Fall Cycling Camp in Colorado

here's the details:


Train like a pro for a week in Boulder, CO.
Welcome to the 2008 Fall edition of the EK Endurance Coaching advanced cycling camp. During the 5 days of concentrated training in Boulder, CO you will ride some of the most classic rides in the US. See the most amazing vistas and get in some of the best, most effective training ever! This is a great opportunity for anyone training for late season races, like Silverman, IM AZ, IM Hawaii, late season RR like the Everest challenge stage race or to build base for cyclo cross. Or… lets face it, for those who just love to ride!!

Included in this camp:
1. Hotel accommodations, including breakfast and pool
2. Full Soigneurs support through out every ride. Food, drink, extra clothing, mechanical support.
3. Nightly analysis of your ride and training consultation by the coaches.
4. Massage (30’) every night by a pro team soigneurs, Jeff Cole.
5. Infinit Nutrition, (nutrition sponsor) free product and discounts for you after camp. 6. Free Schwag from our other sponsors.
7. Guest pro rider will join us for a day of training.
8. Boulder, CO. you ask for more than that!!

Dates and Itinerary
· September 7th to the 12th 2008
· Sunday, Sept 7th arrive at DIA airport.
· Mon. Sept. 8th. Morning briefing and breakfast. Ride 3 hr.
· Tue. Sept. 9th Mountain. ride 4+ hr.
· Wed. Sept. 10th Mountain ride 4+ hr.
· Thursday Sept. 11th Mountain ride 3-4 hr.
· Fri. camp debriefing, short ride, depart.

Fitness Level
You should be comfortable riding for 3 or more hours a day for several days in a row. Be an accomplished pack rider in all types of terrain. Know how to take care of your self on the bike in bad weather conditions, rain cold, heat. Be able to change a flat and do simple on the road repairs. Most importantly have a good sprit! While you need to be an advanced cyclist to participate in this camp you should be searching to get there. This is NOT a camp for the beginner or novice athlete.

Camp Cost
Flights not included.
We will be making 1 or 2 pick ups at Airport. There is also a shuttle for off time flights.
Deposit of $350 will hold your spot.
Contact Eric Kenny or Matthew Barrowclough to find out about discount for Boulder area athletes or athletes not needing housing.
$1100 (Register before 8/25/08)

Contact info: Eric or Matthew

I Love it When a Plan Comes Together

The great words of a childhood television hero, Hannibal Smith of the A-Team. After so many close calls and second guesses, my work has ripened.

Today, I won! As soon as the gun went off, I knew the legs were a far cry from the pain they were yesterday. It was just one of those special leg days. Any gaps were closed quickly and I was just feeling good all around. Legs just seemed to spin fast and accelerate. With 7 laps to go, my teammate, Kenny, bridged up to another rider and ended up getting the prime. I moved into position to mark any moves. Riding in the front is always hard but it typically keeps you safe. With 6 to go, the rain has already started, so I moved to the top 2 knowing that rain slicked roads will be total chaos especially on all the white stripes. So on the 2nd turn, a nice lefty, I took a beautiful line and held the bike in check despite the rain. Unfortunately, the rider just in front of me took a not so good line, went down, and caused immediate disaster. I sensed the moment instantly and jumped hard and bridged up to Kenny and his breakaway partner. We worked briefly together but I was careful to size up the fitness of the other rider. Kenny fell back so it was just two. With 4 and half to go, I attacked my breakaway partner. I was continually sizing up his ability as were swapping pulls. I didn't feel confident in his ability to help deliver me to the finish with the peloton looming. It was textbook. He was finishing his pull and I jumped hard to the left and put the hammer down. Gap was opened immediately and I continued to lengthen it as the laps seemed to not go by fast enough. By this time, the rain was dumping and lightning and thunder were all around. Roads were super slick so I was being just cautious enough to keep my speed but not lay it down.

I guess I didn't believe in it fully until 1 lap to go. By this time, the field was 3/4 of a lap down and the chase was 10-15s back. So much was running through my head. I have been so close so many times and met some misfortune last summer but today it worked out. Shawn kept me believing in myself and today I paid her. As I crossed the line with arms waved, I have never felt so much joy in a bike race. The crowds were amazing and I got to hear my name on the loudspeaker as the encouraged my effort. With arms in the air, I crossed the line in ahead of any other rider. A great end to a great weekend.

Chow,
Matthew

An Unforgettable Year...

If you haven't been paying attention, today marks the one-year anniversary of getting hit by the truck while doing what I love, riding...I must admit that after the first 3 months, time has quickly gone by. But that is not to say that I don't wake up every morning and remember at some point during the day of what could have happened. I do my best to not think that way but to think more positively of what has happened. So much has changed in my life. People ask me about the accident and I always finish up by saying that it was probably one of the greatest moments in my life. You have to understand my point of view. So hear goes...

Before tragedy struck, I didn't realize how good I had it, how easy things were, or how great life can be. I became closer to my family, I stopped letting the small inconveniences of life get in the way, and I learned how to live. In my eyes, living is about never thinking what-if? Never looking back and seeing regret. Never losing sight of what is important. Importance? Well its definitely not fame or fortune. Its going after your dreams despite the challenges, despite the obstacles, despite the nay-sayers, and despite the threat of failure.

In the 4th day of my stay at Westchester Medical Center, I did my best hobbled-walk to the bathroom in the room. Those 10ft were the hardest steps I have ever taken. The strength it took for me to just pull my self up in the bed nearly took everything out of me. But with those steps, I knew that it was going to be alright. Those 10 steps gave me the confidence to know that no matter what life throws at you, human will can overcome.

This morning I lined up in fitting fashion for the Salida RR. Of the races I have done in CO, this is by far the most difficult. Complete attrition. The thoughts of where I was last year and my condition, it looked impossible of even trying to be a competitive athlete again, but human willpower and support from family and friends have made it possible. My legs were heavy. I knew it from the neutral roll out that it was going to be a day of suffering. On the first climb I hung as best i could but got dropped. I ended up catching back up for the second lap only to get dropped again. The rest of the race I was moving through different chase groups only to be eternally dropped on the last lap. For some reason, i couldn't keep any speed on the descents despite no braking. So the last lap was "matthew time." I had my own personal suffer gruppetto. I saw many bow out in the race early. This attitude sucks. You don't get better by abandoning unless you are injured. Cycling is incredibly hard and painful. In no other sport that I know is it more true of the person with the highest tolerance for pain come out ahead more often. For me, my end result was not something to write about, but when I get into that pain cave next race, next week, next month, or next year, I will have this experience to pull from. Becoming a great cyclist is more than just winning races or training with intervals. Its about training your mind and your body to push itself to limits that you didn't think existed. So next time, you see a cycling race, or read about a race, understand that great cyclists are born, they go through years of pain and discipline to get that rare chance to come across the line with arms in the air.

tomorrow is the criterium. It will be a nice cap off to the weekend. I've been getting some nice high altitude training in. As my hotel at Monarch Ski Mountain is at 9700' and the race is at 7500-8700'. Blood doping the natural way =) Tuesday I head back to the motherland of Tenn, so if I have any readers in TN be sure to get in touch.

I will leave you with this...Next time, you are annoyed by a traffic jam, or by a wait in line at a restaurant or a small squabble b/w friends/family, remember that is probably not worth the frustration. Life is hard enough =)

Ciao,
matthew

Vive Le Tour!

Tour is in full swing now. Its definitely proving to be quite an exciting battle with numerous lead changes and several favorites cracking on the Pyrenean cols. To celebrate le tour and do the typical french thing, I chose to go all french and had coffee and a sweet crepe for breakfast this morning while watching Le Grand Boucle. It was quite tasty and good consistency following my poor crepe effort last summer. I went with a banana-honey-peanut butter feeling. Had I had some Nutella, it would have been perfect.

Seeing the race on the tele and brings back many fond memories of my brief time in France last summer. Next year, I will be back =)

Its been wicked hot out here in Boulder. I'm on a break right now, prepping for the Salida Omnium on Jul 25-27. I'd like to put in a good result in the weekend's racing. My in-race confidence and bike handling are super high right now so hopefully the hard work and with a little luck something will come my way.

At the end of the month, I'm flying back to Tenn to visit family and cook for my mom's summer fiesta. It should be spectacular. So if you are in that area, be sure to get in touch. Going to do a little racing too in Winston-Salem, my birthplace.

Ciao,
Matthew

Dead Dog Recap

Well, I'm back from the land of cowboys and high plains. My trip up to Laramie didn't go as planned. Ended up having to work at the shop till 7:30. But the girl was super stoked when she got her bike basket installed. So I rolled out on Saturday morning at 0500. It wasn't too bad. Drive was easy and gave me time to download plenty of calories for the day's work ahead. This was probably one of the hardest road races I have done. It was go from the gun and the terrain made me cry like a little girl, not really but it was sickly hard.

Here is how it goes....Roll out at 8400 ft on some rollers with a slight descent(hardly noticeable) till you get to 7500' and the town of Centenniel. From there, it goes up fast and the race goes from alright to "ohh shit..just hold on...just hold on...lactic acid...why are my arms hurting, ohh yeah, thats lactic acid." Ended up falling off the pace of the lead group. But a few teammates bridged up to me and we formed a nice chase group with the lead group just a few minutes up the road. So after Centenniel its about 20mi till you reach the summit, which still fancied the WY snowpack. I guess when you are above treeline at 10800' snow sticks around. Well after a breaf descent it was pedal-on all the way to the bottom(7800'). Then we do a quick turnaround on the tarmac and head back up the hill we just came down. There was no "bomb this hill." Much to my chagrin, it was pedal-on the entire time. I was taking soming long pulls trying to help the teammates who were looking a little better. Blew myself up trying to bridge up to a chase group in an effort to set up my teammate. Unfortunately, he couldn't close it after 5-7mi and we caught him. After a brief respite, we got back to Centenniel and echeloned it out across the road. It was super fast but really cooked me. As we were rotating, I was expecting a teammate to roll through but looked back and he was 3 bike lengths back. I dropped back, yelled at him to grab my wheel then pulled him back into the mix. Good times. Ended up finishing 17th on the day and totally cooked. Treated myself to an ice bath. The coach has always suggested it, well I took it. Painful until you can't feel anything but it definitely helps with recovery.



Sunday was a 2'fer. Crit in the morning followed by a high-altitude time trial. I was beaming with confidence b/c I knew the course would suit me. A little bit of bad communicado b/w my leadout guy and me left me jumping on the sprint a little too soon. Settled for 9th. Good stuff learned and good sign of recovery. Next up after just about 2hrs was the 10mi tt at 8800'. Its supposedly the highest time trial in the US. Confidence was running high. I put in a lot of work this past few months on the time trial and felt I could put up a good result today. I went out flying and kept it going. 9th on the stage. Helped me move up 1 spot on GC and be the top finisher on my team. I knew as soon as I finished that I would have a good time. Still some stuff to work on but after a 4 day break, I'm happy with the form that came around during the race. Now the 2nd half of the season begins....

Adios,
Matthew