1st Camp of 2010...Day 2

While training for the 2010 cycling season started in early December my 1st formal outing with the National team for the year began yesterday with a bang in Alpine, CA. Typically our training camps at this point in the season include new potential riders to the program, and thus the pace can be tempered with their inclusion, that is not that case this time around. Instead all the riders here are National team riders and being the first time we have seen each other it would seem we all have a particular interest in how the off season has treated the others.

Now a sane person would suggest that we simply ask the individual how off-season and subsequent preseason training is going, but it is the competitor in us all that would prefer to find out in a series of challenges we like to call throwing down or drilling it or…. in short each person takes their swing at going as hard and fast as they can in hopes of dropping the others. What this all amounts to is little in regards to answers and/or conclusion on one off season..no no it generally just leads to an all inclusive trip to the pain room rendering each and every one of us thoroughly burnt toast.  Two days down just shy of 120 miles logged,  many of them at all out race pace, and four more out in front of us I imagine burnt toast will be putting it lightly. 

All of rides start with a 25 to 30 minute decent from Alpine, CA at 35mph  and end with an hour or so climb at 8 mph. Yesterday was a bit cold particularly on the downhills which there were plenty of because there was plenty of uphill climbs. Today, was a perfect Southern California day and what lacked for in number of climbs we made up for in length, grade and intensity.

As it sits right now I must say I feel pretty good about my climbing. While I enjoy climbing I have never been considers a good nor particularly strong climber. In the past, I have not been able to really consider getting over the top of the big climbs with the front group but all that is changing. Yesterday, I hung with the front group on all but the steepest grades and even then I was only hanging a few seconds off the back. Today, the legs were a bit heavy and the climbs had a little more meat to them but again I managed to hang and even did some time on the sharp point of the stick. So, it can be said that I am pleased at the improvements and performance this early in the season. Now with that said I still can not say I am climber nor that there is not tons of room for improvement. But I do know the road I am on is the right track, a track that rewards hard work and digging deep.

I am excited for what the next few days hold. I have a good feeling about this year…the journey continues.