Today was the first day of training camp that had a real training day. We went up to and did the infamous Geysers. It was quite fun to do the climb with a bunch of guys that literally, do this for a living. Ben and Andy JM lead the climbers up the back side of the hill while the rest of us.... sprinters ;-) kept our own tempo. So that was a fun and fast journey up the hill. The decent was also plenty fun. Following Ben down was also a nice learning curve. The team decends very gracefully and very fast. But I got to say, I feel much more confident on the Prince then other bikes I have ridden. It is definately built for speed, both ascending and descending.
Another highlight of the ride was on the way back in. I got to talk with Frank Pipp about my kind of riding.. one day racing where speed trumps climbing. I definitely was a little concerned about not keeping with the climbers up Geysers but after talking to him about some of the racing he has experiences, (i.e. Stillwater Criterium), I was glad to hear that climbing IS NOT EVERYTHING when it comes to cycling. Both him and Kirk O'bee are new sprinters to the team that have a laundry list of pro wins. With any luck, I will have the chance to learn a lot form these guys. Anyway, Pipp reminded me that climbing is a specialty, like time trialing or stage racing, that sure I have to do, but I don't have to be the best at it to be successful. Our kind of racing is about pure speed. Pure speed is a different kind of skill that doesn't necessarily make one a good cllimber. So for the 90% of races that are not pure climber courses, a sprinter will do very well.
I also got the chance to test the Easton EC70 SL. These were sure fun to ride with today. They definately feel fast, no question. They also break extremely nice. Two thumbs up with a huge smile from me for these babies!
No comments:
Post a Comment