Welcome to Nissan Master Chris Carmichael's blog

So this morning I found myself, once again, at the base of the Columbine Climb on the course of the Leadville 100. This is a 2,500- to 3,000-vertical-feet climb over about 10 miles that tops out at 12,600 feet above sea level, and its summit marks the turnaround point for the race. Most people dread having to climb the monster once in a year, and I think this morning was my fourth trip up it this year. Read More

Today I drove to Wheat Ridge, Colorado for a book signing and ride at Wheat Ridge Cyclery (www.ridewrc.com). The shop is owned by my old friend and former 7-Eleven teammate Ron Kiefel, and if memory serves, his family owned the shop when he was a kid and now he’s keeping it in the family. It’s a great shop, if you’re ever in the Denver area, and Ron and his staff are equally superb. Read More

It’s Friday afternoon, and in just about 16 hours and seven days, I’m going to be standing on the startline of my fourth Leadville 100 mountain bike race. My conditioning is pretty good, maybe not what it was last year, but not bad either. And with three completed Leadvilles, including one faster than nine hours, I’m not worried about the course or even the weather. But now that I’m entering the final week before the event, I have to be careful not to fall into a trap that ensnares a lot of racers: the pre-race panic. Read More

I’m running a little late getting to today’s blog, but at least I have a good reason. Today was the kickoff event for my new book tour in support of “The Time-Crunched Cyclist: Fit, Fast, and Powerful in 6 Hours a Week“. For tonight’s event we had John Wilcockson come in to sign his new book, “Lance: The Making of the World’s Greatest Champion” and a Q&A hosted by my old friend and 7-Eleven teammate Ron Kiefel. Read More

Today was a busy day. I had to be in Leadville, Colorado early in the morning to meet Lance Armstrong for a reconnaissance ride of the Leadville 100 mountain bike race course. Why do we need a recon ride of a course I’ve ridden several times (between camps, recon rides, and the race itself, I’ve been on the course probably 10 times) and Lance has already seen at least three times? Because it’s a mountain bike course and it changes based on rainfall, snow, and erosion. Read More

For the most part, spending time on the trails around Colorado Springs is a relaxing and rewarding time, but every once in a while you come across reminders that you’re not alone out there. This morning, as I rolled along a beautiful singletrack with a stream running downhill just to my left, I came across the remains of… something. And whatever it was, it had been a reasonably large animal when it was alive. Read More

RECOVERY DAY! After a so-so day at the mountain bike race last Saturday, I took Sunday completely off the bike. I wasn’t just sitting on the couch, though. My wife was out of town so I got to spend my entire Sunday with two of my three kids. Connor is 8 and Vivian is 2, and as anyone with young children knows, spending a day with them is as challenging as it is fun. Read More

I’ve been thinking a lot about wheels lately, particularly about big wheels versus small wheels. For a long time, the standard mountain bike wheel was 26 inches in diameter. More recently, 29-inch wheels were developed and 29er’s – as mountain bikes with 29-inch wheels are referred to – have grown in popularity over the past ten years. I myself made the switch from 26 to 29-inch wheels last year, with a titanium Serotta mountain bike. This year, I’ve been trying out a new set of wheels on that bike, a set of carbon wheels from Edge Composites. As equipment goes, I couldn’t be happier, but the beauty of cycling is that there is so much variation in equipment that everyone can find the best tool for their given pursuit. Read More

Well, that could have gone better. Today was the Carmichael Training Systems Sand Creek Series race at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Starting at 8am this morning, I raced two laps around the Falcon Trail – a 12-mile singletrack loop entirely within the grounds of the Academy. Twenty-four miles isn’t even a quarter of the distance of the Leadville 100, but with shorter distance comes greater intensity, and today’s race was hard. Read More

Racing was one of the biggest priorities during Lance’s preparation for the 2009 Tour de France, because there are physical and psychological demands found in competition that cannot be replicated in training. This is true for elite athletes as well as amateurs and novices, so I encourage all the athletes I work with to enter competitions and events prior to their goal events. Read More