Training Camp Day 5

International catastrophe averted...
At dinner tonight I decided to bring the big bottle of water I purchased at the supermercado to dinner. When at the Hotel Ayron, do not bring outside water to dinner. One must pay. The server was quite explicit. Fortunately, I save my small bottle I bought the other night and will refill it. Touché! The salad/cold portion of the buffet tonight got a little boost. They chose to add some mixed greens rather than just iceberg lettuce. It was welcomed by me. Soup was a vegetable broth green stuff. Good but not super filling. The fish was descent, not as good as Tuesday but I can hope for it again this Tuesday right?

The plan for today was to hit the climbs along the western shore(ie big day) from the suggestion of one the Camp Eden Training Center proprieters. It was worth it. 5.5 hr, 3300kjs despite a lot of descending. I rolled out along the boardwalk then when I got to Palma I latched onto a Dutch group. Same ride lead group with the prison kits from Tuesday. I started chatting to a guy next to me who had a Moots frame. I asked if he was American b/c that is a very American frame, Steamboat Springs, Colorado to be exact, so it was weird to see it among all the Merida, Author, and Cube frames that are so popular here. We chatted quite a bit about SRMs and training with power. He said very few in Europe train with power. Most train by feeling which is normal. Listen to any euro interview with a pro, "yes I had good sensations today. My team did a great job of controlling the race for me." He was running an SRM on his Moots. He did mainly mtn bike and even tricked out his mtn bike with the new wireless SRM. We hit the first climb together and were chatting pretty heavily. Before I knew it we were blazing up the Coll De Sa Creu, 8km climb. Another dutch caught on to us and we were pushing a pretty high pace. I was surprised by my good sensations b/c I had been feeling pretty tired on the ride out. Somehow competition brings you to a higher level. We were keeping it gentlemanly, still able to chat but pace was pretty high. The other dutch rider, who looked Italian gave us the "tranquillo..tranquillo" and then the hand gestures for "mellow, mellow." We weren't killing it but it was a good way to open up the ride. Descents still pose problems for the dutch. At the bottom, I rolled on to Calviá then to Andratx then up M10 to take in the Col De Sa Gremola, Des Pi, Claret and finally back to Valldemossa before heading down to Santa María then to Pórtol then the Palma Rush Hour(nice scooter hopping) then boardwalk home. I think it was like 60km of climbing? The sensations got better as the day went on. Sometimes you can feel not so good then after an hour or two, the sensations are good. Cycling is weird like that.

At breakfast this morning I completed the special black-op I had devised last evening. I'm sure I looked pretty weird cutting up dates, then using my fingers to mold them into a bar like shape with dried apricots in tow. But one must appreciate my desire to achieve bike fuel goodness. Plus you have to devise ways to motivate yourself to eat the same things every morning. And I'm a foodie and I love creating new stuff. So the "bar" i created wasn't holding shape very well. I needed some sort of "cement." Not wanting to get too messy with honey, i forged ahead and cut my little concoction into small pieces and placed them securely in the pepito-crusted roll. Next I spread nutella and added a slice of queso. The other one was sans nutella. Maybe next time I put some sort of jam inside b/c that would provide some moisture. I guess you could say I am adapting from the great Eddy B's method of food while training. Of course he uses a bit of wine to moisten the bread. Me, no wine, so I adapted. One must learn to adapt or one will not survive. The new power fuel concoctions are still going through inital R&D. Hopefully a finished product with a proper name will be unveiled in the coming days. You are probably wondering how I can pull off such controversial(as using my fingers to mold dates) or espionage like operations in a hotel dining room? Well, one must be secretive and I choose to sit in the corner with my back facing the wall. That conceals the majority of the operation, plus I never eat with my back to the door lol...

Ciao,
Matthew