A week post-race now, I find myself back in Colorado after a glorious week of traveling, training, and supporting, once again, for Pua Mata at one of her mountain bike races. This wasn’t another “winning is the only option” race, however. This one had a bit of a unique twist to it: She was racing …
By Team Trainright's Malia Crouse-Mullen After feeling pretty mentally and physically worn down this week, I carved out time to do my one-hour run today over lunch. During today’s run I was reminded why I love running so much. I started my run with a dull headache, leftover from putting in too many hours at …
Chris Carmichael and a crew of CTS Coaches and Athletes traveled to Costa Rica to race the 2011 La Ruta de los Conquistadores. The race is billed as the world’s hardest mountain bike stage race, and with 39k feet of climbing, 30+% grades, mud chutes, hornets, crocodiles, and a host of other challenges, it lives …
By Adam Pulford, CTS Senior Coach The last stage of La Ruta has the least amount of climbing as we head to the flat coast of the Caribbean, but don’t think that makes it any easier. What we encountered today was nothing short of epic. The day started with a fast “neutral” start out …
By Adam Pulford, CTS Senior Coach Every day of La Ruta starts with climbing: steep climbing. Stage 3 was no exception, but what was different today was that instead of steep descending after steep climbing, there’s more climbing… yeah, awesome, right? Take a look below: 4:34 ride time; 3005kJ, Normalize Power 224W, Average Power 181W, …
By Adam Pulford, CTS Senior Coac During our La Ruta Recon Camp, the race director Roman Kilun brought us on the new proposed route of day 2 and promised there would be more climbing than last year. He didn’t disappoint. In talking with other racers that have never raced La Ruta before, they were shocked …
Stage 1: Make or Break Day By Adam Pulford, CTS Senior Coach Whether you make it or not, I think there’s still some breaking for everyone. Breaking of chains, rims, cables, egos, and break downs: I saw it all today. It’s La Ruta’s toughest stage, and I’m glad we’ve gotten it out of the …
La Ruta Race Reflections La Ruta: The Hardest Mountain Bike Race in the World Let’s face it: if you’re looking for a challenge, that title catches your eye. Not only does it boast of 39,000ft of climbing, but you cross a jungle, hike through flowing rivers, ride over multiple volcanoes, and battle the heat and …
By Adam Pulford, CTS Senior Coach Day 1: Come Prepared An experienced mountain biker will show up to a race with all of his gear, equipment, and nutrition dialed. Part of my job is to help athletes develop into experienced mountain bikers. Although you can read detailed packing lists of what to bring, you need …
Really, I can’t think of anything more relaxing than driving on little traveled roads paved over rolling hills as they cut through pristine ranch land along the foot of the Rocky Mountains–with a cup of good coffee and some killer tunes. To add to this glorious alone time, the scrub oak along the this road still …