Journal of professional cyclists Ian MacGregor and Timmy Duggan

First Race on Deck

After a few days of well earned recovery following our team training camp (2 1/2 weeks is about a 1/2 week too long for camp in my book ha ha) my first race is already on the horizon, the Tour de Mediteraneen.  A 5 day race in southern France.  Should be cold and crisp but hopefully dry.  Got my share of rain at camp.  Here in Girona the weather is trying to decided between winter and spring on a daily basis.  On my way back from Calpe it was snowing, then we had snow on the road in the morning.  But by the afternoon you could be having lunch outside on the patio it warmed up so much.  Thats been the story lately…so Ive been heading out training a little bit later to wait for it to warm up!  Im in summer mode now…I didnt sign up for any more cold and snow.  We’ll see about that I guess.Thanks for checkin in

New Gear Thats Truly Useful

Our long ride in the inclement weather yesterday really made me appreciate our sponsors and all the work that they put into R and D to give us truly the best equipment.  We started of in rain and 48 degrees, then sun and warm, then snow, then cold and rain again.  The whole range. Big plugs to a lot of our sponsors on that day.  My Pear Izumi elite thermal tights kept the legs warm, while the zephyr gloves and hat kept the pointy ends warm and dry.  I really wasnt even cold all day.  Thats what you need when you have to do your job in that kind of weather all day.  So THANKS Pearl!Then it was a banner day for my new sunglasses from Transitions Optics.  As I said, the weather and light conditions changed drastically throughout the day.  But the cool thing about my new shades was that the Transitions lenses adapted seamlessly to each change.  Between needing clear lenses in the dark and rain when we started, to needing darker lenses for the blue bird sun parts, one pair of lenses had me covered and I didnt even notice.  I could just see great all day and I never had to worry about it.  Pretty sweet stuff.  Thanks Transitions!And then today we got did some solid team time trial work on the new TT rigs.  Pretty amazing bike.  On my new Felt with super smooth electronic shifting and new full carbon 5 spoke aero wheels from new sponsor Mavic, I hardly had to pedal in anger during the hard workout today.  Ok, well when coming around Zabriskie I had to pedal a little harder, ha ha ha.We have quite a range of some amazing wheels from Mavic for a variety of conditions and its pretty exciting to try them all out this month.  You think being sponsored by Mavic we will get even faster wheel changes from Mavic Neutral Support at the back of races??Thanks for checkin in on my here in Calpe,

Down time at camp…finally

My Garmin-Transitions mates and I are taking a recovery day here in Calpe, watching the rain pour down and the big waves batter the shore over breakfast and coffee.  We did a double session in the pouring rain yesterday but decided not to keep pushing it in the wet today, saving the energy for some big rides in hopefully sunnier weather the next few days to finish off our camp strong.  Not too much rest though…still have some photo shoots and some vision testing for our Transitions lenses to do today as well.Thanks for checking in

Starting 2010 at Training Camp

I’ve joined most of my Garmin-Transitions teammates in sunny Calpe, Spain this week for our main pre-season training camp.  It is quite a massive operation, with nearly every member of the team both riders and staff, as well as consultants, doctors, and sponsors, here at some point getting some work done while we have everyone in one place.  Its a taxing couple of weeks.  We are getting in a serious load of training each day, all the while bonding with new teammates and staff, tinkering with new equipment, doing physiological testing, and learning about team operations and new sponsors.  There’s barely enough time in the day to just sit down and relax for a bit, which would be nice given the beachfront view we have here!  Anyway, today is the first day I’ve had that chance to sit down so I thought I’d write a little update.The last couple days we have been meeting with our new co-sponsors, Transitions Optics.  They provide a technology that changes the tint of sunglass and regular glasses lenses according to varying light conditions.  Pretty amazing stuff and Im really excited to try them out in tough racing and light conditions.More to come from Calpe in the coming days….Looking forward to a double training session tomorrow, first on the TT bikes and then some sprint work.  At this time in the winter theres hardly enough time in the day for that!Thanks for checking in

Starting 2010 at Training Camp

I’ve joined most of my Garmin-Transitions teammates in sunny Calpe, Spain this week for our main pre-season training camp.  It is quite a massive operation, with nearly every member of the team both riders and staff, as well as consultants, doctors, and sponsors, here at some point getting some work done while we have everyone in one place.  Its a taxing couple of weeks.  We are getting in a serious load of training each day, all the while bonding with new teammates and staff, tinkering with new equipment, doing physiological testing, and learning about team operations and new sponsors.  There’s barely enough time in the day to just sit down and relax for a bit, which would be nice given the beachfront view we have here!  Anyway, today is the first day I’ve had that chance to sit down so I thought I’d write a little update.The last couple days we have been meeting with our new co-sponsors, Transitions Optics.  They provide a technology that changes the tint of sunglass and regular glasses lenses according to varying light conditions.  Pretty amazing stuff and Im really excited to try them out in tough racing and light conditions.More to come from Calpe in the coming days….Looking forward to a double training session tomorrow, first on the TT bikes and then some sprint work.  At this time in the winter theres hardly enough time in the day for that!Thanks for checking in

2009 Just Go Harder Scholarship Recipient Ray McDermott

 We are proud to announce that Ray McDermott of the Eldora Mountain Ski Clup is the recipient of the 2009 Just Go Harder Scholarship for support in Alpine Ski Racing.  We wish him the best of luck in his progression through life and sport in the upcoming season.

See Ray’s thoughts on what ski racing means to him.

 

Thanks for checking in

 

 

With this scholarship The Just Go Harder Foundation is helping me get the support, coaching, and gear I need to go skiing. 

My family can’t afford all of my gear and training fees sometimes, so when we need help, we can 

 rely on the scholarship to get the other things I need. Thanks to the Just Go Harder Foundation I can enjoy the 

things about skiing that I love. The vibe of the ski culture. The way to ski the deep snow and get blasted 

with a chill of happiness that surges through my body, and to feel the all around freedom of when you 

start to slide down the mountain. That is my inspiration to ski. 

 My skiing couldn’t have progressed if I didn’t get the coaching and experience I needed from 

this racing program. You work on drills and improve stance, stability, confidence, and turning. In the 

beginning it may seem that these little drills aren’t going to help you and that’s what I thought but as I 

watched myself and my teammates progress I found that everything that the coaches were doing where 

changing my skiing dramatically. 

 There is another reason that I enjoy the ski team. I enjoy meeting the other kids that like skiing 

as much as I do. It is something that I look forward to the whole week. I can go up on the weekends 

and ski instead of having to stay down here and be bored. I will be able to take what I have learned and 

what I will keep learning and use it for the rest of my life. 

 

Thank you so much for this opportunity to go skiing, 

Ray McDermott 

                                                     

2009 scholarship recipient Ray McDermott

To New York City

Hopping on a plane tomorrow for a whirlwind trip to NYC with my teammates David Miller and Tyler Farrar for a round of media stuff and a special event for NYC Velocity benefiting junior cycling.  Im actually looking forward to getting out of CO for a couple days as its snowy and super-cold.  Not missing a whole lot of training there ha ha.Also, check out my interview with Dan Schmalz on podcast hereThe past few weeks have been good, a little family downtime with the family but mostly a fair amount of training and getting back into a routine despite the gnarly cold weather we’ve been having.  The other day I was so wet and cold after 2 hours I returned home for some hot chocolate and a dry set of clothes and went back out for more!  I think the body can only handle cold like that in 2 hour doses.Well keep an eye out for me in NYCThanks for checking in

Winter Wonderland

First week of December and Colorado is in full on winter mode! Ten days ago I received an email from a former Type 1 teammate asking about the weather in Colorado over the winter. I told him it might snow but it doesn’t really matter cause the next day it’s 45′ and it all melts away. Well, I think now I’m responsible for the last ten days being record lows. At this time in the year I just make the best of it and hit up the nordic skis, the gym, and some trail running in the snow. Let’s just hope that this record freezing trend doesn’t stretch throughout the entire winter. Timmy’s up at Beaver Creek watching the world cup ski race today, the high there today is in the single digits! I’m back from the gym and sitting on the couch with a hot cup of coffee waiting for my Broncos to crush the Chiefs!

We’ve got some exciting things happening with the Just Go Harder Foundation, scholarships are on there way to some deserving athletes - more info to come shortly. With the holidays coming up why not add a couple bags of JGH Foundation coffee to your shopping list!?!

Kelly Benefit Strategies Pro Cycling Team released their final roster for next year. I’m excited to be part of a team with such great potential.

New direction for 2010

Not too much news coming from me the past few weeks. However, I’ll be racing with Kelly Benefit Strategies Pro Cycling for next year. I’m excited for a change of scenery and looking forward to getting the ball rolling towards a new season.

At the hospital…must be the offseason

No, I didnt crash or hurt myself.  There are a few short weeks in the offseason when its a great time to get any health problems, dental or vision work all cleared up when there is no racing or hard training for a little while.  You dont want do be dealing with any medical procedures in the middle of the season that you could have dealt with at a different time.  So I spent Monday at the hospital in Denver getting a roto rooter treatment of my sinuses.  Or, more properly, a septoplasty, sinusectomy and turbinate reduction.  My nose has been pretty much totally blocked my whole life, enabling me to breath out of one side just ok only on the best of days.  But after Dr. Pashley cleared out the turbinates and polyps and straightened out my septum I should feel like a new person.  I cant wait to see how I feel on the bike with a fully functional respiratory system for once in my life! Not to mention the lack of a constant stuffy nose and a newfound ability to smell and taste food!  Should be good.  Just gotta wait for the swelling and blood and snot to leave my sinuses in a few more days.  Im definitely taking it easy for a few days but should be feeling normal soon again.Thanks for checkin in