Team Latitude/ABRT Training Camp at Idlebreaks in Spain(The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Plain)

Apparently February is the rainy season here, and despite almost no rain while the ABRTers were here in the past, we made up for it this year. The first five to arrive did a recovery ride late Saturday afternoon, and were rained on. We had a nice (dry) ride the next day, and the five others arrived later that day and some did their recovery ride in the late afternoon. Monday we were all out riding, and it rained. I was teasing Andy that Idlebreaks could advertise a two-country tour, Spain and Belgium (it was wet and cold enough to be Belgium).

Apart from five riders arriving late due to flight delays, about half the bikes showed up after their riders. The Wheelsucker arrived on time, but rode one of Andy's bikes for the first two days while waiting for the world's lightest CAAD9 to arrive.

Tuesday had the worst forecast of the week. Ed and Stu were talking about a ride, but everyone else spent enough time cleaning their bikes after Monday's ride to want to avoid having to do it again. There was some talk of going swimming in a nearby town at 14:00, but then we remembered we were in Spain to cycle, so we went riding. We rode every day, despite the rain, and enjoyed it.

Andy and John supported us incredibly well, the food was both very good and available in large quantities and the wine was excellent, plentiful and cheap :-)

The climbs were awesome, and the scenery incredible. There are moments going downhill on switchbacks that one thinks that one is cornering just like pros in the grand tours, and then one reminds oneself that the road is not closed and their could be a car coming the other way, and one backs off a little.

Saturday:
I arrived at Malaga airport via Dulles and Madrid. My flight choices were made to avoid the BWI to New York puddle jumper which had given me trouble with large baggage before and to fly an airline I thought would be "bike friendly". But there was no bike box at the Malaga airport luggage carousel. After checking carousels for awhile I inquired at the baggage office where a helpful person immediately told me the bike box was in Madrid and would arrive on the next flight in the evening, and would be delivered to me. I gave them the Idlebreaks address and Andy’s phone number. Fortunately, I had brought helmet, shoes, pedals and some basic kit in my carry on, so was able to ride without the contents of the bike box.

I was met just outside the baggage area by Andy who was easy to spot as he was wearing an ABRT wind jacket. I was the last ABRTer arriving Saturday, as several others who did fly the puddle jumper and then Delta from JFK to Malaga were held up in New York and were arriving a day later.

Andy turned out to be a very nice guy, and not just to me -- he graciously flattered an attractive older woman as we walked to the car when she asked him for directions. This is not the sort of move I feel I can pull off in the USA, but apparently in Spain one can do this; what a great country!

The drive from Malaga to Idlebreaks was through amazing hills, an indication of what we would be riding during the week.

Once at Idlebreaks, I grabbed a hire bike (Idlebreaks has a number of Planet X aluminum frames with 105 groupsets, including a 56cm with a 130mm stem), raised the seat all the way, mounted my pedals and went out with those who were already there, for a recovery ride. This was supposed to be an easy ride, but in this region of Spain you can go maybe five minutes before hitting a climb, so it was not a real zone 1 recovery ride, even if we did try to go easy. It was overcast and raining hard by the end of the ride; ouch! Matt put on an amazing spurt at the end and I hung onto his wheel, but later learned all he was trying to do was produce some warmth not win the ride! My ride data was 1:41 and 26.34 miles.

The Planet X aluminum was a nice bike with 105 components and a compact crank, but I was not sure I had the fit working for me.

Sunday:
Iberia called Andy at 7:00AM to tell him my bike was on the way, but it was still not delivered by 10:00AM, so it was back on the Planet X hire bike. The left shifter stopped working soon after the ride started, leaving me stuck in the small front chainring. The bars were quite low for the raised seat height, so I was very aero, but my lower back and neck were complaining part way through the ride. The small-chainring-only worked surprisingly well as we were either climbing, or coasting down, almost never going fast on the flat as there was no flat. I felt fast on the short climbs, probably because no one else was going 100%, and the small chain ring on a compact combined with a 12-25 cassette meant one could climb walls.

Early on during the ride the clouds cleared out and we caught a glimpse of what this area of Spain looks like on a nice day. I did my first set of switchback descents and convinced myself I looked just like a pro in the Giro d’Italia or Tour de France as I carved through some corners, and then remembered that the Grand Tours are raced on closed roads and the road I was on was open, and when I would cut the apex off a blind left corner I would be in the wrong lane and there could be a car coming... so I tried to take it easy on the sharp left (blind) turns.

We found a new never-before-climbed-by-an-Idlebreaks-group climb, and I hammered up it getting to the top first (I doubt anyone else was trying hard). Nat casually climbed past Steve for second. My ride data was 4:34:13 and 54.33 miles.

The remaining group members arrived, but some of them did not have their bikes yet. Some of them did a recovery ride while others declined to ride anything but their own Pinarello and took it easy instead.

My bike had arrived and I assembled it and checked it over with help from Ace and Stu.

Monday:
All riders and all bikes were present, and we set out in a light rain which was heavier at times. I had my CAAD9, but the Powertap hub batteries were failing, so I recorded limited data. This was a good ride, though riders and bikes looked like CX racers not roadies, from the mud washed onto the paved roads. At the lunch stop the group split, with those who missed the Saturday ride (plus Nat) deciding to go longer, while the rest headed back to Idlebreaks for the hot tub and some red wine. My ride data was 2:45:09 and 37.59 miles.

Tuesday:
I forget the details on this ride, I had no powertap data, but checked Steve Owens’. My ride data (estimated) was 2:06 and 38 miles.

We spent the evening in pub in the local village. I bought some watch batteries to get the Powertap going.

Wednesday:
We rode to Puerto del Sol and did the timed climb. Andy said a good time was under 27 minutes. It was raining and windy, and the wind increased as we climbed. I think I was riding third. Each time we turned left on a switchback we were riding uphill into a strong wind and rain. There was a little bit of a tail wind after a right turn, but not enough to compensate. After what seemed like forever I saw the van parked just past a curve at the finish line. As I tried to hammer around the curve into the wind I was hit by an amazing gust. I was unable to stop the bike turning left in response, and almost immediately found myself going across the road, away from the finish line. Unable to turn the bike back onto course in the wind, I unclipped and put my foot down as the bike rolled off the road onto the shoulder. Jon helped me drag the bike across the finish line, with both of us leaning into the wind. My ride data was 2:10:58 and 32 miles.

Thursday:
It was raining hard in the AM, and the group decided to do Malaga rather than ride in the hard rain. Though only about 30 minutes away, Malaga has a different microclimate, and was sunny and nice. Andy and Jon keep checking on the weather back at Idlebreaks, and eventually announced that the rain close to Idlebreaks has stopped, so one vehicle, Andy, Steve, Greg and I headed back to get a ride in, while the others had a late lunch at a fine pizza establishment in Malaga. Our ride started dry, but we got some sprinkles during the ride. When we returned, we learned the others were back and were out doing an easy ride; apparently laps of an industrial park. It turns out the pros were racing the 29th Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia not far away, and they thought the weather was atrocious!

Friday:
Sierra Nevada day; though overcast and cool, it was not raining. Rather than starting from the service station close to Idlebreaks, where all the other rides started from, we drove north past Granada, to the starting point for the Sierra Nevada climb. This climb, along with the Puerto del Sol climb, is timed for bragging rights.

Most of us started off with limited clothing, knowing we would be working hard, and knowing extra clothing would be available from the vans. I wore a short sleeve jersey, arm warmers and bibs... this was fine until most of the way up where the snow banks were quite high, and the temperature considerably lower, and I started to get rather cold.

We ended up starting the climb in two groups, about ten minutes apart. The first group was Ace, Steve Owens, Greg Smith and me, with everyone else in the second group. Part way up the climb, I was behind Ace and ahead of the others, but was caught and passed by Nat, who started with the second group. Ace turned around where a snowplow had blocked the road. He started back down, seeing me not long after he turned around. I tried to go past the snowplow but couldn't get any traction in 1-2 inches of snow and quickly gave up and went back myself. Nat, who after passing me was between Ace and I, had taken a wrong turn, so it took Andy and Jon awhile to find him. It was COLD.

I think "epic" would be a good way to describe the ride. We were in the clouds, with limited visibility and the snow banks either side were getting higher and higher as we climbed.

One of the coolest things about this ride was that occasionally the driver and passengers of a passing car would toot the horn and give us a thumbs-up.

I think the picture was taken after the left turn off of 395 (which is apparently 7-9k from the top).. the road is narrower and the shoulders were not plowed. Nat took a right turn off of this, but the correct route was to stay on it, go past a hard right turn/switchback and up to where the snowplow was blocking the road, perhaps 3-4 k from the top. It turns out that Nat's wrong turn did get him close to the summit.


Saturday:
A really nice epic day: 80 miles in five hours with lots of climbing (nothing too long) and some wild descents. I went fairly hard at times, and then later worked hard to stay with Nat, Ace and Stu on the way back. It was sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky, 19 degrees C (70ish). We wore short sleeve jerseys, shorts, no arm or knee/leg warmers, and we were a little sunburned by the end. While Tracy’s dinners were always really good, we were all ready for dinner after this ride.

Sunday:
Another really nice sunny day: I was tired and not feeling 100%; I think some others were too. I was trying to take it easy and save what little energy I had for the Puerto del Sol climb. This was the second try at this climb; the first earlier in the week was hard to do in driving rain and strong wind. Not everyone who rode Sunday went hard on the Puerto del Sol.

I went over 2.5 minutes faster than the first attempt, doing 24:51, good for 4th on the all-time list. Jeff McDermott dropped Nat Thompson at the sprint for the line, gapping him by about 10 seconds, but Nat had started a few seconds later than Ace, so actually had the faster time. Nat and Ace are now 1 and 2 on the all-time list, with Nat recording a time of 23:04. The bottom line is that I could not hold Nat, Ace or Keith on climbs all week. But I can climb fairly well, and they are strong cat 2s.

I set new high Critical Power values for the 20, 30, 60 and 90 minute intervals, all during the timed climbs on Sierra Nevada and Puerto del Sol.

Overall:
While it would be easy to complain about the rain on six of the nine days, the weather is out of our control, and Andy and Jon did an incredible job of making the rides easy, ensuring we did not take wrong turns, and keeping us as comfortable as we could be. We rode every day, though on some days perhaps not as far as if it had been warm and sunny.

Idlebreaks is cozy and comfortable, and a close to perfect setup for cycling training camps. Andy and Jon were simply outstanding, and Tracy’s dinners and lunch sandwiches were incredible; add the low priced red wine and life felt very good for the nine days.