from Allen Lim, PhD

It’s done. All the training, planning, preparation, running around like a crazy person, thinking, and talking is done. All we have left is staying cool, having some fun, banking some extra sleep, checking out the individual time trial course in Cholet, driving to Brest, dealing with the media, getting two short rides in, and making sure we’ve got all our new equipment and clothing in order before kitting up for the big start on Saturday. Okay, maybe there’s still a lot to be done in this final week before the Tour. The important thing, however, is that the guys are all wicked fit right now, morale is great, and we are all ready to go.

To rehash, about a week ago we just got back to Girona, Spain after putting in about ten days of really hard training in the Pyrenees. After getting just a little bit of rest, we started hitting it again with some double days, motor pacing, and hard time trial efforts. The volume was shorter, but the intensity stayed somewhat elevated. For the most part, the guys took the week by feel, sharpening up without over-cooking themselves too much.

During this last week we also took some time to do some testing with David Millar that include a graded power test, where we measured his lactate, heart rate, and rating of perceived exertion. Long story short, when a guy tells you he’s at a 5 out of 10 at 300 watts and a 7 out of 10 when he’s at 380 watts, you know he’s going well. At time trial pace, he’ll be between an 8 to 10 level effort at 410 to 440 watts for over 30 minutes. Holding a steady power, however, isn’t the only key to time trialing well. Controlling and modulating pace according to terrain is also extremely important. To that end, we took David out later that day and did 4 x 7 km repeat efforts on the same stretch of rolling road. When focused on just raw speed, the physics works a lot better when you produce more power on the uphill sections where the speed is slower and float a little on the downhill where the speed is faster. Using this technique of modulating power, David rode 12 seconds faster at a lower power output (417 watts vs. 427 watts) compared to just trying to ride a high and steady power the entire time. It was a good lesson in pacing just before the Tour, confirming that his own intuition for speed is the best.

By the end of the week, we got a big group together with 6 of our Tour riders and 3 guest riders that included George Hincapie, Micahel Barry, and Cameron Myer. The plan was for one final 6-hour day with motor pacing into all of the climbs and on the flats. The course planned was exactly the same route we did right before this year’s Tour of Italy. Unfortunately, about halfway through the ride, the scooter died. The Tour pressure finally cracked it. The good news is that in the battle between man and machine, the men still prevailed, finishing the ride 30 minutes faster in 5.5 hrs compared to the 6 hrs it took them just before the Giro D’Italia.

Now we are in Cholet, France. Tomorrow we check out the ITT course twice then drive up to Brest for a lot of media hoopla and some rest before the start on Saturday. This will be my third Tour in four years and from the numbers I’ve been seeing in training I know there will be some special performances coming out of the guys. We’re a new team and we intend to make an impression. It’s the start of something new, something I believe will make all of you back at home really proud.