Taylor Phinney talks about training, watts and Beijing

After an impressive win of the Tour de Pays du Vaud individual time trial in Switzerland, Taylor Phinney is back home in Boulder putting the final touches on his Olympic preparations. With less than two months before Beijing, Taylor took some time out of his jam-packed race and recovery schedule to answer a few questions about his training, his watts and his plans for the Olympics.

What races and/or training will you be doing to “gear up” for the Olympics?
Taylor: Training includes some track time in LA and some local races, or more likely, the Tour of Pennsylvania with VMG/Felt (which I have to do on junior gear restrictions). Then, in early July, I go to Cape Town for the Junior World Championships. There I hope to defend my individual time trial title on July 18th and also compete in the individual pursuit (3 km for juniors) on July 12th. I will train in Bordeaux for two weeks between the Worlds and the Olympics and fly direct from Europe to Beijing. My coach Neal Henderson from the Boulder Center of Sports Medicine and my parents are joining me on this lap around the world.

What is your favorite race and why?
Taylor: Paris-Roubaix because of the extreme difficulty and history of the event. I did it as a Junior with some bad luck (crashed several times) and hope to do it next year in Espoirs, and finally as a pro in the years to come.

Who would you like to be better than one day? For example, Fabian Cancellara - “Spartacas” - generated 700-800 watts for 2 minutes in his final attack during Milan-San Remo. When do you think you will be able to produce these numbers after 296 km of riding?
Taylor: Fabian Cancellara is one of my idols. If I could equal or better his results, it would be great. I have no idea when I’ll have the endurance to go 300 km and then sustain that sort of power. But I’ll be working on doing just that.

What kind of numbers do you produce now on the track?
Taylor: Average watts to do a 4′22″ 4 km individual pursuit (my PR) is about 500. Sprinting watts approach 1700 watts right now on the road (peak watts).

What is the one touristic, non-cycling thing you hope to do while in Beijing?
Taylor: I want to hang out with other US athletes in the Olympic Village. Maybe I’ll get to see the Great Wall and am going to see a few other events like Table Tennis and Gymnastics. I’m especially interested in the trampoline events (one of my hobbies at home is jumping on the tramp).