Evan's story: Tour of the Catskills

BaseCamp athlete Evan McGregor shared his experience at the 2025 Tour of the Catskills bike race in New York.

In the car, on the way back from the Tour of the Catskills, Chris said, "'Train Where You Belong'…I know it sounds a little bit cheesy, but it's a genuine mantra." Going back 20 years, when Chris Wengert and I met in music school, we probably didn't think we'd one day discuss endurance sport training philosophy on a car ride back from chasing a course PR.

Belong.

While Chris and I met and even played in a band together back in undergrad, we didn't really stay in touch in the years to follow. Both went on to successful careers as performing musicians and educators, bought houses, and started families. The pandemic changed so much for everyone, though. Only a few weeks into the Spring Lockdown of 2020, Chris and I ran into each other at a local bike shop as we were each starting to get into cycling as a reprieve from the daily stress of the time. We rode together a few times throughout the year and started to forge a friendship. That would develop in the fall and winter when they were introduced to the idea of indoor cycling and structured training.

Train.

Effective practicing as a musician is a highly structured process. In a given session, you should have a specific goal, thoroughly warm up with some sort of technique focus, isolate what needs improvement, gradually build up pace using a metronome for measurable progress, put the segment into its greater context, and spend some time simply enjoying the instrument… the concepts of isolated skills work, SMART goals, progressive overload, periodization, tapering for performance, and then, of course, performing, they all crossover with being a performing musician.

Pretty quickly, Chris and I were exploring the immediately familiar world of structured training for cycling with different training apps and often doing Zwift rides together while on FaceTime to stay connected and motivated. We chased power PRs, exchanged ideas, and challenged each other while building fitness in a very small community.

A few years later, I was deep into self-coaching after having found and obsessed over the WKO5 webinar series, and Chris was in PT rehabbing from an Achilles injury that took him off the bike for the better part of a year. With me in the supporting role as a quasi-coach to Chris, we started to work together again to rebuild and chase a higher level of performance at Tour of the Catskills. Goals were set, met, and surpassed through this developing sense of a training community.

In the Spring of 2025, those roles got reversed. I suffered an injury that kept me off of the bike for two months and cost me the spring racing season. Chris, now an alumnus of BaseCamp winter group coaching, moved into that role of support as I started PT and eventually bot back on the bike. I was in a negative headspace through the spring months, but Chris helped provide motivation and connection, and almost like a rhyme, rebuilt fitness and chased performance at this year's Tour of the Catskills.

Achieve.

This past Saturday, Chris and I came to Tour of the Catskills with a trio of goals: build on the skills of pedaling efficiency and group riding learned at the BaseCamp Road Skills Weekend, set a course PR, and enjoy a beautiful day on two wheels with everyone finally healthy at the same time. The start of the ride was set to a good rhythm of shared work, smart conservation of energy, and the joy of riding. The opening third of the course is at a slight downhill and was perfect for that collaboration of speed and intent.

The middle third of the course is marked by a series of punchy climbs, and this is where the focus moved to efficiency and momentum. Feeling the feet, using the gears, cresting the hills, and moving forward over the top to do it again and again. Vocal cues of "Up, up, settle, down, down" changed to "click, click, click" and finally just to the synchronous sound of gears clicking in unison. There were other riders who flew up the first hill and sprinted to the top of the next, but those riders were eventually caught up and dropped by the momentum of steady feet, gear shifts, and the concept of smoother is faster.

The final third of the course has two steep climbs that can feel crushing. Sometimes there are struggles, pains, and doubts that even the most willing athlete can't force their body to push past. The heat of the sun, lack of cooling wind, the chopped up road and earth, and dehydration forged a combination of elemental opposition that couldn't be overcome alone. But Chris and I were able to work together and, as we have from the beginning, support one another every step of the way.

Together, we finished with several minutes to spare on a personal course record, rode efficiently, and showed the strength of collaboration in striving for achievement. Goals set, met, and surpassed.

Chris and I have had differing focus points, targets, disciplines, and sub-interests within cycling over the years. We've worked independently of each other but also together in the crossover. Along the way, there have been mutual respect, support, and the celebration of each other's accomplishments.

In BaseCamp, we've found a like-minded community with the same ethos...

Train Where You Belong. It's a genuine mantra.