Setting goals. As the off season wears on, now is the time to start defining what you want to achieve in the upcoming racing season. One of the biggest limiters an athlete can have is not setting clearly defined goals to help with accountability throughout a season.

When setting up goals, the best way to go about defining them is by using the SMART method. SMART stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

Let’s dive into each of these in a bit more detail.

I find indoor training to be useful for a variety of reasons. While I use it a lot more in the winter months, I will also use it during the summer if I have a specific session that requires focus. Here is a list, not extensive, of benefits of indoor cycling:

Focus. I will do a lot of key workouts indoors if it requires me to hit specific power targets. Outside riding has too many variables that might prevent a solid workout (such as stop signs/lights, cars, terrain that is not ideal for the session).

Work on Weakness. If you are weak in an area then the trainer can provide an uninterrupted space to allow you to focus. Do you need one leg drills?

Up next was the day I had been waiting for. I’d seen pictures of this epic climb and knew I just had to ride it at some point. Sa Calobra. It did not disappoint. To get to this famous col, we had to get in a few warmup climbs. Our route wound us out of town and up Coll de Femenia increasing our elevation and my excitement level exponentially. We arrived in a little town, Lluc, where we briefly explored an old monastery, before getting back on our bikes riding along a mountain ridgeline (um, they have a thing against guardrails here it seems) that would deposit us at the top of Sa Calobra.

Race day arrived and I was very ready to race. Since it gets light a bit later there, race morning wasn’t a super early wake up call. I think we got up around 5:15 a.m. to get ready and head down toward the race venue. Water temperature was reading at 61 degrees, and the air temp was only 55 degrees. This made me happy and just told myself the water would feel warm compared to the chill in the air.