It was a weekend of great contrast here in the land of the coached.

The latest adventure started in Crested Butte last Friday when I got a call from the VeloNews edit desk. Turned out one Lance Armstrong was going to be racing near Aspen the following Sunday, and they wanted to know if I could pop by and grab an interview. The recently un-retired Tour champ would be contesting the 12 Hours of Snowmass cross-country race, and hopefully talking more about why he’s decided to turn in his AARP membership card.

I, on the other hand, was in Crested Butte a day ahead of participating in my first Pearl Pass Tour, an annual ride that this year celebrated its 32nd anniversary. The event first happened back in the mid-1970s long before anyone had ever heard of mountain biking.

Instead weighty one-speed klunkers with coaster brakes were the mode of transport for the ride over a gnarly jeep road that tops out above 12,000 feet and connects then-grungy Crested Butte with still-hoity-toity Aspen. Back then beer subsisted for Gatorade, cut-off jeans replaced chamois shorts, and a little 420-green filled in for EPO and all the other stuff we hear about today.

Over the years, the Pearl Pass Tour became a proving ground, as fat-tire technology evolved. Legends such as Gary Fisher, Scott Nicol, Tom Ritchey and Joe Breeze can all be spotted in early event photos, testing out the gear that helped make mountain biking the great sport it is today. This year, outside of Mountain Bike Hall of Fame co-directors (and inductees) Don Cook and his wife Kay Peterson-Cook, there were no luminaries along for the ride. Instead it was a mix of Crested Butte locals and curious out-of-towners like myself.

Now I won’t sit here and tell you riding Pearl Pass was the most fun I’ve ever had on a mountain bike. As a matter of fact, much of the leisurely-paced, seven-hour trip was spent pushing our bikes along one of the rockiest roads I’ve ever encountered. But I will say that the views were eye-popping spectacular, the company friendly and interesting, and the experience worthwhile for anyone seeking a little adventure with a cool historical twist.

What it must have been like back in those fledgling days when mountain biking was in its infancy. Imagine the ecstasy experienced by those early pioneers who were riding around in the woods for the first time.

At the other end of the spectrum was the return of Lance. The news — first reported here on VeloNews.com — has the sport buzzing during a time of year when most fans attention typically turns to fantasy football, baseball playoffs and cyclocross. Instead, we’ve all been left to ponder such delicious questions as, who fetches the bottles, Lance or Alberto? Or if they end up on different teams (a much more likely scenario if you ask me), can an aging Armstrong hang with the young gun when he gives him the look and takes off up Alpe d’Huez like a turbo-charged moped. My money is on the kid, but having Le Boss back will certainly makes things interesting.

Already his effect is being felt. Under normal circumstances, the crowd at the first-year Snowmass race would have consisted of moms, dads, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends and confused passersby. Instead, there was an actual crowd, plus a bunch of media types, including Denver’s two daily newspapers, The Associated Press and even a duo from L’Equipe — Lance’s favorite French sports daily.

After the awards ceremony, Armstrong played it pretty close to the vest when asked about his return (more news will be unveiled on September 24th in New York City). But it’s clear he’s in part motivated by the common notion of cycling “before” being “dirty” and cycling “now” being at least “less dirty,” which in turn is a slap at what he accomplished during those seven Julys in France. Anyway, it’s going to be fun watching it all play out.

So what does any of this have to do with the usual contents of this column? Well, nothing really. But it all made for an interesting weekend. After chasing Armstrong around on Sunday, I saddled back up on the mountain bike and rode back to Crested Butte where my car was parked. And being that I didn’t feel like re-tracing Pearl Pass or navigating another more unfamiliar backwoods path, I opted for a paved road/fire road route that covered about 90 miles and included McClure Pass and Kebler Pass. Unlike the route over Pearl Pass, these roads were smooth — so smooth that I would have been far better off with a road bike. But oh well, a tough day of biking is better than a lot of other things.

Okay, that’s it from me for this week. Next go round I promise to be more on point, as I start to make an earnest effort to transition into cyclocross racing mode.

Also, the coach is back from Beijing, settled and answering questions again. If you’d like to ask Neal Henderson a question, please send e-mail to CoachNealQandA@gmail.com. Remember to include your name and hometown. Questions may be edited for content and clarity. Here are this week’s queries.

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Hi Coach,

I am a former Cat. 3 racer who quit cycling for two years and pretty much ate anything I wanted and lifted weights like I was a power lifter. I didn’t want to quit, but life got in the way and I sold my bike. Now I’m back working at a bike shop and currently have a bike that I can train on.

I really want to lose the weight and get back to where I was. I won the Cat. 3 state crit championships in my last year of racing and was curious if I can get back to that level. I’ve always been a big guy, and was curious how I could go about getting the form I once had. Is it possible?

Should I just ride until it’s time to start preparing for next year’s season, and then work on base training? Or should I just keep my heart rate low and start my base training early so I can get back my endurance back? Should I continue to lift weights even though I’ve been lifting for two years, or just work on my core strength and spend my time riding as much as possible?
Sincerely,
Shaun

Hi Shaun,

It’s always easier to get back to a level of fitness that you’ve already been to because you know what it took to get there. So I would definitely say that yes you should be able to get back to that level. Going to an even higher level of fitness is almost always a possibility, but the dedication that it takes is more of a challenge. The biggest difficulty is going to be how long will it take to get back.

You’ll need to be somewhat patient, and plan on losing about 1-2 lbs per week in general. If you try to do much more than that you’ll likely be taking in too little fuel to allow your training to become effective. There is always a balance between eating to lose weight and exercising to improve performance.

I would encourage you to start by doing an extended base training phase to be sure that your body is prepared for more intense training from both a physiological as well as orthopedic standpoint. During your base training, most of the riding might be relatively low intensity ... but it’s OK to have one day of intervals performed near your current heart rate and/or power threshold, as well as one day per week of short sprints (5-15 seconds long).

I would have you reduce the time that you spend weight training, as it sounds as if you are going to be strong enough and just maintain core strength and stability and spend the extra time riding or even cross training (hiking, running, swimming, etc.) Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box!
Good luck,
Neal

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Hi Neal,

How much will lactate threshold testing help me when I have not really gotten my threshold up to a trained level?
Thanks,
Greg Shoffner

Hi Greg,

I would definitely recommend doing an LT test. The test is not for me to know how fit you are, but it’s about finding out how hard YOU should be working to ensure that you can make your training most effective. The best time to test is early in a base phase, then the next best time is after a base phase, and the last time that I would test someone is once they’re at a peak (assuming that I’ve already tested them earlier).
Best of luck,
Neal

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Editor’s Note: Jason Sumner is a 37-year-old, 170-pound freelance writer and Cat. 4 bike racer who is working with a cycling coach – and training with power – for the first time in his life. Sumner underwent a full battery of lab tests at the beginning of the season, producing a 250-watt lactate threshold, a 3.2 watts per kilogram score and a VO2 max of 51.5. His 2008 goals include improving on his usual mid-pack finishes, not getting dropped on the weekend group rides, and learning something along the way. He is documenting his experiences for VeloNews.com is this twice-monthly column.

His coach, Neal Henderson, is sports science manager at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and a well-regarded elite-level coach. Henderson’s clients include Garmin-Chipotle’s Taylor Phinney, Jelly Belly’s Scott Tietzel and Trish Downing, a nationally ranked paraplegic athlete. Henderson is also the winter triathlon coach for the U.S. national triathlon team, and this year was named USA Cycling National Development Coach of the Year. Henderson is working with Jason Sumner on a pro bono basis.