Off-season training: early December

By Daniel McMahon

With Sal Scotto DiVetta (GS Mengoni) in Tortialla Flat.

Last Friday I wrote the first entry detailing my off-season training and how I decided to get out of NYC and head down here, to Arizona. In hindsight, “off-season training” sounds way more serious than what I’m doing. This ain’t Team Radioshack, you know—they’re two hours south of me, in Tuscon, doing their meet-and-greet.

Well, since late last week I’ve really been digging the cycling around the Phoenix area, and I’ve made a point of taking a different route every day. So far it’s worked out pretty well. Despite some relatively unseasonably wet and chilly weather here, it’s been somewhere between the upper 50s and the upper 60s and sunny every day (except when, um, it’s rainy and cloudy). On the bright side, the sometimes rainy and cloudy skies are good for my pasty white skin, and I’m saving a ton on SPF 85 sunblock, money that I can deposit in the beer-and-burrito fund.

Friday: South Mountain
I really liked riding up this beautiful climb, which overlooks greater Phoenix and has a popular lookout at the top, to which most people drive in their cars. Riding from my buddy’s place in Tempe, it’s about 15 miles there and up to the top and another 15 down and home, or 30 miles total. I didn’t go too hard, this being just my second day back on the road bike, and I probably should have dressed warmer as shorts and jersey were not quite enough, especially on the downhill (duh!). Lots of shade on the side of the climb at the time I went up. Got newspaper, anyone?

All in all it felt good to be climbing again; I focused on keeping a steady, moderate pace with decent cadence. It was a gorgeous day out. From the base of the climb to the radio towers you go from about 1,100 elevation to 2,300 feet. Not super crazy, but there are some nice steep sections toward the top. Definitely felt the burn. This will be one of my go-to climbs for the rest of my stay as it’s so close and a killer workout if you go up it even moderately. I’ll be timing myself in the future. A 2-hour ride for the day with quality climbing.

Saturday: Usury Mountain area
Found a group ride with a Phoenix bike club, who were heading out toward Usury Mountain, northeast of Tempe, on a route that included lots of rolling hills. We rode from 9:30 to 12:30, about 60 miles. (Before meeting up, I had coffee and a bagel and rode easy to meet the group at a park in Mesa; I cooled down on the way back home later, each way being 10 miles, so total on the bike was 80 miles, about four hours.) The group wasn’t blistering fast but there were some strong guys, including a few Cat 3s and a monster triathlete. We all kept the pace pretty high and took our pulls. There were a few long drags of 5 miles or so near Usury that averaged 5 or 6 percent gradient, and five of us or so raced up each of them. Hello, lactic acid! A good, long ride and fairly hard. First group ride in ages for me. Nice bunch of riders, too. I thought it was funny that some of the guys were complaining about the “cold” for this time of year in AZ. Yeah, right. It was 55 out.

Sunday: Tempe-Phoenix-Mesa area
Today was an easy 2-hour recovery ride to clear out the legs after yesterday’s relatively big day. Rode to the Performance bike shop and got a coffee on the way back. Sunny and up in the 60s, so no complaints here. Adjusted my new cleats some more; trying to dial in the fit. Got some new Dura Ace pedals and DMT shoes before I left NYC; they are incredibly stiff and light. Well, the “power transfer” feels awesome with these pedals and shoes, but you have to have power to transfer in the first place, right? Gotta keep training to get there, I guess.

Monday: Tempe
It rained harder in the Phoenix area than it had all year. Got “way down” to low 50s, though for New York roadies this surely must sound balmy. Coach said to hit the gym and ride a little, so off I went and did all the basics (sled, extensions, squats, core, etc.) and rode the stationary bike for an hour to spin out the gym work. Pretty uneventful training day but it felt good to do some resistance training. I need to gain some power this off-season, so I’m motivated to do whatever it takes. I always think about how I was racing (read: dying at the back of the pack) at the Tour of Governors Island this past August and how my legs were screaming and my head was looking down at my legs, imploring them to go faster. Well, these are the things that motivate me to work harder now.

Tuesday: Tortilla Flat
Today was an awesome day on the bike. One of those rides you have to savor: big miles, stunning scenery, great workout, fun training companion.

I rode from Tempe east about 17 miles toward Apache Trail to meet Sal Scotto DiVetta (GS Mengoni) for a ride to Tortilla Flat, a town in the Superstition Mountains. (Sal’s down here doing off-season training, then racing in the region in the first part of 2010, then heading to race in Belgium with a team there in March.) I was a little wary of going out on a big hilly training ride with Sal as he’s way out of my league, a seasoned Cat 1, but he reassured me he wouldn’t kick my ass too much. I asked him to put it in writing.

Sal Scotto DiVetta (GS Mengoni) in Tortilla Flat, Ariz. In March he heads to race in Belgium. Photo: Daniel McMahon

We set off for Tortilla Flat, a gorgeous spot in the mountains about 45 miles from Tempe. There’s plenty of good climbing along the way.  There and back the route is sublime, and we kept remarking how surreal it all looked. That’s how clear and sunny and fantastic the desert landscape is here, with the cactuses, rocky, uneven sandy areas, mountains, desert critters scurrying across the road, the whole lot. It didn’t hurt that it got up to a toasty 65 or so under sunny skies.

At our turnaround point, Tortilla Flat, we had coffee and chatted with the friendly locals in the lone restaurant, and they easily persuaded Sal and me to try the cinnamon rolls. Soon again we were back on our rigs and climbing out of town and back home. Sal toyed with me on some of the steeper parts of the climbs and in some sprints for road signs, and I thank him for the workout. At one point I took a twisty downhill turn too fast and almost lost it, going off the road and into some gravel, but the cyclocross skills kicked in and I managed to avoid certain death. I’m mostly repressing the memory actually. Even Sal was impressed how I managed to get out of it.

After trading bikes for shits and giggles for a few miles, Sal and I went our separate ways home, and for me that meant another 17 miles or so. In the end I did five hours and 90 miles, so I earned the football-sized burrito and extra-large chocolate milk when I got home.

After my body settled down from the effort, I fell off into a deep nap. And, yeah, Arizona rocks.

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