Training with the Pros, it sounds like fun but it can’t be. Pros are genetic freaks; they put more kilometers on their bikes than any of us civilians do on our cars each year, they ride around whole countries at an average speed greater than 40km/hour and they can dish out such Rule V style day-after-day-after-day. We all dream about it but we don’t have it.
In an earlier life I came close to landing my dream job in Monaco with the IAEA. Serious people counseled me not to take the job, they said it was a bad career move. How could I explain to them I didn’t give a shiet if it was a bad career move, the chance to live, and more importantly to be a cyclist near San Remo and La Madone was all I cared about? Yet I knew if I even saw Tom Boonen or one of the many Aussies who call Monaco their home out on a training ride, I would only be seeing their lycra-clad asses disappearing up the road. Could I at least catch up to Stuart O’Grady to chat him up for a minute before my inability to talk and breathe would force me to lie and say I was turning right HERE? Maybe I could drink beers with the Aussies, I could keep that professional pace, actually no, I would get dropped there too.
Oh that job fell through and my dreams of commuting into work on Merlin on the Cote d’Azure disappeared like those watery mirages on a hot highway, but I digress. I have some good and funny direct video evidence why training with the Pros would be a cruel lesson in our mortal failings. One such Pro is Ted King, an American racer living the dream; he is based in Lucca, riding for Liquigas, riding in support of Ivan Basso and Peter Sagan. He is tough, he has finished every Giro d’Italia he has started. He broke his collarbone this summer racing in Philadelphia when his front wheel dropped into an inexcusably lame drain grate (thank you very much, oh third-world infrastructure that defines the USA).
To bring his training back up to speed he did the 200 on 100 with fellow Pro Tim Johnson and amateur racer Ryan Kelly. The 200 on 100 means 200 miles on Route 100, riding North to South from the top to the bottom of the state of Vermont, the Green Mountain State. Unless you are Marcus, 333 km seems like an impossibly long ride to do at once, I would be in broom wagon long before the end of such madness.
And by madness I refer to the 338 km at 34.1 km/hr average speed with 3,197 meters of climbing thrown in for good measure.
Video credit to Chandler Delinks
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Alright, thanks to all of you Gents, I am now the proud owner of the following rollers: KREITLER DYNO-MYTE 2.25" DIAMETER ROLLERS WITH BONUS FRONT WHEEL STAND.
What the HELL I was thinking when I bid on these I'll never know but I guess I'll figure out which I like better: My stationary trainers or the rollers. Guess I can mix them up over the winter season tp keep it entertaining.
God help me when the VMH finds out!
@Dr C
I figure torturing myself on a trainer will at least make me mentally stronger, if not physically.
I get bored as fuck riding inside - I don't particularly enjoy it, but it's a good option for quick after-work spins with minimal effort of needing to kit up, have all the lights, etc etc. Knowing myself, I won't want to ride in the dark, cold rain of the nights here during the winter after getting home from work, so if I'm going to maintain at all I need something to do during the week to at least not keep my fitness sliding backwards.
Proper music and videos help. I've found the Sufferfest videos to be quite good and make the time actually go by very quickly. On the other hand, I've found movies and TV shows make poor company and don't offer the proper motivation.
Kraftwerk's 2003 album 'Tour de France Soundtracks' keep me going for a good while last night, however.
@Steampunk
Does he accept payment in Beer Bullion? Beer Bullion, of course, is a much more stable currency than the US Dollar, and will likely yield him more enjoyment than our puny currency ever could. All of us could bring our favorite six pack of beer as payment. That's a lot of beer.
@Steampunk
It feels inappropriate to talk about "frigid" and positive degrees in the same breath? I typically think of anything in the negatives on the Fahrenheit scale as frigid, but I was raised in Minnesota.
Seriously, though, I've recently discovered the beauty of the wool oversocks, commonly referred to as Belgian Booties. My goodness my Guiness those are awesome. Not so warm that they make your feet suck, and not so cool that they make you wish you had more. Like anything wool, they seem to automatically give you the perfect insulation - never too hot and never too cold. And, they're very reasonable. I have two sets, Castelli and Sidi and the Castelli's are a little better. Marko recently got on board, too. These things RULCK.
@Dr C
@mcsqueak has it nailed here. Riding inside sucks donkey balls. Worst thing ever. Give me a ride in frigid weather or in a downpour any day. That said, a two hour session on the trainer (or, I assume, rollers) will give you a mental strength you can't find on the road, provided you don't live at the top of Haleakala. The monotony of just having only the next pedal stroke to think about is one thing. Doing an interval one one, is a completely other. Time slows down like never before. 1 minute 58 seconds (pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal) 1 minute and still fucking 58 seconds? What the fuck? (pedal pedal pedal pedal) FINALLY 1 minute 59 seconds, one more eternal second to go!
Fuck that shit, but at least it makes you strong.
@frank
I think of frigid as a relative measurement, not one with a definite numerical value. As such, this being the first time that the thermometer dipped that far south in quite some time, the ride felt much colder than what I was used to. The fact that I neglected to dress appropriately"”again because of seasonal adaptation"”only solidified the notion that this ride was quite cold. Next week, with better layers, a ride at 10 degrees colder won't feel nearly as frigid as yesterday's. Last year, I rode year round in just cap and a second layer of socks"”this down to -18 C. A year older and colder, I'm deciding there are limits to Rule V'ing it in such conditions; those limits are this side of hypothermia.
Might have to try these. I have a pair of Giordana's Sotto Zero booties, which look nice and feel good (though I have yet to try them on a cold ride). I wondered about the sweat issue, but it may get cold enough soon that that shouldn't matter too much.
@frank
I'll ask. This makes eminent sense.
@Buck Rogers @Dr C @mcsqueak @Marcus
Fuckwits: the only excuse to not ride outside is if you can't actually see the ground. And that after several hours of digging through the white stuff. Failing this litmus test, trainers are for the weak. End of. See Rule 10. Then see Rule V.
With love and kisses from the Great White North.
@Steampunk
:) Feel the love.
That said, I must say that I've learned a whole lot about Rule V in my own living room.
You have a point, but I have felt something truly sublime on the trainer as well as on the road.
You need to HTFU and get on the trainer once in a while, it truly makes you a Hardman and makes you appreciate the road that much more.!!!
@Steampunk
Coo-ooo-coo-coo-ooo-ooo-coo-coo!