By Chuck Coyle
Team 7-UP
I
often
get
riders
and
friends
asking
me
questions
all
about
what
life
as
a
cyclist
is
like.
I
get
questions
anywhere
from
diet
and
daily
mileage
all
the
way
to,
"Chuck,
how
do
you
spend
all
your
spare
time?"
(that
is
a
common
one
from
my
mom).
It
certainly
is
not
the
most
glamorous
lifestyle
(and
the
stories
about
super
hottie
groupies
are
only
myths!)
but
it
is
a
nice
life
never
the
less;
I
mean
hey,
you
get
paid
to
ride
your
bike.
A
couple
weeks
ago
I
saw
a
friend
of
mine
(and
ex-pro
cyclist)
Wayne
Roth,
he
told
me
that
I
should
continue
racing
as
long
as
I
could
and
to
avoid
"real
life"
for
as
long
as
possible.
Although
he
has
the
best
intentions
I
think
that
he
has
a
bit
of
a
selective
memory
and
only
recalls
the
good
aspects
of
racing
and
the
associated
life.
His
newfound
life
of
big
8am-7pm
days
in
the
office
must
have
blocked
out
all
the
bad
aspects
of
racing
like
the
incredibly
meager
and
frugal
life
that
most
cyclists
are
doomed
to
live.
Anyway,
these
things
have
prompted
me
to
take
a
look
at
what
my
days
consist
of
and
to
figure
out
"how
do
I
indeed
fill
my
spare
time?"
Before
I
get
into
that
I
have
to
comment
on
this
weekend's
race.
While
a
small
gaggle
of
the
7-Up
boys
(or
would
it
be
more
appropriate
to
call
them
a
small
murder)
were
down
in
the
Orlando,
Fla.
area
participating
in
the
Festival
Of
Speed
(where
they
placed
both
days!),
a
couple
of
us
hit
the
Excel
Sports
criterium.
The
usual
suspects
were
present
with
the
ever-present
Mercury
quartet
along
with
100
other
riders
who
were
ready
to
take
home
some
primes
or
part
of
the
cash
purse.
The
race
was
blistering
from
the
gun
with
attacks
galore
and
little
moves
going
up
the
road
whenever
another
one
was
absorbed.
About
20
minutes
into
the
race
a
move
containing
my
teammate
Clark
Sheehan
had
just
been
brought
back
and
everyone
was
trying
to
catch
his
breath
on
the
top
of
the
small
climb.
I
rode
up
next
to
Clark
and
he
gave
me
a
wink
and
a
big
shove
from
behind.
This
shove
was
his
way
of
telling
me
that
it
was
time
to
make
a
run
for
it.
I
gunned
it
over
the
top
of
the
climb,
sat
on
the
nose
of
my
saddle
and
hammered
down
to
the
bottom
right
hand
corner.
As
soon
as
I
came
out
of
the
corner
I
heard
Scott
Moninger
(Mercury)
yell,
"Go
Chuck,
we
have
a
gap!"
I
accelerated
once
again
to
the
next
corner
when
I
gave
Scott
the
international
sign
to
pull
through
(a
flick
of
the
ol’
elbow)
and
he
then
put
in
a
big
effort
along
the
start
finish
straight.
One
lap
later
Mercury
strong
man
Henk
Voguls
bridged
up
to
us
and
yelled,
"Scott,
drill
it!!"
and
Scott
did!
They
took
one
Herculean
pull
each
and
we
were
gone.
Henk’s
pull
along
the
start
finish
straight
was
a
thing
of
beauty;
he
was
dragging
us
along
the
start/finish
straight
into
a
slight
crosswind
at
36mph!
I
was
then
faced
with
a
big
dilemma;
to
pull
or
not
to
pull,
that
was
my
question.
I
could
either
sit
on
the
mini
Mercury
train
and
go
when
one
of
them
decided
to
attack
me
or
I
could
roll
through
and
hope
for
the
best.
I
decided
to
pull
through
hoping
that
if
I
worked
we
would
have
a
better
chance
of
staying
away
and
I
also
thought
they
might
be
less
likely
to
want
to
attack
me.
We
flew
along,
lapping
big
groups
of
riders
as
we
went
and
had
½
a
lap
lead
on
the
first
chase
group,
we
were
certain
to
stay
away.
Then,
with
four
laps
to
go,
Henk
decided
that
he
didn’t
need
my
help
anymore
and
attacked
going
up
the
hill
on
the
backside
of
the
course.
I
had
just
taken
a
pull
and
I
tried
to
go
with
him
but
he
was
absolutely
hammering.
I
took
another
big
pull
and
tried
the
flicking
of
the
elbow
to
see
if
Scott
would
help
me
but
he
said,
"Sorry
man,
I
can’t
pull
through."
By
this
he
didn’t
mean
that
he
wasn’t
able
to
work
with
me,
it
was
just
that
he
was
not
about
to
help
me
chase
down
his
own
teammate.
My
only
option
was
to
put
my
head
down
and
go
like
hell.
I
held
Henk
to
about
10
seconds
and
was
closing
on
him
bit
by
bit.
With
2-to-go
I
looked
back
and
saw
that
Chris
Wherry
(another
Mercury)
was
trying
a
solo
bridge
up
to
our
little
group.
Scott
was
giving
me
a
bunch
of
encouragement
but
was
not
going
to
help
me
out
especially
if
Mercury
had
the
chance
to
go
1,
2
&3
onto
the
podium.
I
kept
pressing
down
on
the
pedals
as
hard
as
I
could
and
everything
was
looking
good,
I
was
not
going
to
reel
in
Henk
but
I
was
not
about
to
get
caught
by
anyone
either.
Going
into
the
final
200
meters
I
was
throttling
it
hoping
that
since
I
had
pulled
for
the
last
4
laps
Scott
would
let
me
have
2nd
place……
with
about
50
meters
to
go
Scott
jumped
off
of
my
wheel
and
made
a
dash
for
the
line.
I
was
spent
and
could
only
watch
him
as
he
crossed
the
line
just
ahead
of
me.
I
am
still
happy
with
my
first
podium
spot
of
the
year,
hopefully
things
will
only
get
better
from
here
on
in!
Back
to
training:
The
typical
training
week
is
a
seemingly
endless
circle
of
riding
and
maximizing
my
recovery
time.
Since
I
am
prepping
for
the
bigger
races
that
are
coming
up
in
a
few
weeks
I
have
needed
to
‘train
through’
most
of
the
recent
races
that
I
have
been
doing.
Last
weekend
I
raced
both
Sat
&
Sun
(with
Sunday
being
a
120
mile
hard
day).
Here
is
my
week
of
training
that
followed
starting
last
Mon
April
8:
Mon-
2
hours,
medium-tempo
Tues-
3.5
hours
medium-tempo
with
a
bunch
of
90"
all
out
intervals;
these
hurt
a
lot
because
I
still
hadn’t
fully
recovered
from
Sun’s
race.
Wed-
2
hours
on
the
TT
bike
in
the
morning
with
multiple
10’
intervals
followed
by
1.5
hours
of
easy
recovery
spin
late
in
the
afternoon.
I
felt
better
today
but
it
took
the
afternoon
spin
to
feel
OK,
I
was
wrecked
at
the
beginning
of
the
spin.
Thurs-
5.5
hours
up
in
the
mountains
surrounding
Boulder
with
my
heart
rate
in
zones
3
&
4
(out
of
5).
I
finally
felt
good
again
and
was
able
to
push
the
climbs
and
not
suffer
too
terribly.
Fir-
2.5
hours
zones
1-2
(to
try
and
recover
for
the
crit
on
Sat)
Sat-
3.5
hours.
Race
aforementioned
crit
but
rode
to
and
from
the
race,
on
the
way
home
I
went
pretty
hard
just
to
try
and
extend
the
race
intensity
by
a
little
bit
(race
was
about
1
hour
away)
Sun-
5
hours.
There
was
no
race
so
I
did
an
aggressive
group
ride
up
in
the
mountains
on
some
of
the
Saturn
Cycling
Classic
Course.
The
total
for
the
week
is
about
26
hours
on
the
bike.
This
week
I
am
going
to
try
and
put
in
more
hours
and
incorporate
more
climbing
(around
30
hours)
to
help
get
my
body
better
adapted
to
long
and
hard
multiple
days.
I
then
will
bring
the
hours
down
next
week
because
we
are
doing
the
Tour
of
the
Gila
stage
race
in
Silver
City,
NM
soon
and
I
want
to
be
well
rested
for
it.
That
is
how
I
spend
my
time
on
the
bike;
here
is
what
I
did
off
it:
Mon:
Slept
late
and
finally
got
on
the
bike
by
11.
Then
stretch,
shower,
eat
and
then
go
to
an
early
BBQ
hosted
by
Kerry
Sorricci-Schmats
(Team
Diet
Rite).
Home
by
8
and
get
to
bed
early.
Tues:
Ride
until
2,
stretch
and
eat.
Work
on
both
TT
&
road
bikes,
they
were
in
need
of
some
love,
especially
my
rode
bike,
which
I
had
not
cleaned
since
Sun’s
dirt
road
Roubaix
style
race.
That
evening
I
went
to
my
team
manager
Jeff’s
house
to
try
and
convince
him
that
I
was
shorted
a
skinsuit
at
the
beginning
of
the
season.
Wed:
Ride
in
the
am,
eat,
and
relax.
I
take
a
run
into
Boulder,
stop
by
my
teammate
Clark’s
house
and
pop
into
one
of
the
local
bike
shops
to
say
hey
to
the
boys.
Spin
easy
late
in
the
afternoon,
veg-out
on
the
couch
and
get
in
some
good
quality
TV
time.
Thurs:
Ride
until
4,
shower,
stretch
and
eat.
I
run
a
couple
errands
but
am
tired
from
today’s
ride.
Hang
out
for
the
rest
of
the
evening
at
my
teammate
Dan’s
house
and
watch
some
OLN
cycling
coverage.
We
decided
that
it
would
be
cool
to
go
and
do
the
Tour
de
Fasso
after
watching
it.
We
thought
that
it
would
be
a
fun
race
and
a
great
way
to
experience
Africa
even
though
it
would
be
like
racing
inside
of
a
hair-dryer.
Fri:
Get
up,
pick
up
my
bike
from
my
friend
Fernando’s
house
(he
is
an
ex-Saturn
mechanic
and
an
all-around
bike
wizard),
he
found
and
eliminated
my
mystery
squeak
that
I
could
not
get
to
stop
no
matter
what
I
did.
Ride
until
2,
shower,
stretch,
and
eat.
Surf
the
internet,
get
in
a
quick
nap,
hit
Starbucks
and
go
get
a
much-needed
massage
at
5.
That
night
I
had
to
go
back
to
Jeff’s
house
because
I
found
the
skinsuit
that
I
was
certain
he
hadn’t
given
me
at
the
beginning
of
the
year,
I
then
went
to
see
a
movie
but
took
it
easy
‘cuz
I
had
to
race
the
next
day.
Sat:
Eat
a
late
breakfast
and
head
off
to
the
crit.
I
finally
got
home
around
4pm,
eat,
stretch,
shower
and
go
to
a
BBQ
at
my
friend
Billy’s
house.
I
stayed
out
waaay
to
late
but
I
had
to
celebrate
the
day’s
podium
finish.
Sun:
I
got
up
super
early
to
watch
the
Paris-Roubaix
on
ONL,
I
actually
went
to
a
Breakfast-Roubaix
party
and
then
we
went
for
a
ride
directly
from
there.
I
finally
got
home
around
4pm,
shower
and
eat.
I
somehow
managed
to
combine
a
late
lunch
with
dinner
and
spent
most
of
the
night
eating
and
snacking
on
anything
that
wasn’t
nailed
down.
Today
I
got
up
just
to
start
the
vicious
cycle
all
over
again…………
The
Tour
of
the
Gila
that
we
are
doing
in
a
couple
weeks
is
a
gnarly
5-day
race
starting
with
a
tough
TT
and
followed
stages
4
stages
of
long
days
in
the
saddle
and
long
climbs
each
day.
Even
the
crit
on
day
4
has
a
nice
little
hill
in
it!
Last
year
Scott
Moninger
(Mercury)
won
3
stages
and
the
overall
but
I
do
not
think
he
will
be
able
two-peat
in
the
same
fashion.
This
year
most
of
the
teams
are
taking
the
"Gila"
a
lot
more
seriously
and
everyone
wants
a
piece
of
those
coveted
NRC
points.
Thanks
For
Reading!
Chuck
More
of
Chuck's
chronicles
can
be
found
here.
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