The Challenge Ciclista a Mallorca marks the start of the 2010 racing season for me. It is quite a strange way to begin as well. The five-day race looks like a typical stage race, yet the format is far from the usual. There is a final overall for the general classification, just like the Tour de France, but each stage is raced separately. Only if you choose to race all five days will you be in the running for the overall title. I know, it sounds confusing, but it is just like what I grew up racing a lot of in the South, the omnium.

Most teams bring over half of their roster here since ten riders can start each day (instead of the more normal six-nine) and it doesn’t have to be the same ten everyday. With some riders skipping a stage or two, spots open up for others, and you could see over fifteen riders sharing the week of racing.

It is a pretty nice way to roll into the season, and I feel it’s great for the fans as well. They get the chance to see twice as many of their favorite pros. The fans also get to ride out on the same roads that others, who are not racing, are training on for the day. A training camp with race days and twenty teams all in the same area is basically what it boils down to.

The first two days were rather flat, so I opted out of those and arrived here today ready for the final three stages in the mountains. Each stage seems to get progressively harder as well, and the weather is not the brightest in forecasts. But I am remaining positive that this will be a great start to the year. With all of the training I have done the past few week’s things couldn’t be better. I am just looking to erase all of those question marks that you typically start the season with. Will I be strong enough to finish? Will I be strong enough to be at the front? Could I be there fighting for the win? By the end of the week I hope to answer them all with a “yes.”

This past Saturday Courtney and I decided to take the train down the Barcelona. After the hour and a half train ride we jumped off at the Barcelona Sants train station and headed to one of our favorite restaurants, Inopia. Here are some pictures of how we spent our afternoon.

Life has been great here in Girona.  Sunny skies and a quite, tourist-free, town have made the time here very enjoyable.  Courtney arrived this past weekend, and we have had a lot of fun getting to know each other again after our very busy month apart.  We have both quickly adopted our favorite lifestyle, that of the Spanish.  I spend each morning out on the bike.  Usually meeting Michael Barry at the local bar/restaurant here, Boira, then after a quick and extremely tasty zumo de naranja (orange juice) it’s off into the hills.  Each training session has gone better than the last, so I am very happy and confident about where I am beginning the season!

Once my day’s work is complete I spend the afternoon with Courtney.  We have a nice lunch, and then I usually take a small siesta while she knocks out some more of her work and after that we go for a stroll around town to gather food to cook for the night.  Does life get any better than that?

We have a lot to look forward to in the near future.  My first race, Challenge Mallorca, is just around the corner.  I am eager to get to the start line and get some good racing in my legs.  I’ll only be doing the final three stages of the five-day race.  There is no need for me to be parading around the flat streets of Palma for the first two days! The final, very mountainous, three stages are much more suited to my style.  I have never raced in Mallorca before, but with many training camps there in the past I will have a good feel for the roads.  This race should provide the perfect start to the season.  Before all of that fun begins, Courtney and I will probably sneak down to Barcelona for the day.  It is so close and easy to reach by train, so we really are making sure we take advantage of that while we can.

HTC-Columbia’s Mallorca training camp has finally come to a close.  It’s been a great one, but I am very much looking forward to getting settled in my Spanish home for the year, Girona.  Upon arriving in Mallorca the team and staff feared the weather would get the best of us and our training camp wouldn’t include much training at all.  However, the weather just seemed to get better each day.  By the end of the twelve-day camp we had almost sixty hours out on the bikes, plus countless more hours in the gym!  That’s a huge workload, and I am feeling pretty tired at the moment.  But I know I will just get better and better over the next few days and I am confident I have a great base to begin the season with.

The next two weeks will be spent fine-tuning my form in order to be ready for my first race of the year, Challenge Mallorca.  With so many long rides in my legs after this camp, I won’t need to worry about adding volume.  I will just be focused on shorter more intense days, trying to help the body remember what it is like to be racing.

Courtney and I will also be rediscovering the Catalunya region of Spain.  We have both really missed the culture and atmosphere of Europe, and are excited to be back.  It will be great to spend some time together and revisit our favorite spots and dine at some of our favorite restaurants.  There are so many great things to look forward to at the moment.

Roberto Bettini from the other side of the lens.

HTC-Columbia’s training camp on the island of Mallorca has been flying by.  Once again, we are slammed with meetings and appointments filling every moment we are not on our bikes.  Even in the middle of the night I am waking up thinking I am late for the ride or some meeting!  To my surprise, the weather has been great so far.  All of Europe is buried under snow, yet the temperatures are mild and the sun is usually out here in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Training has been going along quite nicely as well.  Long hours on the road bike are broken up with a few intervals up short mountains or some high-speed work on the flats.  We also had our first “race effort” yesterday with a team time trial of fifteen kilometers.  We were split into two groups of eight, with the finish time taken on the seventh rider, so we had to stick together.  We raced down the coast road here, in very windy conditions, with only two minutes separating the first group from my group.  Soon after the start my group began catching guys that were being dropped from the group ahead.  They had obviously started off too hard and were paying for their effort now, and that only motivated us more.  We ended up winning by a good margin, and the first group only finished with four, not even close to enough riders to stop the clock.

I always wonder why we race so hard in these training camps, but in the end it is pretty fun to be out there going 60kph on the time trial bikes.  It is a feeling we have all missed over the past few months.  Later in the week we will take the race from the flats of the coast to the mountains inland for an uphill race.  Until then, the long days will continue.  Five to six hours on the bike each day, followed with more meetings.  I am happy the days are going by so fast as I can’t wait to get to Girona, Spain, and meet up with my wife, Courtney.

Two days have now past of the HTC-Columbia training camp in Spain.  Yes, I meant to put the HTC first.  They seem to have taken over the title spot of the team, but that is about the only difference you will notice on the new jerseys.  We have received some great new Columbia gear as well, and I have been putting all of it to use.  As I am typing, the wind is howling outside my window and the cold air seems to be forcing itself through the walls and into my room.  So escaping the freezing temperatures of Greenville, South Carolina didn’t go so well!

Our ride today started out quite pleasant, actually.  Maybe it was the fact that we had the wind at our backs the first half of the ride, and the sun in our faces that kept us warm.  As soon as we started to head back it was a different story.  The rain blew in; followed by a short burst of snow, then more rain!  Luckily, all of this crazy weather hit us in our final half hour, so it could have been much worse.  It is also amazing at how just having some fresh roads to ride makes the day go that much faster, and it also makes you a little less sensitive to these bad moments.

Well, my winter break here in Greenville has come to an end.  I’ve spent the past couple of days figuring out how to pack up my whole life into one suitcase.  I’ll spend the next six-months or so over in Europe, my longest block yet, and I’ll have to be prepared for everything.  Training camp in Mallorca, Spain, is my first stop.  Two weeks of hard training, on and off the bike, and hopefully a little better weather will help me get ready for the racing season.  Then, it’s time to get settled in Girona, my home for the year.

I am looking forward to getting the year going and figuring out where my fitness is in the first few races.  I feel the winter has treated me well, but it’s hard to say when you’re not racing and don’t have anything to compare with.  I am also really excited to get back to life in Girona.  The life and culture there is about as good as it can get.  Morning coffees overlooking the river at our place, and an evening glass of wine in one of the town squares with Courtney are some of the best parts of life.  It will also be nice to escape the bitter cold that has settled in Greenville, and have some fresh roads to train on.