It's now almost half way through January and since my last block of training started before the New Year, I have reached the halfway point to Team Exergy's first camp on January 27th-30th. During the camp, all the riders will travel to Boise, Idaho to meet our sponsor representatives and receive most of our equipment for the season (hopefully all of it will arrive in time). It is going to be a jam-packed couple of days with bike fittings, schedule meetings and other events. There is even a chance that we won't have enough time to ride, mind you the weather in Boise this time of year could make that a certainty so I have been planning a hard January to allow for 3-4 days totally off the bike during camp.
The entire Escalera Racing staff have been putting in huge hours to prepare for the end of the month. Down at Service Course (fancy word for Boise HQ) the rider's boxes are being filled, bikes are arriving and getting built and the team's schedules are spread out among the many white boards. Here are some of the goodies waiting for us.... 14 days and counting!
After camp, hopefully armed with a new Felt
B1 TT bike and Felt
F1 road bike, I'll focus on getting comfortable for a few days. I'll also be throwing a brand new pair
Bont shoes in the oven, they are heat moldable! They only weight 500 grams a set! That's 1.25 lbs! Can't wait. My last testing session at
Portland PACE will also take place in early February. Hopefully we will see some improvements in my VO2 and lactate numbers, especially since I trimmed down over the past few months.
The team also recently announced its wheel sponsor,
Williams Cycling. I am excited about the new wheels as I have ordered a new powertap with the cool new Joule computer. This device will tell me everything I need to know, even if the planets are aligning! It sounds like the team will get a healthy mix of the super deep dish 58's, pictured here, and the thinner and lighter 39's for climbing. Deep dish rims are very aerodynamic but also greatly reduce the power needed to roll over the gear since the rotation weight of the wheel maintains a rider's momentum and thus decreases their average power requirements when the pack is surging (in the peloton, small changes in speed necessitate the need to pedal for short periods of time followed by short periods of non-pedaling). I am also a big fan of the decal simplicity. Should look great with our stylish kits and flash bikes. The winter/spring kit will be grey, with a few colorful accents that are new for 2011. The summer kit will be mostly white, seen here during the team kit debut at Interbike in September 2010.
In other team news, Escalera Staff worked hard with the support of the Boise community before the holiday season to support
City Light Home. Sporting a hefty beard of his own, Remi, the team's sponsorship manager (not to mention 2001 National Criterium Champion) gathered and delivered a whole swathe of Christmas presents in time for the big day. City Light Home is an important part of the community and in 2008 it served 76,702 meals and provided over 21,279 beds. I think that it is pretty cool that our team can support such a cause.
So really what else is there to talk about? How hard I am training, how difficult the weather is, how excited I am for the season. Blah!
So I leave with you with some pictures from the non-inclement days of the past two weeks. I have started doing some pretty heavy intervals and I pretty stoked with my power to weight ratios these days. Don't forget your thermos!
Neck tubes are so HOT right now!
A big ride on December 30th, cold day, -3'c I think. Went out exploring to Boring (yes there is a town called Boring) then I came across this great shot of Mt. Hood. I used to spend many summer days training on the south facing glacier. Who knew I would be spending so much time in the states!
Afterwards it was time for a healthy dose of squash and potato. Good thing someone invented Tupperware....plastics!
On Jan 6th I found the glasses I wore at the Collegiate Banquet back in May.
Definitely cause for an old school spin day.
Wow, I look stupid
This past Monday looked like this! Ridiculous. I never thought Portland could be this nice during the winter. 8 degrees and sunny! This is from the Sellwood Bridge looking back at the city to the north. It's a nice 60 minute spin down along the river, over the bridge and back up which is great for days off.
The city's boardwalk is also always beautiful on a day like this. It's a popular spot for lunch time runners and walkers and plays host to many events throughout the year, including the weekend farmer's market which goes from April to November. Below is the Maritime Museum. It's a big water wheel boat...cherry aero.
This is a shot from the Sellwood bridge, what time of day is it?
The boardwalk is also home to many of the city's less fortunate.
I think it is very important never to forget just how fortunate many of us are.
On Tuesday, Galen joined me for
an epic journey out past Banks. We were shooting for five hours in zone 2 (210-230watts). These days, as I start implementing more and more intervals into my plan, the choice of roads I get to ride decreases as I have to plan to avoid stop lights, stop signs or untimely 500 foot descents. So when I get a day that is less structured, I always like to try to find at least one new section of road. Today we found some wicked packed gravel, which reminded me of my old Walla Walla days, plus a couple new climbs out near Cedar Canyon. It is going to rain for the next week so today's ride was a great way to end 10-14 days of colder but drier weather.
On the way to Banks, OR. Looking south towards Forest Grove and Hillsboro.
At the top of Cedar Canyon, we hit Seavy Road.
We had just come up an extended section of 15%, now it looks like we get to go down! Way down!
I've found a great recipe of spaghetti squash. I'll be sharing the recipe with you next post, as well as what it is like to train in Portland. Until then, cheers.
A big ride on December 30th, cold day, -3'c I think. Went out exploring to Boring (yes there is a town called Boring) then I came across this great shot of Mt. Hood. I used to spend many summer days training on the south facing glacier. Who knew I would be spending so much time in the states!
This past Monday looked like this! Ridiculous. I never thought Portland could be this nice during the winter. 8 degrees and sunny! This is from the Sellwood Bridge looking back at the city to the north. It's a nice 60 minute spin down along the river, over the bridge and back up which is great for days off.
On Tuesday, Galen joined me for an epic journey out past Banks. We were shooting for five hours in zone 2 (210-230watts). These days, as I start implementing more and more intervals into my plan, the choice of roads I get to ride decreases as I have to plan to avoid stop lights, stop signs or untimely 500 foot descents. So when I get a day that is less structured, I always like to try to find at least one new section of road. Today we found some wicked packed gravel, which reminded me of my old Walla Walla days, plus a couple new climbs out near Cedar Canyon. It is going to rain for the next week so today's ride was a great way to end 10-14 days of colder but drier weather. 
