Shenandoah 09 Spring Camp

Shenandoah camp 09 we DID and another great week of training, chowing, hanging, sleeping, and above all Living it. Yeah. The 15 yr olds are beating up on me bad. Ouch. This was our spring camp - 5 days of training with lotta climbing over in the Shenandoah valley. We were staying at an incredible lodge - the Hensley Hollow lodge and yes it was up a hollow..... about 6 mile up. The last 1 mile was gravel and the very last 1/4 mile was rough gravel and STEEP. I am guessing 12% ++. The last 6 miles of trekking to the house after a hard training day was indeed an adventure. Amazing location - only bad part (can be good part) was no cell signal and no internet (hence work other than training did not get done). I snuck out to a cafe once - had about an hour. God knows what emails I was sending back coz I was so time pinched...

Pics are: style/flash is ALL that matters these days (B-Rad top pic); varying forms of TT start position (Brad Kendall middle pic and Andrew Brookes below him); pre TT start chilling (Steven K, Brad K, Nate W); Shenandoah 09 group pic (Avery Wilson, Brad Kendall, Pierre Pelletier, Susan Hefler, Nate Wilson, Steven Kendall, David Brookes, Andrew Brookes) . The week was awesome - kinda epic to start with some cold temps - we rode Tuesday in snow all day - flurries in the air and insane winds. Monday we got acquainted with the roads west of Shenandoah mtns and had I think 7!!!! flats. Yeah I know crazy. No idea why we flatted that much. Brought back Jeff Cup memories....Next day we did a loop over to Harrisonburg - had the hammers do 2 x 10' in cross winds from Kansas - strong. 3 hrs out and 1hr back felt like. Very nice roads again. Wednesday we did climbing - 2 x up Rt 33 west> east and a 7 mi TT climb up 33 east > west. Took Nate about 28' and I told him to ask Rick Norton what kinda time he did back in the day. Starting at the bridge directly West of Rt 810 - I know that is a fast time. I am getting Nate Wilson and Blair Berbert ready for the Gila - we have 2 weeks left. Blair is out there beating up on Skyline now as Nate is over racing @ Morgantown. Discipline and commitment. What it takes. I always thought to myself - C's and D's were okay in training. Commitment, consistency, dedication, and discipline. If you have these - and then follow about 100 more details - you can nail it. This bike race thing.

We did 3 big climbs on Wednesday. Plus of course the climb back to the house. Thursday was the mama of them all - I sent Nate, Pierre, Steven K (15 yr old for anyone I hear whining), and Jake Tremblay (won Tyson's last weekend cat 3 race) out on an adventure. 110 miles later/bit under 6 hrs - Nate comes climbing up the driveway and didn't say anything to me for the first few moments he arrived. I knew it was one of those days. Steven K had a laugh on those cheeks as he hauled himself around that last corner of the driveway. Incredible. The rest of us did about 90 miles - all of us finishing with the Rt 33 climb/ Swift Run Gap. Andrew B was cracked at the bottom - made it up in a nasty headwind. That nite we ate and didn't stop - the Oreo's sure tasted good - double stuffed. Friday I took the athletes down to Rt 810 - we did a perfect 20km TT - I remember doing that TT yrs ago with Matt DeCanio. He was about Nate's age at the time. Yeah I been riding that bike a long time. I still love climbing - most of all. Something about the rhythm.
It was an incredible time. Nate is ready for Gila - this I know. I don't think there are many National kids out there - he cannot handle. One beautiful person on a bike. I am proud of him, he was one of my first clients - and the work I have done with him is some of the best. I would like to see him on JV's squad and believe this can happen.

Of COURSE we ended camp with only one way - Splunkers!!! we missed you Steven Black, Zack, and Russ. The only reason we ride SkyMass is so we can eat at Splunkers. Why else would we do anything as insane as ride 85 hard miles??? Come on....