Trentino 2

Today we hit the dolomites for the first of many occasions over the next 6 weeks! The 2nd stage of the giro del trentino took us right into the heart of this mythical cycling paradise and provided a good test for the riders gearing up for the giro. I had been very excited about this stage. On paper it looked very hard with a mid race mountain and mountain top finish. Also covering 230km I had hoped it would be a real race of attrition. Sadly it was not and basically felt like we were going down hill all day.

Surfice to say the entire group arrived at the final climb fresh as daisies and with only 15km between the group and the finish I was determined to some how find a way to stretch my legs. The days plan was to protect ivan basso and do a little rehersal for the giro. When the eventual winner kosta suitsov attacked 10km from the finish with pierre rolland I was right in the perfect spot to follow, instead I hesitated and looked back for ivan and decided it was best to ride tempo on the front and keep it smooth for him and attempt to deter any other attacks and a chaotic climb!

It seemed to work and for 5km I was where I like to be, on the front with a clear road ahead. I merely kept the escapees at arms length and waited the move of the riders behind. Eventually with 5km to go astana took over and I swung asside. Ivan was in a perfect position and now it was up to him to. Follow the favourites. I was far from spent but with still a few weeks until the giro and tour of romandi next week I was not going to stretch myself today, important was to ride a good tempo and see what damage that could do to the group. In hindsight I should have given astana the baton earlier as they had plenty of numbers but its best to learn that today than at the giro. I won't make that mistake again!

In the end Ivan continues to show improvement as he builds toward his crack at another giro podium. I felt ok, not super duper but that's not unusual on   days like today where its not so hard. Anyways friday we have another mt finish so will be a good chance to learn from where we went wrong today and see how we can improve things during that important test.

All in all a productive day and a great feeling to have my face in the wind on the front of the bunch again.

Cjw

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Giro del trentino, the final tune up

The final tune up for the giro d italia kicked off today at the giro del trentino. With the giro only 3 weeks away it's an important tune up for the riders who are targeting success in the first grand tour of the season. Today was a little unusual day with 2 stages. A short 130km warm up in the morning and a 14km team TT in the afternoon. We have a reduced team here with only 7 riders due to others racing in belgium and also many riders resting up ahead of the giro. As a result of this we are not putting alot of pressure on ourselves to do to much at the event and use it merely as a good training block and get an assessment of where out recent time at altitude has put our physical condition.

The morning stage was always going to be a little dangerous which turned out to be the case. A breakaway went early, nobody chased and in the end 8 riders had a 7min lead on the rest of the field. I trundles along in the bunch and stayed out of trouble, was a good opener after having the past 3 days very easy following the altitude camp. The first days of races are always a battle for me as I seem to take a while to get the engine going so was nice to have a gentle warm up. 

The afternoon TT provided a great opportunity to do a little test for the team ahead of the giro. Unfortunately having a weakened team we only had 5 riders to pull so we were immediately up against the other teams who were 8riders strong. None the less considering this disadvantage we had clear objectives to do no more than work on the process for the 5 riders who will also race the giro. Elia viviani is our track star and was a class act today, dall' Antonia relishes the team TT and was seriously impressive to see him turn on the HP today. Our team leader continues to show great signs of improving his condition and pulled very strong. I did my job, nothing great, I did not feel perfect but also most importantly I did not slow things down either so all in all was a good day. I love these events as it reminds me off a rowing race. Normally we have 8 riders or nine in the giro which is the amount for the 8+ in rowing. Normally I assume the coxain role and like to encourage all the guys and a little push here and there. Unfortunately today with so few riders recovery was limited to half and I did not have the spare juice in the tank to try and aid morale. In the giro we will be 9 strong so I am determined to make sure I can assume the role I enjoy the most.

So in the end as expected we lost time to some strong teams. It's arrogant to think 5 can pull harder than 8 at this level. It's not just the speed thats the issue, it's all the things required to generate the speed. With More riders you simply get more recovery and with more recovery you are fresher and able to pedal much harder for longer. Anyway today was what it was and was a good hit out and a great starting point as the additional 4 riders we will have for the giro will certainly add a huge amount of horse power to our team TT effort.

So with today's novel day out of the way we get into some longer harder mountain stages so I am looking forward to that. Tomorrows stage particularly looks great as it has much more uphill than down which is just the type of day I enjoy the most. Through in the fact that it's 230km and will be a great day out in the dolomite's,

Cjw 

Welcome to Alcatraz

For the next 10 days this will be my home, the hotel parador el tiede on the spanish island of tenerife. Due to its remoteness, baron surround and basically nothing else to do than train and rest, I have affectionately named it Alcatraz. The hotel is far from a prison, infact its one of the nicer hotels I have been to, good sized rooms, very friendly staff and most important for me incredibly delicious fresh food on tap. Its pretty much a training paradise, isolation aside and like I do with mt rumney in tasmania and gavirate in italy its just the type of environment I want to be working in.

The purpose of this camp is to prepare for the giro d italia. I am here with our team leader for this years addition Ivan basso, aswell as a few of our young stars in moreno moser, damiano caruso and allesandro de marchi who are preparing for the ardennes classics. We have our team trainer paolo slongo here to oversee all the work with his trusty brain coach and stretching expert merino rosti always at his side. Carmine is here as our massage man and ensures all our food, washing and general well being is taken care of. He is basically mum and dad for us demanding pre Madonna athletes! Its a job I certainly don't envy and take any opportunity to lesson the load on him. Carmine is a dead set legend!

Being a hot spot means we are not the only ones taking advantage of perhaps the worlds best live high train low environment. Other teams including sky with froome and wiggo, blanco with gesink, katusha with rodriques, and astana with nibali are also here so if you were a betting man on the big grand tours in italy and france fast approaching you could serve yourself well by plonking yourself up here and seeing who's on and who's not. We never ever train together, squad crossing is simply taboo in cycling it seems but I am going to do my best to change this over the course of our next 10 days here. Doing pre race workouts with apposing squads in rowing was always exciting, be great to get a giro preview watching wiggo, gesink, basso and nibali trying to drop each other racing to the top of the volcano! Will keep working on making this happen. Its a funny environment and one you know everyone is watching everyone, bit like the school yard really with all the gossipy conversations which go on within teams and also riders on varying teams. It really is comical specially considering its happening with some of the best athletes in the worlds. I just do my thing knowing that a lot of how I go about things is not normal in cycling but hey I come from a different back ground and realise I won't be able to change even if I wanted to. Besides its quite flattering when you see others all of a sudden doing exactly what your doing, you realise you must be doing somthing right. At the end of the day as always you can only control what you can control and regardless of who is around you its important to keep focused on that.  

So training in altitude is a special beast and everybody adapts differently. I have done a lot of time up high now and have found that its important for me to push myself but also to always leave a little more than I want to in the tank. Always force myself to pull back that fraction earlier than I would like and save that extra bit for a rainy day or simply for the race track when it matters most. We begin with a day or so's settling before doing a lactate test to establish training zones for the camp. This will be repeated later in the camp to see how much we have improved after doing the prescribed work load. From there its into the work with generally 3 days of work and then a rest day. Repeat this 3 times and it is time to go home, simple.

My test was good, I have maintained my good base from the work in october november in tasmania which I am pleased with. Following catalunya I have also seen a noticeable jump in my threshold level which is to be expected so I am starting to develope the type of power/lactic profile I feel will allow me to make a good contribution to the team. More importantly after doing the test and getting the training zones I have felt comfortable in training at these new improved levels. This is crucial as we work toward the giro. The training is incredible. You basically begin the day with a 40+km plunge down to the sea side and from there you can do anything, flat, roleing, short hills, long hills, you name it. The only certainty of each days training that there is no escaping the 40+km haul back up hill to the hotel! Being a sucker for punishment I love this part about training here. I love living atop mt rumney back in tassie because I finish every days training with the satisfaction of going up that climb, you can not ever feel anything but satisfaction when you finally haul your tired backside up to the base of the volcano and into the hotel parador front door.

Once at the hotel you can do nothing but relax and recharge for the next days session. This is basically because there is absolutely nothing to do up here so even if you did want to do somthing energetic you can't! I pass my recovery time post ride with a little gym, stretching, massage, sauna and then its finally dinner time. We have our own private little room set up with my ergo, trx and stretching mat which I retreat to to work on the 1% activities I like to do. I have the computer set up to watch old cycling movies while on the trainer so basically I have managed to turn hotel parador into my home away from home. With these creature comforts in my little cave I happily pass away hour after hour of activities I hope will give me a slight edge in the races. So the days all tend to pass pretty quick once you allocate and hour or so to each of those activities. The most important thing is that if you are going to smash the body to bits out on the rd you need to be certain to recover equally as hard when off the bike. This place certainly forces you to do all that.

So after a week of being here I am well and truly settled and into my routine. I can't wait to go to sleep every night as I know when I get up the next day I get to train my backside off which I love doing and then enjoy the spoils of the recovery time back in the hotel following the hard days work. All in all its an exciting time for me, experience that a few years ago I could only dream off. I still have to pinch myself to remind me that I am really here. Last night the anti doping inspectors arrived to test 3 athletes, Ivan Basso, vincenso nibali and myself. Ok being drug tested is far from a glamorous exercise but I was excited to be being tested along side 2 of the worlds best cyclists and two men a look up to so was in a stupid way an honour to even be in the same room as them all be it for a drug test. Also another great reminder of how sport is an amazing leveller as for that hour or so we were simply 3 athletes being drug tested, fame and greatness of the other 2 asside, we were being treated equally in the process and this equality that sport brings to society, to me is the greatest thing about partaking in it.

So another 10 days here in training paradise before I head for giro del trentino for my final racing tune up. From there a couple more weeks of recharge and final work out on the road and may 4 and the start of the giro d italia will be on us. I can't wait!

Cjw

The photo is of the hotel off to the far right, the small chappel at the entrance to the hotel and off course the volcano that symbolises the island. Also it shows the rd we take each day to get to the hotel, as you can see its always uphill!

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Catalyuna wrap

My week of racing in the beautiful sunshine of catalunya spain came to and end yesterday with a great inner city circuit right in the heart of barcellona. After 70km dordle along the Mediterranean coast to the city centre we hit the final circuits for one last 50km of what turned into torture! 8 x 6km laps which was made up of 2.5km in climbing, the same in descending! And a little bit of flat thrown in although I can't quite visualise where the flat bits were! The pace ramped up as soon as the laps began with the top 5 GC spots all separated by no more than 40 seconds there was sure to be fire works!

I settled in closer to the front than the back and awaited the fireworks to begin in ernest. As I predicted with 3 laps to go the wick was lit up by home town here purrito rodrigues and as I would turn out for a few min later I was in the right spot at exactly the wrong time! Having paid dearly for following his accellerations in the pyranees 2 days earlier I should have learnt my lesson! Alas I had not and set of in pursuit of him with my vand den brook and gesink. Alas after 1kn or so full block chasing the little spainaid I had to retreet to the protection of the main field and lick my wounds at another failed attempt to match it with the big guns!

The group was still large and of course rodrigues came back, I should have realized this before I went after him but I didn't! The couple of laps I was able to recover in a heavily garmin controlled peleton and by the final climb I was ready to launch again for the line. I moved up as we crested the climb for the final time and all of a sudden there was a wall of riders ahead of me and the rd totally blocked. So back into the bunch I went for the final plunge down to the line and that was the 2013 volta catalunya done and dusted. 18th overall would be my final GC position at the conclusion of the 1000+km covered so I was content with that.

For the team our rock spider christiano salerno finished safely in the field to wrap up his kom jersey and along with ratto's 2nd and two 4th's our group of cannondale men could hold our heads high considering the quality of field that assembled in catalunya this past week.

As for my assessment of my own performance?? I was about 5% off the top guys this week, around 25watts @ threshold give or take. I anticipated my level to be around 90-95% so all in all I am where I expected and I am very happy with where that has me compared to the riders I raced against this week. I knew I could grind and knew I had no more than 500 watts for 5' in me at the crucial moments in the race. As expected this was the point the brought me undone in the pyranees when I had to push beyond that initial effort. I have done no motor pace this year so expected to suffer a lot from the race rythm of world tour. As expected I did suffer! For the first 2 days it was everything I had simply to stay in the peleton when they were going full hook. This would have had a fatigueing effect on me so motor pace and now having the rythm there will eliminate that going forward to a large extent. Fortunately when we went uphill I got to recover a lot of the time. So from here the real work begins, I know now my foundations are good and its just a matter of not over doing it, absorbing the work, and having a good look at what I can do the eke out that next 5-10% before the giro begins on may 4.

Cjw

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Catalyuna stage 6

Some days it feels like you are simply chewing on your head stem the entire day! Today was one of those! It took 90km for a breakaway to form just intime for the first climb of the day. By this point however we were only 90km from the finish so the peleton was never letting anyone get to far away. Near the top of the climb it started to hail ever so lightly resulting in a temperature drop of around 15 degrees just in time for a 20+ km gradual decent on what I would class as a glorified footpath! Brillient!

So after being single file preying for the bottom of the decent we were 30km from the finish and finally the final climb of the day was on us. The sprinters that could climb ok smelt the victory and on the 5km gradual drag the past was kept high and consistent. This provided the first opportunity for me to get some rest for the day as it was easy sitting on the wheel and following the tempo. 1km from the top the big guns got frisky and started attacking so I had to open up the jets for a couple of minutes and ensure I remained in the front selection of a 10 or so riders. We were never going anywhere and the break was now dangling 15-20seconds off the front with only a 14km plunge to line remaining. I immediately attacked on the decent, not so much to get away, I am not that nieve that I could get away on the decent! But merely to keep the pace up as I know our spinter who can climb very well daniele ratto was in the group just behind and was up for the sprint. So down we plunged with me at the helm and the radio was buzzing with ole ole ole tirra WURF which means stay on the front and drill it!

So that's what I did, got some great help from BMC and with around 4km I realed in the final escapee's and at 3km I was on the rivit and handed it over to the bmc boys to keep the pace high for the run to the line. In the end daniele ended with another fine 4th which is a great result at this level. Also some consolation for me with an aussie winning so although the work for the team may not have resulted in a cannondale victory I was pleased to see simon gerrans get up there and take a win at the end of such a hard day on the bike.

For me today marked the first time I had been at the head of the world tour peleton for some time as I tapped out a tempo between 5-3km to go and it was a great feeling. Suffered I little bit as a result, been a while since I have dialed it up to 60kmph to string out the bunch but that what I am here for this week, to see where I am at and make sure I make I step forward from here.

Tomorrow looks really nasty with a twisty hard circuit around the city streets of barcellona. After today there will be some tired pins that's for sure so will have to eat a big bowl of grinta (determination in italian) for breakfast and do my best to finish of the tour in a strong way.

Cjw   

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Catalunya stage 5

When I comes to drawing up an easy course at this level, it does not get much easier than today. The first 70km was downhill, a little climb for a few km, then another 70km of predominantly down hill to finish the 150km day off. Add to that a breakaway of only 2 riders heading up the rd meant chasing was not going to be too difficult so was a nice easy day. My team mate daniele ratto galloped to a fine 4th in the bunch sprint and chistiano consolidated his lead further in the mountains competition so was a good day for the cannondale green jersey. It was Crazy easy in contrast to yesterday where we did 5000m of climbing elevation in the pyrenees!

Anyways while it is great for the group to have a bit of recovery after a day like yesterday it also brings with it a renewed freshness in the peleton and the crazy dog fight for front positioning that transpires as a result. Yesterday although hard was easy to stay at the front, you don't get too many who will want to waste energy fighting for the front for too long so for me the hard days are far more enjoyable. Anyways today went straight forward and the break was gently reeled in with around 15km to go. The freddie fresh legs peleton then sprung to life and in the absence of any renowned sprinters it seemed all 160 riders felt they would be in for a chance in a bunch kick. Throw in a roundabout every 1km and it was a dog fight. I am useless in these situations and my politeness and lack of desire to increase the possibility of kissing the ash felt means that I am more likely to give riders space to pass than fight for the wheel. My teammates on the other hand where up the front charging on the front of the bunch relishing in the chaos and gave daniele I the best chance possible to do well in the sprint. Anyways the inevitable finish line was finally crossed and I had all my skin and had freshened up a little so looking forward to the slightly more challenging stages that remain over the weekend.

Cjw  

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Catalunya stage 4

The hats off award for today goes to out climbing pain craving specialist christiano salerno. He made one of those breakaways that includes only superstars today and in the process charged up all the climbs and all but secured the king of the mountain jersey! So an awesome performance by him.

For me it was an improved day. After my cocky attitude yesterday decided to play my cards a bit smarter and retreated to the protection of the peleton for the final climb. I sat patient why sky used there men and waited for the inevitable fierce tempo setting of rigoberto uran which duly happened between 8-5km to go. I survived this just and made the final major selection. This was as good as it got for me however as when katusha took up the pace setting inside the final few km I was the first one to be unhitched from the group of superstars (that being all the other guys and not including me) just inside 2km to go. Today I held my nerve better and kept the group and my pace in check. At the line I was 15th, and losing 40seconds to the likes of wiggins, gesink and van den brook. After 6hrs of racing and 2 20+km climbs in the final 60km of the race I see this as a real test of my endurance level at the moment and I am content with where I am at. Specially being my first race of the season basically. The most important thing is not where I arrived today but how I go away from here and use this weeks experience to continue to progress throughout the rest of the season.

Race data:

6hrs 5min

215km

Heart rate average: 140

Power average: 290

Max power: 1110

Calories burnt 6500kcal

Best 5min power: 490watts

What makes me really happy is that some of the data from todays race is up there with my best previous efforts so to be finally able to deliver this in a race is a huge step forward for me. For to long I have had no dramas training hard but not matched that level of effort in the race. Today the tables finally have started to turn and to do it also on the longest hardest stage of the race gives me great confidence going forward.

Time to refuel the tank for another intensive day tomorrow

Cjw

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