After settling in to our desert oasis, we went for a ride. Many extremely strange things happened today. That’s why I like traveling so much! It’s just been one great adventure already. Just five minutes after leaving the hotel parking lot, I sensed something was looking at me. I turned to my left and there, sticking its head out of an SUV like a dog, was a full-grown cheetah! I was so excited because a cheetah is my favorite animal and here it was, just inches from my face. I was so bummed I didn’t have my camera.

We rode on and into the desert. Everything looked exactly the same and we couldn’t see more than 2 kilometers down the road because of the sand and dust in the air. I just read in the newspaper this morning that yesterday there were over 120 car accidents because of the dust storm. Can you imagine being on your bike in a dust storm? That would be nuts…

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Director’s report from Johnny Weltz:

A dramatic day in the desert! It was a very windy day that started at the camel track. We rolled out easy and after 2 km two minor riders took off, so no one chased. The leader jersey’s team let the gap grow and grow until it came to 22 minutes and no one had moved! The leader ’steam could not decide to chase or not!

So we started to chase, but after a right turn we headed into a strong cross-wind, and ‘it’ hit the fan! The field blew into several groups, but we were well presented in the front. Then in a moment a rider took out Martijn’s front wheel so he and Cozza crashed, which cut Murilo off from front group as well. Cozza left with a broken collar bone.

Now Tyler was the only man in front group with 20 riders. with several teams represented with multiple riders. They stuck together until 8 km to go , when they start the attacks. For Tyler it would have been OK to finish in the front group at same time as the others, even if we didn’t catch the two breakaway riders — hey will lose time anyway this week. But as Tyler was isolated alone he wasn’t able to keep the group together and lost some time to the GC riders. Danny and Murilo came in in the second group.

One of Team Garmin-Transitions’ new riders from its U23 development program, Kirk Carlsen, is making his debut at the top level of the sport at the Tour of Qatar. VeloNews is following the neo-pro for the entire 2010 season.

On Sunday afternoon, American Kirk Carlsen will pin on his first number as ProTour-level rider before the team time trial at the Tour of Qatar. After years of racing for Garmin’s under-23 team, Felt-Holowesko Partners, Carlsen said he already feels at home with Garmin-Transitions.

Still, it’s a thrilling step up, he said.

“I’m not so much intimidated, but more excited,” Carlsen said. “I want to show people that I can race at this level. And obviously it’s really cool to be racing with the guys that I’ve always been watching on TV or reading about in the news.”

Carlsen grew up in New Hampshire, where his grandfather and uncle got him into cycling.

“I grew up in the projects with my mother,” Carlsen said. “I did a race as a 7-year-old and got second. Pretty much from there on I was hooked.”

After that first race on a Huffy mountain bike, Carlsen soon graduated to a road bike. He moved in with his grandparents when he was 11, and weekend training rides became the norm.

“I started doing nationals when I was about 13, and have done them pretty much every year since then,” he said.

In 2008, he won the U23 national road race after a 30-plus-mile solo attack.

Besides racing for Felt-Holowesko Partners, Carlsen earned European racing experience with the U.S. national team.

Read the entire feature on VeloNews.

Director’s report from Johnny Weltz:

The team time trial was only 8.2 km and for sure we were very motivated as the course fit us well, and after some practice at our training camp we had a good order set. It was very windy so it made for a rocky ride. The boys all rode strong as a group until 2km when Cozza missed a few meters in a shift and got dropped — as did Danny and Kirk with a couple of km to go. Tyler took the last 700 meters by himself and clocked the best Time of the day, 10 second ahead of second place but shortly after Sky rolled in. The winner’s time ended up being eight seconds faster than us. But that times leaves Tyler in a very good position for tomorrow .

VeloNews’ European editor Andrew Hood interviews Team Garmin-Transitions’ Ryder Hesjedal about his breakthrough 2009 season and what he hopes for in 2010.

Following a breakthrough 2009 season, highlighted by a mountaintop stage victory in the Vuelta a España, it’s no surprise that Ryder Hesjedal is hungry for more.

What is somewhat surprising is the race where he says he has some unfinished business – the Monte Paschi Eroica across the dusty dirt roads of Tuscany, where he’s finished 10th two years in a row.

The tall Canadian has twice figured in the late-race decisive moves on the strade bianche, a kind of Italian-style Roubaix across gravel roads that remind him of the logging roads he trains on in Victoria Island in Canada.

“I have my mind on Eroica, I’ve been trying to get my head around that one,” Hesjedal told VeloNews. “I’ve been close in two tries – that would be a beautiful victory. I love that race.”

Eroica, March 6, will be the first early season goal as Hesjedal motors into his third year with Garmin-Transitions as he builds on the momentum that comes with a breakthrough Vuelta stage victory last September.

That mountaintop grand tour stage victory only confirms in Hesjedal’s mind that he’s on track for even bigger things.

“I am very excited to see where we can pick up this season,” Hesjedal said during a break in the team’s training camp in Calpe last week. “I feel stronger than I did going into last season. I just want to continue to create opportunities for myself.”

Read the entire interview on VeloNews

Check-out an in-depth profile of Garmin-Transitions’ former Irish national champion Dan Martin in an interview with Velonation.

2010 is going to be a very important year for Irishman Dan Martin, who in his first two pro seasons has marked himself out as one of the top young talents in the sport. The climbing specialist is aiming to ride his first Tour de France as support for Garmin Transitions leader Christian Vande Velde and, if he is selected, should learn a lot about the race and lay the foundation for his own future campaigns.

Martin has been highlighted as a future star by team manger Jonathan Vaughters, who earnestly believes that he will leave his mark on the sport. Vaughters states that while it is too soon to know if Martin can bid for overall glory in three-week Tours, he is confident that his glittering climbing abilities will – at the very least – help the rider compete strongly in other events, such as the hilly Classics.

As proof of that, Vaughters has pointed to Martin’s performances in the 2009 GP Ouest France and Giro di Lombardia, where he was fifth and eighth respectively.

Martin first highlighted his ability as a professional rider when, in his first pro season and at a mere 21 years of age, he won the mountainous Route du Sud. In doing so, he rode with panache and confidence to beat experienced riders such as Christophe Moreau. He also followed in the footsteps of Vaughters, who triumphed there back in 1999.

Confidence on a high, he dominated the Irish championships one week later. He then went on to post a number of other strong results, including tenth in the Tour of Portugal and fourth in the Tour of Britain.

Last season Martin continued his progression in the sport. He finished third overall in the Tour of the Mediterranean and then went on to stun the field in the ProTour Volta a Catalunya event, attacking race leader Alejandro Valverde and finishing second on a mountain stage. He ended the race second overall.

Read the entire interview on Velonation.

In response to a recent reader comment we present to you another edition of Millar Time, with your host David Millar. In this episode Canadian cyclist of the decade Ryder Hesjedal gets grilled about his mysterious new wheels:

Team Holowesko Partners U23 rider Danny Summerhill is interviewed just before the world championships in Tabor, Czech Republic.

Team Garmin-Transitions took advantage of sunny weather in Calpe to do some team time trial practice, as well as some new wheel testing with the crew from Mavic. Riders like David Millar, Ryder Hesjedal and Tom Danielson were swapping various types of wheels and giving valuable feedback to Mavic.

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While the riders suffer through rain-soaked training rides, the mechanics stay dry; but are still hard at work getting the last of the bikes built for the season.

One of our perceptive Argyle fans posed a question regarding our new wheel sponsor Mavic:

I’m so glad the season has started. It was good to see so many attacks by the Garmin boys at the TDU.
I have a wheel question. For a lot of the races you’ll probably be using the Mavic Carbone Ultimate or something. What wheel or wheels will the boys be using for mountain stages this year and for training?

Thanks,
Nathan B.

We got our man who is all things equipment Will Frischkorn on the horn right away to get the details. “For climbing the guys will have a choice of three wheelsets — the Carbon Cosmic Ultimate, the R-Sys Ultimate or when the conditions are wet, the R-Sys Premium with its metal rim.” As well, Will went into detail about all the team’s various wheels and their uses.

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Report from Team Physiologist Adrie van Diemen:

This training camp in Calpé, Spain we started off with the physiology testing of all the riders attending. The riders racing Tour down Under will attend later and do also the physiology testing. Building a training plan involves always defining the training load for each rider. The training load consists on the intensity, the duration and frequency of the training.

With the physiology testing we began by defining each rider’s individual training zones so we know the intensity where each rider will be training. The test consists of workloads of starting at 2 1/2 watt/kg body weight which was increased every five and later every ten minutes during the test with ½ watt/kg body weight. The long periods of work load gives a real steady state. At that point we are sure that the physiological parameters measured like oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide production as well as heart rate, fat burning rate and blood lactate values in the blood elicit the real physiological responses to the the workload that is given to a rider.

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Director’s Report from Chann McRae:

Team Holowesko Partners U23 development squad put in an impressive effort at the Tour of Bahamas this weekend. Taylor Sheldon won the first stage with a solo attack with only 10km remaining. On Stage 2 TT, Taylor placed second, and Caleb Fairly third, behind Floyd.

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