Im changing my website to the revamped, www.TimmyDugganUSA.com

the new website is quite a bit more fun and interactive and will be filled with ever changing content.

Have a look and I hope you enjoy it!

Actually it wasnt so bad.  Ive got winter riding in Boulder county pretty much dialed in terms of balancing the proper training load with not being too cold and miserable, because that doesnt help anything.

There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing and equipment.

That is definitely true.

We’re in the Rockies, so I of course always carry an extra pair of gloves in case my hands get sweaty.  Which they did today, despite the 26 degree F temperatures.

An I Am Ted King neck gater kept the face warm.

A fender is a life saver as well…if you get wet, yer screwed.

Any ideas for a simple fender that attaches conveniently to an aerodynamic Specialized seatpost?You also gotta plan the route correctly.  The most treacherous (one of my favorite words BTW) part is usually getting out of the rarely plowed neighborhoods to the plowed, sunny, and dry bigger roads.  In my case, that involved riding the bus down the mountain into Boulder and then navigating out of town through tire ruts in the snow.  Ok, that actually wasnt so bad either.  The funny thing about riding in Boulder CO is that despite a very recent, even deep, snowstorm, certain roads dry off and are perfectly rideable incredibly soon.  So as was the case today, just pick those roads for the route du jour and youre fine.  Because if you stay dry, life is good.

Finally, you have to have a motivator.  In Craig and I’s case today, we picked a small farm town waaay out there about two hours away.  This town sports a nice little coffee shop with some killer carrot cake with killer icing.  worth riding two hours in the cold for, believe me.

After about an hour and a half of riding you get a little cold, but conveniently at that point, you must keep going on to the carrot cake because that is the closest warmth and sustenance.

One added bonus is that training feels a little easier and you burn a lot of calories because you have to go so hard just to stay warm!  Yeah for adrenaline and survival mode.

Little tricks.

Oh, one last motivator was knowing post-ride, I was going direct to the sauna at One Boulder Fitness for a 30 min defrost.

So after all that, i got even more training in than was scheduled.  Now thats productive.  Nice work Craig, couldnt have done it without you.

On the plus side, the weather is looking up the rest of the week.

Me, Loren and Karli gearing up to throw some candy from the fire truck w/ other Boulder Olympians!

Sailing the High Seas

I just completed a rather stimulating 2 weeks of team bonding/training camp in the Canary Islands with my new Saxo-Tinkoff Cycling team.  We stayed at the beautiful ANFI Resort up the hill from the coast.

We got right into action on the very first day, dividing up into teams and getting into multiple activities on the beach and in the water accumulating points the whole way.

Probably the most difficult thing we did was a mass start swim race as part of a relay.  I dont think I have ever swam full gas for any distance before, let alone the several hundred meters we covered.  I was totally smashed.  I got a new level of respect for  Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin for sure!

Scuba diving was rather tame, but I was definitely into the jet skiing at full speed around a course of buoys.

The next day we got into the bus first thing in the morning not knowing where we were going or what we’d be doing.  an hour later we arrived at the sailing club harbor.  It looked like we were going sailing.  I hate sailing.  I dont like wind, I dont like being wet, I dont like the deep ocean.  I can certainly handle it but its not first on my list.

Luckily for me, we had crazy winds of about 3 mph, which made for some interesting slow motion sailing.

We broke up into teams of 6 and boarded some very nice, expensive sailboats.  We happened to have an Olympic gold medalist as our skipper so that was pretty cool

After learning the basics of sailing we lined up for a bunch of races out in the open water.

Again, because of the lack of wind, not the most thrilling but I did learn something and I didnt get wet or cold or eaten by a shark.

Another day, we woke up to a fleet of convertibles in the parking garage of the hotel.

We got into teams and had to navigate 2 hours of driving through the mountains with a less than reliable map to get to the above pictured undisclosed location in the middle of nowhere.  It really hit home how varied and international Team Sax0-Tinkoff is when my team for today consisted of an American, a Pole, a Swiss, and a Spaniard, and we were all conversing in Italian!

The days course included various forms of rock climbing and rappelling, navigating, guns and archery, and crawling through a kilometer long dark and wet mining tunnel all over hiking about 6 miles.  Good times.

The highlight of the various activities for the week was certainly the bungee jumping and the go-karts.    It was interesting to see my various teammates and how they were mentally able to overcome any fears, or not, of the bungee jump from a crane 200 feet up in the air.  I personally loved it. What a rush!

Bungee Jump-Click here to see some big air.

I jumped off a 200 ft crane and all I got was this T-shirt

The go-Karts were pretty rad as well…our competitive spirit definitely came out and as you could imagine, a dozen bike racers going at it on a go kart track was rather aggressive.  I was involved in an unfortunate incident involving ramming a stopped kart at full speed entering a turn and careening off the track into the grass.  A week later and I can still barely move my arm. Comes with the territory.  But man that was cool, I want to seek out more go-kart tracks during my travels.  Contador does, apparently, and as one of the more experienced Go-Karters he promptly schooled us all.

Pole Position at the Go-Kart track

All the crazy and different activities really bonded the team together and in just a couple weeks all the new guys are totally integrated into the family.  I am really excited to be a part of Saxo-Tinkoff in 2013 and I know its going to be very successful for all of us.

We were at Gran Canaria for two weeks, however, whcih left ample time for getting more traditional stuff done, like bike fits, sponsor meetings, medical assessments, and above all, RIDING BIKES!  We got in quite a bit of riding actually, around 3 hours a day on some incredible terrain that Gran Canaria has to offer.  I will definitely be back to Anfi Resort on Gran Canaria in the future…its pretty much my ideal training ground.  Perfect weather at 72 degrees every day for two weeks, incredible riding and roads, minimal traffic, big climbs…its got it all.  And if you wanna bungee jump in the afternoons you can fit that in as well…

After a couple weeks at camp Im back home in Colorado super motivated to get back into serious training in preparation for my first race of the year at the Tour Down Under in Australia, only 7 short weeks away!!!

Click here to check them out and buy now!!!   Do it soon, the pre-order sale ends November 15!

The catalyst for this trip is the Krempels King of the Road Challenge, a beautiful cycling event put on by my friend and teammate Ted King in Portsmouth New Hampshire, raising money for the Krempels Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Recovery.

I want to send a huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated to my fundraising effort.  I surpassed my goal by raising $1,020!

Even better, the event as a whole raised $75,000 for the Krempels Center in only its second year.  Congrats, Ted, on such a huge and meaningful event.  I was proud to be a part of it again.

The day before the ride, Ted and I went to the Krempels Center to speak to the TBI survivors, their families and caretakers.  We gave a little talk about the ins and outs of bike racing.  Most of all, I really enjoyed sharing my own story of recovery from traumatic brain injury.   When I was recovering from my TBI, the thing that I got the most out of was hearing the stories of others that had gone through the same thing.  Even the most brilliant doctor can not understand what it feels like to have such an injury, and I feel an instant connection with TBI survivors I speak to.  I hope I can inspire and give hope to some that are in a difficult situation.

The next day, it was a little damp but I set out with 200+ awesome people on a spectacular route highlighting the scenery of rural New England.

Ted and I kicking off the King of the Road Challenge!!!

Check out the ride data and route on STRAVA here!!

What made it even better was the occasional rest stops stocked with some of the yummiest food imaginable, and wrapped up with a beer garden and pizza and Mexican food.

Check out the photo gallery here.

If you didnt make it this year, well, in the words of Warren Miller, “Youll only be one year older when you do.”

See you in New Hampshire in 2013! I cant wait!

After hanging out in the sunshine with a lot of new friends for a while, I headed down south to Westbrook, CT to meet up with some generous USA Cycling donors, sponsors, and supporters along with fellow Olympian Evelyn Stevens.  It was truly awesome to meet up with some of the people behind the scenes that make it possible for Evelyn and I to chase our dreams.  Without the USA Cycling Development Foundations support, our path to the top would be incredibly difficult.

Evelyn and I enjoyed sharing stories about the Olympics and about our highs and lows in the USA Cycling develpment pipeline.  On Sunday, our whole group took part in the  Vista Tour de Shores.  Again, meeting some amazing people to ride bikes for a great cause.

Let me tell you, If you want to get in back-to-back beautiful rides in the New England autumn, do these two!

But preceding all this bike riding was some serious vacation time for my wife Loren and I.  We visited with some friends on the Maine coast and Ted showed us around Portsmouth NH a bit.

We got to go out in the boat quite a bit to go fishing, exploring, and smashing against enormous waves.

Fishing off the coast of Maine. Reeling in a mackerel.

Our friend’s family has a bunch of lobster traps so we scored some sea bugs for dinner for a pretty good price…

Caught some lobstah’s for dinner!

our friends have a specially trained lobster hunting dog.

I havnt been to an NFL game since I was like, 8.  So hitting up the Patriots vs Jets game was pretty sweet.  After a good tailgating sesh before hand, we watched a nailbiter of a game that was thankfully won by the Pats.  The fans at Foxboro are pretty nuts, I wouldnt want to know what happens when they lose.  Ted almost got into a fight in the bathroom so that was fun.  Furthermore, I was relieved to find out my car wasnt stolen when I gave a sketchy dude with an orange vest my keys and 50 bucks to park my then-illegaly-parked car in the pay lot.

Im happy to inform that I got the car back.  Note…always tip sketchy dudes handling your valuables.

Enjoying a Patriots game with Pat McCarty and Ted King

And now its back home to CO and back to the grind….

Liquigas Jersey signed by the whole team!!!

Team USA Jersey from the London Olympics, signed by the men’s Road Team!!!

I did a whirlwind camping/mountainbiking trip out in the desert with some friends when it started snowing and being freezing cold for a couple days back in CO.  Hit up some trails in Fruita, then over to Moab where we did the Whole Enchilada.  If that ride is not on your list, it should be.  Just classic awesome mountain biking with a little bit of everything over 7,000 ft of descending from the high alpine to the desert.

Post-Whole Enchilada…

It was a nice little road trip (also on the bucket list) which consisted of high speed interstate driving, listening to country music and the presidential debate.  I also checked off Kentucky Fried Chicken, Oreos, and cheap supermarket donuts under  ”Dont Need to Eat That Again for Another 51 Weeks.”

In the meantime, Ive been doing a little fire mitigation around our house with the chainsaw, getting rid of all the dry slash and stocking up on fire wood.

That was a serious core workout. Gotta keep the fam warm this winter!

Also this week, i had a wonderful opportunity to speak to a big group of realtors at the Remax Professionals conference at Keystone Resort about my experiences in elite athletics as a professional cyclist, and  how the lessons Ive learned can be applied to business.  I was really excited to meet and talk with such a great group of passionate people there!

Enjoying an iconic hot dog from Mustards Last Stand

Looking back, Ive ridden my bike (almost always my mountain bike) HALF!!! of my offseason days.  I cant resist when its fall in the mountains around here.  But nowIm really gonna start resting up because Im taking off today for New England for some more fall awesomeness but not so much bike riding.  Im saving the bike riding for the Krempels King of the Road Challenge!

More Offseason Chronicles updates from the right coast coming up soon…

thanks for checking in!