Travel & logistics
Private airport pickup in Denver, transfer to Boulder, hotel coordination, and the daily transitions between sessions. A base of operations chosen to support recovery, not add noise.
A private four-day climbing block built for one athlete preparing for l’Étape du Tour. Long mountain roads, race-specific pacing, altitude exposure, premium recovery, and every detail handled from airport pickup to final bike packing.
These Boulder roads offer the right mix for l’Étape: long sustained climbs, repeated elevation gain, altitude exposure, and real time on a road bike. The goal was not random training volume — it was to build the exact qualities that matter on race day: patience early, efficient climbing, smart fueling, and strength late.
Four ride days is the sweet spot for this kind of block. Day 1 opens the legs and checks the setup. Days 2 and 3 deliver the main mountain load. Day 4 finishes the camp with quality and judgment, not empty fatigue.
Each day was built with logical ways to add or scale back distance and elevation, so the week could flex around how the rider was actually responding rather than around a printed plan.
Compact, punchy opener. Wakes the legs, checks bike fit and first response to altitude — without spending the week on day one.
The first true mountain day. Long, steady, race-specific. Restraint early, good decisions late — exactly what l’Étape rewards.
The anchor of the camp. Steady output, stable fueling, calm pacing over hours of climbing. Clean, paved, highly rideable.
Finishing with quality, not emptiness. Trains restraint, fueling discipline, and good pacing under fatigue.
A private camp is only a private camp if the athlete doesn’t have to think about anything except the training. Here’s what that looked like in practice for this block.
Private airport pickup in Denver, transfer to Boulder, hotel coordination, and the daily transitions between sessions. A base of operations chosen to support recovery, not add noise.
Bike build and setup on arrival, position check before the first ride, on-the-fly mechanical support during the camp, and packing assistance before departure. Nothing left to figure out alone.
Guided rides with real-time pacing, climbing strategy, fueling oversight, and route decisions made for the actual conditions and how the legs were responding day to day — not for a printed schedule.
Premium hotel base, easy access to walkable Boulder, and a daily rhythm of coffee, ride, refuel, recover, dinner, brief, sleep. A simple structure that lets the work absorb.
Mornings start early to climb in cool temperatures and descend before weather turns. Coffee and breakfast, a weather check, bottle setup, final route call, then rolling out before the canyon walls heat up. Pre-ride coffee at Boxcar or OZO. A Jamestown Mercantile stop on the Lefthand mornings. Ward Mountain Exchange for the upper sections.
Afternoons are for absorbing the work: a refuel lunch or a café stop on the way home, a quiet hour at the hotel, mobility, a relaxed dinner, and a short review of the day with a simple briefing for the next route.
Frasca Food & Wine for an arrival dinner that sets the tone. Il Pastaio when the legs want pasta and not ceremony. Flagstaff House if the week deserves a real send-off. Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse for a lighter afternoon. European in feel, athlete-friendly in rhythm.
Premium without being distracting. Recovery that supports the work. A week that stays sharp from arrival to departure.
Camps are scoped individually around the goal, the terrain, and the kind of week that would actually make the trip worth it.