in the A's (Pro/1/2/3) and Joe has 44 in the B's (3/4). Fortunately the road race is at 2pm, the high is in the mid 60's and sunny with 0% chance of rain. Hopefully we have time enough to recover...

Updates tommorrow! Wish us luck!