Train with Marco Pinotti and Matteo Carrara

New UK camp to give insight into pro cycling training secrets

Published: March 18, 2013 at 4:10 pm

Italian pro cyclists Marco Pinotti (BMC), known for his fastidious attention to detail and staunch anti-doping outlook, and Matteo Carrara, who retired at the end of 2012, will be imparting their training insights at a mini camp in Sussex, UK, from 12-14 April 2013.

The camp – a mixture of good quality training rides and technical seminars with the Italian pair – is designed to help attendees understand how pro riders live and train.

The weekend will include two rides on the Saturday, and a 4-5 hour uptempo ride on Sunday. Pinotti and Carrara will ride with the groups. On Saturday evening there’ll be a technical seminar on interpreting heart rate, power, rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and lactate test data. The Italians will also give a presentation on life as professionals.

The camp, organised by Cadence Performance, costs £499 if booked before 24 March. The cost includes full board, sports nutrition and a massage at the four star hotel, plus a physiological test ahead of the weekend. To book a place visit www.cadenceperformance.com.

Pinotti, who started career training with a heart rate monitor, told BikeRadar that power meters had revolutionised professionals’ training regimes:

“When I started as a pro in 1999, power meters were already around but only being used by about 25 percent of the riders and only in training. I only got the chance to try a power meter in 2007 but after a couple of months and reading books about how to the get the most out of it, I realised I should have started using one earlier.

Cadence Performance hope to repeat the event later in the year with another pro, Johnny Hoogerland, famed for becoming tangled in a barbed wire fence after being hit by a TV car at the 2011 Tour de France.