By Michael Barry

GIRONA, SPAIN. During the ten day training camp in Majorca, we made our final preparations for the racing season. Together we can accomplish what we can’t at home and during the training camp we elevate our fitness while also building friendships and the bond that will carry us through the season. In Majorca, we built the foundation we need to win.

Daily the team was divided into three separate groups and we rode for three to six hours punching our way up the climbs and spinning across the flat land in echelons. The training was programmed around our future objectives. Training intensity and duration determine fitness, which is why the riders who will race imminently rode at higher intensities for longer periods than those who race at the end of the month.

The camp began under gray clouds and pouring rain. For two days, we fitted clip-on fenders to our bikes, dressed in layers of clothing and waterproof rain capes, and rode for hours on flooded roads and through empty towns in the drenched but typically arid Majorcan countryside. 

Even in the pouring rain, and blowing wind, the hours in the saddle brought us together as a group. When we returned from our rides there was a sense of achievement that only a cyclist who has ridden for hours in tough conditions knows. After a hot shower, we warmed up further over tea and cake while discussing the coming season, the ride, and the next training session.

When the sun came out mid way through the camp it seemed brilliant and immediately spirits were higher. The training rides that were scheduled to be five hours became six as the team’s motivation blossomed with the sun.

And, we trained. The day began with stretching and a few short core exercises to warm up our muscles and fire our nervous system. On many days, in the low winter sun, we set out just after it rose and returned as it set. Some rides took us from one side of the island to the other, through the hills, across the fields and up and over the rolling terraced olive groves. We spent the day on our bikes. Cavendish commented, “Last night, I didn’t sleep for as long as we rode today.”

At the end of the week the team was tired but we persisted with the programmed training. The team has goals to meet and expectations to fill. We know our responsibility as individuals and as a team. And, as individuals we carry the weight of responsibility for the team as each of us determines the success of the whole. 

We have changed in the month since we were last in Majorca for our December training camp. With thousands of kilometers, hundreds of specific workouts, and training in the gym our bodies have slowly adapted and now, after training together and pushing each other, we are virtually ready to race.

And, in the year since we first got together as a team in Majorca we have changed remarkably. We went from being a team without a sponsor and an uncertain future to a tight, successful squad, with leaders and domestiques that are committed.

We tested our fitness and new equipment in race simulations. Our training groups became teams. On our new time trial bikes we rode in team time trial formation, against the clock, while the management and media stood at the roadside with stopwatches. A few days later, we tested our climbing form in a short mass start race to the top of a mountain. Always competitive, even when there is no award is on the line, the teams rode with everything they had-- for the victory but also because it is what we love to do.

There are many moments when training becomes a game. The same spark we felt as kids racing around the city block is still evident as we sprint each other for town signs and hilltops.

Like workmen tiring from a hard day of lifting, we took our coffee break when the rhythm lagged late into a long ride. When the moment was right we stopped at a small Mallorquine café that looked welcoming with decent pastries and espresso. We piled our bikes outside, our directors parked the car out front and we fueled up. Like the workmen at the bar we chatted jovially before racing home under the setting sun.

In my tenth year as a professional these are the moments I remember fondly. Cycling with friends makes the ride something greater, training with teammates pushes the cyclist further, and combining them both makes a team a tribe.