If only training camp was a continuous year-long event. The Colavita Olive Oil/Sutter Home pro cycling team is just about the coolest thing I've ever been involved with. It blows away all those weeklong soccer camp's I did in high school. It is better than most* college experiences, and it really kicks the ass out of working full time in a cubicle.
I arrived at Sutter Home's famous Chicken Ranch vineyard, where the very comfortable condo-houses we stayed in were, and met some of the guys & then said hello to the huge bag of goodies on my bed. I had begun to make the transformation from dreaming about being on the team to actually being a part of it. After a good night's sleep, we started off the first day of camp with a good photo shoot, glass of wine, and a 4 hr ride in the hills of the Napa Valley region. Oh yes, and we received our brandy new team-issue Felt bikes. The mechanics had them all ready to go and sized up for us - it was amazing.
For the next week, we'd pretty much ride between 3 and 6 hrs a day, come back for lunch & a nap, get a massage, and make a great dinner featuring Colavita pasta, Colavita sauces, Colavita EV Olive Oil, and Sutter Home wine. For some reason, this process didn't get old.
It was a great to get to know everyone on the team. I don't know what other pro teams are like, but our team really seems to get along well. I got the feeling that everyone was on the same page, and there was respect for each other. Our cohesiveness would be proven in the McLane Pacific NRC season opener in Merced, CA.
We took 2nd and 3rd in the crit, which for me was the fastest crit I'd ever raced. I had trouble moving up in the pack mostly because I lacked the skills to carve out the 6 turns at full speed. But, my legs felt great and ready to go for the road race. Sunday's 120 mile RR in the rolling hills was awesome. Never before had I actively worked for my teammates like this. From the gun, I and my teammates were actively covering moves and playing a very active role on the front of the race. I had no idea that I could sustain the frequent hard efforts off the front, but I did it for almost 100 miles at which point I was taken down. It was really unfortunate because, um, it was like :45 min from the end of the race and it really bled and hurt a lot.
I went home bleeding all over the plane and my new team clothes, but I was happy about the team and the fact that I was prepared for it all.
Now, a week later, and 3 days before I fly out to race the San Dimas stage race, I am finally just starting to recover from some sort of virus that's had me down since last Thursday. And, my road rash is finally healing enough to make it comfortable to sleep on my left side. I haven't really trained much in the last week, and I'm pretty uneasy about going out to race in CA, but somehow I will pull it off. I figure its better to go there and not do my best, then to stay home and get a proper recovery from being sick.
Check out photos at
www.teamcolavita.com !
