Cue dramatic music… Time to do battle on the HILL.

Today marks the pivotal point in this competition. I took Coach Mike’s statements about recovery and details to heart and really tried to put everything I know into practice last night. While I got home later than I would have liked, and wanted to just plop on the couch, instead I focused on doing several things that would help me recover for today’s races. I massaged my legs for about 90 minutes. It takes a lot of effort, but it really helps. My legs feel noticeably better afterwards. I also took a bunch of vitamin C (both in tablet and powder form) to try and help my throat out. Breathing so hard in the cold air was pretty harsh on it, I felt like I had swallowed a cheese grater. I was also careful to eat moderately and get as much rest as I could.

It all payed off.

Even though breakfast was being served at camp, I ate most of mine before I left home to give me plenty of time to digest. I knew some very hard work was ahead. I did have 1/2 of a bagel and a banana once I got to camp. After some short instruction, we rolled out for a ten mile warmup to the base of Lookout Mountain. Wow, it was quite a shock to the legs to get them going around in circles again! I soon settled in and was feeling pretty good – all things considered. Even though it wasn’t super-freezing, I put on about 5 layers and stayed very warm. I knew that I could shed some stuff once the competition got underway.

We pre-rode the climb to get an idea of where the finish would be, and how the wind was blowing, etc. Today’s event was the one I was least confident about (not being a natural climber), but I could tell that my recovery had gone well and I was feeling better than I did yesterday.

I experimented with different strategies today – starting easier, standing, sitting, etc. My first attempt I came in first place with a 7:09. I stood, sat, shifted, thrashed, and basically did anything I could to get up the mountain. My time was 7:22 on the next two. First place on each of those as well! I was feeling quite good and on the last run I stayed seated the entire time and never shifted from the 39×19. That climb definitely felt the best, even though it wasn’t my fastest, which was cool because it was the last one. I was riding a lot more consistently than I had yesterday. I also concentrated on sending extra clothes to the finish with Mike so I was able to stay perfectly warm on the descent. BIG difference from the day before. I was really happy with my overnight recovery and my performance on the three hillclimb TT’s.

Paul finished second on each of the climbs (7:23, 7:??, 7:44) and didn’t seem to be quite up to his normal level. My times today were enough for me to jump into first place in the overall standings, I now lead Paul by 11 seconds. That’s really cool because it means I get to start last in tomorrow’s time trial which will be a definite advantage. It should be quite a showdown!!

We rolled back to base for more great food, then headed out to a nice big parking lot where Mike and Christie had set up cones and chalk lines for the skills clinic. The drills were very educational and fun for all (except for Mike and Paul, who took turns dumping it onto the pavement). Again, I tried hard to keep an open mind – too easy to get trapped into thinking I already know it all… I learned some good stuff about braking while pedaling, and using my head and eyes to lead me through a turn instead of letting them passively come along for the ride. To finish, we rode through an obstacle course that put all of our skills to the test. It included a limbo section and another part where you pick a bottle out of a bucket with one hand, transfer it to the other hand, and drop it off in a second bucket. All while pedaling, riding a straight line, and looking ahead. I also learned how to hang off the side of my bike and drag my fingers along the ground. Never know when you might need that skill!!

The evening finished off with another great meal and a lecture on training program design and race tactics. As part of the tactics discussion we were divided into three teams and were given a package of balloons and some tape. We then had 5 minutes to race against each other to build the highest structure. Our team was short one person so we were the underdogs. We blew up our balloons as quickly as possible and then fumbled around for a bit trying to decide how to proceed. The other teams were going the pyramid route. Someone on our team said something about ‘start tying the balloons’ and then corrected themselves and said ‘taping’. Tying gave me an idea, though. We started tying them together in two’s and were able to lay them crosswise one pair on top of the other. With a little tape and the creative (but disputed) use of some overturned paper cups to brace the second layer of balloons, our structure quickly rose to great heights! We smoked the competition, and it was a great illustration of how you can still pull out a win even with the odds against you. Being opportunistic and creative count for a lot!

I had been keeping a close eye on the weather all week. Holding a cycling training camp in the first part of February in Colorado is definitely a hit or miss proposition. The weather was good – mid 40’s and dry. Game on! I arranged to get off work early and headed to Paul and Marietta’s house for the start of our camp. I thought I would easily be the first one there because I made good time on the drive – turns out I was last! The whole group was already there and waiting, with a sense of anticipation in the air. Time to get this thing underway.

Our team clothing order (all $22,000 worth) had just arrived earlier in the week. Thanks to the efforts of some teammates, everything was tagged, bagged, and ready for distribution by the time we arrived. It was an extremely cool moment to put on the brand new team kit and roll out onto the road with my new teammates on our way to the first event.

The SEAR train.

The first activity on the schedule was a 3k time trial. To be repeated 3 times. I had waaaay underestimated the difficulty of this event coming into camp. When I first read the itinerary I thought; 3k time trial?? What kind of training camp is that? See, my idea of a training camp was doing back-to-back 80 mile rides or something. Boy, was I wrong. Keeping an open mind, as Coach Mike encouraged us to, would be the key to my learning and progress over the next couple of days.

The course was a long uphill drag (around 150′ ascent) followed by a quick drop to the finish. During our pre-ride I was surprised at how long 3k really was (1.8 miles)…

I was so confident about being able to produce maximum effort over the distance that I went ALL-out. In fact, it felt like I pushed my body harder than I ever had before. It was seriously 10 minutes after I crossed the line before I knew if I would live or die. I couldn’t breathe! My throat felt like it was torn to shreds (cold air+hard effort=ouch!). Wow, that REALLY hurt. To top things off, I didn’t even get the fastest time. I was 4:22. Hat’s off to Paul, he did a heck of a ride and beat me by 5 or 6 seconds. My attitude and respect for what we were doing was severely adjusted after that first pass.

I wised up on the second run and just kept the pace steady, but do-able. I felt quite a bit better, and recovered within 30 seconds or so after the finish. My time? 4:35, only 12 seconds slower than my first attempt. Cycling is amazing to me in that respect. The effort required to make the difference of a few measley seconds… Score another one for Paul. What’s up with that!?!? Paul (president of our club) is an excellent, very experienced rider that I have a lot of respect for. But – he’s known more for his climbing abilities. Not that I’m the greatest, but hammering along the open road is more my territory. I expected to really turn it on and lay some waste to the competition (I surprise myself with how cocky I can be sometimes…). That’s one thing about racing; it’ll humble you for sure.

The third try – fugeddaboutit. Chris’ legs have left the building… 5:00 flat. My HR average was 164. What?!? 164 in a time trial? I could do that with one leg on most days, this time I was shot. Still not recovered from the previous week’s training. It was getting late in the day and colder with every passing minute. I was shivering hard before the last attempt and just couldn’t turn the pedals. Paul? 4:44. He gave me a good thrashing today. We’re doing hill repeats tomorrow, looks like I’ll have my work cut out for me.

We shivered our way back to basecamp. I could hardly ride a straight line. Man, was I glad to get inside. What awaited us was a gormet feast prepared by Marietta from recipies in Chris Carmichael’s latest book. VERY good food! Mixed green salad, tomato florentine soup, and stuffed flank steak! Now that’s ‘camping’.

The evening concluded with a camp overview and an introduction to the bike skills that we would be practicing tomorrow. Coach Mike also encouraged us to really use this opportunity to practice recovery between events and to focus on the smaller details. Staying warm between efforts will be a big one for me…

We also reviewed our positions after the day’s three time trials. I’m sitting in second place right now, about half a minute behind Paul. With 3 repeats on Lookout Mountain tomorrow, it’ll be interesting to see how we’ve recovered from this first round.

Heading back to base. That’s me bringing up the rear…