yes it's long...





Second day of USAC Camp...first FULL day of camp...

At 6:00 am I wake up automatically, then realize that it's WAY
too early to be up. Oh well, I'm awake now. I try not to wake
Nora, my roommate, while putting on loose-fitting clothes for the
morning cross-training session. I sneak out down the hall to a
bathroom where the noise I make brushing teeth and washing my face
can't be heard by anyone in our hallway. Then I go back to the
room and tiptoe in. Nora rolls over, groans, and pulls her
blanket over her head. I grab my notebook, a fleece pullover and
my water bottle (one thing Kristen drilled into us last night was,
never go anywhere without a water bottle and something warm to put
on if it gets cold). I go sit in the common room jotting down
notes from the night before until I hear cell
phone alarms going off in the coaches' rooms. This will be routine for
the rest of the week: wake up early, sneak around after getting dressed,
sit down and scribble in my notebook until Ray walks by and says good
morning and starts knocking on the other campers' doors.
Eventually we're all in the common room-except for the two
youngest campers, Kristen and Kaelin...Ray knocks on their door
again..."Wakey wakey!" They finally emerge and get teased for
being sleepyheads. Coaches Kristen (aka "Special K") and Kurt are
waiting by this time too. Kurt has apparently applied hair gel
and a good amount of cologne -his frequent and noticeable
applications of "product" earn lots of teasing from Ray and pretty
soon from all the girls as well.
Kurt will lead the morning cross-training session. We’ll focus on
stretching. Kristen also adds in some information here and there.
Stretching has three main purposes: to prevent injury, increase
flexibility, and increase power. Kurt says there was a myth not
too long ago hat stretching actually caused a decrease in power
output, Kristen adds that this has been sine debunked by various
scientific studies. Kurt talks about two different types of
stretching-static versus dynamic: static involves motion, dynamic
does not. All of the stretches we learn are static. Kurt says
it's best to hold a stretch for at least 30 seconds, and to be
careful with the muscle you are stretching, focus on it, and focus
on breathing. Just hold the stretch, don't bounce or force a
muscle into doing anything. "A stretch should feel like a
stretch," adds Kristen. "It's not necessarily comfortable but it
shouldn't be painful. You want to focus on the muscle you're
stretching. Visualize it loosening and relaxing gradually. If
you try to force a stretch often you will feel pain, and the
muscle will automatically tense to protect itself from injury.
Then you force more, and all of a sudden that muscle hurts more
after you've stretched it-that means you've just caused
microscopic tears, you've actually injured that muscle." We work
on various stretches targeting muscle groups specific to
cycling-the quadriceps, hamstrings, psoas, gluteus maximus, going
through the routine twice. Kurt and Kristen demonstrate and make
sure that we maintain correct posture and balance during each
stretch, pointing out that stretching with poor posture or lack of
focus also causes injury. Kurt also passes around what he
considers "the best book out there on stretching," The Anatomy of
Stretching by Brad Walker, which has great illustrations. Kurt
finishes up by quizzing several of us in turn about what we've
just learned, and then we all break up and get ready for
breakfast.
We meet up in five minutes. Since the dining hall isn’t open yet,
we'll be going out to the Coopersburg Diner. Joining us for
breakfast is Liz Reap-Carlson, an elite track sprinter who was
long-listed for Beijing this year and rides on the
Verducci-Breakaway pro team. She has won
multiple elite national championships and holds a master's world record in
the 500M TT. She is also author of a blog on the Bicycling website,
“Living the Dream.”
[http://livingthedream.bicycling.com/2008/08/divine-inspirat.html] Liz
has biked over and wears USA team kit-she planned on riding with us but
we’re behind schedule after getting up late and still haven’t had
breakfast. Liz shrugs it off. She’ll try to ride with us on Tuesday. In
the meantime she’ll join us for breakfast. "Chamois time is training
time..."she grins. Kristen says "NO!" (Kristen is militant about NEVER
EVER spending an extra minute in your chamois, she will tell us this over
and over-"Go get changed! Right now!")
The Coopersburg Diner makes the best diner food I've ever had. I
sit across from Liz and next to Kurt and Kristen (camper Kristen
not coach Kristen). While I’m thinking up questions to ask Liz,
she begins REALLY quizzing me about my cycling background, while
Kurt throws some in too. Hey this isn’t right, I’m trying to ASK
questions! I try to get in a question wherever I can about Liz.
She has a very strong and outgoing personality; she’s one of those
people you meet and just WANT to know more about. The coffee
arrives-YES. I pour a first cup while thinking these little china
cups are kind of small). Kurt eyeballs the carafe and drawls in
his South African-which-sounds-a-lot-like-Aussie accent, "Are you
going to share that...?" I pretend I won’t and I probably could
drink the whole thing but I hand it over. Liz spots my medical ID
bracelet as I stir my coffee and wants to know what it’s for…I
groan. Kristen asked me last night at dinner too. So I tell my
Empire State Games anecdote (the needle bruise on my leg is still
there as a visual aid)…
When we get back from breakfast we have orders to get “kitted up”
and ready to ride. Ray temporarily confiscates helmets for
inspection. He’s brought extra lids from the LBS for anyone whose
helmet is cracked or damaged. Kristen loads up the follow car as
she’s driving today. Every day we will have a “team car.” It’s a
luxury to stash extra bottles and flat-tire supplies instead of
carrying them. Ray and Kurt will ride with us-Kurt’s riding Fast
Freddie, Ray has a brand-new black and white Colnago CX-1 Carbon
with SRAM Red. He’s test-riding it for Bicycling Magazine to
review it and yes, he has to give it back when he’s done but he
got to
keep an Orbea once, which Barrett’s riding, since her bike went somewhere
else when she flew from Colorado. Another rider comes in and when we
assemble in the parking lot she’s waiting with her bike. Ray introduces
her as Lauren Shirock, a young Cat 2 who rides for BMW-Bianchi. She’s 19,
has been racing since age 10, and has been all over Europe including to
Junior Worlds in Belgium.
[http://www.bmw-bianchi.com/teamDetail.php?riid=39] Ray has us introduce
ourselves quickly and tells us to ask Lauren lots of questions whenever we
can.
After Ray does “radio check” with the car we review hand signals
and the need to communicate-“car up, car back, slowing,” pointing
out hazards on the pavement and things that run across the road
like train tracks. We’ll always ride in pairs unless told
otherwise. No riding “no-hands,” track standing or doing anything
unpredictable. As we roll out we keep a very relaxed pace yet
there is some braking and awkwardness from some of the riders, and
we’re unfamiliar to each other as riders so Ray tells us to ride
only as close as we feel comfortable doing, but try to stay even
with partners-this means compromising a bit. I’m OK getting
fairly close to the wheel in front but my partner Kaelin, (the
least experienced of the group) is not, so I stay back with her.
Ray and Kurt patrol the ride, observing position/technique and
offering tips on gear selection, while Lauren drifts around within
the group getting to know people. The terrain is rolling, and
just before a longer climb Ray has everyone pull over and tells us
to climb at our own pace but wait at the top to regroup. Barrett
from Colorado has clearly benefited from the altitude there. I
follow her uphill, and compliment her climbing- she has great
technique in addition to obvious strength and looks comfortable
even on Ray’s Orbea. We chat while watching the others come up.
Kaelin struggles a bit and Kurt falls back to pace her up the
hill. When everyone’s together, we roll on and at the bottom of
the descent turn off into a state park where Kristen, Ray and Kurt
address our basic positions and gear choices. Some of us ride
straight-armed and need more bend in the elbows to keep the upper
body stays relaxed. One rider uses the big ring too much when she
should be spinning. One rider slumps instead of keeping a flat
back. One grips the bars too tightly-you should keep your grip
relaxed enough to “play the piano” with your fingertips (ie wiggle
them while holding your bars). Some of us Ray and Kurt haven’t
observed much yet (me for one). They also talk about descending
safely while staying in line: leave a little more room to the
wheel in front, sit up to catch more air and slow yourself,. If
you need to,“feather” your brakes-DON’T grab them hard, and keep
pedaling until you can coast. Tips on descending: stay in the
drops for more control. Slide back on your saddle to weight the
back wheel more. Coast with your feet at 3 and 9o’clock, rather
than 12 and 6, and use your legs to grip the top tube a little.
Keep your arms relaxed, elbows bent and not rigid! After
absorbing these tips, and asking a few questions, we ride on.
Ray needs to stop at the bike shop in Emmaus to take care of some
business, so we stop briefly at South Mountain Cycles and Coffee
Bar. There are cyclists everywhere. Ray tells us the Rodale
“lunch ride” leaves from SMC every day. Most of us go in to check
out the shop. A strip of wall above the coffee bar displays
photos and memorabilia. A cork is front and center, labeled “Tom
Boonen’s Champagne Cork, 2008 Paris-Roubaix.” Cool. Also there
is a news clipping with a photo of Lauren, who's from Emmaus.
It turns out the Rodale ride overlaps part of our route, and after
leaving the shop we’re soon overtaken by about 20-25 riders. One
rider in a black jersey slows to greet Ray. As he moves forward
he draws close enough that I get a good gawk at his bike, a black
and white IndyFab. Carbon. I apologize for staring, but the
frame is a piece of art. He smiles. We chat a bit, I wish him a
good ride, and he’s off to rejoin the group ahead. Ray pulls up
and asks if I knew who that was. No? “That’s Bill Strickland,
he’s the executive editor of Bicycling Magazine. He wrote
the book Ten Points-it’s about the same Thursday night training crit
you're doing later in the week.” Very cool. I haven’t read it yet, but
now I'm curious.
I find myself on the front of the ride. Kurt swaps places with my
partner Nora and rides next to me. He props a hand on my shoulder
and turns to look back at the group. I realize he’s testing to
see if I keep riding straight or if I'm bothered. He faces front
again and says I’m obviously a bit more experienced, since he’s
practically touching handlebars with me and I haven’t budged
sideways or seemed bothered. He also comments that my upper body
is very quiet and he likes my pedal stroke. I start to pull ahead
at one point, and he hooks a finger in the back pocket of my
jersey and tugs me backwards, explaining that I’m “half-wheeling.”
Half-wheeling can mean two things-either you’re overlapping
someone’s back wheel with your front in a pack (dangerous!) or, as
in my case, you’re pulling a half-wheel ahead of someone you
should be keeping even with. “I know it’s unintentional, but if
you do it, and then the other guy does it, and you're both just a
little bit competitive, it goes on until next thing you know
you’re doing 40kilos per hour when you were supposed to maintain
30” (Kurt always talks in kilos). I have to smile because I've
done it TONS of times on group rides.
Our ride only lasts a couple of hours, and we hustle to change and
get lunch in the now-open dining hall. Nobody showers, because
right after lunch we change again and meet out in the big parking
lot for a "skills" session. Ray explains that today we'll work on
a variety of drills to help build confidence in riding close to
others and getting comfortable with our bikes in new ways. He and
Kurt demonstrate each drill before we do it, and all three coaches
watch and give pointers. The first drill is riding straight
lines with a partner, and making corners as square as possible
while keeping close to your partner-we use the white lines on the
lot as guides to follow. After every square we swap sides (if
you rode on the inside you go to the outside and vice versa), then
swap partners and repeat. Kaelin says, “Oh no, you got stuck with
me,” and frets that she's going to knock me over but she does
pretty well aside from a few wobbles. For someone as new to all
this as she is, she’s doing wonderfully. Then the drill changes
to include riding a straight line while REALLY turning your head
and looking back over your left shoulder; meanwhile your partner
tells you if you're veering right or left. Then we continue
riding square corners and straight lines while having one partner
ride one-handed, then with a hand on the other's shoulder, and
eventually we're all good buddies, riding with each person having
an arm over the other's shoulder. This is fun! One of the
coaches, I forget who, says “Look, they’re bonding!” Kurt
demonstrates the next drill. We'll practice riding "all over" our
bikes, seeing how low you can drop your body to one side or
another while on the bike, and Ray encourages us to lean the
bikes, and see how we can lean to one side but counterbalance with
our weight to keep them up. Kurt practically hangs underneath his
top tube, hooking one knee over it, and touching the ground with
one hand while clipped in. Ray says it's basically 'Bike Limbo,'
"how low can you go?" I get the lowest of the campers-I can't
touch the ground but I'm only two or three inches short.
Kristen sets up a line of miniature traffic cones on one side of the
parking lot. Our next drill involves weaving through them steering with
our hips, keeping the bikes straight without turning the front wheel.
This one is easier with a little more speed, but is pretty
straightforward. The next drill uses the cones again. This time we
maneuver over the cones so that our front wheel goes on one side of the
cones, and the back wheel passes on the other side. Kristen says just to
try going over every second or third cone, it's too hard to do every
single one. But after we've worked on this one for a few minutes, I
manage to go over every other cone without
knocking them down, so then I try every single cone and knock over two,
and I quit on that. The last drill of the afternoon is to practice
putting down and picking up one of your water bottles with your
non-dominant hand. You have to slow your bike enough to place the bottle
down without it falling over, so you have to "feather" your brake with one
hand while leaning over. This is a little tough. One rider hits the deck
doing this but she’s fine and immediately hops back on. We're not allowed
to go in and shower until we pick up and put down a bottle at least twice.
I do it three times with my non-dominant hand-this is easier since your
dominant hand controls the bike. Kurt makes me pick up and put down with
my other hand too. I do it twice and he says “You’re done. Go shower.”
Sweet. There are basically four people to one shower, so I don’t waste
any time getting in there.
After dinner, the evening presentation/discussion covers racing and
various aspects of the profession and professionalism. Liz and Lauren
have rejoined us for the discussion tonight. Ray talks for a little
while about track racing as a great way to gain faster understanding of
tactics, since track racers often do 3 races a night. He and Kristen
talk about cycling as a sport of patience. It takes years to gain
fitness and experience, and this can be difficult for today’s instant
gratification-oriented society to understand. The only way to gain race
experience is by racing, but you need to be patient with yourself because
again, this takes time to learn. But at the same time you can’t afford
to be tentative in races. You have to take risks. The fear of failure
has to take a backseat to the DESIRE to compete, to achieve, and to kill
yourself to win. Kurt says that no coach can instill in you that desire,
you either have it or you don’t. The name Jens Voigt pops up of course,
as someone who never hesitates to attack just because he might get caught
at the end. Kristen especially talks about how often women’s races in
the US, especially lower-level races, often play out the same: everybody
rides together, nobody attacks, then finally there’s a sprint at the end.
In contrast, Lauren mentions that in Europe, she was amazed by the level
of aggressiveness in the women’s races there, even in the juniors’ races.
“Most of the time it’s a race of attrition,” she says. “People just
attack and attack and in the end the race is between whoever has survived
up to that point.”
At this point Nora raises her hand and asks a very good question. She
tells how she was kicked during a race by a girl who’d decided that she
didn’t like the way certain people rode or maybe they had gotten in her
way. Whatever the cause, this racer occasionally unclipped a foot and
kicked others whenever she felt like it. Or she’d elbow them hard
wherever she could. Nora’s question: What do you do about something
like that? Nora says she isn’t the type to make trouble herself, and
doesn’t want to be labeled as a troublemaker. As an aside, the three
campers in the group who do have race experience (Nora, Kristen and
myself) have all encountered things like this in races-either
unnecessarily rough riding or attempts to intimidate us. Ray responds:
it’s not “making trouble” to lodge a protest or question a rule in a
calm, positive manner. Maybe the best approach here is to quietly ask an
official if that sort of behavior is condoned (asking for a clarification
of rules, for example), and how should she best deal with it or react to
it? Ray’s answer also leads into a discussion of sportsmanship, and
professionalism within the sport.
Professionalism is not just for professionals. As a racer, and someone
representing your sport, you always want your conduct to be above
reproach. You should look and act the professional no matter what level
of competition you reach, high or low, or what level of sponsorship you
seek. Ray talks about times when officials have been in doubt about the
conduct of a rider, and weren’t sure if that rider was guilty of a
particular rule violation, but when in doubt these officials chose to
make a ruling based on their knowledge of that rider’s reputation. Be
aware that whatever you choose to do publicly can affect your reputation,
if you may think nobody is watching. And your reputation is paramount if
you wish to really go anywhere in the sport. If you are riding on a
sponsored team, no matter what the level of sponsorship is, be aware that
you represent more than yourself. Watch the big ProTour races when you
can, and notice the little details and rituals involved: zipping up the
jersey for the finish line, the small accessories worn on the podium, the
behavior of the riders toward the race organizers on the podium. Liz has
a great deal to say about this, given that she is seeking additional
sponsorship in her campaign to reach the 2012 Olympics in London. She
passes around a scrapbook, photos, and several copies of the packet she’s
currently drafting to give to potential sponsors (she said we could keep
one of her spare copies if we liked, and I did). Her sponsor packet
tells a great deal about her but especially lays out for potential
sponsors, point-blank, how and why they could benefit from a professional
association with a potential Olympic competitor.
Ray also points out details in several of the podium pictures: one of
Liz’s competitors has appeared on the podium wearing generic flip-flops
while sponsored by a shoe company. Not professional, not something you
want to do. By comparison, another rider on the podium wears a pair of
Rocket 7s, absurdly expensive custom shoes that the company provided as
part of a sponsorship agreement-that rider is carrying out her end of the
agreement. Kurt and Ray had several anecdotes to tell about riders who’d
lost sponsorship because of poor conduct that made the sponsors want to
disassociate themselves from those riders. In contrast Ray mentioned the
“Zero Boys.” This team of little-known riders went out and competed
wearing jerseys that had a giant 0 on the back, and the words (on sleeves,
back, and front) “Your name here.” Their conduct and results found them
sponsorship within a very short period of time. Basically they put
themselves in the public eye as serious racers and riders with whom
sponsors would want to have an association.
This discussion was pretty thought-provoking. If you’re a run-of-the-mill
Cat 4, maybe you can’t see yourself having that type or that level of
relationship with a sponsor. But club teams have sponsors too. You’re
still wearing a jersey with people’s names and logos on it. You’re still
a cyclist, so you’re still representing the sport itself.
There was a good bit more to the discussion but it’s hard to recall all of
it because by 10:30 at night my eyelids started to get droopy, and the
others looked tired too. I still had to retape my bars and Kurt hadn’t
had a chance to replace my shifter cable yet. Kurt suggested we do my bar
tape right then, and the shifter cable in the morning (he said this as he
eyed the internally routed cables on my bike, not something he wanted to
deal with just then, I'm sure). I’d taped bars before but wanted to see
how the professional did it, so he wrapped one half, I did the other. I
was exhausted when we got done, but it didn’t take that long. Besides, I
felt that at least now my handlebar-wrapping skills were pretty darn
professional.
I finally went to sleep around 11 pm. I don’t remember my head hitting
the pillow.

-to be continued