In a nutshell

I’m about to start our second training camp for US Postal. I just had about 4 weeks off since our first camp (for the 2002 season) in December. That one, like last two seasons was in Austin, TX.
Austin was beautiful as usual and warmer than home (Sacramento) for me. Already, that is a huge bonus. Training was not to difficult as some of the euros had just flown in. This is sort of a meet and greet for the new signings.
One day was devoted to some wattage testing and lactate testing at the same time. Because the wattage test required some SRM (Crank to measure wattage) and there were only a few riders with SRMs, it meant crank and computer musical chairs. Change crank, wire the computer sensor(s) and test and repeat almost 11 or so times. Combine that with a training ride, it had Juan and I going full tilt to get bikes ready for it’s riders. That, fortunately was the only difficult day. Like last year we only washed bikes twice in a weeks time.
Some riders attempted to go to the driving range and test their golf skills. Suffice to say almost all of them will be sticking to bike riding. Some riders did pretty well on the driving range and some play golf fairly well. But they will all starve if golf was their source of income.
I wanted to start a tradition for our Austin camp. My suggestion to go to my favorite BBQ place was agreed upon. Until one rider questioned the driving time and suggested a closer restaurant for some local BBQ. It was good but just not the same as the Salt lick. So, I got a watered down tradition. At least we got to go off site to a dinner that was not at the resort. It’s a good thing though that Dave and I went to the Salt lick the first day well before the riders got there. I would have been really upset if I did not do that AND we changed to a closer BBQ place. I need to get my Salt lick fix if I’m even remotely close to Austin.

CClinton

Owner of Promechanics.com and long time professional race mechanic.