Blather on Bicycling

I’ve arrived in the tropics again for another race this weekend, the Birds of Prey RR south of Boise. The re-routed course is mostly flat, so no major climbs on which to test myself. . .unless George’s throws in a last minute twist. I’m on my 3-day taper technique again to confirm it is a good short taper. This morning I was out riding with a herd of horses in Elgin. (I’m not kidding here; they broke loose and were all over the road with me). Once I broke away from the pack, I did some wicked short climbing repeats on the bottom section of the Terry Ranch climb. Then, I turned and headed home. My legs felt good. I’m looking forward to the race.

In my last entry, I mentioned my short taper strategy for the Slammer worked well. Now I’m rethinking this, because Bartel has been sharing his strategy that took him to Cat 4 victory. I think I understand the protocol as he described it to me. It basically went like this in the days leading up to Slammer:

1. Get sick
2. Recover
3. Fly to Nashville
4. Avoid sleep
5. Develop knee swelling
6. Get sick and throw up for a couple days
7. Avoid food
8. Fly back to Boise very late the night before race
9. Relax for a few hours of shut-eye
10. Get on bike for first time in a week for 5 minutes of warm-up 
11. Win a race

We may have to get him to outline a specific day-by-day schedule to accurately replicate this pre-race plan. This is a novel training concept, that I haven’t read about or tried yet. I’m fairly certain the training gurus like Bompa, Friel, Carmichael, and Burke never mentioned this in their books or magazine articles. Outlining the plan here may revolutionize the current paradigm.