If training camps are so beneficial from a performance perspective, why don’t all pros live in one place? Well - it’s not that you can’t train to the best of your ability elsewhere - but more that whilst you can train from anywhere, bringing riders together in one place helps unify a team and give a full perspective on how each rider is performing. It can act as a ratchet for their motivation as they measure themselves against others in attendance.
January 14, 2022
Why do pro riders go to training camps?
Throughout the season, training camps litter the calendar of elite riders. While from the outside, these trips can appear as opportunities for riders to seek out some winter sun, they can be an incredibly useful tool for teams to identify issues, calibrate training goals, and ensure that riders are progressing and prepared to perform to the best of their ability.
1. Bringing everyone together
2. Educating riders on the tools and metrics that will indicate their performance
From being issued dietary advice to ensuring that stretches and weight training is completed to the best of the athlete’s ability, a training camp is an ideal way to ensure that riders understand the concepts that govern their sport, are executing the training required and maintaining discipline.
Reinforcing this understanding by taking advantage of the learning opportunity presented by camps serves to motivate and align riders to common goals - or simply to show them where their performance sits compared to their contemporaries.
3. Making the numbers real
Though we live in a data informed world, until you bring all the elements together, it’s hard to know what each piece of information actually tells you about how well conditioned a rider is. Of course, come race-day, this unpredictability is part of what makes our sport so thrilling. Whilst teams can be strong, it comes down to individual riders to fulfil their promise at the critical moment. In that regard, camps make sure that everyone is on the same page.
5. Hitting the reset button
Perhaps your training hasn’t been easy - bad weather, injury or something else has kept you off the bike. Maybe you’ve lost sight of what riding can be. A camp can connect you with the joy of riding. A change of scene and a focus on riding your bike can kick start a fitness program and help you set goals.
6. A change of scene
It happens. You get bored of your local roads. Hour after hour, the same places, the same routine, and getting complacent on your local climbs. Mixing it up offers a fresh challenge, a new perspective, and the chance to do something that feels different. Yes it’s riding, but it’s also exploring, meeting people, and often immersing yourself in another culture.
Want to keep your own training on course? Attend the Team EF Coaching Camp
Between March 22nd and 27th, we are excited to offer a training camp that connects you not juts with an elite training experience, but also offers the chance to interact with the team and its riders behind the scenes during the Volta a Catalunya.
Set in the idyllic surrounds of Artu near the Montnegre ridge, our camp is designed immerses you in the culture, climbs and cuisine of the area whilst helping you take your cycling to the next level.