A long winter’s nap part 1

By Kris Swarthout

25 February 2006

For the last few years I have started my triathlon training season with a ten day trip to Mexico for some warm weather base training.  These trips did incorporate some good quality training, but they also included a lot of SCUBA diving and margaritas.

This year I was determined to do it right.  I had it all planned out, ten days at altitude with my friend and coach Jared in the elevation of Boulder Colorado.  It was perfect, I even roped one of my friends and clients Marc Kermisch to join me for the first few days.  So much for well laid plans, three weeks before we were to leave, Marc calls me and advises he has to back out of our trip.  He told me about this great opportunity he had been offered to spend three days in Solvang California training with the top cycling team in the world, Team CSC as they prepared for the Tour of California.  I was very excited for Marc and also a bit jealous because they are my favorite cycling team.  I told Marc to jump on the opportunity and bring back plenty of photos and stories.

Two days later I received a phone call from Marc, he asked me if I would be interested in changing my Colorado trip slightly.  I could tell what he was going to ask me by the excitement in his voice, I said yes and he asked if I wanted to join him in Solvang.  I screamed so loud Marc’s ears started to bleed.  We spent the next 30 minutes talking about all things cycling.  After hanging up with Marc I called Jared and told him I would be coming out a couple days after my original planned arrival date.  After telling him why, he was excited for us and instructed me to get some good miles in while we were in California.

The next couple of weeks flew by and before I knew it, we were sitting on Northwest flight 320 to LAX.  Upon our arrival we stopped and had a beer with an old friend of mine who lives in L.A. and caught up on old times.   After saying our good byes we headed north to the wine country.  We arrived at the hotel and like sharks to fresh blood, we immediately spotted a couple of CSC riders and a pile of team gear.  We hovered like seagulls on an ocean pier for a bit before retiring to our room.  Needless to say, neither one of us slept hardly a wink in anticipation of the next day. 

We rose the next morning and found the team assembling outside in preparation for a training session on the TT bikes.  Thirty Cervelo carbon P3’s lined the side of the team bus each with names like Basso, Piil, Saster, Julic, Zabrinski and Voit written on the top tubes.  Our geek meter was peaking, but it had room for more.  As the team filed out to leave for their ride the rain began to fall and all you could hear was a bunch of bikers whining about training in crummy weather, typical.  We ran for our rental car as the team rolled out of town.  We followed for a bit at a safe distance, getting weird looks from the team cars all the way.  They were a thing of beauty, all aero and in a tight group.  Visions of the team time trial in France ran through our heads, the geek meter was rising!

We finally pealed off and grabbed some breakfast.  As we returned we saw our bikes in the entry of the hotel.  It turns out Cervelo brought out a bunch of their high end carbon Soloist road bikes and a few of their brand new carbon R3’s too.  Marc quickly claimed a Soloist in his size and I latched onto a R3.  I found out later only 50 of those bikes existed in the world at the time I was riding it, the meters rising.

We soon received our goodie bag for the weekend.  It contained a full team kit and a bunch of other stuff that said CSC on it.  We dawned our new kits and got fitted on our bikes by Bruce Watson, an ex-pro triathlete working for Cervelo.  As the group assembled, off we went for our first ride, lead by the CSC team directors, the owners of Cervelo and followed by the team support car.   The next three hours were spent riding through some of the best of California’s vineyards.  We rode though the area where the movie “Sideways” was filmed and we all pointed at the signs marking the spots as they went by.  Upon our return, lunch was waiting.  We assembled in the hotel ball room for the first of many buffet style meals with the team.  I almost giggled out loud as Ivan Basso lined up right in front of me in line, we are almost off the chart, but wait.

 Marc and I decided we had earned a hot tub by this time, so we wandered outside, soothed our tired bodies in preparation for dinner and a viewing of “Overcoming” a documentary on the team’s struggle through the 2004 Tour de France.  The team stayed and watched with us, giving some personal comments and insights as the movie progressed.   After the movie it was getting late, so everyone turned in so as to be fresh for the next days ride with the team.  It was easier to sleep with tired legs, but we were still beaming about what we had seen and heard during the day.

Sunday morning started with breakfast with the team.  This never gets old.  Afterwards we returned to our room and let our meal settle a bit.  The day was bright and crisp, there was no way God was going to rain on our ride, not today.  We dawned our semi-ripe team kits and grabbed our bikes.  We rolled to the back of the hotel and met up with the team.  Bjarne Riis, the team manager and owner gave us some simple orders, don’t mess with his riders, injuries would not be forgiven.  We understood loud and clear. 

We spent the next three hours in bike geek heaven.  The riders quickly filtered back into our small group and we all began to mingle.  I talked with Jacob Piil about everything from training with watts to beer.  After Jacob I spent a large amount of time talking with Andreas Paron, an Italian in his last year of racing.  He told me of all of his wins and races.  We talked for quite a long time about life after racing and he advised me his plan was to marry his long time girlfriend and settle down.  As we were talking, Andreas and I took a turn pulling for the team.  After a bit we broke off and let Basso and Saster take their turns in the front.  Finally Marc and I met up and shared our stories from the ride.  As we were talking, we found ourselves riding in the second slot at the front of the group.  Before we could even comprehend this fact, the front two team riders pealed off to the side and we found ourselves leading the team!  The bulb broke on the thermometer right then and there!  The group quickly came to a nice descent and Marc and I instinctually pulled into a euro tuck and began to race downward.  As we reached the base and the rest of the team caught up to us, one of the team managers rode up to us and told us we were relegated to the back for violating the “don’t ride off the front” rule.  We didn’t care.  We had lead team CSC. 

Saturday night we all piled into a bus and had a group meal at a local brewery.  We drank beer while the riders drank water.  We ate pizza, burgers, fries and cookies while the team ate only lettuce lean meat and some baguette.  During the dinner Marc and I sat directly across from Ivan Basso and Giovanni Lombardi.  We all got to talking about biking, EPO use, Roberto Heras and Hillary Clinton.  The Europeans love to follow American politics.  By this time we were beginning to get very comfortable with the team and at times you forgot just who they were and how much we admired them. 

All good things have to end and this weekend was no different.  Marc and I ate breakfast with the team one last time, wished them well and headed out for a ride by ourselves to the coast and some hills.  To save time we decided to drive part of the way.   As we were putting the bikes together Marc realized he forgot his bike shoes, so he rode in his running shoes on Speedplay peddles.  Marc did great on our long climb to the coast and even kicked some butt on our killer descent, until he reached the bottom.  As we crossed a small bridge, POP, Marc flatted.  Unfortunately there was no team car and we had no spare or pump.  We laughed about the incident and decided I would ride back to the car and return to get Marc.  I smoked the hill and killed on the descent back to the car.  I began to drive back to pick up Marc when I found him riding slowly along the side of the rode.  Marc had done the return climb in his running shoes and on a rear flat.  I asked him what he was doing and he said “what the hell, it’s not my rim.”  We laughed and drove back, turned our bikes in for the last time, packed up and headed back to L.A. 

We made it to the LAX in great time and strolled up to the check in desk.  Sorry fellas, your flight has been cancelled.  To be continued………………………….. 

Date modified: 2/25/2006