2:00 Hrs., 60 km's, 1,700 KJ's

By Steve Chapin, CycleOps Marketing Director

The morning was consumed with rider arrivals and typical press events. On the surface, there are only photos and a short, 2-hour ride in the afternoon sun. At a moderate pace, the ride winds along the coastal roads in and around Benidorm and Calpe. It is everything you might envision camp to be, and the riders are fresh, happy to be training, and in good spirits. The riders cover about 60k and put out about 1,700 KJ's. For most of us, that's a solid ride with some sustained efforts, but for the team it merely stretches out the legs and prepares them for the 'real' training in the coming days. All in all, a relaxing way to kick off camp, for the riders at least.

By Steve Chapin, CycleOps Marketing Director

Now and again we allow visions of grandeur. Ethereal ascents up the most prized cols. The Tourmalet, le Madeleine, le Aple. We ascend unencumbered on a playground on which only we inflict pain. Flying down the Champs with a burst of acceleration only witnessed from behind. In our dreams, we always prevail.

by Melanie McQuaid, Triathlete

The off season is a great time to focus on building leg strength because you can focus less on your speed. Doing some cadence work and this on-the-bike strength work together is a great idea, since they will complement each other and cadence does allow you to keep some of your speed intact. This article will focus on the strength component.

If you are doing long rides outside, I would suggest adding some hills. When you ride the hills, instead of trying to go up it fast, put your bike in a big gear and grind it out at about 60 rpm. This will keep your heart rate down and turn the climb into a leg-press workout to build strength in your climbing-specific muscles. You can do this workout off road with a lot of success. If you need to do your long rides indoors still, I would suggest riding at a higher wattage (keep to below 85% perceived effort) with low cadence for 3-8 minutes with 5 minutes in between to mimic a grinding hill interval workout. You can do these intervals both seated and standing but make sure you are comfortable seated because you will mostly stay seated in Ironman and XTERRA racing.

by Lee Unwin, Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach

It's fall and that means its time to start thinking about indoor riding again. I am a die hard believer in cross-training and in my next article I will try to convert the unbelievers, but I also know the importance of trainer time during the winter months. To help get your base training started this season, here are three basic workouts with a couple variations to help keep things fresh.

At this year's Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, 191 athletes competed using CycleOps power meters helping us win the power meter category in the bike count.

See what CycleOps sponsored athletes Michael and Amanda Lovato, Luke Bell and Hillary Biscay have to say about training with power.

By Tristan Schouten

The weather here in Wisconsin has not been very fall-like the last two weeks, it's been more spring-like with lots of overcast and rain. That is not fall in Wisconsin normally, but it's about par for the year I'd say.

I started the cross season out last weekend by traveling to StarCrossed in Seattle, WA where my team Cyclocrossracing.com is based out of. I had never raced in Seattle before and with big cross races going along with my team being from there it was a great way to get there and see what Seattle is all about. Unfortunately, some overbooked flights and lost luggage on Frontier screwed up the weekend and I suffered the raw end of the deal on little sleep, borrowed bikes and not very good races. It was a still a fun weekend and the guys out there really take care of me so it was good to spend some time with them even if I had to use a borrowed helmet for the races.

The Trek Livestrong team gives young talented cyclists an opportunity to race as professional bike riders. CycleOps is proud to support the team again in 2011. Find out what these athletes experience in their first year as pro riders. See what it takes for them to succeed and hear their perspective on the ups and downs of professional cycling.

by Tyler Stewart

We’ve all heard the phrase “Winning isn’t everything” a million times but never did it have more profound meaning for me than last week at Lake Steven 70.3. I’ll start by saying this is not a typical race report – one in which I recount the highs and lows of my swim/bike/run, talk about things I would like to improve or thank all of my wonderful sponsors. This is a reminder of how you need to live your life with intention every single day because it can all be gone in an instant. As James Dean famously said, “Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today.”

by Heather Wurtele

Going into Ironman Lake Placid I knew that if I could just go out there and focus fully on doing my job, everything else would take care of itself. I have heard great tales of how when you are totally engaged in the process of doing, you become what you are doing, and in those moments nothing else in the word exists for you. It was pretty cool to have that happen. It was definitely the most "in the zone" I have ever been.

Meet CycleOps Powered Athlete Linsey Corbin. What drives her? How does power help her training and racing? What are her goals?