Due to the unprecedented success of our 2005 holidays, once again we have teamed-up with partners AQR and IB51 with four more offerings for 2006.
For full details of our fitness holidays, visit the TORQ shop by clicking HERE
The dates are as follows:
Week 1: 1st to 8th February 2006 (Spain)
Week 2: 16th to 23rd March 2006 (Spain) with 7 or 4-day options
Week 3: 7th to 14th June 2006 (French Pyrenees)
Week 4: End of September 2006 (French Pyrenees) with 7 or 4-day options
Picture courtesy of Joolze Diamond
Week 1 (1st to 8th February 2006)
We’re kicking off with a high volume training camp basking in the Mediterranean sunshine of Southern Spain. This is the most ‘serious’ fitness holiday of the year, because it’s aimed to satisfy the needs of many of the TORQ riders and other competitive cyclists. For most of the TORQ riders, this will represent their final endurance push of the winter – to be followed on their return by an increase in training intensity and some early season races/events.
This week will be run in a different way to previous inspirational fitness weeks and rather than there being a solely off-road focus, riders will be encouraged to ride both on and off road. In fact, we welcome road riders with open arm to this training camp, but if you bring a Mountain Bike, the routes on offer will be more varied, with combinations of road and off-road sections.
Riders will be distributed into groups of similar ability and will be given route cards and maps to follow, or there will be some discussion on the previous evening as to where each group should go. You will not be intensively coached whilst on your bike; it is more about ‘getting the miles in’. On the rest day however, all riders with Mountain Bikes will be encouraged to take part in the technical day, where we will dedicate the entire day to off-road technique coaching.
Every evening there will be a seminar/workshop on a different fitness/nutrition subject, the aim being to educate and guide you towards intelligent and effective training. These seminars are very comprehensive and you will be able to take away printed notes.
The cost of this week is £350. This price includes airport transfers, bed, breakfast, evening meal, unlimited TORQ energy products and free access to the TORQ evening seminars. You will need to arrange your flight separately through one of the low-cost carriers from the UK.
A full itinerary will be made available before departure. In the meantime, if you have any further enquiries, e-mail us at enquiries@torqfitness.co.uk or phone 0845 128 4312
Once again, for full details of our other inspirational fitness holidays (weeks 2, 3 and 4), visit the TORQ shop by clicking HERE. Further details of each individual holiday will be made available as we approach each departure date.
To find out what we got up to on our inspirational fitness weeks in 2005, click on the following links:
We’ve returned from the shimmering heat
TORQ takes to the hills ‘again’
For an example itinerary, click on the following link:
And finally, here’s what a couple of the guys had to say about our latest fitness week in October:
“What a week! After collection from the airport by Graham — our local guide and trail King – we checked in to our hotel, re-built our bikes and hit the trails straight away to warm up our legs with some technical coaching from Matt – fitness coach and mtb’er extraordinaire. This provided an invaluable reference point throughout the holiday against which we regularly measured progress.
The second day was devoted to fitness testing during which we were each individually tested for lactate threshold levels and maximum power performance over a 30 minute interval. The results were then analysed and e-mailed to us enabling us to calculate our own individual training zones. This data will also provide a useful benchmark for year-on-year fitness levels. By the third day we were ready for some volume riding and boy did we get our just deserts. Starting with some hugely fun single track which climbed progressively higher and higher we arrived at the base of a fearsome mountain. One hour of steep, loose climbing later and with legs screaming for relief our ordeal was over and we assembled at the summit for our souvenir group photograph. Now for the descent – follow me said Graham! Disappearing into the bushes the next 30 minutes was an eye-popping heart in the throat exhilarating and sometimes scary adventure down goat paths, across rock gardens, down drop-offs and around challenging switchbacks. Matt was the only one to complete the entire section on two wheels – the rest of us resorting to 2 feet on occasions!
Day four saw a 75 km volume tour around the beautiful Coin district and outlying villages mainly on fire roads and single track.
Day five was scheduled to be a rest day but we all wanted to get back out on our bikes. We were joined by some local riders and spent the day with more technical coaching and practice. We all benefited hugely regardless of our pre-existing ability.
Days six was race practice day in which we circumnavigated several laps of a technical and challenging cross country course at maximum speed. After lunch we headed over to some more technical single track for some more laps and practice of our new-found technical abilities.
Day seven was in many ways the highlight of the week. We loaded the bikes into the trailer and headed off deep into the mountains. We spent the whole day traversing goat tracks and fire roads up and down some of the most magnificent and rugged mountain scenery in Europe – arriving back at the hotel exhausted but elated. Most of us fell asleep in the car on the way back!
Day eight arrived all too soon and marked the day when we must all return to our day jobs. However, early afternoon flights meant we could snatch a bonus hour or two back out on the single track and cross country course for one last blast.
This was one week I shall never forget. The sun shone every day, the riding was challenging and rewarding, the scenery was magnificent and the trails were perfect. I arrived back in London mentally refreshed and physically exhausted ready to apply my new-found skills to some local trails and race-days. I’ll be back there in March.” Richard Mills.
“Just a short note to thank you for providing an excellent week of mountain biking and fitness training. It was hard work, but I truly enjoyed the riding and the company. The legs don’t feel too bad – so the TORQ Ribose must work. Of the various mountain biking holidays I have been on, this trip rates alongside my favourite in Sardinia – you have found some great singletrack and the fitness and technical training element is really unique in my experience. From a leisure perspective I know that a number of the riders I have met on other trips would really enjoy the singletrack and technical training elements.
I shall be emailing various of my contacts over the next week or so and giving them your web-site details, with a view perhaps to putting together a team for your event in March’06. Please let me know the dates for that fitness week and race so that I can check my diary and look at confirming my participation (at least on the fitness week if not the race itself) as this should provide an incentive to do some real training.” Ken Mutchell.
Picture below courtesy of Joolze Diamond
