The second week of training camp is coming to a close with
the sizzling of veggies accompanied by the beat of the newest pop music and
accompanying voices chiming in. Pretty much the whole team is clustered in the
kitchen and dining room with half of them dancing, a couple clustered around
the stove and the rest hanging around chatting, adding peanut gallery comments
every so often and generally just adding to the rambunctious excitement filling
the atmosphere. It feels as if we have just accomplished something massive and
since tomorrow is a rest day and travel day, there seems to be a general
consensus that relaxing and stretching can be put off for the moment in
exchange for letting off a little steam and allowing our inner children loose
for a bit.
We have indeed earned this break. With the past week and a
half of huge rides and way more elevation gain than any of us have seen for the
past many months, all of our legs are thoroughly thrashed. Not to mention the
mental stress of living 24/7 with 13 other people, even if they are some of
your best friends. Total stats for the training camp so far are as follows:
Riding miles: 380
Riding elevation gain: 24000’
Driving: 1100 miles
We’ve been fortunate with the rain so far. We’ve generally
had sunny warm days that have provided just about perfect riding weather,
pristine air conditions and glowing green hillsides.
Today was another choice day, meaning that everyone broke up
into small groups depending on what last ride they wanted to get in and what
their bodies could do after all the rides that we’ve already completed. After
Alex and I dealt with some extra logistics this morning we went out for a
gorgeous celebratory ride in the Berkeley Hills. With no plan in mind, we
headed out to enjoy the sun and explore whatever roads looked interesting. We
found a couple roads cutting across the side of the hills with widespread views
of the bay, SF and Marin. I could have stayed there all day just drooling over
the view. However by bike was calling me so we moved on.
A big thank you to Adam and his family for letting us stay
at their house for the past week. The large space has been perfect for accommodating
so many of us and the riding nearby has been absolutely fantastic!
Next up we are traveling to Portland to stay overnight at
Kevin’s place before heading up to the race weekend in Seattle. This will be
our first race weekend so it will be very interesting to see how everything
turns out, especially since I expect all our legs to still be very sore from
the past intense training block. Stay tuned for more updates about the races and
our long travel days ahead.
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