Cycling: Eddy Hilger

March 9, 2005

EnduranceRadio.com

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “Welcome back to EnduranceRadio.com, thanks for joining us for another interview today.  We’re going to be speaking with cyclist Eddy Hilger; he’s on the team Advantage Benefits Endeavor and he’s going to talk to us about his background in cycling and what lies ahead for he and his team in 2005.

 

First thing, the Race of the Day today is the Raccoon Mountain Road Race.  It’s promoted by Scenic City Velo.  It’s on April 17th, 2005 at Chattanooga, Tennessee; you can out more about the Race of the Day by clicking on the Race of the Day link right below the link to this audio.

 

Today’s interview is brought to you by Gatorade Endurance Hydration Formula.

 

Eddy, thanks very much for joining us, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “My pleasure, thanks for having me.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “Talk about your background.  When did you get into becoming a cyclist?”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “I got into road racing about four years and had been a soccer player and basketball player actually in college, and was kind of lifting weights after college and one of my friends invited me out on a group training ride, and I had just a clunker of a bike, old steel bike basically, almost like a town bike.  I just got out there and got my butt kicked but it was great fun in terms of the competition.  I was actually playing soccer with some old buddies from college and the President of Light Speed, Mark Linski, and he heard I was getting riding a little bit and he generously hooked me up with a Light Speed at a good price and then I bought Joe Friel’s training bible and got in my first race in March, after just a couple of months of training here and there.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “How long have you been on the team you’re on now, the Advantage Benefits Endeavor?”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “This is the first year I’ve been on this team.  This is a first year, tier three; they’re now calling it a continental team; it’s just on the same level of as the Jittery Joes, or I’d say Health Net as well, but Health Net’s got a much huger budget.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “Are you training with the team right now?”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “Right now I’m actually back home just for a little bit of a break before heading out to California for the start of the national racing calendar series, but I was down in Tucson, Arizona; our team has a house down there.

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “Talk about the training you did while you were down there.”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “Just a lot of volume, a lot of base miles and some intensity, its tough down there not to actually do intensity because a lot of those guys down there are really going at this time of the year, but a lot of training rides with the team, a lot of great times with them and just some big miles, anywhere from 25 to 33, 32 hours a week.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “How many miles do that work out to per day?”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “Boy, honestly I don’t even go by miles or kilometers, I train with power so I really just focus on time and energy expenditure in kilojoules and power.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “What kind of things are you using?  Is it perceived exertion or are you using a heart rate monitor and some other things to gauge where you’re at?”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “Pretty much a power meter through Power Tap, along with a heart rate monitor.  I did a lot more of heart training before the team hooked us with Power, and I’m actually working with Robbie Ventura, who has retired this year from US Postal.  He’s our Director of Sport and he’s working with some of us with regards to our power files and so I’m learning a lot from there, but definitely using the heart rate and the power instead of perceived exertion.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “Are you feeling like you’ve made some significant strides and improvements over the off-season and when you were in Tucson?”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “”I like I’ve laid a really good foundation.  Last year I rode with Marco Polo over in Europe and did just a lot of international travel so I ended the year in mid-November with a tour of Southland down in New Zealand, so my off-season was a lot less this year.  I just took about a week break and I think I was still bit fatigued from racing from February through mid-November and that was really the first year as a pro.  I would say I’ve just been trying to lay a really good solid foundation.  Really I think this week is actually my first week to start any sort of LT training.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “What does your schedule look like for 2005?  How many races do you anticipate the team and yourself being in?”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “Its look like from our schedule that we’ve only mapped out really through Nature Valley, which is the week after the Wachovia Classic and US Pro Championships, but it looks like we’ll be doing about 75 to 80% of the NRC calendar.  You know you can’t do everything because 10 to 15% of it conflicts with one another and if you’re going to try to peak for certain races then you’re going to have some break and you’re not going to race 100% of the NRC stuff.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “What are the races that are most important to you that you want to make sure you’re peaking for?”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “Well the first big agenda, and hopefully we will get invited, is the tour of Georgia.  Theres two spots left and I’m told that we’re one of three teams.  I’m from Georgia.  Myself and the two Australians are the only three guys out of our team that are not from the Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan area, that’s where our sponsors are, but I’ve really been trying to use the connections I have to try to get us an invitation so with that, and probably more importantly with the connections Tom Schuler and Robbie have the promoters and other folks down here, we’re really hoping to get into.  So if we do, that’s definitely an A race for me, kinda of leading up to these first couple of weekends in Merset and Fresno, those are more C races and Promona and Redlands are kind of B, if you will, races; and then a little bit of a break and the Lancaster and Philly would be the other two, if you will, and then hopefully Nature Valley carrying some form into that and then there’ll be a little bit of a break and with kind of a build period up to Super Week; that’s very important to our team because of the sponsors and also just because of the riders that we have.  I think we’ve got some guys who could really do well there in Frank Pipp and Richard England and Carl Menzies, those are the two Australians.  We had a guy won a stage there and then the team held the jersey for several days last year and the team is definitely stronger this year.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “I want to ask you about some of the training you do in terms of mechanics and that sort of this, but we need to take a quick.  We’re going to be right back to speak with Eddy Hilger.”

 

 

“Dehydration can diminish your energy and impair your performance.  Scientists at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute have been studying athletes for nearly 20 years and understand what endurance athletes need to stay hydrated.  Gatorade Endurance Hydration Formula contains a five electrolyte blend consisting of sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium and magnesium, formulated to replace the fluids and electrolytes you lose during longer more intense workouts and races.  Find out more about Gatorade Endurance Hydration at www.gatorade.com today.  Is it in you?”

 

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “Eddy, what kind of things are you doing during the season in terms of not just keeping your endurance up, but actually really trying to gain speed?  Do you work much on mechanics, or are you trying to get all that settled before and just go with it all season?”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “I try to get most of my mechanics really before I start racing.  I have a set of what are called ‘Power Cranks’ that I used using the off-season.  I guess for me, because I’m a pretty inefficient cyclist as I haven’t been riding for a long time, those really help my peddling technique, and I do a lot of higher speed cadence work, and then also what some folks I guess would muscle tension, kind of almost like weights on the bike.  I do those sorts of things, more during the, if you will, the off-season.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “How important is weight training to your all whole program?”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “You know I don’t do any weight training.  I do all of my, if you will, weight training on the bike.  I had a great guy who is just very knowledgeable and he coached me, Mike Carter, he’s out of Denver, Colorado with Echelon Sports Performance.  I think he’s more of the mind set that you can do about the same amount of quality work but it’s on the bike and so its transfers so much more quickly over to the bike.  I know theres two philosophies there.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “It’s whatever works for you.”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “Yeah yeah exactly.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “How do you gauge between volume and interval work to make sure you’re getting the most out of your workouts?  Do you plan that out before the week starts?”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “Well I would say more so than before the week starts.  I’ve got a program; I look at what races I want to do well in, for example Tour of Georgia, and so before actually I even start training, in the off-season I’m looking at, ‘Okay how many weeks do I have up to that point,’ and what is that going to look like in terms of a base period and a build period and more intensity, so you can really map out, and I’m of the mind set that periodization is extremely helpful and really the way to go.  I know there are some guys out there who want to be going well all year round, but I don’t think you reach your full potential if you’re not really peaking for some events.  I think that some folks get scared because if they’re going to peak just for a couple of events then they say, ‘Well what if I don’t do well,’ and that sort of thing.  When you do hit a peak its pretty incredible how you feel.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “Are you doing any tapering, resting before some of these big races?”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “Definitely, yeah.  I’m pretty much training through Merset and Fresno.  I mean I’ll try to get a little fresh for it, but I’ve got kind of a recovery week before Promona because I’d like to really throw in a decent race just to kind of see where I am as a barometer because its really four weeks away from Tour of Georgia, so I’m going to take a little bit of a taper there.  In the midst of five days I’ll probably have a recovery day that looks like an hour ride, an off-day; on a Wednesday I’ll probably do maybe just a three to four hour ride with some good hard motor pacing; recovery day on Thursday, recovery day on Friday, and then a race.  That’s kind of what a taper looks like, at least for me; very reduced volume.  I would say at least 50% reduced volume and then intensity if reduced quite a bit as well.  But that’s how my body works.  When I rest it recovers extremely well and I come back just real hungry and glycogen stores are up and I think even my hormones kind of come back a little bit to normal.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “We’re just about of time, but I want to ask you; being the first year on this team, is there a little more pressure to do your best.”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “I don’t think theres pressure per say because the sponsors have pretty much said that they want to stay involved in the sport for longer than just even a couple of years.  I mean we’ve got a couple of sponsors who are saying at least five or six years.  But I want to make the most of the opportunity with the guys on the team because theres some really phenomenal guys.  We’re the second youngest team, only next to Team Cref and that’s where I want to make the opportunities so I guess the pressure is on to really help develop these younger guys.  Really, I think the pressure there to do well against some of the bigger teams.  Our goals aren’t just crazy; I mean we want to be one of the top five teams here in the states.  We know we can’t be a Health Net, we know we probably can’t be a Cola Ve De Bola, and we understand that, but we do think that we’ve got some really good talent and we’re already got some incredible unity, so it’s exciting, it’s really is.  I mean we’re already got a win and Brian Sheedy won the opener, Valley of the Sun Time Trial.  He beat Nathan O’Neil’s time of last year by almost a minute, 55 seconds, and Nathan O’Neil had just come from Australia, winning the national time trial championship.  I think theres some neat things in store for the team.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “Well hopefully we can follow up later this year and see how everything’s going with you and the team.”

 

<<Eddy Hilger>>: “Definitely.”

 

<<Tim Bourquin>>: “Thanks very much Eddy, I appreciate your time.

 

About EnduranceRadio.com

http://www.EnduranceRadio.com offers online radio programs and interviews with endurance athletes and coaches at all levels. Visit their site today and listen to everyday athletes just like you and also professional endurance athletes talk about how they train, eat and race. Weekend warriors and serious competitors alike will find something they can implement into their own training and technique immediately from each day's program. A new interview is posted each weekday.