Desert Camp Tips

By  Fred Matheny & Ed Pavelka Get ready for a dozen nuggets of advice from two guys (us!) who've combined for 13,529 miles at PAC Tour Desert Camps.

We've created these pages to help you have a fun and rewarding Camp experience. If you haven't signed up yet but are thinking about it, these tips will give you an idea of what Desert Camp is like.

Fred hasn't missed a year since Lon Haldeman founded Desert Camp in southern Arizona in 1996. In fact, DC has become a highlight of his season. For one thing, it provides lots of incentive to stay fit through the winter. There's nothing like a 500-to-600-mile week in March to get spring off to a great start!

In 2008, Fred will be riding and giving talks at Coaching Week (March 1-8).

For full Camp details, click to the PAC Tour website.
 

Training for Camp Sunburn prevention Saddle soreness Knee strain Off-bike recovery  Clothing  Hydration  Nutrition  Paceline riding  Headwinds  Gearing  Climbing  Weenie days

 

Bonus! Interested in an effective, time-efficient way to use your indoor trainer to get ready for Camp? Check Lon's special workout technique.

 

Training for Desert Camp

If you've never attended PAC Tour's annual desert adventure, we hope this information will help you have more fun and meet your cycling goals. If you're a Desert Camp veteran, we're betting you'll still find valuable tips.

Before we talk about training, it's important to remember that Desert Camp is different in several important ways from midsummer camps or PAC Tours:

• DC is early in the season. Most riders, especially those from cold climates, haven't accumulated many outdoor miles before March.

• Mileage is high. For example, even in Week 2, when daily rides are relatively short, you'll start with 82 miles from Tucson to Sierra Vista, then ride back at the end of the week. If you're doing Week 3's big loop or Week 4's Century Week, you'll average more than 90 miles per day. (This was the 2003 agenda.)

• You ride every day for a week. Most experienced cyclists can handle a single century in March. But things get a lot tougher during a week of daily long rides.

• The weather is unpredictable. We've ridden in 80-degree temperatures and also in snow flurries -- and that was during the same week! Recovery can be compromised when your body has to adjust to a range of conditions.

With these things in mind, how should you train from December until March so you'll be ready for Camp?

We won't attempt to provide a detailed program. Each of you has a unique situation with family, job, weather and available time, so no single program can work for everyone. However, based on the parameters listed above, here are five important training principles to help you create your own personalized program.

1. Accept that you'll be undertrained for Camp.

Unless you spend the winter in California training with the pros, you won't be able to hammer every day in Arizona. Don't stress about your pre-Camp mileage total. Quality training -- doable in any climate -- is much more important than volume.

2. Incorporate resistance training.

Set aside 30-60 minutes twice each week to develop strength. This may not improve your riding directly, but it will condition connective tissue so you have less chance of developing tendinitis. Upper-body strength also helps you lean on and pull on the handlebar for 3-6 hours a day without undue fatigue or soreness.

Be sure you know how to do each exercise you choose. Get help from a certified strength and conditioning expert if you need to. Don't get injured!

Emphasize higher reps and lower weights. You're trying to improve your cycling, not become a power lifter. Three sets of 15-25 reps should work for most exercises.

To save time, do only those exercises that directly affect your efficiency and comfort on the bike. We suggest:

• One upper-body pulling exercise: pull-ups, seated rows, upright rows, dumbbell rows.

• One upper-body pushing exercise: push-ups, bench presses, dips. Triceps extensions (with dumbbells or on a pulley machine) can help you avoid the sore arm muscles associated with long rides.

• A leg exercise: squats, leg presses, step-ups, lunges. As you begin to ride more extensively (in the four weeks before Camp) reduce leg work to once per week.

3. Mix endurance and speedwork.

Of course, endurance is important -- after all, these camps emphasize it and we're PAC Tour people! But most of us have limited time to train, so shorter, harder efforts are more practical. That's good, because intense training is the most effective way to improve fitness.

We recommend one long ride per week. If the weather is bad, substitute a crosstraining activity like running, hiking, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing. In the last month before Camp, do these long workouts on the bike. Gradually increase from 25-30 miles to, ideally, 75-80 the week before Camp. You can do your long ride on the trainer. But 60 minutes on a vomitron is worth 90 minutes outside, so reduce the road mileage recommendations by one-third.

Twice a week, do repeats of harder efforts lasting from 2 to 10 minutes. Don't overdo it. Now is not the time for gut-wrenching intervals. Reach a heart rate of about 85% of your max near the end of each work interval. Do these on hills as well as flat roads. Mix the number of repeats, the length and the terrain. Keep it varied so it's fun.

4. Do group rides.

Meeting and riding with great people is a big reason to attend Camp. But if you ride alone all winter, your pack-riding skills may be rusty come March. Try to get out with your local cycling club at least a few times. Even riding with just one person will help keep you comfortable around other wheels.

5. Schedule at least two sessions of back-to-back long rides.

Remember, Camp lasts a week and you'll want to ride every day. If you're doing the big loop during Week 3, you don't have a choice. You need to get to the next town, and Lon runs a cycling camp, not a taxi service!

Do consecutive longer rides on the last two weekends before you head to Arizona. Three weekends is better. Both rides don't have to be the same length. Three weekends of 40 miles and 50 miles, 45/60 and 45/75 will do a lot to accustom your body to Camp routine.

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Sunburn Prevention

Arizona means sun. And most cyclists heading to Desert Camp have been wearing tights and long sleeves for months, their tans a distant memory. So it’s easy to get fried, and badly.

A nasty sunburn can have long-term health consequences, of course. It’s also a quick way to make you feel miserable and have trouble sleeping. Good rest is crucial at Camp. You can’t get it when the sheets hurt.

One year Fred slathered sunscreen everywhere -- but forgot the back of his ears. Ouch! Seen from the rear, his ears glowed like miniature brake lights.

Here’s how to avoid such unpleasantries:

Use sunscreen. Choose SPF of at least 30 (45 is better). Pack a large bottle and use it in the morning before you leave the motel. Carry a tube in your jersey pocket or seatbag so you can re-apply at each rest stop.

Cream the niches. It’s amazing how many small, exposed areas of skin you can miss when applying sunscreen. Besides ears, there’s the bridge of the nose, backs of hands not covered by gloves, back of the neck, and back of the knees. Men whose hairline is ascending a lot faster than they climb Mule Pass sometimes get burned through helmet vents. The resulting red-and-white pattern on their foreheads makes for a great conversation starter at dinner.

We remember one rider several years ago whose arm warmers slipped down below his jersey sleeves for most of a sunny afternoon. The next day he had a one-inch blistered ring around each upper arm. They looked like red tattoos.

Protect your lips. Lips are tender, easily burned, and if they get sore and cracked, it’ll make eating and drinking difficult. Even the traditional Dairy Queen post-ride treat loses its appeal when sipped through singed lips. If yours tend to get burned easily, use a Chap Stick that has SPF protection, and apply it often. Or, try zinc oxide available in ski or surf shops. This stuff is impermeable to sunlight. Fred remembers using a product called Glacier Cream in the 1970s when he was mountaineering. Fondly called “clown paint,” it was white and made you look like Bozo. Now zinc oxide is available in different colors. You’ll still look like a clown -- but maybe not Bozo. 

Wear leg warmers and long sleeves. Even when it’s above 65 degrees, cover up if you’re on the verge of sunburn. Some riders take lightweight long-sleeve jerseys for this purpose because they’re often cooler than arm warmers.

Take an anti-inflammatory. If the worst does happen, aspirin or ibuprofen can reduce sunburn swelling and pain. This could be the key to a getting a decent night’s sleep. 

It’s not just about the bike! Many riders who take scrupulous care of their skin while on the bike blow it while lounging around the pool. They forget the sunscreen, don’t wear a hat and end up looking like a Bozo all over.

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Saddle Soreness

Saddle soreness can put a crimp in Camp. The tiniest zit has a way of feeling like a sharp rock in your shorts. Soon, a nasty sore could make the week a painful purgatory.

We know. Ed arrived at a recent Camp with a sore so bad that it deserved to be called a cyst. One of the campers was Chris Block, M.D., who wrote a prescription for Cephalexin (antibiotic) that Ed took all week. That, plus switching to Lon’s wide and broken-in Brooks B.17 leather saddle saved the day. In fact, all seven days. While Ed was racking up 625 miles, the cyst actually began healing.

Anyone can fall victim to what cycling physician Arnie Baker, M.D., calls “crotchitis.”

Most medical experts think that pimple-like saddle sores are caused by skin bacteria that invade tiny surface abrasions or irritations. The best cure is prevention. Here’s how:

• Check your bike fit well before Camp. If your saddle is too high, your hips will rock and you’ll saw your soft tissue across the nose of the saddle on each pedal stroke. The result is irritated skin and a greater chance of infection. If your saddle is too far to the rear or tipped down, you’ll slide forward onto the narrow nose, again irritating the skin. Get bike fit dialed well before Camp. In training, ride the bike and saddle you plan to ride in Arizona.

• Find a comfortable saddle. That’s not an oxymoron. Saddle choice is crucial, but only you can determine which model is best. Excessively wide saddles rub your inner thighs. Narrow saddles don’t provide enough support for your sit bones, concentrating weight on the soft tissue between them (a leading cause of genital numbness, too). The best choice is totally individual, but at Camp we see lots of the venerable Brooks B.17, Body Geometry saddles from Specialized, and men’s and women’s saddles from Terry.

• Choose shorts with a quality liner. Look for a modern synthetic “chamois” that’s formed from one piece of material or has flat, smooth seams. It should be lightly padded; thick padding can bunch and rub skin raw. You may need to experiment with different shorts to find a brand and model that fills the bill. Wear new shorts for at least five longish rides before Camp to make certain they work for you.

• Lube the liner. To reduce friction, lightly lubricate the chamois and your crotch before each ride. We’re partial to Chamois Butt’r, available at your local bike shop or Schwab Cycles. Apply as much as you like, and consider carrying a tube in your seat bag or jersey pocket to freshen up at rest stops.

• Come clean. You may find that washing your crotch with mild soap before the start each morning helps limit problems. Of course, always wear clean shorts. Dermatologist and Desert Camper Bernie Burton, M.D., claims that if you smear a thick coat of petroleum jelly on your chamois each day, you can wear the same shorts all week without washing them. That’s a minority opinion and a somewhat disturbing image.

• Never hang around in sweaty shorts. This condition breeds bacteria and encourages them to enter abraded skin. After each ride, go straight to your room, slip off your shorts and shower or at least wash your crotch. Then put on light, loose, airy casual shorts to go back out for socializing or working on your bike.

• Medicate. To help heal pimple-like saddle sores, check the skin-care section of a pharmacy for an acne lotion containing 10% benzoyl peroxide. Even better, ask your physician about a prescription for a topical antibiotic called erythromycin (brand name Emgel). We used Emgel during the 1993 Northern PAC Tour covering 3,400 miles in 24 days and completed the ride without a single saddle sore. Dab it on any “hot spots” right after washing.

• Move on the saddle and stand frequently. This changes or removes pressure points. Use any opportunity to rise from the saddle -- short hills, exiting turns, at the back of the paceline, and so on. If the saddle isn’t contacting your crotch, it can’t irritate you..

Sometimes, despite your best preventive efforts, a saddle sore will get you. Here’s what you can do to continue riding.

• Change your shorts and/or saddle. Your problems are probably isolated in one small area -- a boil or abrasion -- so changing to a different model of saddle or shorts can re-distribute the load. Some campers pack a spare saddle -- mounted on a seatpost to make the change easier -- and switch every couple of days to vary the contact points. For the same reason, it’s also smart to rotate two or even three different models of shorts (all that you’re sure fit you well, of course). If things get bad, wearing two shorts for more padding and less friction (outer sliding against inner instead of your skin) can help. So can a padded saddle cover, but only if you’ve already tried it successfully.

• Use a heavier lubricant. If you’re getting irritated, try a more viscous lube. One favorite is Bag Balm, available in pharmacies. It’s designed for sore cow udders. We’ve heard riders say it can heal saddle sores overnight.

• Sit on a donut. In the foot-care section of pharmacies, you’ll find thin, round foam donuts made for corns or calluses. You can place one so the saddle sore is in its center. The adhesive will hold it in place, helping take direct pressure off the boo-boo. In fact, you can even put a dollop of Emgel or antibiotic ointment in the center to encourage healing while you ride.

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Knee Strain

We once calculated the total pedal strokes required to complete Desert Camp’s Mountain Tour. Ready for this? 162,000!

That’s a lot of knee flexion in seven early-season days. And lots of potential for knee strain 'n' pain.

Cycling is usually friendly to your knees -- it’s often the rehab of choice for knee ailments -- but too much of a good thing can inflame your tendons, especially when you go from 5-6 hours of riding per week all winter to 25-30 hours at Camp.

In this article, we don’t have room to go into the specific knee problems cyclists encounter. You can find information about eight of them in Andy Pruitt’s Medical Guide for Cyclists, available as an eBook in the RBR eBookstore. (The photo is from the eBook and shows the location of one of the most common early-season ailments, “spring knee.”)

But right now, let’s look at some things that cause knee problems and how you can sidestep them.

CAUSES

• Insufficient mileage. Do several long rides in training. Most knee problems stem from overuse. Pain usually appears late in long rides or after several days of riding. So, follow our training plan and incorporate several rides of 50-75 miles before Camp. Also, do some back-to-back long rides to accustom your knees to the stress.

• Saddle too low or too high. Here’s Andy Pruitt’s general rule:

• If the pain is in the front of your knee, your saddle is probably too low.

• If the pain is in the back of the knee, the saddle is probably too high.

• Equipment changes. Be wary if you’ve bought a new bike for Camp. Make sure it’s set up correctly before you arrive. One year, a strong rider was completely crippled by the third day of Camp. He couldn’t ride. He could barely walk. Turns out that he’d bought a new bike several weeks before heading for Arizona, and the shop had raised his saddle an inch above his previous position. The result was severe iliotibial band friction syndrome -- and several days of riding shotgun in the Camp van.

Don’t come to Camp without knowing that your bike fit is right. Part two of this rule is being accustomed to your fit. Andy will be doing bike fits, but your knees may not make it until he arrives if your saddle is set incorrectly. If you need help, use the guidelines in his eBook or check with a good bike shop or cycling coach.

• Poor cleat adjustment. Most modern pedal systems have “float.” That is, they allow feet to rotate slightly on the pedal before release. This accommodates the natural tibial rotation that’s part of the pedal stroke. Each cleat should be set so your foot sits naturally in the middle of the arc of rotation. Too much toe-in or toe-out can strain ligaments.

• Heavy pedaling resistance. A sure way to strain your knees is to push big gears with a grinding cadence. Most riders know not to do this on climbs, but spring in Arizona means wind. An hour of slogging against a desert gale will make your kneecaps glow. Keep shifting down so you can keep spinning.

Bring sufficiently low gears for the climbs. It’s hard to make gearing recommendations because of variations in rider strength and climbing style. But you can’t go wrong with a low gear of at least 39x27 teeth. If you plan to climb Mount Graham, you’ll want a triple. And keep your cadence at 90 rpm or above on the flats, especially into the wind.

• Cold knees. It’s spring, but mornings can still be chilly in Arizona’s high desert. It’s smart to start each day with your legs covered, then peel off your warmers or tights at the first rest stop or lunch, assuming the temperature is at least 65. When it’s chillier, keep your knees covered.

• Tight leg coverings. Fred had painful cases of tendinitis at several Camps even though he followed all the rules. He couldn’t figure it out. Then he realized that each year, he left his old, baggy-kneed and comfortable leg warmers at home and took tight new ones to Camp. On each pedal stroke, the restrictive warmers pushed down slightly on the tendons that go over the kneecaps. After a couple of days, voila! Mystery tendinitis. A switch to looser warmers resolved the problem.

CURES

What if you get sore knees during Camp?

• Lower your saddle slightly (about 1/8 inch) if the pain is at the rear of the knee or along the outer side. Raise the saddle the same amount if pain is in front, around the kneecap.

• Keep your knees covered regardless of temperature and consider rubbing in some “hot stuff” to stimulate blood flow. Spin low gears. Try standing more to vary the angle of strain on the tendons.

• Back at the motel, apply ice for 15 minutes every hour. Consider using an anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin).

Remember, you can ride through many kinds of knee pain if you take it easy. We know from experience that sore knees on Tuesday can feel fine by Thursday if you do the right thing.

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