by Will Frischkorn, Team Garmin/Chipotle Professional Cycling Team

Each year it feels like the true blue “off-season” goes by faster than ever imaginable. Once the race season is winding down the lists of to-dos, friends to catch up with, and activities you’ve craved for the past 8 months while limited strictly to the bike are huge. The first week is always a flurry of activity, and then that flurry just keeps on going. All of a sudden a month has passed and it’s about time to ramp up with a bit of focus.

We just wrapped up our 2009 Garmin Team Launch, and while the most rigorous training we probably put in was lifting pint glasses, it was a great week together with the whole crew. This time of year it’s important to focus on all the little details that get lost in the confusion of the season. The initial team camp is all about those details. We spend some serious hours in conference rooms meeting with sponsors, working out schedule details, talking policy, and talking with new staff and about new programs within the organization. A couple of short rides, a good hike, a day in the gym together covering technique, and walking from bar to bar pretty much covers the physical side of camp.

Boulder Theater. (C) Slipstream Sports

David Millar plays the part during the team's paint ball session. (C) Slipstream Sports

The big focus of this camp however is team building and bonding. With schedules now taking us every which way this was our one chance to all get together as a team. There will likely be riders that I will not see all year, others with whom I’ll only do a race or two. This week was the time to form the foundations and trust that a TEAM needs to work as we do in the year to come. Starting camp with a full on combat paintball day was a good way to start that up, the rest of the week that bonding came in the evenings, and, well, we bonded. Well. Very well.

Now that I’ve had a couple of days to detox however it’s time to start feeling like an athlete again. In 6 weeks time I’ll be at a training camp in Spain, racing shortly thereafter, and with a limited amount of time I need to make the most of it. While the bike is obviously a critical part of the package, at this point it’s only 5 days a week; a couple of shorter rides focusing on high cadence work and explosive strength, and a couple of long cruisers. I try to ride the mountain bike as much as possible, and with the new PowerTap disc brake hub it’s been nice feeling like I can spend time on the knobbies and still have good numbers to track over the course of the winter.

Next in line is gym work: I do 3 days a week in the gym, sometimes substituting a day a week with a kettle bell dynamic strength program. I also try and fit in a few runs, hikes, swims, and sessions of yoga. I’m lucky here in Boulder to have some great outdoor resources to take advantage of and while during the season it’s all bike bike bike this is the time of the year to get out and enjoy what nature has to offer. Once winter weather finally decides to hit us here in Colorado I’ll jump on the skate skis a good bit as well. The past two years we had serious, serious cold and long lasting snow, even here in Boulder where normal weather is pretty bike friendly. I probably logged as much time on the skate skis as I did on the road bike, but with a solid fitness foundation to build upon once camps start up and the focus turns 100% to the bike the body adapts quickly. I actually feel that coming into the season as a fitter “athlete” and not as specified as in the past helped me step up a level on the bike when crunch time hit.

Now it’s time to get out there, start laying the foundation for 2009, and try to keep a good bit of fun in there as well. Keeping a bit of balance in training makes it that much easier to focus 100% when the time comes, and that time is approaching rapidly.