Skilbeck's training increased his power by 35 watts.

Every adventure starts somewhere, and Johnny Boswell and I agree that this one started at the end of June, 2005, one sleep-deprived afternoon in Atlantic City, at the end of the Race Across America. Johnny had been officiating and I was running media operations. Johnny asked if I wanted to race the Furnace Creek 508 on a two-man team, and frankly I was surprised. I had competed at the semi-pro level as a mountain bike racer back around 1990, and had not raced since. With neither world nor national title to my credit, I had nothing to brag about, and so hadn't talked much in the ultracycling world about my prior racing. I used to be a top-ten ranked mountain bike racer in Great Britain.

In accordance with 508 rules, we named our team after an animal. We chose the red kangaroo, an animal that is capable of covering considerable distances across hot desert.

With three months to prepare for the event I increased my riding from three to four or five days a week and went on an eight-week liver cleansing diet. This duet ensured that I would have great legs as well as a race-tuned energy processor. Both are highly recommended for anybody who wishes to do well.

After a month of outdoor training rides in the beautiful Marin county in California I was thoroughly enjoying my cycling and I was slowly getting stronger, but I was not seeing the kind of fitness gains I had expected. Being an exercise physiologist I had an idea what I was looking for, and this was not it.

I turned to the CompuTrainer early in August. Even though I was riding half of a 508-mile race (broken up into four segments of approximately 60-miles), I knew I did not need to replicate that kind of mileage in the majority of my training. What I needed was some shorter, more intense sessions although without high levels of muscle acidity.

Skilbeck's training paid off as he gained time pedaling the bike down every descent.

I programmed the CompuTrainer with 20, 30, and 40-mile flat courses, and some with uphill steps for interval training. No descents. Thus I had work-outs of one to two hours with varying intensity, but lacking course features that permitted rest. Sure I could slow down on the flat parts, but that would have defeated the purpose. I did these rides three days a week, then on weekends I'd ride 150-200 miles broken up into four rides, usually two outdoors and then two on the CompuTrainer.

How would I describe one of my CompuTrainer sessions? It's very different. Ever been jogging? You notice how much better fitness value it is than 30 minutes of cycling outside. That's because you maintain a high pulse rate throughout, even when going downhill. Design a flat CompuTrainer course and your heart rate profile will fluctuate in a 5 beats/minute range for the full ride. You get live feedback on your power output, cadence, and your heart rate too, so you can monitor yourself throughout your ride.

One caveat is that you will need to be careful of over-use injury. This style of training stresses your muscles and connective tissue a lot more than riding outdoors, so ease into any program very gradually, preferably with the assistance of a qualified coach.

The perfect ultra bike race! Nothing left.

The results I obtained were spectacular. Within six weeks my 90-minute power output had increased by 35 watts for a given heart rate.

During the race this training translated to a form of psychological and physiological conditioning in which I simply never let up. I passed a lot of riders who thought they were taking a well-earned rest on some descents. Training on the CompuTrainer got me out of that mindset. I saw the down hills as an opportunity to progress at a greatly increased speed. My heart rate remained pretty constant, up and down hill. The exceptions to this were coming off Salsberry and Sheephole, where I needed a bigger gear to maintain a constant HR. Next time I'm thinking of using an 11 x 54 for these descents.

Our main rivals were the Lizard-Scorpion team of Steve Winfrey and Charlie Liskey. These guys, having won their age category in two-person RAAM, knew exactly what they were doing.

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After yo-yoing back and forth behind them, but never quite making contact, in the final leg of the Furnace Creek 508, I knew catching them was finally a possibility. At the top of Sheephole, the 10th and final climb of the race, Johnny shouted out that I was 18 minutes behind Charlie Liskey. I maintained an uncomfortably low aero tuck for the five-mile descent and kept my speed up around 45 mph.

I closed to within two miles of the Lizard but as a result of an earlier nutritional error felt too unwell to maintain a constant pace. Again the CompuTrainer preparation paid off. I progressed in five minute spurts, with three minute breaks in between. This put me into the familiar mindset of interval training, and in my misery I derived comfort from the familiarity of this.

I finally passed the Lizard and the Red Kangaroos won the two-man race at the 508 this year. My full race account will be in the next issue of UltraCycling magazine.

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Skilbeck does PR for RacerMate and has a CompuTrainer in his basement. Read more about his training for the Furnace Creek 508 at computrainer.com

More information about Furnace Creek at the508.com