Pre-Season Training Camp in Calpe - Part 1!

So I'm sat in a bar on the seafront in sunny Calpe in Spain, watching the waves crashing in after a gentle recovery ride this morning. Temperature is a mild 13 degrees, but looking to warm up next week!

We arrived Tuesday afternoon and had an easy transfer from Airport to Bus Station, the 1km walk to the apartment was not so easy... with a 32kg bike bag and 20kg luggage... it took quite a while...



HEAVY!

Once we arrived we went for 1h30 at a steady zone 2 pace, just to prepare our legs for our first 3 day block of training. It was a lovely ride along the Coastal road towards Xabia, a great view and a cracking way to start the 3 weeks out here! The plan is to start steady this week with some long mileage, before using the last 2 weeks for some high intensity specific sessions to prepare the body for the long season ahead... We began our first 3 day block with a 4 hour ride with a couple of other lads, one from the area and a guy from Team Isle of Man. The ride was steady with a couple of lumps but mainly flat, we stopped at a café for lunch and rode steadily back to Calpe, an average speed of 17.5mph, not quick but it was very windy. Day 2 of the block was a 5 hour ride including 7,200ft and taking in the amazing Col du Rates near Altéa, we rode steady up most of the climbs, and smashed down the descents! I was feeling really strong and managed to spend the last 45 minutes on the front driving us back towards Calpe, a great route and a great ride... So much so that we used the same route yesterday to complete the training block!



Climbing!

This time we rode much harder up the climbs including a huge pull up Col du Rates, averaging around 14mph for the 4-5 mile ascent, I was feeling strong and can definately feel my climbing improving with every ride! We followed the Project 1t41 Pro Cycling Team down the descent for half an hour, and spent the rest of the ride going hard back into Calpe. Matt and I decided to do an extra few miles taking in a local 4 mile climb up to Benissa before descending back into Calpe again. Ended up doing 90 miles at 18.1mph with 8,500ft of climbing. Very pleased with this first block, I was feeling strong, climbing well, and loving it! Long may it continue...

We took a steady 1 hour ride today to recover before we do our first specific session tomorrow, SPRINT TRAINING! My favourite.

Will write again next week! Enjoy the snow everyone... :)

Ciao.