Death Race For Life Project Sponsored By Long Trail Brewing: Winter Training in Vail

Project Summary

I am dedicating February through July 2010 to my passion for endurance sports and an effort to help the Lance Armstrong Foundation fight cancer. Between March and June I will undertake a bicycle racing tour of multi-day stage races in the western United States. I’ll be racing in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and California. I’ll spend the winter training in Colorado and New Mexico. My tour will serve as conditioning for a final test – the Death Race. On June 24 I will join 99 other selected athletes in Pittsfield, Vermont for the 2010 Death Race.

The Death Race, loosely defined as an “adventure race” is a 24-hour slog that blurs the line between challenge and absurdity. The race consists of an unknown number of tasks spread out over a mountainous course with an unspecified finish line. The route and sampling of mental and physical challenges are also unknown. Previous races have included wood chopping, swimming, running, cycling, mud crawls, memorization tasks, fire building, weight caries, waterfall climbing, and more. The race boasts a 10% finishing rate. The international field of contestants includes ex-special forces, ultra-marathoners, Iron Men, and athletes from other disciplines. You can see the New York Times video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rtMFKpOYqo

My tour will benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation by raising money through direct donations and pledged donations per mile that I ride during the tour. In this blog you can find more information about the tour, my training, my connection to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, donations, and my motivation for starting this project.

Thanks for visiting the blog and supporting my project!

Cully Cavness

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Winter Training in Vail

After graduating on Middlebury’s ski slopes in the famous Feb Celebration, I drove cross-country to begin training for the upcoming racing tour. I am living in Vail with a constant flow of friends from high school and college pouring in and out of my house. I am currently housing 9 people – most are Middlebury alumni, but three are students at Columbia University who elected to skip school and turn some skis instead of pages. Good choice boys!

I’ve adapted my normal training with some new ideas from Chris Carmichael and a book on paleolithic nutrition. Yesterday I woke up at 6:30 to get in a good cross-country ski (skate) before leaving for a day of downhill skiing at Vail. At night I worked in about 45 minutes of intervals on my stationary bicycle while my friends made a Mexican feast. I ended the night watching Apolo Ohno win yet another medal – I watched TV with my legs resting up against the wall to drain acid from my abused thighs.

I’ve been hiking up to the top of Vail Mountain once a week and doing lots of telemark skiing as a substitute for lifting. My friend Dan Rosemarin has also introduced me to core workouts called “decks of cards” – take a deck of cards and do sit-ups for every red card and back bends for every black card.

Long Trail Brewery has come through for me in a huge way! They’ve put money in my pocket and clothes on my back. The company is planning to use my tour promotionally by putting my racing calendar and photos on their website. Long Trail’s funding has allowed me to register for more races than I ever thought possible. I am already registered for road and mountain bicycle races in California, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas. I have plans for races in Oregon, Colorado, and at least two other states. Thanks Long Trail!