Gerald Ciolek prepares with cross training and 'cross weather for 2009 (Image credit: Bjorn Haake)
Gerald Ciolek is going from one extreme to the other, from the cold and snow of the Alps to the sun and warmth of Mallorca – all in the name of preparing for the coming season with his new team, Team Milram.
The 22-year-old was in the Austrian mountains for nearly two weeks with Milram Directeur Sportif Jochen Hahn and future teammates Linus Gerdemann, Björn Schröder, Artur Gajek and Dominik Roels. "We were able to train pretty well despite temperatures of down to minus 20°C and some bad weather. It was a good change, because you do a little of everything, from hiking to downhill skiing to cross-country skiing to cycling."
Ciolek then had to put his skis away and concentrate on his bike. After a short visit home, he flew to the Milram training camp (December 11-20) on Mallorca. "It will be interesting to see the whole team," he said on his website, geraldciolek.de. "Especially because it is a whole new team. I know most of the people, because the cycling scene is a pretty small world. But I have never been on the same team with most of them before."(SW)
