Hello from sunny Mallorca, Spain. Gear Fisher and I have been in Mallorca supporting T-Mobile mens and womens cycling teams since the 10th of January. The team atmosphere and weather are absolutley ideal here and will certainly help set the tone for the rest of the 2007 season. "Die Mannschaft" is how the T-Mobile team refers to themselves and the focus of this camp is getting everyone connected and thinking as one unit. The riders and staff are very motivated to make 2007 a fresh beginning with a new way of thinking.
The man at the center leading the change is the American business man Bob Stapleton. His right hand man is Rolf Aldag and the two are proving to be the ultimate heads of state. This is a German team with a strong American influence with fresh ideas.
The team members have been super busy and barely a minute of the day is wasted. The riders start with strength trainining and stretching before breakfast then they head to their bikes at 9:30am for the daily training. After their ride they get a massage, eat breakfast and then attend to their round of daily meetings. These meetings cover sports psychology, race schedules, training concepts, strength work, recovery, nutrition, media training, interviews and of course training software (TrainingPeaks and CyclingPeaks).
Michael Barry and Greg Henderson discuss the day's training plan.
Director Brian Holm and myself at the team mechanic area before one of the training rides. Brian rode for T-Mobile with great success in the 90's.
Team Training...
The T-Mobile team workouts are very individualized and varied. Each rider is assigned to one of three training groups based upon their own fitness at the time of the camp. The riders have all been tested to help determin where their fitness levels are and what limiters they need to focus on. Some days are focused on team time trial training, sprinting, climbing and endurance.
Well that is it for now. I am off to the Astana team hotel in a few hours and Gear flew from Mallorca to Portugal to support the Predictor-Lotto team.
This is going to be a veryfun season of pro racing. I can't wait for the races to start!
Ciao
Dirk
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