Laurens ten Dam is a top-10 finisher at the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, and in 2017 he was the road captain for Tom Dumoulin’s historic Giro d’Italia victory. He’s also a big fan of camping, barbecue, and beer, so he knows a thing or two about creating a lifestyle that combines elite performance with plenty of fun. We caught up with him to learn more about the secret to his success and to grab some advice on balancing work and play.
“You’re right, Jim,” said Eros Poli, as we rounded another switchback into another blistering headwind. “This climb is stupido.” It was a vindication for my long-held theory that Mont Ventoux is in fact one of the stupidest climbs in all of professional cycling.
It seems simple enough, I just want to go faster and further with less effort. I want to climb like Pantani, descend like Nibali and hammer the flats like Poli. I also want chat with my riding partners, while climbing 14 percent grades, about the weather or the foliage or the price of organic coffee beans.
T’was my first season in Europe, having signed with Cervelo TestTeam,
I’d made the next step in my career, this was living the dream!
With victories already dancing in my head, it all quickly hit a wall,
On Tour of California’s stage three, where my arm broke my fall.
It’s that time of year again. The time when we look back, look forward … and look down, at that ever growing belly bulge.
“The end of the season is a mental test as much as anything,” says Ted King, former pro rider turned coach and unofficial King of Gravel. “You’re either operating somewhere on the spectrum of peak fitness after a year of diligent hard work, or are frustrated with how the previous nine months went and want nothing more than to double down going into the next year.”
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect on my inGamba cycling vacation. I had never ridden my bike more than three days in a row. And I had never climbed more than 2500 feet in one ride. But this trip was a celebration of my 15-year wedding anniversary – a relationship kicked off with a first date of shopping for a mountain bike and then going on a (first for me) mountain bike ride. Through the years my riding became less frequent, but I still kept the fire for what I’ve always seen as an opportunity to connect with nature, push myself and bond with friends. Read More
What makes a place magic? It’s a question I often ponder while laying in my bed at Borgolecchi, staring out at the Tuscan vineyards, as the sun slowly rises to light the day, in a way that never seems to be the same two mornings in a row.
Like everything here, those sunrises are dichotomic, both constant and ever-changing, and it’s with great wonder I ponder how Tuscany can be so varied, while life there never seems to change.
