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.

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My first race this year was the USA Pro Tour #1 Spa City Extreme, held in Hot Springs, Arkansas on March 12th . This wasn't only my first race of the year, but my first ride outside since cross season ended in November. To add to the challenge the race would be 50 degrees warmer than the place I had left 24 hours earlier and did I mention I had never ridden my new bike until the day before the race.

We began with the traditional Lemond start, a several hundred meters running sprint to the bikes whereupon we mounted to begin our long day. I made it safely to my bike and got off with the lead group. We started with a climb on the road before dropping into the off road section. Knowing that little benefit would come from the draft on the climb and wanting to stay out of any potential crashes, I decided to come to the front and lead.

I had a plan for the day and I was confident that if I could keep from exploding or being ejected from my bike I should be able to pull off the 7 laps needed to be in contention for the podium. With a race this early in the season I had no illusions of grandeur, but knew that with my training I should be able to be competitive.

After leading for the first couple miles, Manny Prado and Jonathan Schottler came around me. I sat on their wheels for a few seconds, but quickly realized that their pace was going to explode me early, so I decided to get comfortable in my own race and stick with my plan of finishing the 7 laps of a 10 mile loop to at least give myself a shot at the podium.

Fast-­‐forward 6 hours 20 minutes and to a fifth place finish and I had my first race of the year in the books. I realize that fifth place is nothing to stop the presses with, but having some high hurdles to overcome made fifth feel like first.

Thanks to everyone at CycleOps for the support and equipment, without my Tap and Joule I would never have been able to adequately prepare for such an important race this early in the year. more