Learning the Easy Way

Im sitting here sipping coffee and adding some thirty new kenda contacts to my phone. Yeah Yeah its true that I was told to add these numbers to my phone weeks ago, but whats was the point of having someone in your phone that you did not know, and or that you have no reason to call at the time. What seemed like what was to be an annoying chore, brought me back to the ups and downs of meeting my new teammates, and turned out to pretty gratifying in the end.

For the last week I have been with the new Kenda team in a small town outside of Orlando Flordia for the teams winter training camp. We stayed in a what I will describe as a comfy budget style Holiday Inn on the rural outskirts of nothing. It was a boring place, but perfect for bringing a group of cyclist together to let them get to know each other.

Before camp I had met a handful of the guys, but I knew know one all the well. It was very exciting at the start and yet gradually grew more terrifying and complicated as camp went along. Rightly or wrongly, at the start of winter training I have been concerned only with myself and my preparation and success in reaching the goals that I have set for this season. Ever since signing with Kenda I have been consumed with how Kenda was going to be an opportunity to help me reach my goals for 2011. Sure I am a team player, but I had no strong connection to the program besides the vision that Chad Thompson had for the growth of the team and how I fit into his plan. To manipulate and make use of an old saying, there was no TEAM in the word I before training camp.

All I knew was TMK before now, and all of these guys were my opponents then. Know one every talks about this. Its not like I had any dislike for them, but its just strange. When I met some of the guys at camp I had vivid memories of doing things in races to deliberately take advantage of them to better myself in that race. In every race that I have done I have been battling with TMK guys to beat Kenda, in addition to everyone else. A lot of the reasons why I am so close with Adam and the rest of TMK is from working together to defeat the very guys that I was shaking hands with in that moment. This is the second pro team that I have been a part of, and switching gears to a more applicable definition of the saying "us versus them" has challenged me to realize that I am no longer the underdog, and my professional license bears more responsibly than it had in previous years. I do not ride for Mountain Khakis anymore and things are done differently here. The experiences that brought me so close to TMK riders have yet to happen with these guys, and that only time will bring those opportunities.

Experience is to flippin relative. Adam has as many years racing as I've been alive, but Adam also carries this parental vibe that voids him from comparison. TMK is a developmental pro team. As a second year on TMK I was not a rookie. My experience and compentiecy warrented greater expectation and responsibility. It was a transition that I did not foresee to change when I went to Kenda. I was wrong and this still confuses me to date. Rightfully so expectations of me are greater than in years past, thats not to hard to grasp. What I struggle with is the appropriate shift of responsibility.

I struggle hard with letting people do things for me. As a Neo-pro I thought things would be very different from being an amateur, and they were, but not in the way that kids read about in VeloNews. As a rookie to Kenda I was prepared to be completely self sufficient, to the utmost degree, but the expectation are quite different than they were on TMK. I feel undeserving of such support, and I am having a hard time of being appreciative without being annoying. The support staff on Kenda is vast, and mostly volunteer. It was only a matter of time that I had said thank you so much that I became self conscious about saying it. To the point were I felt apologetic for being so grateful. Insecure much huh Isaac? Yeah probably a little bit, but mostly I just am so fucking thankful (excuse my profanity) for all the energy it takes to make this program work. There are a hundred kids that would die to be where each of us are, and I hope that I can figure out how to satisfy my desire to demonstrate my appreciation, without ever leaving someone thinking that I am ungrateful.

I knew a lot about the accomplishments of my teammates before meeting them face to face, and I am very aware of the minimal degree of accomplishment that I have had in comparison thus far. Some of the guys on TMK thought I had a big head when I first joined the team in 2009, and they were probably right at the time, but it wasn't because I thought I was better than anyone, I think I was just caught up on being able to call myself a pro. Being as I think somewhat experienced now, I tried hard not to bring an attitude that I would describe as being egotistical. At camp, I tried to let the expectations of my teammates drive the attitude that I exemplified as a means to avoid repeat misinterpretation. And well from experience now, let me tell you that was probably the wrong choice. I was not true to myself for acting that way. To do my job well, as a sprinter, I need to be strong willed and confident, all characteristics that I know that I possess. All are characteristics that my previous teammates learned as they got to know me. By being a pawn to the influence of others at camp I did not demonstrate the strong will or confidence that I need to communicate to be successful. On the last night of camp Ben called me out on this, and all I wanted to say was this.

I cannot wait to kill myself in races for this team. I want to do everything that I can to demonstate my commitment to you and my gratitude for getting the opportunity to be a part of this organization. So many people can sprint fast, but few can appreciate the team work that it takes to win as much as me, and I feel blessed for being where I am now. Its not like I don’t think I am derving, thats not being fair to myself. For nearly a decade I've built my life around this sport, and this team is a great representation of my efforts.

I am fast, I am strong, and I am competent. I know how to win bike races. I know all this and I believe it too. I am sorry that I don't know how to communicate it without being fearful of misinterpretation. The line between bringing confidence to your teammates and sounding boastful or cocky is too thin to walk and I don't want to risk being deemed self richeous by the guys who in the end will be the ones who choose to line up for me in a sprint, or not.

Talking shit don mean shit, ya dig! I am a born again rookie by comparison. I have a lot more to learn before that name goes out of style, and I sure all hell expect to rise to the occasion. Chad Hartley, Luca, you guy tell me when to sprint and I will use my virgin legs to crush the souls of the guys who I'm currently calling my competitors. I will win and I will lose, but let it be known that no degree of failure in my performance will be satisfactory.

Team camp has brought more meaning to me signing for Kenda. I now know everyone of these guys (and girl) who I am adding to my phone book. I have good and bad experienced with them all, but nevertheless their names bring purpose to why I wear this jersey. I now identify this team with the need for our combined success, not just as an opportunity for my growth. I no longer feel like just an individual apart of this team, but now as a component of it, and for that reason I think camp has been a huge success. I hope others have had as much of a unifying experience and I really look forward to being a part what I see as to be the most threatening team in the domestic peleton.



Photo album to follow, don't have enough bandwidth to post all the pictures at the moment. Thanks for reading and stay posted

Nothing But Numbers

Im going on my forth week here in Tucson and I have very few complaints. The weather has been nothing but perfect and the riding is just as impressive. Moving to Tucson was a very smart decision for a couple of reasons, beyond simply the better weather and roads. I am more focused here. My life was occupied by far to many other things when I was in the south east that I often lost sight of the reasons that brought me there in the first place. Being away from home already taxes my relationships heavily, how was I so foolish to go to a place where I would be distracted from my training.

Dont get me wrong, I love everyone that I have met along the way and I would not change that now even if I could. I am just happy that I made the decision, and that I had the resources this season, to make it out here. (Yee yee Winson-Salem, see you in April when I'm east bound and north)

BJ Basham (my coach) and I have been working full time on bringing my threshold up to a more competitive range and it has taken a lot of work. In the past, with my previous coach, we never did much threshold training, and as a result I have never really tuned my aerobic engine. When I started working with BJ, I could do a mere 320 watts for 20 minutes in a sustained threshold test. Putting my function threshold at about 290, or 4.0 watts/kg. This is hardly what is considered competitive for a professional athlete, but I got by because of my high anaerobic engine and my sprint. It also helps that crits are so stop and go, it really catered to my training history. However, whenever the road started to go uphill, I was doomed. You have no idea how embarrassing it is to get dropped in a local race while flying the colors of a professional team.

Without any real extended periods without racing last season, I was unable to do much threshold work after I began working with BJ in April. We decided that it was going to have to wait until this winter. Now, fast forward 9 months, a USA Crits Overall Victory, signing with Kenda, 8 weeks of base training (4 solidly spent in AZ), and now A TOUR OF CALIFORNIA INVITE!!!!! and here we are.

Tides are turning my friends, white boy can go uphill! Well, sorta. Tomorrow I am testing for my 3rd time this season and I will find out just how much progress I have made. The magical number to be a pro is 5 watts/kg for threshold power, which would put me at 353 watts.... assuming that I can't lose any weight. I have a lot of work to do because at the beginning of this block I was only doing 331 for 20 minutes. Bike nerds obsess to much over numbers (flip'in MIT kids, stupid watts) and in my opinion all to often confuse FTP (functional threshold power) and 20 minutes power when they talk power. FTP is the amount of power you can hold for an hour, not 20 minutes (you can predict FTP by multiplying your 20 minute power by 95%).

The point of all that is to say that I have to get skinnier and I have to get faster. After my last test, I am currently working with 315 watts at FTP which is about 12% less power than I need to be doing to meet the 5 watts/kg minimum that people consider mandatory for any pro. I made 331 watts for 20 minutes in my first test in town (January 12th). I am confident that I will blow past this number tomorrow during my test. I probably wont reach the 370 watts for 20 minutes, which is the amount that I need to reach to break 5 watts/kg at FTP, but it will come soon.

I expect that at this rate I will reach 5 watts/kg by the time Redlands and San Dimas roll around, based off my progress thus far. During my first test in early December, I made only 312 watts for 20 minutes (granted it was 26 degrees out and I was freezing but w.e). That means that I made a 6% gain in threshold power in one month, not to mention that this was during the holidays!!.... and I wont lie, I was drinking like a fish the whole time.

Tomorrow I am shooting to break 350 for twenty minutes. I don't think that is to lofty of a goal, but it is right along my best 20 minutes from last season. Last year at the Mayors cup I did 347 watts (374 norm watts) for the first 35 minutes of the race. It is pretty exciting to already be knocking at the door of my best power numbers from last season and its only February. This year is going to be awesome, and those guys in California have got another thing coming if I can manage to drag my ass to the finish line of a road race... lol.

I'm not much of a numbers guy but I am not racing right now and by setting these goals it is helping me work toward something. My measly 5 watts/kg cannot compete with Andy Schleck's 6.5 watts/kg at threshold, but I'd like to see him break 24 watt/kg in a sprint. That is my next goal to reach before the season starts. Happy training everyone, remember, Mr. Groundhog saw no shadow, spring should be just around the corner.


GET MONEY!