The Coach(ed) Corner:
The headline says it all. After a seven-day flogging at the BC Bike Race, it’s been R&R time here in the land of the coached. I took a week off after the race and am just now starting to crank it up again.
The 330-mile mountain bike stage race, which started on Vancouver Island and finished in Whistler, was bar none one of the coolest – and hardest -- things I’ve ever done. The seemingly endless singletrack was amazing, the organization stellar, and the camaraderie enriching. If you’re looking to inject a little two-wheeled adventure into your life, I strongly recommend checking out this event.
All the good times notwithstanding, by the end I was ready for a break. The level of physical and mental energy required to push hard day after day was stunning. I honestly have no idea how people survive grand tours. A week of five-hour days was painful enough. Three weeks is unfathomable. Yet another example of why pros are pros and the rest of us have day jobs.
Anyway, backtracking a bit, you may remember that I had to go under the knife a while back to get a little hernia issue taken care of. I had the procedure done exactly two weeks before BC Bike, but by stage 1 I was feeling fine. And, as my coach Neal Henderson had assured me, my fitness was essentially unaffected by a week off the bike. If anything, I was feeling too good and probably pushed too hard the first day in B.C.
Whatever the case, stage 2 ended up being among the toughest of the week, with dehydration, bad sleep, sluggish legs and some seriously hot weather combining to create a torturous day in the saddle. I guess that’s the nature of stage racing, though. You have to survive the downs and thrive during the ups. In my case, there were probably four up days and three downs. That resulted in 35-plus hours in the saddle, and a 38th-place finish in the 95-team open men’s division, 10 hours behind overall winners Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks (Kona).
My teammate, Sun Valley, Idaho real-estate agent Reed Melton, certainly could have carded a faster time, but instead he spent a good chunk of the week embracing the team aspect of the event and going my speed.
From a more analytical standpoint, I’m still sorting out what I took away from the experience. You go through so many physical phases and emotional peaks and valleys, that quantifying it all can be tough. I was definitely struck by a tip Trek-Volkswagen pro Chris Eatough passed to me after the race. One half of last year’s BCBR champion and this year’s runner-up team, Eatough explained that the biggest mistake most racers make is putting out huge, short-burst efforts instead of riding a steady pace.
It’s not that giving it once in a while is all bad, Eatough explained, but over time those blasts of energy are far more taxing on the body than if you employ a more diesel-engine approach.
I, for one, made a fair number of these short bursts in the early stages, and probably paid for it later on. I didn’t use a power meter during the race, but I’m certain my average output for the last two stages was far less than earlier in the week. Obviously general fatigue played a role there, but I’d guess that if I modulated my energy expenditure a little more judiciously, the end result would have improved.
Moving on, phase two of the B.C. adventure commenced exactly one day after BC Bike Race ended. This time there was no uphill pedaling, just downhill bliss. Thanks to some friends at Whistler Mountain, I got myself signed up for a two-day Richie Schley Freeride Camp. This meant a full-face helmet, arm and knee pads, and a 40-pound-plus, big-hit Kona Primo mountain bike.
The gist was that I and about a dozen other intermediate to advanced riders spent two days ripping around the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, getting instruction along the way. Schley had banged up his ankle doing a film stunt a few days earlier, but fellow freeride legends Wade Simmons and Brett Tippie were capable fill-ins.
At one point, I jumped a tabletop and actually landed safely on the backside, prompting Simmons to roll up and give me a high five. It was akin to getting props from Larry Bird for nailing a jumper, or dropping a long putt and then getting a pat on the back from Jack Nicklaus. Very cool.
Simmons is one of the most down-to-earth star athletes I’ve encountered during my decade-long sports journalism career — and he was a remarkably good teacher. Unfortunately, despite all the expert instruction, my last trip down the mountain was punctuated by a nasty spill and an ensuing hip hematoma that’s just now starting to heal up.
Back in Boulder, last weekend marked a return to road racing, with the Leanin’ Tree Criterium. I won’t bore you with a full race report, but I’ve got to give props to fellow VeloNews rider Kirk Peterson who scored his first-ever bike-race win, taking top honors in the 35+/Cat. 4 race.
After yours truly spent a lap and a half solo off the front late in the race, Peterson and the rest of the bunch stormed past with about half a lap to go. From there KP moved to the front, then won a close sprint to the line.
No more racing on the immediate horizon, but next Monday I and some friends are going to take on Colorado’s Triple Bypass route, a 120-mile westerly grind from Evergreen to Avon that includes trips over Squaw Pass (summit 11,140 feet), Loveland Pass (11,990) and Vail Pass (10,560). Check back next column to find out how it goes.
The coach is on the road right now with Taylor Phinney right now, so no Q&A this week. But if you’d like to ask Neal Henderson a question, please send e-mail to CoachNealQandA@gmail.com. Please include your name and hometown. Questions may be edited for content and clarity.
Editor’s note: Jason Sumner is a 37-year-old, 170-pound freelance writer and Cat. 4 bike racer who is working with a cycling coach – and training with power – for the first time in his life. Sumner underwent a full battery of lab tests at the beginning of the season, producing a 250-watt lactate threshold, a 3.2 watts per kilogram score and a VO2 max of 51.5. His 2008 goals include improving on his usual mid-pack finishes, not getting dropped on the weekend group rides, and learning something along the way. He is documenting his experiences for VeloNews.com is this twice-monthly column. His coach, Neal Henderson, is sports science manager at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and a well-regarded elite-level coach. Henderson’s clients include Garmin-Chipotle’s Taylor Phinney, Jelly Belly’s Scott Tietzel and Trish Downing, a nationally ranked paraplegic athlete. Henderson is also the winter triathlon coach for the U.S. national triathlon team, and this year was named USA Cycling National Development Coach of the Year. Right now he’s on the road with Phinney, helping the young phenom get ready for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. You can read about their travels here: http://www.bcsm-to-beijing.blogspot.com/. Henderson is working with Jason Sumner on a pro bono basis.
