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.

Everything has been going really well here before Christmas. Jet-leg is still clear and present, as I am passing out each night before ten and getting up before the sun.  Can’t really complain though, it’s amazing how much more you can fit into the day when you wake up early.  I am just finishing up a solid block of training before I take a small break over the weekend.  The other day I made the mistake of riding my TT bike for four hours and now I can barely move my neck!  But other than that, it’s been great.  Most days have been spent training with George doing plenty of tempo efforts on the flats and getting in a few climbs here and there, weather permitting.  The snow from last week is still lingering in the shady corners and up in the mountains.  It’s not really worth the risks of riding on ice, so we have been forced to turn around several times.

This Christmas weekend should be as special as always.  It’s hard to believe it’s actually that time of the year.  I have been so busy lately that it’s been hard to keep up with when and where I actually am.  Surely when I sit down with my whole family for dinner on Christmas Eve it will set in.  Enjoy the Holidays!

Another nightmare of a trip finally brought me home to Greenville this past weekend.  Delayed, and even canceled flights were again the cause.  The “storm of the decade” was making its way up the east coast as I was trying to get from Philadelphia to Greenville.  My wife, Courtney, had to drive late in the night, with snow and ice on the roads, to pick me up in Charlotte, NC.  In total, I spent almost six days of traveling just to be in Lanzarote for six days!  I am glad we were able to get so many meetings out of the way as it probably wouldn’t have been worth it otherwise.

Now it is time to once again re-adjust to a new time zone and finish up all of my holiday shopping.  It’s hard to believe Christmas is this week, but it sure does feel like it.  Returning to the cold weather was a shock and it is strange to see snow by the roadsides and ice in the trees.  Training is full on for the 2010 season now.  It was a very quick switch from easing into things to being in the thick of it.  In fact, the week spent in Lanzarote, I had around forty hours of exercise!

The goal for the next few weeks is to just enjoy as much time with my family and friends as possible.  Before I know it, I will be back in Mallorca, Spain, for our next training camp and then the racing season will have officially begun.

It’s been decided amongst the Columbia-HTC riders to call this island Alcatraz, rather than Lanzarote.  We are all here on this rock in the middle of the ocean.  It is part of Spain, but we are over 1,200 kilometers from the mainland.  Mauritania, Africa, however, is only sixty kilometers away.  I am not quite sure how Spain ended up with control of the Canary Islands.  Anyway, this island is also as far from self-sustaining as you can possibly get. Even the fresh water must be shipped here. I feel very sorry for our staff that had to drive the trucks down here.  The drive to the port in the south of Spain took two days, and then they had to spend four days on the ferry to reach Lanzarote!

The training is going very well, partly because that is the only thing to do when we are not in meetings.  The roads are quite pleasant, and terrain is undulating.  Winds that could easily blow you off the road seem to be the only negative.  All of us have been making the best of things, putting in solid hours on the bikes and filling the rest of the day with core workouts and meetings.  The days have been flying by, and that’s great news, as I can’t wait to get back to South Carolina and enjoy Christmas with my family.

My trip to the Canary Islands for the 1st team camp of 2010 turned into a travel nightmare thanks to nasty winter weather. I got stuck at Heathrow, and then got a “bonus” overnight in Madrid. Living the dream? If nothing else, it gives me the time to report that thanks to last week’s contest I got a great new name for my blog. After 5 years of ‘Journey of a Professional Cyclist’ the blog is now (maybe more appropriately titled?) “File Under Pain.”

Thanks to the incredible number of folks who submitted possible names. There were a lot of good ones there, and it’s heartening to see so many people are following the blog. Maybe I’ll actually make it to camp before it ends and I’ll send some updates from there.