The perfect place — TOSH helps athletes meet their goals

Each camper — the group ranged from a 63-year-old woman there to learn how to be more efficient in her training to a 16-year-old West High junior hoping to be among the best young cyclists in the country — was put through a series of tests to determine current fitness levels and was given a set of instructions designed to help each person to reach his or her individual goal.

Lactate threshold tests, VO2 Max tests and heart-rate monitoring were accompanied by body-fat analysis and detailed, individualized training guides.

The hope, Testa said, is to learn from last week's test run and hold frequent camps in coming years. The camps may be specialized to focus on time trial cyclists, road racing cyclists, triathletes or all-encompassing camps. Already the doctors have scheduled a camp based in Italy next September.

Training correctly, Testa said, is the difference between good results and great results.

"If you have good genes, you can be a gifted athlete," he said. "But if you don't train right, you'll never reach your potential."

Not every cyclist is gearing up for a three-week stage race in Europe. Many, though, are working toward a century, the MS 150 or the 206-mile LOTOJA. Based on individual goals, each participant in the camp received a personalized training schedules for the winter offseason and beyond.

"You can't peak for the whole year," Testa explained. "You want to build that base so you don't lose training. Then you add the intensity to peak when you need to."

Chase Pinkham, a junior at West High, heard about the camp on short notice but was able to sneak out of school a few times and attend. A competitive cyclist for only the past summer, Pinkham has already climbed the ladder from a beginning Cat 5 cyclist to a competitive Cat 3, where he regularly finishes near the leaders against more experienced athletes.

"I just hope to get enough info to improve," Pinkham said while undergoing Testa's testing at TOSH. "I want to get a baseline of where I'm at. I did pretty good for this being my beginning season. I just want to keep improving."

One person who took notice of Pinkham's skills was Leipheimer.

During a ride up Big Cottonwood Canyon last Thursday, Leipheimer led the charge up the mountain until he was out of eyesight. He took a quick side road to play a little bike game with the riders behind him and then rejoined the group after they passed him.

Seeing Pinkham try to keep up with the group, Leipheimer adopted a role rare for a cyclist of his stature — he acted as a domestique for Pinkham, pacing, cutting into the wind and pulling him up the mountain while offering encouragement and advice.