By Sarah Staber

Mallorca, 2007 – Imagine the absurdity an entire ProTour team standing in a freezing pool, clad in cycling shorts and parkas; quizzical, uncomfortable looks on their faces. It might have seemed absurd to both observers and the team members at that moment. But now, riders of the team now known as HTC-Columbia jump in willingly when asked — knowing that a cold plunge is ideal for muscle recovery.

Back then most of the team’s riders didn’t know quite what to think of Darcy Norman, who had been hired by Bob Stapleton as a ‘Core Trainer’ for his troubled team. He was looking for innovative training that could make the team competitive — without performance enhancing drugs.

“(The) focus was on finding the best practices and most ethical means in each area of performance to maximize the team’s potential and to show the world that teams and athletes could be successful without succumbing to the pressures of using artificial performance enhancers,” Norman said recently. “Bob was a pioneer in this area. He took that American attitude of looking at all the different technology in sports to see what he could use to help his guys.”

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