Balancing work and training is tough, something I’m sure we all understand and greatly appreciate. The past week was the biggest work week of my life and I lost count of the hours once 70 rolled by - it very well could have been 80 of them… I would have gone crazy if 15 of them hadn’t been on the bike. We hosted the Spring Training Camp and it went off in excellent fashion. Our team of seven coaches really does a fine job of taking care of the athletes every need. Everyone left our camp tired, but also stronger, smarter, and ultimately better prepared for whatever they might find challenging them in the future. It was a great group and we had a lot of fun on and off the bikes. I don’t know that I’d want to do another camp of this scope again soon, but it’s rewarding to pull off so nicely. We’ve got a list of other camps yet to come this spring which ought to be equally successful though done a smaller scale.
Prior to the camp I got in another huge weekend on the bikes. Saturday was my fourth consecutive Shootout+Madera+Helmet Peak ride in four weeks. Sunday we pulled together the fastest MTB group in all of Tucson for an excellent ride. Andy, Jenna, Justin, Sue, Jesse and I battled the singletrack for 4+ hours of bliss in the Redington area. Sue’s got some nice pictures posted from that ride so check them out at her site.
Yesterday Chloe and I got out to ride at 50 year trail after watching the final hour of the 24 hours of the Old Pueblo race. It was a fun place to see some friends - most notably the Spot trio of Melis, Megan, and Jen. 50 year was in superb condition with all of the recent rain fall and since most of the riders around did the race we had the trails to ourselves, only coming across 4 others out there on horseback. This little amount of traffic is unheard of for a Sunday afternoon, but it was a welcomed change for sure. I love riding the stuff there as its always challenging. We covered 17 miles in two hours and fifteen minutes - obviously some slow going technical riding! There are all kinds of drops, rock features, ledges, stream crossings and cacti. More often than not there are three of these challenges all at the same time (cactus are always around). With snow on the peaks higher above us it was great riding in the 70 degree sunshine.
With a normal work week now underway I’m gearing up for some VO2 intervals and some training of my own. With just 40 days until the first NMBS, I best get at it! All for now.
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