Outcomes & ICWC 2008!
The average camper got in 20-25 hours of riding and anywhere from 375 to 450 miles on the bike. There was no running and swimming as folks barely had the energy to pedal, eat, and sleep! Hard to believe we managed to go a whole week with no flat tires or serious mechanical issues! The best part of the camp wasn't necessarily the scenery or the riding--it was meeting and hanging out with cool folks who enjoy pushing their bodies into the unknown.

IronCamp West Coast 2008
Very simply, we want to create an incredible training experience for our customers next year.
Consider the following:

• The largest cycling race in the US is kind enough to scout out, mark, and in some cases control the best roads in the state for us. We took as many pictures as we could but they really don’t do the tour justice. The most consistent comment from the campers was the wide variety of terrain offered by each stage. For example, Stage 1 climbed out of Sausalito through Muir Woods, with huge trees lining the road. We then dropped down to the coast and were treated to waves crashing on rocks, and quaint seaside towns (BBQ oysters!). The course then jogged inland up Coleman Valley Road, a narrow paved cow path through incredible pastures and dairy farms, then descending into lush green valleys, past world famous wineries and finishing in Santa Rosa, a major hub of the California wine industry. And this was just the FIRST day!
• The race is also nice enough to bring people out on the course to cheer you on as you tackle the KOM’s or sprint against your shadow or fellow campers in small towns. We called this the Yahoo Coefficient: as you neared KOM’s, sprints, or the race closed in behind you, the number of spectators, fellow cyclists, yahoos and characters increased exponentially. What other camp offers a 5k climb at 10-16% grade through a wall of screaming and cheering fans?
• Many prospective campers expressed concern about the high cycling volume of the camp so early into the season. However, during the camp we quickly learned that is neither necessary nor desirable to do every mile of every stage:
  • Each stage has a 3-7 mile neutral zone, which is simply a parade through town to the good stuff where the racing actually starts.
  • Most stages finished with a 7-10 mile circuit race around the finishing town. Once you go into that circuit it’s difficult to get around and link up with the support vehicle.
  • Admin miles solo or in a 2-3 person group are significantly different from what pros experience tucked into a 150+ rider peloton. The estimated times on the route sheets (what time the race is expected at each turn, sprint, KOM, etc) STARTS at 24mph. These guys are friggin’ flying and a 5’ water or potty stop means the peleton just rolled you up by about 2 miles. This definitely lends a sense of urgency to the day but don’t underestimate how hard it is to stay away from these guys when they light the burners.
  • These are hard friggin’ courses. They’ve found the hard stuff on purpose, not gone around it.

  The net is that an A rider (sub 5:30 IM bike split) can expect to ride 75-85 miles in 4.5-5.5hrs. A B rider will see 50-65 miles in 4-5hrs. Trust us, by the time you trim off the fat above and add admin time on the front and back ends of each stage, that’s enough. We estimate we can provide a high quality training camp for sub 6:15 IM bike split athletes.

• Many prospects asked us about swim/run opportunities during the camp. Our advice: don’t ruin an epically cool training experience by being a tri-dork. Just ride the bike for a week, it’s enough. Seriously, part of what made the tour so special was how many towns we were able to experience, as the organizers often finished in one town and started in another. This necessitated a portage of bodies, bikes and bags 40-70 miles at the end of the day, which typically began with wheels up at 7 or 8am so we could stay ahead of the race. Again, don’t be a geek, just ride.
• We’ve done it, we’ve figured out the logistics, and are confident we’ll have a very solid game plan for 2008: lead/chase vehicles, hotels, restaurants, communications, insert/extract points for A/B riders, jerseys, shirts…and ass cream, we’ll have it all dialed in!

Are you interested in the cycling experience of a lifetime, one that will challenge your legs and senses, creating special memories and friendships? Stay tuned to www.ironcamp.com as we develop our plans and publish registration details. I know that Rich and I are already counting to days to when the race publishes the ’08 course!

IronCamp Update Day Six

Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita: 100 miles.

Today ended up being one of the best dang days to ride of the entire tour. Almost 100 miles and virtually no wind at all, temps in the mid-60s. Four KOM sections and two sprints. Tours of orange groves...it just doesn't get any better!


We started just outside of Santa Barbara, and the first ten miles were pretty easy going. Things quickly started to heat up, however, as we headed into overlapping KOM sections. In other words, you saw the sign for 5k to the next KOM before you saw the sign for 1k to go on the KOM you were currently climbing. One word for that: OUCH! The climbs were both Category 4 efforts, however, so at least it wasn't killer. That said, the work did have a huge pay off, with incredible views of Lake Casitas.


Things turned semi-urban for a bit as we rolled through the town of Santa Paula, where we were able to get another sprint in. Then it was off to climb Balcom Canyon, lined with a ton of folks. While the police were interested in the number of people on the hill, our group was more interested in the observed percent grade of 18+%. Can you say ouch??? A truly epic climb, even though it was short. The terrain after the killer climb was mostly downhill, including a great section where a few doodes sat in the draft of a convertible Dodge Viper (do not try this at home!).


We rolled in for another quick food break, and then it was off to Santa Clarita. This was a net uphill section, but the road felt pretty forgiving. We finished the ride into town with the group including Saul Raisin, and then waited for the peloton to arrive. Things were interesting w/ a seven man break as the riders entered town; the peloton was 1:25 down...but by lap two the deficit was only 40 seconds, and by the final lap the break had been rolled up. Another sprint finish.

Today was our last official day. Most folks fly out tomorrow, while some might go check out the final stage. All agreed that today's weather and terrain made it the best ride day of all thus far. From an organizers perspective, I have to say that the camp was an absolute blast! We'll definitely be back in 2008, and will include a variety of updates. Stay tuned for more information on this blog. Until then, keep it real!

IronCamp Day Five Update

Time Trial in Slovang, CA - 14.5 miles

Today's stage was a short (for the pros!) time trial effort around the town of Solvang, CA. We pre-rode the course in the morning. Actually ran into a group of CTS athletes (about 30) spinning around town w/ the guru himself, Chris Carmichael. We passed them, of course. Kinda had to, ya know? Anyway, we took a detour off of the TT course and went out to a local canyon for some solid riding. The terrain was awesome, but the roads left something to be desired. I guess when things are this remote - and the weather is this good - you don't need to consistently repair the roads.


There was a bit of wind as well...and some of the folks got crazy muddy trying to free the car of a tourist from the mud on the side of the road. I was too slow to get up the hill and missed out on all that fun, but I did snap some crazy great pictures of the local terrain. Yes, that's snow up on top of those hills!

We rode out another 25 mins from here, and then we flipped it. We returned to the TT course, climbed the technical hill and then rode the killer descent back into town. We were on road bikes and were soft pedaling...and we hit 25 miles an hour. Things got a little squirrelly when the police entourage of 14 cars and over 20 motorcycles flew by us...some managed to jump right in...others of us hitched a ride on the back. Crazy cool. After one more short hill, we were right back into town. Total ride time was 2:20, distance was 32 miles...nice and easy.


Rolling into town, we hit a local bakery for some danishes and coffee. Chilling out front, we snapped some photos of the pros zipping around and testing their equipment one more last time. Man these guys are skinny!!!! Then we ran to the hotel, got changed, and headed out...first to the expo, then onto the course to watch the extravaganza. It was pretty amazing to see the studs ripping the course up. Levi was grade A fast over the day...we watched on the jumbotron as he kept his nose to the knuckles on his aerobars through the head / crosswinds and then powered his way through the final 15k. Pretty amazing stuff. In the pic below you can not only see that Levi is working, you can also see the nice raspberry on his shin from the crash at the end of Stage One!

After the show we piled into the truck and headed down the coast to Santa Barbara in preparation for the last big stage of our tour (the pros have one more). Stay tuned!!!

IronCamp Day Four Update
Seaside to San Luis Obispo: 85 miles

Today's stage was set up to be the longest of the tour...a whopping 130+ miles, all along the Pacific Coast Highway. Also known as the PCH, this road is the scenic route down the coast. The views were stunning.

Unfortunately, we woke up to pouring rain and 40-degree temperatures. As the first few miles were headed out of Seaside and out to Big Sur (one of the KOMs), we decided to skip ahead to have breakfast further south in the hopes that the weather would break. While we got poured on during mealtime, a short bit up the road things opened up.

We jumped out of the car and quickly got ready on the side of Highway 1. Hopping out on the road, we quickly linked up with a group of 10 riders who were on their way towards San Luis Obispo. Most were demo-ing some new Cannondale prototype frames. This was a pretty solid group, mostly local. Jumping in, we got right down to pushing the pace.

Things were moving along quite well until the KOMs appeared (yes, plural). Then our nice group wasn't really willing to play THAT nicely. The two sets of climbs really tested my fitness, and I was out the back in no time. Thankfully the scenery was so fantastic, I didn't really mind going it solo. Our group got back together when the local roadies punched out a bit early. After saying thanks, we were on our way.

We were still ahead of the peloton, so we decided to keep things moving. Unfortunately, this was also about the time that I was totally bonking. I was 100% useless and needed food badly. We found a smoothie place in the town of Cambria that hooked us up, but we go stuck at a major intersection by an overzealous volunteer who wouldn't let us hit the road again. 20 mins later, after the 7 man break and the peloton rolled through, we hit the road again.


There was one more short hilll and then we were on the way down - with a nice tailwind - to Morrow Bay. Even saw some elephant seals fighting over the womenfolk. We were moving along nicely at about 28mph, but things were starting to move inland and get a bit ugly, so we pulled the plug and headed over to Solvang where we prepped for the next day's time trial.

As a random sidenote, we ended up having dinner at The Hithching Post, that restaurant / bar from the movie Sideways. Small world! Until tomorrow...

IronCamp Day Three Update

Stockton to San Jose: 80 miles in 4:45

Today's stage, intended to be a rest day between yesterday's 110 miles and tomorrow's 130 miles, proved to be pretty tough on us real-world folk. Starting in the farmland outside of Stockton had us riding on rough chip-seal roads with a good headwind for the first 1.5 hours...just like we had finished in yesterday. Unfortunately, a really good story about an article on Dave Zabriskie's wife had us headed in the wrong direction...for about 5 miles. :(

Admin to the rescue had us back on point to Peterson's Pass...a nice rolling climb of about 1600 ft over 10 miles. Some fans but early enough in the day so it wasn't too crowded. After a basic descent we rolled through the sprint, up a mean short climb and off to the feed zone. Amazing how 50 miles feels like nothing after 200 miles in two days.

After some killer sandwiches, coke, fritos and Advil, we were off to the next climb. This was a killer route...some 15 miles of climbing that only gained 1200 feet. A twisting and winding road brought us out on a ridge overlooking Lake Berryesa and some amazing scenery. Just killer stuff. The knucklehead factor was pretty low here as the climb would probably just be a speedbump to the peloton later in the day. A great winding descent put us right into the outskirts of San Jose, and the lead up to the biggest climb of the day: Sierra Road.

Because of the speed of the peloton - and the wrong turn we took - we had little choice but to ride up to the top of this climb and then flip it. This meant we cut the ride short a bit, but after that climb (that CLIMB), no one was really complaining. This climb was a real beast...sections at 16% grade were broken up with random flat sections. The powers that be really could have put in a few more switchbacks on this climb, but it was almost as if they only had so much asphalt and so they went straight up. After all our riding, this route took me 34 mins to do...and that was just a bit too long for me.


And of course, the further we got up there, the more crowded it got. Here you can see Rich, me and Dave on the top...and that was only 20% of the group. It was so crazy at the top that I had to wind my way around folks just to get to the KOM line. After everyone hit the top, we rolled down to about 300feet up, just around a bend, and waited for the peloton.


We didn't have to wait too long. The group of seventeen alleged by the pre-race speaker car was only 5 guys with the peloton another 45 seconds back. Needless to say, the break didn't last. By the time the climb was done, Levi had taken the KOM points and was in an elite group of five. This group lasted all the way to the finish, with Jens Voigt taking a close finish.

Bottom Line: This was a short stage but a solid one. Sure wish I had another 100 guys to draft off of for the duration. Especially for those hills!!! Now all we have to do is last through another 100+ miles tomorrow...

IronCamp Day Two Update

Santa Rosa to Santa Barbara: 110 miles in 5:45

After yesterday's epic ride along the coast, I was really looking forward to a good night's sleep and today's stage. I slept so well I didn't even get out of bed once last night...that means I was BEAT!!! Today's stage had it all: great weather, hills, killer views, amazing descents, vineyards, wineries, and a massive headwind.

We started out from our hotel and just started riding. We had a fresh Rich Strauss as our leader today (he was admin yesterday), and it showed. We blitzed through 22 miles in the first hour even though the group was tired. This got us nice and warmed up for the first KOM of the day.


This was a solid 19 minute climb for me today, with some great turns and views. We dropped down from that into Napa Valley and rolled right by some grade-a wineries and through gorgeous vineyards. The terrain was surreal...we rolled right out the other side into the climb out of Napa Valley. Despite the map, the terrain wasn't actually that bad on this side. Maybe that's because yesterday was so killer. We rolled through the hills and then hit the flats through Davis.

Davis, home of Steve Larsen and more bike paths than the entire eastern seaboard combined, was awesome. The couse had a killer sprint set up, with a 90-degree left hand turn at 200m to go. We regrouped on the other side at the 88-mile mark to eat some real food. It was then back on the bikes towards Santa Barbara. We had a sick tailwind for 3 miles...so sick we were taking turns leading the group at 30mph. Can't even imagine how fast the peloton was moving through there.

Unfortunately after that, we had to turn into the wind and were on some seriously crappy chip-seal roads. The kind that saps your energy and turns a 20mph effort into an 18mph hour slug fest. Add to that a sick cross-head wind, and you are going 15mph. Capital O-U-C-H. Add to that the fact that the tour entourage of cars, bikes, support crews, etc, are rolling past on the way to the finish. That's pressure. Thankfully this was ended - just before I cracked - by the sag wagon. We chilled on the side of the road for the peloton to pass and I got this photo.

Bottom Line
It is soooo killer out here...97 miles yesterday, 110 today. 100 slated for tomorrow w/ a 9 mile climb that starts out at 15% grade. Even though we climbed 30 mins at an avg of 13% today, I am still scared. :) It's just so gorgeous, somehow it doesn't hurt as much...hopefully that trend continues. Until tomorrow...

IronCamp Day One Update

Marin to Santa Rosa: 97 miles in 6.5 hours.

Today was the first day of IronCamp West Coast 2007, and the first stage of the Tour of California. The course was set from Marin to Santa Rosa.

We rolled at 7:30, giving the group a 3.5-hour head start on the peloton. There were two major climbs on the day, the first almost right away in Muir Woods (1500ft) and the second just outside of Ocean View (1000ft). All in all, the profile looked pretty easy and we were psyched to be on our way.

Right out of the gate we were suffering in Muir Woods...it was beautiful, but it was straight up. No real time to check out the amazing scenery, it was just shift, stand, shift, sit, repeat. The descent to the ocean on Rte. 1 was awesome, with the banked roads setting you up just right for the next turn. Hitting the flats, we were psyched to lay down a good effort and were hit by our nemesis for the remainder of the day: the wind. Not so bad on the tidal inlets, it was enough to make you feel like you were working.

We then hit another solid climb of about a mile (500ft), and then we were off to the rolling seacoast...and the wind. Did I mention the wind??? Killer scenery blended into one big blur while we focused on the uphills and downhills. You almost didn't want to go up because you knew after the down there would be another up. This rolling terrain was finished off by four miles off full on 30+ mph winds off the water...we were all riding at a healthy angle into the wind!

Turning off the main road and finally putting the wind at our backs only meant that we were hitting the first King of the Mountain stage. Fans were all along this 3 mile stretch. Some were riding up, others riding down, many just camped along the edges. The roads were painted with pro names. Very cool, but very narrow. Later in the day, the peloton would hit this as one big pack of 140+ riders as the prevailing winds didn't allow the group to really split up. Killer part of this climb was that the KOM point was at the first of three total big climbs...we assumed that the first climb would be the doozy...not the remaining ones. Serious suffering was had here, and the funny cheers of the fans could only motivate so much.

After this section, there was some significant rollers that finally...finally...tapered down into Santa Rosa. We regrouped just on the outskirts of town and crushed some massive burritos while we waited for the peloton to show. Turns out they were over an hour late because of the weather...some of the fans were really ticked that the racers were later than scheduled. The peloton looked none-too-happy as they whizzed by. We rolled up to watch the 3 x 3 mile circuit of the town and were there to see Levi (and many others) struggle to finish with some serious road rash.

Tomorrow is 115 miles....stay tuned!!!

Patrick

Countdown to Blast Off
Today is the prologue stage in SF proper, but we won't be there. We're doing airport pickups and final preps. We kick off our 500 mile week tomorrow with 95 miles...so it's time to put the bies back together, go over final logistics and get mentally ready to be chased by the world's elite all day. :) Driving into SF today we saw team cars for Jelly Belly and CSC.

Can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing... More updates tomorrow!

Final Preparations

We are in final week leading up to IronCamp West Coast, and I am getting fired up. Looks like we will be fielding a smaller squad than anticipated, but it's all good as we have some serious learning to do for version 2.0 next year...and beyond. This is our first point-to-point camp, and it brings with it a whole host of new challenges.

While all the logistical stuff is daunting, it's the actual riding that I am most fired up about. Six days and over 450 miles of some of the best roads that CA has to offer. Having been locked up on my trainer every winter for the last five years, this is going to be sooooooooo welcome.

The goal of the camp was to (A) do cool sh$t and (B) build some serious fitness. I think we can safely say that (A) has been taken care of...now all we have to do is get to work on Part B. Noticeable changes with this camp include little to no running, and definitely no swimming. All cycling. All the time. I won't even be bringing my tri bike...I am a full-on roadie for this trip.

The group converges on San Francisco on the 18th...and then we are underway. Stay tuned for more details and daily updates!!!