By Phil Gaimon

The Jelly Belly Pro Cycling Team had two training camps this year, with the first in the middle of January in Lake San Marcos, California. At this camp, we didn’t train much; we mostly came to pick up some of our equipment and swag, meet the sponsors, get the photo shoots out of the way and have a few laughs together.

Last week, we came back to the same hotel for the second camp, and it has been all business. I had just done some local racing in Florida the previous weekend, and got up at 3am on Monday to make my flight out to California. I survived the trip, said hi to the teammates, passed out for 12 hours, and woke up at 7 on Tuesday for a five-and-a-half-hour ride.

On Wednesday, we pre-rode the final stage of the Tour of California. It’s a beast. The whole course is through the hot, dry desert northeast of San Diego. The biggest climb of the whole stage race is Mount Palomar, and we’ll hit it in the first couple hours of a six-hour stage (after a week of hard racing). I think the peloton will explode on the climb, and a lot of riders will probably be abandoned, since it’s so far to the finish from there. At that point, the Cole Grade climb still looms, which isn’t as long, but is quite steep. After hurting each other up these climbs for four hours on our training ride, we were ready to head home easy, but encountered another few nasty hills that you don’t even notice on the stage profile, which will make them hurt all the more.

One of my teammates was up half the night with heat stroke after that ride, and Thursday was declared a rest day. This weekend, we’re heading to a couple local races up in the hills. The weather looks like it will be cold and rainy, and we understand that a few of the other big teams will be using these races as a tune-up as well. You really can’t cram for this sort of test, so as the race gets closer, the best we can do is train hard and recover harder. Racing together at least twice before the race should be a big help.

Beard update: It’s gone already. Yes, really. The director said to lose it. We have public appearances at candy shops and schools next weekend, and the sponsors wouldn’t want me looking homeless. I was allowed to leave a moustache, though, so we’ve gone from Survivorman to Miami Vice. It’s disappointing, but you have to be flexible in this business.