Today was the long day of camp - 100 miles of breakthrough riding to finish the camp on a high.  The B-group did a sweet out-and-back to Jalama Beach while the A-group did a loop over Drum Canyon and down to Lompoc before hammering the outbound leg of Jalama.  That cashed a lot of folks' chips, but on the inbound portion of Santa Rosa Rd, superstar pro Chris Peariso took off with only Carl and myself able to follow.  We then proceeded to do all we could to just hang onto his wheel for the next 45 minutes home.  Neither of us was able to take even one pull - we termed it "PearisoPacing" since he may as well have been a motorbike.  Here are some photos from the day:

Custom Quarq nametag - just like the pros!

Verdant green hills of Santa Barbara county

Ocean view from Jalama Beach

Jim taking things very seriously indeed

And a short film of the group heading out of Los Alamos:

This year’s Solvang Camp was attended by some of the nicest folks who have ever come to camp, and it was a great pleasure to spend a week coaching, riding with, and getting to know the 2009 Solvang crew.  I hope next year is just as good, and now I am really looking forward to Marin!

The Tour of California time trial in Solvang is one of the highlights of the race.  It's where the general classification gets sorted out and it's the day we have off to do whatever we like at camp.

My day started with my athlete Jenn Reither coming up from LA to visit and go for a spin.  We got to catch up a bit in person, see some world class riders warm up while we spun around the course (Ivan Basso says "hi"), drink some coffee, and stand on large trucks:

Jenn and the VERY LARGE TRUCK

After that, we joined Jim and Mieke from Quarq on the first climb of the course and watched the riders as the started their races.  Then, we headed down to the staging area and gawked at the stars, some of whom gawked back:

Rory signs yet another autograph for superfans

We finished with dinner at the Los Olivos Cafe, which is always a pleasure.  It was extra special this time as the rest of the camp treated Jason, who is our mechanic, and I to quite a feast.  Tomorrow we plan to do a sweet 6 hour spin to finish camp on a high note.

Tomorrow the Tour of California comes to Solvang in the form of  a time trial on an excellent course in the surrounding countryside.  Today, the campers had a chance to "race" it and 1) get a feel for what it is like to race on a great TT course from a big race and 2) get some solid power numbers.

The ToC caravan has rolled into town and now crews are busy setting up the expo areas and preparing the start and finish lines.  It's exciting to feel the change in atmosphere and the tomorrow's race should prove to be a great one.  It's easy to see the newly-arrived bike nerds in town, and as we all know, there is no limit to cyclists' dedication to their sport.

I've also been busy doing a bit of work on the side and preparing to spend part of tomorrow with one of my athletes driving up from LA to talk about her season.  Tomorrow should be exciting and I will post more about it here.

John Ruskin wrote:

“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”

Following that logic, we have had many different kinds of good weather this week.  My favorite kind of good weather showed up today meaning that we had plenty of sunshine.  The day dawned clear and stayed that way.  It almost made the kind of good weather we had the last two days seem worthwhile!

Mt Figueroa is tough no matter which side you approach it from.  Normally we go from the back part, through a small gate, over a gravel section, down a steep bit and through some washes, before the real climbing begins.  This year, there is snow at the top, so we did an out-and-back up the front side.  The climb was 55 minutes long and just as uneven and difficult to hold a rhythm on as the back side.

We climbed beyond the snow line, and into the thin fresh air.  Check out the view:

The view from Mt Figueroa

The descent from Figueroa towards Los Olivos is technical and difficult, with some gravel, rough pavement and the occasional pothole.  Still, it is loads of fun and the front group made the most of it.  Everyone came down safely, and we cruised back to Solvang for cornering clinic:

Cruising with Carl

Tomorrow we ride the Solvang TT course for the Tour of California which arrives on Friday.  I wish I could actually "race" it with the campers, but my duties usually mean I am holding a stopwatch or pointing people in the right direction.  That's okay, I suppose - my legs are toast!

They don't call it tRAINing camp for nothing.  Again we started in the wet, with a cold downpour making the road spray seem inconsequential.  Happily for us, it ended after 30 minutes or so and the rest of the day was warm and sunny.  We were still stuck in our damp lycra, but when the sun shines, things like that don't seem very important.

Day 2 is usually sprint day, and it is always hard.  The kilometers are relatively few, but the intensity more than makes up for it.  We do small ring sprints, big ring sprints, lead out practice, and finally race finish scenarios.  In the latter we split into teams, each with different assignments, and "race" the last 4 or 5 km of a course.  We do it several times, with different strategies, so that the riders learn a bit about the tactics of road racing.  It's loads of fun and always a big hit.  It's usually followed by excited hammering all the way back into town and today was no exception.

Tonight we dined in Los Olivos at Mattei's Tavern.  The food was fantastic and we had our own room, pro-style.  Tomorrow we climb Mt Figueroa and, with any luck, it won't be snowing on top.

Everyone thinks it never rains in California, but they are wrong.  It doesn't rain as much as in some places, but when it rains, it rains very, very hard.

We were reminded of this as we pulled out onto the road after doing the lecture early and waiting out the first rains of the day.  As luck would have it, we left right as the second monsoon of the day let loose.

Riding in the rain is something I do a lot in Portland and considerably less in California.  In Portland we have fenders, so I don't mind.  In California, I have no fenders and so I don't ride when it's wet.  When it is your job, though, you have to suit up and get on with it and that's what we did.  The first hour of the ride was in the cold, pouring rain, but then we were in for a treat: glorious evening sunshine on green oak-filled hills.  It was Santa Ynez wine country at its best and, for me at least, it made it all worthwhile.

Other than the weather, camp is going well.   Jim Meyer from Quarq Technology is here again with more fun power-measuring treats for us to try.  He gave Hunter a gold Cinqo Saturn, and I have to say I am a wee bit jealous.  Too bad he can't pre-load it with some power.

Tomorrow is sprint and race finish scenario day and that is always ton of fun, and very tiring.  Hopefully the weather will improve and give us a bit more consistent sunshine.