D.C. Tips / 3

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

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Nutrition

The good news at Desert Camp is you get to eat a lot.

No, make that you need to eat a lot.

Cycling consumes about 40 calories per mile, so the 85 miles from Tucson to Sierra Vista, for example, immolates nearly 3,500. That's in addition to the 1,500-2,000 calories you need just to fuel the activities of daily living. If you're riding one of the 300K brevets, it takes about 7,500 calories to replace what you're burning.

How can you possibly eat enough? Most people can't digest meals of 2,000 calories or more and still feel comfortable riding. That's too much food all at once. So the secret is to eat numerous snacks. Fortunately, that's easy at Desert Camp because PAC Tour provides rest stops and lunch along each day's route.

Here's a good eating pattern for a typical Camp day of about 80 miles:

• Breakfast. Mix carbohydrate for muscle fuel (glycogen) with fat and protein for staying power. At the Sierra Vista buffet breakfast, go for pancakes, French toast, oatmeal or potatoes for carbs. Have eggs, yogurt or meat for fat and protein. There's an assortment of food at the buffet for vegans and others with specific eating requirements. Motels and restaurants during Weeks 1 and 3 may have a less expansive breakfast, but cereal, yogurt, bagels and fruit will get you started.

• Rest stops. It's fun (and necessary) to stop, stretch and fuel up at PAC Tour's rest stops every 20-30 miles. You'll find cookies, granola bars, energy bars and goodies like Pay Day candy bars along with bananas and other fruit. Eat about 200 calories and put a bar in your jersey pocket to satisfy munchies on the road.

• Lunch. PAC Tour's lunch stops are famous for their fresh and tasty sandwiches and other selections, so sit down and enjoy the repast. Leave with an easy spin to help the meal digest. Your belly will tell you when it's time to pick up the pace.

• Post-ride glycogen window. Very important: As soon as you get to the motel, drink a bottle of a recovery drink such as Endurox R4 or eat a carb/protein mix like a turkey sandwich. Studies show that your muscles refuel better if you eat about 300-400 calories within the two hours following exercise. The sooner the better. The first 15 minutes after getting off the bike is optimum.

• Dinner. Enjoy a relaxing meal with a full complement of carbs, protein and some fat. Don't skimp on dessert! Remember to include several glasses of water in the constant battle against dehydration.

• Evening snack. Don't go to bed hungry. It's a long time until breakfast, and you don't want your body feeding on muscle tissue as you sleep. Be careful not to get too full to sleep well. Have one of the bagels or energy bars you've stashed, brush your teeth and hit the hay.

• Midnight munchies. Just in case you wake up hungry, have a snack at the ready. A banana is easy to eat, filling and nearly silent. It's not nice to disturb your roommate by rustling through a bag of crunchy pretzels.

One last point: Don't try to lose weight at Camp! Restricting calories will only make you ride badly. Eat enough to ensure the energy that a week of long miles requires, then start working on your excess body fat when you get home.

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Paceline Riding

You may want to ride by yourself at Desert Camp. There's nothing wrong with that. Some people like to push all the wind they can in order to maximize the fitness benefits.

But when you're with 50 or so like-minded cyclists, why not enjoy a paceline at least part of the time? It's fun, it improves your group skills, and you'll get to lunch faster!

Here are tips for safe paceline riding when with one person or several:

• Know the wind direction. We can guarantee wind at Camp, and sometimes it'll be strong. Wind direction determines on which side of the front rider the draft is found. If the wind is coming from the right, for example, you'll have to be to the left of his (or her) wheel to get shelter. How far left depends on the wind speed and your speed.
  
  If the wind is strong, you'll need to overlap wheels in the characteristic formation known as an echelon. Large groups can't do this easily because some riders would need to be across the centerline (wind from right) or in the cacti (wind from left). On a windy day, big groups should intentionally split into smaller ones that give each rider a chance to benefit from the draft.
   

• Give yourself a safety margin. There's no need to draft closely. Camp rides aren't races (well, not often). Position your front wheel two or three feet behind the bike you're following. You'll still get benefit, but you can also relax. You'll have a safety margin to maneuver out of harm's way, too.
   

• Look up the road. Don't fixate on the rear wheel of the rider directly in front. Let your lower peripheral vision take care of that. Keep your head up so you can see around and over the lead riders. This limits surprises when they react to road hazards, hills, turns -- anything that could cause changes in direction or speed.
   

• Take responsibility. When you're on the front, you are the eyes and ears for the group. Their safety depends on you. You need to point out road obstacles and watch for traffic at crossroads. Shout a warning, if necessary. Make no abrupt moves.
   

• Don't pull through too fast. The biggest mistake we see in pacelines is riders getting psyched up when they hit the front and accelerating several miles per hour. This opens gaps and can blow people off the back. Note the speed on your cyclecomputer when you're in second position. As long as you're on similar terrain, maintain that speed. Remember, you take the front not because you accelerate but because the former leader pulls over and decelerates. Stay steady.
   

• Don't pull too long. It's not good paceline riding to sit on the front for 10 minutes, exhausting yourself until your speed drops and other riders feel forced to come around. Pull for 1-3 minutes, then swing off and let other riders have some fun.
   

• Do your housekeeping at the back. After you've pulled and you're in the caboose position, that's the right time to stand and stretch, rearrange your shorts, have a snack or a drink. No one is behind, so if you slow a bit or waver, no one is affected. Avoid doing these things elsewhere in the line.

At Camp, many riders are experienced at pacelines and like to vary the single-line formation. Let's look at two techniques.

Double Pacelines

A rotating double paceline is an excellent way to maximize speed. But it's great for leisurely paced conversation, too. Form one only on a road with a wide shoulder.

• Each person rides side-by-side with a partner, forming two lines. Each pair stays 1-2 feet apart and a couple of feet from the wheels ahead.
   

• The lead pair pulls for several minutes. When they decide it's time to give up the front, the rider on the left moves left slightly and the right-side rider goes right.
   

• As soon as they're clear, both riders soft pedal to let the double paceline come up between them. They slide all the way to the back and latch on to their respective lines.

Remember, as the two riders drift back, the double paceline becomes four riders wide. That's why this formation should be used only on wide, low-traffic roads. Happily, there are lots of those at Camp.

Echelons

In crosswinds, maximum shelter isn't directly behind the front rider. Instead, the draft is to his left if the wind is blowing from the right, and vice versa. In these conditions, riders hide from the wind in a formation called an echelon.

• Always pull off into the wind. To find shelter, riders behind will be overlapping wheels on the lee side. If you pull off to that side, you may hit a wheel and cause a crash like Dominos falling over.
   

• Communicate! Make sure it's clear which way the leader will pull off. Some people may not be familiar with echelon riding and won't realize things change with the wind direction. If there's any doubt, always check behind before pulling over.
   

• Don't hog the road. Big echelons take up lots of space. Six riders can easily fill a lane in a strong crosswind. If the road can't accommodate the size of the echelon, break it into smaller ones.

One final tip. When a paceline rolls by, you may decide to accelerate and join in. That's fine, but call out to let everyone know you're on. Otherwise, the lead rider won't expect you to be there when he drops back to move in behind the person who used to be last in line. The crash you prevent may be your own. Communicate!

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Headwinds

Our most memorable Arizona headwind was also one of our all-time best days of riding at Desert Camp.

In 1998, we did the loop tour for the first time, riding it clockwise (the opposite direction from this year). The 100 miles between Lordsburg, NM, and Douglas, AZ, go southwest into prevailing winds. In '98, they prevailed more than usual -- a hard, gusty 30-45 mph gale that conjured up dust devils, transformed tumbleweeds into lethal objects and blew the potato chips off our plates at lunch.

We formed small groups to fight the wind, enjoying the shared effort of trading off at the front every 20 seconds and eating up the miles with teamwork. That's a feeling you don't get on long climbs, despite the numerous pleasures of going uphill. Drafting doesn't have much effect at slow climbing speeds, but it's great to have people in front of you when boring a hole through an invisible wall.

Headwinds are generally more difficult than climbing. You know where the top of a hill is and that you'll reach it in a few minutes. You can apportion your energy. But a headwind can go on all day. For this reason, a gale in your face is one of the most physically and psychologically difficult challenges in cycling.

We can guarantee headwinds in Arizona this spring. Here's how to survive --and maybe even have fun:

• Get low. Position on the bike is crucial. Your goal is to couple power output with aerodynamics. But don't forget comfort. It won't work to get as low as you can. You may be riding into the wind for hours, so your position needs to be a reasonable compromise. Beware of staying locked in the drops if you're solo and will be taking the brunt of the wind for long periods. In a paceline, get low when at the front and relax with a higher position when you're sheltered.
   

• Gear down. Some riders try to fight the wind with sheer power and a big gear. That's exactly the wrong approach. Treat the wind like a steep climb. Get in the small chainring and choose cogs that let you keep your cadence around 90 rpm. Sure, you may be going 10 or 12 mph on a flat road. But you won't go faster slugging away in a bigger gear. You'll just burn more energy and strain your knees.
   

• Set short-term goals. If 80 miles remain and it's all into a raging headwind, the task may seem impossible. So pick intermediate objectives -- lunch, the next rest stop, maybe even that lone farm way off in the distance. Achieve several smaller goals and before you know it, you'll see the city limit sign at the end of the ride.
   

• Find friends. Even if you prefer riding solo, a headwind is one time you'll want to join a group. You will work about 30% less tucked behind another rider compared to bearing the brunt of the wind at the front.

Warning! Dead-on headwinds are rare. Usually the wind is at an angle, causing the paceline to form an echelon. The rider in front needs to realize this is happening and pull off to the side the wind is coming from. Otherwise, he'll hit the following rider's front wheel and the whole line could go down. The cardinal rule in crosswinds: Always pull off into the wind.

Enjoy the tailwinds! Just as a long climb is rewarded by a great descent, headwinds have a payback, too. Eventually the road turns and the wind that has bedeviled you becomes your friend. Take advantage of this push by relaxing and pedaling easily. Recover while you can because the headwind's return is only one corner away!

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