Team Skyline Training Camp – La Primavera

The Texas training camp continues for Team Skyline with another long week of training and two days of racing at La Primavera in Lago Vista, TX.

After their first weekend of racing, Ryan DeWald and Garrett Olsen took a much deserved rest day to recover and prepare for the week ahead. Training continued leading up to another weekend of racing.

La Primavera Day 1

With the sun beating down on an 85 degree day, Team Skyline lined up to contest day 1 of La Primavera. Olsen started on the front row, with DeWald a few rows back.

“This is a training day for us,” explained Olsen. “Obviously, we are here to race, but in terms of motor pacing, in terms of condition, it is hard to recreate. We knew we weren’t going to come in with a fully loaded bazooka here.”

From the start though, Olsen set the tone for the day by unintentionally initiating what became a 15 man break.

“I was practicing my starts,” said Olsen. “I like to start out really, really hot, so I got off the front immediately. I was just going to integrate back into the pack, but when I created the separation, five guys rolled with me. They were like, ‘okay, we got a gap, lets go.'”

With the proposition of riding in a breakaway group for 83 miles, Olsen was unsure if it was the move he wanted to make. Very quickly, more riders joined, and the group became 14, and had a gap of about 800 meters. “It was like, alright, giddy-up, let’s go,” exclaimed Olsen.

DeWald stayed in the main field while his teammate was up the road. The break was able to get up almost a 4 minute lead before the field began to chase. The lead hovered around 2 minutes for some time until Heath Blackgrove (Boneshaker Project) moved to the front of the break and started setting the pace. Olsen knew the smart move was to find a wheel and save himself for the end, so he settled in and looked after himself in the heat. With about 20 miles left, the break was down to a group of 8 with small groups chasing behind.

Behind, the main field began to split apart as the heat took it’s toll. DeWald, who was riding conservatively, started to make moves to get back towards the front of the main field.

“It was fragmented apart,” explained DeWald. “Garrett’s group was up the road and got a big advantage. As the race heated up back in the field guys started popping off and gaps started forming. It ended up being a bunch of small groups. I was island hopping. I started to get aggressive and wanted to see what was in my legs. There was a group of four, a group of twelve, another group of four.”

The break’s lead came down to about 1 minute on a small chasing group, before Blackgrove again made a move that shattered the remaining break. Olsen decided to let him go, and instead, stayed with Kristian House (Rapha Condor-JTL) who arrived from the chasing group.

With what was left of the pack closing in, Olsen’s group of six was caught to form a large chasing group, with small groups ahead. With an all-star group, Olsen sat in until about 4 laps to go. Olsen followed a move up a climb, and later made a move of his own on another climb, and saw the group trim down. With two to go, a Boneshaker Project rider made a move, and Olsen followed. A few others were able to latch on, as the riders saw one to go. Olsen pushed the pace going into the final climb to the finish, but was unable to hold back some of the smaller riders, coming across to finish 13th.

“All in all, it was a great training day,” said Olsen. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to respond to things 83 miles in, but I’m happy with the results. I got 13th last year in the 2/3 race, and 13th this year in the Pro/1/2. It’s a testament to Ryan mentoring me the whole last year.”

Team Skyline unveiled their 2014 Kits

La Primavera was the first chance for Team Skyline to show off their new colors. In 2013, it was blue, white and black, but for 2014 the colors will black, green, and yellow. Vie13 continues to supply the kits for the elite, masters, and junior programs.

“We were riding in our Vie 13 summer kits. It was a key component. By having that light jersey and light bibs, we were staying cool while others were overheating. I knew it was going to be a serious factor on the day, and they were great.”

 La Primavera Day 2

The second day of racing was very different than the first. Instead of sun and heat, riders faced a cold, rainy day as they raced the course in the opposite direction. Temps started around 40 degrees, but dropped below 30 as the race went on.

“It was a gnarly day,” explained DeWald. “It wasn’t fun, let’s put it that way. We worked on some hill repeats, and we are just trying to race ourselves into shape here.”

The race was trimmed down to 13 laps from 15 due to concerns about the weather. Breaks went off the front from the beginning, but DeWald and Olsen stayed in the main bunch. As the race went on, gaps began to form throughout the entire course as riders battled the crosswinds, precipitation, and temperatures.

Instead of pushing on, and risking injury and sickness, both riders retired after seven laps and headed back to the Sprinter to recover from the brutal conditions.

“The race was fast,” said DeWald. “I’ve been coming down here a long time and the race was put together well. Don Hutchison does a great job. If anyone is looking to get out of town in the early season to go do a race, this is the race to do.”

A special thanks to Dark Horse Racing for supporting Team Skyline with bottle feeds both days of racing.

The Race Home

Little did they know, their day was just beginning.

After they packed up and thawed out, DeWald and Olsen began the trek back to their home away from home in Plano. What should have been a little more than a three hour trip, became a 12 hour crawl on roads that were becoming sheets of ice.

Along the way, multiple accidents happened right in front of the Sprinter. Cars spun out on more than one occasion, but they pressed on taking shifts behind the wheel. Instead of arriving home in the early evening, it was 3 AM until they made it safely home.

The Week Ahead

This past week was a little lighter than the previous two weeks, but would include more days of racing. After taking Monday as a recovery day, DeWald and Olsen were back out for training rides on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with a training crit Thursday night and a light day on Friday. Saturday, the 8th, the duo will be taking on the Fair Park Criterium in Dallas. The Pro/1/2/3 field will contest the fast, flat 1 mile course on the historic Fair Park Grounds for 70 minutes. Sunday, Team Skyline will line up for the 9th Annual Jesuit Ranger Roundup in Celina, TX, a 73 mile road race.

“We’re grinding down here, and putting on a stellar Skyline training camp to prepare us for the season,” said Dewald. “Our next big one is the first USA Crits race of the season [Delray Beach Twilight Criterium] on the 22nd. That’s what we’re really preparing for. Hopefully all this work we are doing down here will pay off, because those boys will be going hard in Florida.”