Where has the time gone!  I’m happy to admit that I can still call myself Mr. Consistency although an injury has laid me up for the past few weeks.  The season at The Cycling House was amazing!  Tucson provided us with perfect weather and we only had a couple small bouts of cooler temperatures.  We hosted over a dozen camps over the course of four months.  It was bittersweet to see the doors at TCH Tucson close for the season because we knew that  greener pastures in Montana, Spain and Italy awaited.  I had a great training rhythm going and I was feeling very confident in the water and on the bike.  After 2+ months of training I had my first opportunity to test my fitness.

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Linsey Corbin and I pointed it North towards Scottsdale for the Desert Classic Duathlon.  For the past 3 years the Desert Classic Duathlon has been a great race to shake out the cobwebs.  The race started off fast!  Some of the up and coming short course racers and duathletes shot to the front of the race and all I could do was run my own pace.  I settled into a manageable rhythm and entered T2 a little bit back but not to far off a group ahead of me.  I had a great ride keeping a group of 4 in sight and entering transition they had a little less than a minute on me, but 2 others were a ways off the front.  The second run was different from the first and had some very difficult features on some twisty trails in McDowell Mountain Park.  I came to the first junction and stopped to make sure I was going the correct way.  Off in the distance I could see the Hoff initially but when the course opened up he was nowhere in sight.  About 1/2 way through the run I was caught and the two of us realized that we were in first and second place.  The leaders had taken a wrong turn and ran nearly 10 miles.  I crossed the line in second place a little confused and in shock of what had happened.  I was excited to get a paycheck but at the same time I felt a bad for the guys that made the wrong turn.  Unfortunately part of racing is knowing the course and the leaders missed out on a paycheck.  I’m sure they would have had the win but at the same time it was their mistake not mine.  To smooth the waters a little the top three (myself included)  gave a portion of the prize money to the 3 who were in the lead at the time of the incident.  Regardless I was the second person across the line and the season was shaping up to be a good one.

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I’m excited to have some new sponsors for 2012.  For 2 years I received amazing support from the Zoot Ultra Team.  I’m happy to have continued support from Zoot Sports for 2012, they are a great company and continue to push the envelope in triathlon wetsuits, shoes, and apparel.  The big change for 2012 will be title sponsorship from Hammer Nutrition a Montana based company.  I have been friends with the president/founder of Hammer Nutrition, Brian Frank for several years and I’m excited to work with them this season.  In addition to all of the fuels Hammer offers I will also enjoy support from Compex and 53×11 coffee via Hammer.  I will be a regular contributor in their Endurance News, Facebook page, and Twitter handle.  In addition to Hammer Nutrition; The Cycling House will be providing me with HED wheels and Oakley sunglasses.  I’m also receiving support from Nashville Hip and Fracture and Ark Intervals.

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This past weekend I made my journey back to the center of the universe for the Montana World Triathlon Championships.  The Grizzly Triathlon was the first triathlon that attempted to train for 9 years ago.  Since my first race I have gotten a little quicker (first grizzly swim 16:45) but still Grizzly Triathlon has remained elusive as a wapiti during hunting season.  My hunting skills are sub par but I feel like if the stars align a W at Grizzly Triathlon is not that unrealistic.  Unfortunately the injury that I talked about earlier had me laid up for several weeks.  A patellar tracking issue and tight IT band limited my cycling and running since the middle of March.  Despite the injury and lack of training my knee was feeling up to the challenge and I figured my awesome mullet and tan would get me to the finish line.  I actually had a good swim for the first time in several years and mounted my bike 1 minute down on Matt Lieto.  A group of 4 of us were out onto the course together and Calamity Seeley was bringing the heat and quickly charged to the front of the race and was the race leader entering T2.  I was a little behind the two leaders and came into T2 in 3rd place with up and comer Swaid Worms hot on my heels.  The 5k run was a good test of my endurance after only 8 miles of running in 4 weeks.  adrenaline took over and flew out of T2 in hot pursuit of the Matt’s.  I was making up ground on the two leaders but the hill felt like a mountain and once I was back onto the Kim Williams the gap seemed to remain the same.  I kept pushing the pace but finished in 3rd place in a personal best time.  The knee continues to improve and I’m looking forward to a good season of racing. I depart for a 4 week trip to Spain and Italy with The Cycling House on Wednesday.  We are hosting a camp in Mallorca, Spain and Tuscany, Italy.  I make it back to Montana in late May and then hit the road for another camp in Madison, Wisconsin.  In June I will make my permanent residence Missoula, Montana and Ironman Coeur D’Alene is in my crosshairs.

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I have spent the past 5 winters down in sunny Arizona working at The Cycling House.  I became a snow bird at 23 and have not looked back since.  A small part of me misses the cold, blustery, snowy days of Montana but those feelings quickly fade when I wake up to sunny skies and temperatures in the 60′s or 70′s nearly every single day.  Despite the warm temperatures I’m true to my roots and do an occassional descent down Mt Lemmon without warm clothing or jump in our frigid pool to maintain my Montana toughness.  Everyone knows that Montana triathletes are a different breed and I would never want to lose that edge.  Living, working, and training in Southern Arizona has helped me grow as an athlete for many reasons.  The biggest lesson that I have learned in all of my efforts is that consistency has the greatest payoff in endurance sports.

My first few seasons of a triathlete were spent dabbling in the sport.  I would jump in the occasional race and train for 3-5 weeks prior to each event then stopping as soon as the event was completed.  After a couple years of this I realized that I might have to put in a greater effort if I wanted to get better.  I had plenty of motivation because many of The University of Montana triathletes lived for triathlon and spent many hours training and racing.  I decided to dedicate a little time after college towards triathlon and packed my bags and headed south for a winter of work down at The Cycling House.  The one week training camps were not only good for clients but they were also great for building my endurance base.  The base miles were a huge benefit because although I was relatively new to consistent training I probably spent most of my time training in the grey zone.  All of our efforts in training either fall in the white (fluff/base), black (hard/intervals), or grey (kind of hard).  Training in the grey zone is very easy and comfortable and the majority of endurance athletes spend their time here and never truly go really easy or really hard.  The one week training camps really helped me learn how to organize my weekly schedule so that some days were easy and some were hard and some were complete recovery. Training came easy every day because it was my job to guide folks on rides.  The interesting part for me was that when camp ended training did not.  I had to remain consistent between camps and each year I have gotten better and better at this.  The consistency has slowly paid off and each year I continue to make measurable gains and a greater percentage of the year is spent training rather than not. My hard work paid off and two years ago I became sponsored by Zoot Sports and joined their Zoot Ultra team.

When I train people for triathlon one of the first things I consider is their normal life schedule.  Normal life should always come before training unless you are a professional triathlete making a living. Even then your sponsorship obligations should be large part of your routine and hopefully you have some sort of life outside of triathlon too.  Once you figure out all of your obligations outside of training you need to form a training plan that takes everything into account.  Setting a weekly schedule that has the same blueprint seems to work well.  You do not need to repeat workouts every week but you may want to do the same type of workouts on the same days each week.  A good mix of tempo, strength, base, recovery, over-gear, and intervals should be speckled throughout your week.  Once you have the routine the big issue that follows is consistency!  Someone can have the best plan or coach in the world but unless you follow the plan you will not be that fast.  The other thing to consider in coaching and training plans is that there are no any magic formulas.  You can nearly always get fast just training because most folks are not coming close to meeting their training potential.  I’m not saying that you should just train more without a plan but the point is that you need to attempt to follow your plan to the fullest for the best results.  The other issue is that life does occasionally get in the way.  The problem is that when life does get in the way it is easy to bag a workout and say that you will do it later.  A better solution is to the shorten the workout because more times than not you can at least get in something.  I tell my athletes that even 5 minutes is better than nothing.  You can nearly always substitute intensity for the length of a workout.  A good solution is to have a few abbreviated workout options and fall back to those when life gets crazy.

Stick to the plan!

So, much like 2011 one of my goals is to remain consistent and continue to build my endurance base.  Craig Alexander, Chris McCormick, Chris Lieto, and many others are the products of consistent hard work.  Even in the age group realm many athletes have been racing triathlon for many years and have a huge aerobic base.  In 2011 I decided to race a late season Ironman so that I had the motivation to continue to train for the majority of the year.  It worked really well and I had a great race at Ironman Cozumel setting a new pr at the Ironman distance (9:04) and getting in some solid late season training.  Typically starting training for the season is a little difficult and this year it was easy.  I lost very little fitness and took about a month to do whatever I felt like.  I did yoga, strength work, and a little bit of my normal triathlon training.  The benefits were obvious and I have completely realized the real importance of consistency.  My latest project has been 15 minutes of core followed by 15 minutes of stretching; I’m 5s weeks in and feel weird when I do not do it.  A big thanks to all of my 2011 sponsors; Zoot Sports for having me on the Zoot Ultra team (Zipp, Garmin, Fuelbelt, and GU), Nashville Hip & Fracture, Ark Ideas, The Cycling House, and Hammer Nutrition for setting me up with Compex.  The first real race is just around the corner!

Twas’ the night before Christmas and Owen and I were busy setting up The Cycling House for the first camp of the 2012 season.  After Owen and I made the 20+ hour drive down from Montana we hit the ground running and started the long process of setting up TCH.  Once again Owen locked down an amazing house boasting 10+ bedrooms and bathrooms and amazing views of Pusch Ridge in a relaxing country setting.  After nearly a week of hitting it hard The Cycling House was transformed from a house to a home.  Owen and I worked around on the clock dialing in the house only pausing on Christmas day to head out for an all day adventure in the Rincon mountains.  This year marks my 5th season working at TCH and the 8th year of of operation for The Cycling House.  The first camp of the season featured  Ben Hoffman, a professional long course triathlete.

Our reinforcements(Anya Weschler, Emily Kipp, and Jess Cerra)  arrived and helped put the finishing touches on the house.  We quickly developed a routine that included many shots from the Jura automatic espresso machine, sunrise yoga, newspaper reading, and completing a few remaining house projects.  The Cycling House staff will include three new faces throughout the season.  New this year will be Jess Cerra who owns Fit Food by Jess and is a professional Xterra triathlete from San Diego, California but is from my hometown Whitefish, Montana.  Jess will work as our chef through January and team up with Drew Peterson for her last camp in January.  Drew Peterson is a soul runner from Missoula and is excited to show off his culinary talents in the TCH kitchen.  The final new addition will be Emily Kipp trail running goddess, triathlete, and all around awesome person.  The veterans will be myself, Owen Gue, and Anya Weschler (joining us in January).

This past year we had a great time hosting a camp with professional triathlete; Linsey Corbin so we decided to add another featured athlete camp for 2012.  Ben Hoffman was the next logical choice not only because he is the next up and coming American long distance triathlete but because like Linsey and myself  he had his start with The University of Montana triathlon team.  Ben splits his time between Boulder, Colorado and Tucson, Arizona and had several podium finishes and wins at both the Ironman and 70.3 distances in 2011.  We expect big things for Ben in 2012 and so does one of his newest sponsors Volkswagon (click the link to check out his commercial).  Ben continues to push the limits of his endurance in training and racing.  Campers had a chance to learn some of Ben’s racing and training secrets throughout the week of camp.

During the  5 days of camp we covered over 230 miles of cycling,  completed several swim sessions, ran in the desert , did morning yoga, and a staffers led their favorite core workouts.  The featured rides for the camp were the Saddlebrook Loop, Gates Pass, Mt Lemmon (5500+ foot climb), and San Munuel which covered most of the Tucson area rides.  The camp had some amazing weather with temperatures in the mid 70′s and not a cloud in the sky!  Jess Cerra provided some nutritious meals that had everyone well fueled for the long days in the saddle.  The meals included;  Grilled Chicken/Tofu/Vegetable Kabobs, Turkey Vegetable Meatloaf, Chimichurri Steak, braised Lamb Shank, and gourmet pizzas.  Needless to say Jess delivered and everyone left camp on a high note after eating great food, training hard, and enjoying some easy living!

Hammer Nutrition had all the riders well fueled out on the road and we are excited to have their support in 2012.  Campers also had the opportunity to use the new G3 powertap wheels from CycleOps, Garmin 800 GPS units, Trigger Point Technology foam rollers, and TRX suspension training systems.  Up next is a camp with Rod Connelly owner of Dogma Athletica in Vail, Colorado.  We have a full schedule of camps for 2012 but check out our website for upcoming camps.

Tom Robertson Photo

I looked at my blog today and realized that my last post was from France, oops!  In the interim I’m sure I was really busy filling other obligations or I might have forgotten about the blog world.  My travels since France have brought me to; Wisconsin, California, Florida, Colorado, and Mexico.  In the short 3 months I did some serious travel for racing, business, and fun.  Once again the end of the year has come as a surprise and I find myself attempting to wrap up everything in Montana before I point it South and head to Arizona.  Owen and I will be heading down to Tucson to set up The Cycling House for the year prior to Christmas.

130 mile rides are fun!

After returning from France I decided signing up for Ironman Wisconsin was a good idea.  France provided a much needed break from normal training but I was primed and ready for action upon my US return. I jumped in one sprint triathlon in Hamilton, Montana and this was the highlight of my IM build.  I decided to turn a 24 hour period into a brutal combination of training and racing.  Here is the brief of my 24 hours; 50 mile ride, Sprint triathon (1st place), 50 mile ride, pig roast, 5 mile run to race, 4 mile running race (5th place/pr 20:36), 5 mile run home.  The rest of my training included river swims, epic rides, and single track trail runs.  An injury free build set me up for a great race in Madison, Wisconsin on a course that suits most of my strengths.  I traveled with fellow Team Montana member, Adam Jensen to Wisconsin and stayed with my coach Jim Bruskewitz of Endurance Performance.  The race went well!  I finished 6th overall in 9:17 on a tough day with temperatures in the 80′s and high humidity.  I held of a late charge by Adam and he finished 7th less then a minute behind me.  Wisconsin was fun and I highly recommend the race to anyone considering Ironman.  The venue, race support, crowds, scenery, and course place Ironman Wisconsin at the top of my list for Ironmans in North America.

Owen and I ready to conquer the California swell!-Tom Robertson Photo

The second annual Cycling House camp in California was a huge success.  We were greeted by warm weather, sunshine, great surf, amazing produce, and epic rides!  The camp served as another good break from routine training and I traded the running shoes and googles for a surf board and waves.  The mental break from structured training served me well after France and I was hoping a  break in Cali would spark motivation for a late season push in racing.  The camp was epic and I was also able to ride on some amazing European like roads through wine country in the San Luis Obispo area.

Tom Robertson Photo

After California I returned to Montana for another 2 month block of training before Ironman Cozumel.  I decided to add in Miami 70.3 as primer for the hot humid conditions that Mexico would probably offer in November.  My training up to Miami 70.3 went well and I still remembered how to swim despite only being pounded by waves in California as I used my stellar surfing skills.  The week of Miami 70.3 I found myself getting sick and loaded my body with many different homeo-pathic remedies.  Nothing seemed to work and I toed the line in Miami with a slight cold in a freezing downpour.  I planned my trip to Miami for some good weather, warm racing, and of course babes on beaches but all I saw for three days was rain.  The start of Miami 70.3 was cold, wet, and dark and the feeling amongst the other pro’s seemed to be as unexcited as my own.  The race got better but rain, brutal winds, and humidity made the race tough.  I finished 22nd in a stacked professional field of nearly 50 male pro’s.  The race was not perfect but I also did pretty well, all things considered.  After the not so warm beaches of Miami I returned to Montana for what had potential to be another very cold month of training before Ironman Cozumel.  Training went well and I embraced my trainer and had some long sessions with my gas stove on high heat to get ready for some hot conditions.  Training was only interrupted briefly for a quick business trip to Vail, Colorado to explore the potential of some high altitude cycling camps.  Owen and I met with Rod Connolly of Dogma Athletica to explore some options for a camp.  After checking out Vail I’m excited to help host 2 camps in June 2012 with The Cycling House and Dogma Athletica.  Upon return from Colorado it was taper time and I had a couple days of rest before jumping on another plane for Mexico!

The trainer was my friend!

Ironman Cozumel started with a brief layover in Salt Lake City, Utah for Thanksgiving with my friend Blair and her family.  Ten hour layovers are not ideal unless you have a feast like Thanksgiving to get you out of the airport.  After gorging on some amazing food I made my way back to the airport for a red eye flight into Cancun.  Cozumel is a small island off the coast of Cancun so I lugged my bags and bicycle onto a ferry for a short ride across the ocean.  Cozumel was amazing!  I indulged in the local cuisine and ate Mexican food for every meal leading up to the race.  I avoided the local tap water and after a couple days of acclimitazation I was feeling great.  I was lured in by one of the many scooter rental companies and before I knew it I was rallying a scooter around the island.  Race morning was normal except for I forgot coffee and a pre-race gel but entering the warm 80 degree waters around 7am was quite enjoyable.  I had a great swim even though it was non-wetsuit and finished the swim portion in 57 minutes.  The bike and run courses were both 3 laps so difficult conditions would make this a real race of attrition.  The bike was extremely windy and I felt great until lap 3 and hit a very, very low point during a 15 mile cross wind section.  My feet hit the  ground for the run and immediately my swollen feet hurt but I quickly found a good rhthym.  I knew that many pro’s had pushed the pace on the bike and would probably be paying for it on the run.  I knew that I needed to run a 3 hour marathon if I wanted to break 9 hours so I pushed the pace and hit the half way mark in 1:29.  As I was returning to town for the start of the 3rd lap something weird happened in the road in front of me.  My blank gaze turned into total confusion as what appeared to be a wall moved closer and closer to me.  All of a sudden I was trudging along in a down pour and portions of the road were quickly disappearing under a small river.  The rain made the run extremely humid and a section of the course was under nearly knee deep water.  I continued my death march and finished the race in 9:04 in 13th place.  I was completely exhausted, depleted of fluids & fuels, and beat down from a long season of triathlon.  I was very pleased with my result although I’m sure the immediate look on my face did not show my pleasure even with my mustache.  The next days were spent lounging on beaches sipping cervezas and margaritas.  The off-season is now in full swing although I have found myself restless and ready to train.  The season was filled with many ups and downs; I raced 3 Ironmans, 5 half-ironmans, 1 olympic, 2 sprints, and 1 duathlon so I did pretty well.  The time has come for me to uproot myself from my Montana and plant myself back down in Arizona for another season working with The Cycling House.  I’m excited for the change and look forward to racing in 2012.

In July I traveled over to France with The Cycling House to help host 2 one week camps. One of the highlights of the trip was watching Le Tour de France on L’alpe D’huez and on the Grenoble tt. We based ourselves out of a beautiful chateau in the Vecour mountain range. Here are a few pictures.

Our chateau!

Inside our chateau.

Desolate backroads.

Col de Galibier

L'alpe D'huez

Climbs

The Rolling Stones lyrics, ” You can’t always get what you want and if you try sometime, you find you get what you need” accurately described my Ironman experience.  I was plagued with an annoying case of tendonitis that left me sidelined for a couple weeks of training prior to Ironman.  The setback kept me off the bike for a couple weeks and left me with only 50 miles of running in the 5 weeks leading into the race.  Normally the run is a strength for me but this time around I was very nervous for 26.2 miles of pain.  On Monday afternoon I had yet another setback; as if the injury was not enough!  I came down with a bad case of food poising and spent all day in serious pain losing fluids and calories.  The sickness passed fairly quickly but impacted me for several days and I was finally able to start eating normal again on the Thursday before the race.  I was left a little weak and made my best attempt to replinish my stores with anything I could get my hands on.  I did not get what I wanted leading into Ironman!

Team Montana

Despite the setbacks I knew that I could learn a ton from racing in what has become the hometown Ironman for Montana folks.  Adam Jensen, Matt Shryock, and I loaded up and headed for CDA on Friday morning.  The weather was still a little chilly and did not exactly feel like summer.  After dipping a finger in the lake I decided I would save my swimming for race day.  We busied ourselves dialing in our bikes, eating, and relaxing as much as possible.  Jake from Zoot sports took the whole Zoot squad out for dinner on Friday evening.  It was great to catch up with some of the other Zoot sponsored athletes.  The weather began to turn for the better and temperatures appeared to be heading into the 70′s.  As we prepared for bed I knew the Montana Iron Fans were just rolling out to take over Coeur d’ Alene for an evening of debauchery.  Fueled with mixed drinks and street meat the Montana crew would be primed and ready for a full day of cheering.

Mounting the new Ridley Dean!

Race morning started as normal with a stiff cup of drip and then it was off to transition.  The best part about Ironman is that you show up race morning and nearly everything is done.  Other than the long wait in the porter potty line I really had nothing to do other then slip into my Zoot Prophet wetsuit.  The water was freezing!  I jumped in for what turned into a pre-race cool down and then toed the line in  the small professional field.  It was awesome standing shoulder to shoulder with some of the best athletes in Ironman racing including 2x Ironman world champion, Craig Alexander.  The cannon sounded and I immediately jumped onto a swimmers feet and set out for the 2.4 mile swim.  The race quickly sorted itself out and Olly Piggen, a Canadian, found himself towing Team Montana around lake Coeur d’Alene.  Adam, Matt, and I exited the water in just over and hour and ran into transition on what felt like peg legs.  After a speedy transition I mounted the Ridley Dean and set out for the 112 mile bicycle journey.  The start of the ride was cool and only after about 20 miles I finally warmed up.  I  really made a big effort to keep my heart rate low for the first hour before I opened up the engine to full throttle.  After about 30 miles I was dropped by Matty “Ice” and Olly on a small hill.  I started to go with them but my heart rate was getting to high so I let them go.  After about 60 miles I caught back up to Ice and my legs started to come around a little.  The whole ride I felt kind of flat and did not find the legs that I was wishing for.  I dismounted the Ridley Dean in just over 5 hours of cycling and headed out onto the run course.

Surprisingly my legs felt really good heading out onto the run!  After a quick stop in a porta potty I was ready to go.  I started the run a little hot, well maybe I started the run way to hot!  I was running 6:30 pace for the first 6 miles, which probably killed my run.  I slowed to mid 7′s for the second 6 miles and finally into the 8 minute pace range for the final half marathon.  Ironman is grueling race, and I quickly found myself in a deep dark place.  I attempted to embrace the pain and after desperately grabbing for some magic fuel at an aide station a cup of chicken broth helped me bounce back.  I instantly was much more aware of what was going on and knew that I could make it through the final 6 miles.  I made it through the marathon thanks to 2 cups of warm chicken broth at mile 18.  After what felt like several hours of running I made the turn onto Sherman Avenue and grabbed a cowboy hat for the final stretch.  I crossed the line in 9:34 after struggling through a 3:22 marathon.  Not my best result, but not my worst.  The best part of Ironman CDA was that I once again got excited about Ironman, learned a lot about my body, dialed in my nutrition, and had fun!  After 2 weeks I recovering I’m ready to toe the line once again at Rev 3 half ironman in Portland, Oregon.  My recovery consisted of short workouts, lots of quadrolling, Compex, and sleep.  I’m off to Portland!

This past weekend I raced the Rocky Mountain Events Wasa Lake Olympic distance triathlon in beautiful British Columbia. I had 3 runs prior to the race with no pain so I knew that I was ready to race. I was a little bit worried going into the race after having a short amount of time off the bike and a long time off running. Despite the break in training I still had a great race! I finished up 2nd place earning $500 and I had the fastest run split of the day (34:20 a p.r.). I had a solid swim exiting the water in around 20th place. Onto the bike I enjoyed riding my new Ridley Dean in the Canadian Rocky mountains and worked my way up to 6th place. The big unknown was the run and within the first few steps I knew that I was going to have a great run. I worked my way up to 3rd place quickly and caught 2nd place 2k from the finish line. Grant Burwash a continental cup racer collected the win but I had a great race finishing in a personal best of 1:57.

New Zoot Kits!

Charlie Cooper of Rocky Mountain Events hosted a great race that I highly recommend to everyone! Unlike many events Charlie really likes to incorporate the entire family. On Saturday before the Olympic distance race they had a kids race that had 350 kids participate. The event also had great food, awesome volunteers, a perfect venue, prize money, legendary race announcer Steve King, and an overall fun environment. I highly recommend marking this race on your calender for next year. Check it out Wasa Lake Triathlon.

This past weekend official Team Montana photographer Tom Robertson took advantage of the beautiful weather for a photo shoot with some Montana Zoot Ultra Team professional triathletes.  We started the morning out with an open water swim at Beavertail Recreation Area, a small pond outside of Missoula.  Adam Jensen, Jennifer Luebke and I represented for the Zoot Ultra team and we were joined by fellow professional triathletes Linsey Corbin, and Matt Shryock.  The swim was great although some folks that were fishing were not very eager to share the pond with us.  A small confrontation ended with a large man tossing a rock in our direction!

Montana Zoot Ultra Team Pro's

After the swim Adam, Jen, and I headed for Bearmouth. The ride followed the Clark Fork river to Drummond and then climbed up to Helmsville.  The ride had some great views, amazing climbs, and beautiful weather!  The highlight was walking into a bar in Helmsville to get water and being greeted by several drunk college age kids.  Lots of comments about Lance Armstrong and them wanting us to fill our water bottles with beer and liquor made for an entertaining stop.

Enjoying our new Ridley Dean bikes!

This weekend Adam Jensen, Jen Luebke, and Matt Shryock will head to Boise 70.3 and I’m heading to Cranbrook, Canada for an Olympic distance triathlon.  On June 27th Adam Jensen, Matt Shryock, and I will race Ironman CDA.

Open Roads

The tendonitis in my foot is completely gone!  I learned that the best way to treat in injury is to give it adequate time to heal.  My recovery routine included rest (no running/cycling), icing (3-4 times/day), compression (Zoot compression socks), and light stretching.  After two weeks of no cycling and 3 weeks of no running I’m back at it!

Life has changed since my last post especially because it was from a long time ago.  I’m back living in Montana after a great season at The Cycling House.  Arizona was great!  We had some amazing weather, fun camps, great food, and fun times!  I’m readjusting back to life in Montana and have embraced what feels like fall weather to me.  Here is a brief update on some races.

Good Bye AZ!

• 25th at California 70.3
• 3rd at Grizzly Triathlon (Montana World Championships)
• 18th at Wildflower Long Course

Cali 70.3

Owen Gue has taken The Cycling House to the next level.  In 2010 he took the same great concept of The Cycling House Tucson to California, now he has done it again and taken TCH abroad to Mallorca, Spain.  The one week camp will be filled with amazing rides, great food, good company, and some alright views.

Mallorca

Mallorca

Next year The Cycling House is planning on having more camps in Mallorca, Spain.  Upcoming camps include a summer trip to the Tour De France with a home base in Grenoble, France.  The Cycling House will open it doors in Grenoble for two weeks starting on July 17th and running through July 29th.  The first one week camp will chase the tour on few stages allowing clients to catch a few stages.  The second week will have day rides leaving from the chateau in Grenoble into the countryside for some spectacular rides, amazing food and wine, and some relaxation.

The Cycling House chateau in France

For more information on the France camps check out our website The Cycling House.