DAY 1 - 20 min Power Test
We had a short training camp this year because the Chinese New Year Holidays were so short. We started off with a 20 minute Power test to establish early season FTP.
We decided to invite a few other racers to suffer along with us. We had a nutritional lecture and some coaching about training with a Power Meter as well. As the above picture indicates a splendid time was had by all...
DAY 2 - 160km 1600m elevation gain.
For day 2 we went for a nice ride in the nearby mountains. I was shooting for 2500m elevation gain on the day but logistics prevented this. The ride was just under 5 hours on a beautiful, sunny day. Temps were in the low 20's C and the wind wasn't kicking us in the teeth for a change.
I think the best part of the day was finally getting the guys all together for the first time. This has only happened at races so far this season. We should be able to organize this a little better in the near future so I'm not too concerned about this.
This was a pretty enjoyable ride. I took the guys on some of the smaller, nastier back roads that I like before we hit the main climb for the day. The ride back was rolling and pretty fast.
DAY 3 - TTT Practice.
I've done more TTs than any of the guys on the team and certainly more TTTs. The first race we have for the season long Giant Cup Race Series is a TTT. We skipped it last year and, I believe, missed out on some points that hurt us for the overall at the end of the season.
I got a chance to blather on a bit about the technical aspects of a TTT. We did one last year (there were 2 last season) and we lost considerable time because of a series of technical errors we made repeatedly.
A good warm up and we basically did a TTT. The pace was in the 45~50kph range for most of it, which was good. Also the course we chose to use was pretty windy and the wind switched direction in several places so it really simulated the conditions we expect for the TTT in March.
At the end of the camp we hung out for a bit and jaw wobbled about various nonsense. The atmosphere is pretty relaxed and I have a good feeling about the personalities and the intelligence of the team this year.
Our next training camp is set for 23/24 April and is ALL about elevation. We should easily be over 4000m elevation gain for those 2 days.
O' joy. O' bliss...
