Training Tour Divide Style !!

Teammates support one another, encourage one another and sometimes in doing so, go above and beyond- right? Our team had Chris Baker and Scott George racing the Grind in Charlotte this weekend while I headed to the Mount Mitchell area for yet another day of training on the loaded bike, Tour Divide style, with Wieczorek. After spending the day before in the cold Pisgah rain for nearly 4 hours climbing up the Old Toll Road on my loaded bike with Wieczorek, Bonnie, and Laura, and then descending Heart Break Ridge, I decided to give Wieczorek a small taste of training Tour Divide style. While we were getting ready to start our day, I attached a small frame pack onto his bike and stuffed it with 2 liters of water, no purpose other than extra weight (heheehe), a small map case to his handle bars stuffed with food and an extra bottle of gatoraid for no other purpose other than to add weight (heheehe), my custom saddle bag with my bivy and sleeping bag, and 1 of my top tube bags loaded with all the bike repair stuff. He also was carrying all his stuff for the day in a camelbak. He was loaded! He looked the part of a Tour Divide Racer and was ready to hit the climbs. He fell rather silent once the climbing on Curtis Creek started and I thought, just thought for a second, he might be struggling a little and I might have finally found a way to slow him down. Then BOOM - out of nowhere - I here click click click and he stands up and hammers it on the steepest part of the climb, looking back at me yelling to match his pace and hang on to his wheel - r i g h t......... It was inconcievable to me, as I watched him with all that extra weight on the bike, just pull away from me like it was nothing. So that was pretty much the rest of my day, trying to pace with Wiezcorek. I rode lighter than the day before but at a much faster pace than I would have if I had been alone and Wieczorek pushed hard with extra weight on the bike. We both got a hard workout in for the day but --- ummmm - I think I have developed a twitch now every time I hear click click click - I know what it means - PUSH THOUGH THE PAIN - COME ON BUTLER!!! I think I liked it better when he was silent :)