Tag Archive for: Caleb Bender

PCC Athletes podium at Hatzic

Caleb Bender (centre) and Amiel Flett-Brown (right)

Two PCC athletes podiumed on Sunday at the Hatzic Valley Road Race in Mission, BC. Caleb Bender (Team California) won the elite race while Amiel Flett-Brown (Pathfinders Project) came third. The 116km race was ideal for fine tuning the athletes for the Canadian Road Nationals Championship later on this week Edmonton, Alberta.

Bender won the race with a final uphill push that gave him a one minute, 50 second lead from the main peloton. Flett-Brown was chasing the two leaders and was gaining time on them but ran out of the distance.

It was a long day for the two athletes and head coach Houshang Amiri, leaving PCC offices at Saanich Commonwealth Place at 5:45 am to take the ferry, returning at 8:30 pm. “But it was worth doing it,” said Amiri. “They both gained some good experience practicing their race skill tactics and dealing with challenging weather. It was very wet and raining and for first half and then sunny and warm for the second half of the race.”

Eight PCC coached riders are planning to race at the Canadian Road Nationals.

Caleb Bender takes Gold in TT Challenge

Photos by Lori Swanstrom

PCC athlete Caleb Bender competed in the 2020 Time Trial Challenge at Westshore Velodrome in Victoria last month coming away with a gold medal. Here is his account of the competition.

Mid August last year I was wrapping up a long season of racing with the track provincial championships, slowly shifting from a race every other weekend to off-season base miles. Of course 2020 is far from a typical year. August 22 marked my first race weekend since February, with a day of safely run and social distanced individual timed events courtesy of the Greater Victoria Velodrome Association. With a few weeks of Dr. Walker/PCC track time in the legs and a bike themed mask for between races, it was time to get back to racing.

The day consisted of three timed events, with different age groups running at different times throughout the day to minimize athletes on track at one time. A flying 200m kicked things off, followed by the Kilo and the Individual Pursuit. With minimal wind it was set to be a good day against the clock, and I was looking forward to testing the legs at race pace for the first time in quite a while. The weekend also presented an opportunity for me to do my first 4km IP in a race.

Despite being a day of solo efforts under the conditions of the new normal we all know so well now, the time trial challenge still felt like any other race day. I wouldn’t have thought that I’d miss all the planning and prep involved pre and post race, but the warm-up, recovery, and nutrition between events oddly provided the atmosphere I’d missed in this “training year.” Even a bit of the pre-race nerves kicked in!

Overall, I was satisfied with the efforts I had on the weekend, setting a new PB in the 200m and pushing myself for my first 4km IP. Another plus from the weekend was the chance to identify what needed a little bit of fine tuning in my efforts. Finding the little things that I could work on gave the chance to set some motivating short-term goals: something that is always tricky to do in the necessary absence of competition.

My thanks go out to the GVVA for hosting a safe and responsibly run day of racing. I’d also like to thank Houshang and Pacific Cycling Centre for the training, direction, and support over the past few months (and years). Looking forward to what comes next, whatever that may be!

TT Challenge results

Training during a Pandemic – Caleb Bender

A forced winter training schedule allowed PCC Athlete Caleb Bender to do time on his indoor trainer. But now back in Victoria he is getting back into a routine and planning a mammoth challenge.

The past four months have been eventful to say the least. From quarantine to race cancellations it’s been quite a crazy few months on the bike. The first race cancellations happened midway through a month and a half training block down south in Tucson AZ while preparing for my first year of U23 racing. From there plans quickly changed from preparing for a busy year with my TaG Cycling teammates to getting home as quickly as possible while talk of border closures was still up in the air. After a quick rebooking of flights, I was back at my home in Saskatchewan a week later.

For me, having a sense of consistency and routine was an important step to adapting to an ever-changing situation. Spending some time at home was an important step to this, although there were some challenges. The biggest of these involved the two feet of snow that greeted me when I got home. Being mid-March I’d came home with a month of winter weather remaining, meaning a month of trainer miles. On the bright side, being winter in small town Saskatchewan the following two weeks of quarantine didn’t feel like much of a change from my usual winter training routine at home.

After the snow melted, things slowly started to pick up again, with longer rides and some intervals training. Unfortunately, in typical Saskatchewan fashion there was also wind, and lots of it. Over the next couple of months there were weeks where I would be stuck on the trainer over half the week just because it was unsafe to ride outside from the wind. Thankfully with coach Houshang’s guidance I was able to adapt my training in a way that made the best use of the weather (and single paved road) I had to work with on most days, while still maintaining fitness under the less than ideal conditions. Despite the weather, I was still able to get in some 200km days in the legs. I also kept motivated with weekly trips out to my “local climb,” a valley an hour and a half drive from my house for a few 4-5 hour “climbing days” (with a few KOM attempts thrown in).

Now midway through July I’ve been back in Victoria for about three weeks, and slowly things are back on schedule. With Tuesday TT’s, Wednesday training time on the track, and lots of long rides in the mix there’s a lot to keep me motivated. Now that I’m back on schedule I find the long endurance rides to be the most motivating part of my training and enjoy pushing to reach a set distance or elevation gain target each day.

What’s keeping me especially motivated these upcoming weeks is an Everesting that Alex Amiri and I have planned on August 1st, in support of the MS Society of Canada. This will be a huge challenge, but I’m looking forward to the opportunity to push myself for an incredible cause. Watch this space to find out how you can support us!

Although racing is still on hold, I’m looking forward to finding new challenges to push myself in the meantime. Although far from ideal, I’m learning to enjoy some of the opportunities I have this year that I wouldn’t normally have in a full race season, while of course waiting for the time we can all race again safely. In the meantime, I’m looking forwards to more big days in the saddle to come!

Tucson Training Report from Caleb Bender

Photo by Alex Amiri

PCC’s Caleb Bender was training in Tucson last month. Here is his report and an update since he returned to Canada.

Reporting post ride, shower, and recovery meal, at the time of writing (before current events created the necessity to stop group rides) I’m getting mentally prepared for a massive day in the saddle as part of my pre-season race preparation in Tucson, Arizona. Tomorrow, I’m taking part in the “Shootout” group ride, a drop ride that leaves downtown Tucson and turns any long, quiet, and stop-less road into a full gas effort as intense as some races, if not more so. My group leaves at 7:00 am and splits into two options; a 60km ride for short intensity, and my challenge, a roughly 160 km ride turning around at the top of Madera Canyon – a gradually increasing gradient climb, 20 km long and 750 m of climbing, with finishing grades well above 10% in the final kilometers. And yup, the last 7 km are flat out to the top. North American Conti and Pro-Conti riders regularly attend to fire some shots off the front and take advantage of the perfect desert weather this time of year. With my commute to downtown, I’m looking at 230 km and over 1500 m of climbing. I’m anticipating a mid-afternoon nap in my near future.

This will be my third time taking on the full shootout ride in the five weeks I’ve been down, and my fourth ride over 200 km in that span of time as well. I arrived down south on February 6th, and for those who know of the tendency for Saskatchewan winters to follow me, I didn’t even bring a blizzard to the desert! (this time… yes it snowed last time I was here). To get prepared for my first season of U23 and Cat 1-2 racing some huge miles are needed. Thankfully, Tucson is the perfect place to get in those miles, complete with rolling hills, false flats, and Mount Lemmon; a cyclists’ dream of a climb taking the best in the world over 1.25 hours to get up, and the opportunity to replenish all the carbs you’ve lost in the past week with a fresh baked cookie larger than your face at the top.

A couple days after Pacific Cycling Centre’s February training camp, which provided me with a solid five-day training block with a great group of people to get the legs back into race form, I flew off to Tucson. My first three weeks down south were part of a team training and race prep camp with TaG Cycling Race Team, which included Valley of the Sun Stage Race in Phoenix Arizona. Although my Cat 1 race debut was a bit rocky, the team did a superb job working together and throughout the camp we had the opportunity to develop a needed sense of comradery between us, and to motivate each other to push ourselves to the limits during our rides. Between Shootouts, leadout drills, TTT’s, and Lemmon rides (one of which may or may not have included a caffeine gel at 7:00 pm to get through a post ride shower and meal) we got the teamwork going that we needed in order to prepare us for our time racing together for the rest of the season!

The last couple of weeks after team camp have been a full block of training. After a few days to get well recovered, Houshang gave me a schedule filled with race specific hill intervals to push my limits and get ready for the efforts I need to prepare for in competition, as well as long 5-6 hour endurance rides to keep the baseline fitness high and get me prepared for the longer days in the saddle that U23 and elite racing brings. He also threw in a few shootout rides to work on pack skills, tactics, and the top end power. Mixed with adequate R&R amid my online courses, the past weeks of training have brought huge personal improvement, allowing me to routinely smash personal bests, and putting me in some of my best form to date. Houshang’s personalized training plan has allowed for me to develop my strengths and work on my weaknesses so that I am prepared as best as possible for the season ahead.

That being said, I’m looking forward to the remainder of my time in the sun! I’ve got a few more big days, and another run up to the top of Lemmon in my time down here, and I’m looking forward to replenishing a month’s worth of carbs with a cookie at the top! After that, it’s a couple weeks back to Saskatchewan for some recovery, and I guess we will see where the season ends up going! That being said, I’ve got to get my equipment ready and some rest before a big day tomorrow. 4:30 am wakeup call! (I’m going to need a lot of coffee!)

PS – To provide an update on the time between writing and editing this, after a stressful few days trying to get back into Canada, I’m back at my home in Saskatchewan in self isolation until 14 days have passed and I’m cleared to be back outside. Although the circumstances aren’t great I’m glad to be home with my family, and have been keeping motivated to train, using my spare time to work on the different areas that make a complete athlete such as mental training, core stability work, and stretching. I’m taking a couple weeks fairly easy to relax and keep the immune system going strong, and then transitioning to more intervals with some Zwift racing to keep the motivation high. I’m looking forward to taking this time to enjoy the ride and better myself. I’m also really looking forward to the new PCC Zwift group rides on Wednesdays and Fridays at 10:00 am to keep the riding going! There’s been lots to adapt to, but I’m glad to have a coach that is quick to adapt, and that I know I can trust to adjust my plan so I’m in the best place I can be whenever racing can resume in a safe manner!

 

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Pacific Cycling Centre (PCC) provides coaching and training services for Elite, Masters, and Junior athletes in road, mountain bike, track, and cyclo-cross.

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