South Carolina March 2010 Camp Updates

[Chris Helwig]

Camp is almost here.

Janice, the kids and I will be going down a couple days early leaving early Thursday morning and hoping to make the trip in one day arriving later on Thursday night. Friday we are going to do some family stuff and then Saturday I hope to get in a 2hr ride before everyone arrives.

First day of Camp is Sunday. All groups are going to Furman, some groups may do bonus to get in 3.5 hrs. A bit of rain in the forecast, but fairly warm temps around 16 degrees, so worse case scenario we wait until the afternoon and ride in warm rain.

I will be posting ride updates and hopefully some of the riders from the other groups like Marty, Jason, Jacques and Mel will also post reports.

[Leo]

I received this message yesterday from Keith of Keiths Triathlon Shop in Saluda:

Please let everyone know that I now have a sit & sip area. There is gourmet coffee, hot chocolate,tea, & cider for $1 a cup. We still have all the energy bars & gels also.Had some of different Canadian womens teams in the shop today. They said they know Coach Chris & will be here next week also. Looks like a good showing of the Canadians have arrived. Tell everyone if they have interest in products to email me what they are looking for. I have to keep a small inventory now, but can get items anywhere from 1 to 3 days. My new email is info@keithstriathlon.com. See you next week. Hope to be able to ride with you guys two or three days anyway.
THANKS!
Keith

[Chris Helwig]

We will definately stop in and see Keith on the Saluda ride. I may still have my coffee at the bakery if they have sticky buns :)

We are most of the way down currently in Tennessee.

Family day with swimming, lunch and grocery shopping tomorrow. Hope to get out for a ride Saturday morning before everyone arrives.

[Chris Helwig]

Made it safely to Table Rock.

The detour off hwy 40 wasn't too bad, probably only added about 30 minutes to the trip. Left at 5:30 am and got to the cabin at 9:30 pm. Not too bad considering we had the kids with us.

Swimming and grocery shopping in Pickens today. Haven't decided if I will ride today or tommorrow.

[Chris Helwig]

Saturday a few people including myself got in a short ride. My ride was 1.5 hrs on Marked Beach. Got a bit of heavy rain, but still better than the trainer.

Today was the first official ride day. We split into 3 groups with my group being 7 riders. Dave Kay, Ted Mooney, Kory MacKinnon, Lori Caruso, myself, Sacha St. Germain and Glen Campbell. We were off to Furman for a little over 3hrs. Furman is pretty much all up or down, no really big climbs, but lots of kickers. Kory got a flat early on, but a quick change and we were on our way. Today was one of the most controlled first day rides in the camps I have been on. Not super easy, but the pace was reasonable and nobody was dying. Lori and Ted led on most of the climbs. Made the loop around Furman then back for a store stop. Picked up Brent Campbell as he has been sick and was finding the pace with Jacques group a bit fast. Good ride with the 8 of us on the way back.

Tomorrow is the assault on Caesars Head. I will post a report tomorrow.

[Chris Helwig]

A great day for ridng in South Carolina. Temps were a bit cold around 10 degrees in the morning, but the sun was shining bright.

Today was the assault on Caesar's Head. It was a windy day with the wind coming off the mountain, which made the climb a bit tougher. I would estimate the wind slowed everyone down at 30-60 seconds.

Personally I just couldn't get super motivated for suffering today. For me to have a good climb I have to be in Z5 the whole time and suffer hard. Maybe feeling the effort of yesterdays Furman ride. Either way it was a very nice day and you can't complain about being able to train most of the day.

Our group stretched and removed layers at the base of the climb. We set off to the intersection and the starting point of the climb. Lori Caruso took off with Brent soon giving chase. I stayed with Ted Mooney and Kory Mac for about 9 minutes until the first steep section and then they went up ahead. Dave Kay caught and passed me about half way up. I kept him in sight and started reeling him in near the end. Caught and passed him back near the top. The fast group had started just behind us, so they all passed me on the way up, most of them flying.

At the top we chit chatted about our times. By memory here are the times I remember:

Jason Everaert 32 minutes.
Leo St. Germain 35 minutes.
Marty Mann 36 minutes
Tim Friesen 36 minutes
Chris Barson 36 minutes
Joel Cash 37 minutes
John de Boer 39 minutes.
Todd Hoover 41 minutes.
Ashley Barson 41 minutes
Lori Caruso 42 minutes
Woody Marrouch 42 minutes
Mel Bernier 43 minutes
Ted Mooney 43 minutes
Kory Mac 45 minutes
Karim Marrouch 46 minutes
Chris Helwig 48 minutes
David Kay 48 minutes.
Glen Campbell 52 minutes
Sacha St. Germain 58 minutes.

Not a great time for me, much slower than last year, but last year I remember suffering like a Dog, and today it was hard, but just steady Z4 hard.

Our group came back down Caesars and did the Marked Beach Loop. Decided to do the traditional Pumpkintown sprint. Kory led it out super early and then slowed. I hesitated and waited and Brent got the jump on me. I came across second with I think Lori in third.

Great day for riding. Tomorrow we do Furman with another Pumpkintown showdown, can't wait.

[Wheels]

For anyone interested I have been posting updates about camp and the trip down south on my blog.

jasoneveraert.blogspot.com

check it out and don't be shy...leave a comment...and let me know what you think.

Happy ridin!

[Chris Helwig]

Another great Furman ride today.

9 riders in our group today as Woody and Tom Dell joined us. Nice weather as it was pure sunshine and around 14 degrees.

Decent pace on the way out with the only extra stop being a call of nature I had to answer :) Stopped at the store on the way back and then it was all business getting ready for the Pumpkintown sign sprint. Dave Kay kept the pace up before the sprint and then Kory Mac put in a very sweet hard leadout that dropped everyone but Brent and I. I came around first but Brent just nipped me at the line with Tom in 3rd, Lori in 4th and Kory holding on for 5th.

Nice spin back to camp for a bit over 3hrs.

Tomorrow is an easy or off day with some people doing 1.5 hrs. I am taking the day off to go into Greenville with the Fam shopping for the day. Most of us will meet up at the Outback for the traditional camp dinner out.

[Chris Helwig]

Great ride to Saluda North Carolina Today.

Longest ride of the week at about 122km with some solid climbing. Pace out to Saluda was steady but not too bad. It only takes about 1hr and 20 minutes to get to the Saluda Climb and then about 1hr of climbing. Met up with Keith from the bike shop and had some nice chit chat. Bakery was open, but somehow I didn't see the sticky buns, but still got a nice piece of carrot cake and a coffee. Back out of town up the hill and we made the long descent. By the bottome it was warming up nicely close to 20 degrees and people were shedding layers.

There was question if we would sprint for the Pumpkintown sprint, but as it got closer Dave and Brent put in a bit of an attack and the chase was on. Kory Mac pulled them back as I had a nice draft. We left young Brent out if front to try and wear him out. Pace was steady around 40 km/h, but not super fast. Kory led it out with Brent on his wheel and me on Bren'ts. I managed to come around for the win and give him a nice 19th birthday present :)

Tomorrow is the Sassafrass Climb, temps are supposed to be up to 25 degrees.

[Chris Helwig]

Today was the climb up Sassafrass. Around 15 degrees at 9:30 am when we left, so most people where in shorts.

Big group with me today as we headed up towards the mountain. Started with Glen and Mooney and rode the rest of the way with Sacha. The group stopped at the North Carolina border instead of going all the way to the continental divide, there were a few groans when I arrived and said we were going all the way to the top.

At the top I split the group up and I rode with Sacha as the rest of the group went down first.

Beautiful day, over 20 degrees by the end. Sacha and I rode back fairly easy for almost 3hrs. Rest of the group did over 3hrs with some Pumpkintown bonus.

Tomorrow is an easy 1.5 hrs at 8am with everyone heading home afterwards.

[Chris Helwig]

Another Great Camp is in the books.

Janice, the kids and I left at 6am leaving the last day short ride in the cabaple hands of ride leaders Jacques and Marty. That way we can get home in 1 day without staying over as unloading the kids into a hotel room is tough.

Most riders did about 20hrs for the 7 day camp. Some pretty fast times up Caesar's despite a headwind showed some good early spring form. Some hard Pumpkintown sign sprints to get those fast twitch fibers going.

Special thanks to fearless ride leaders Marty and Jacques who did a great job, very much appreciated.

Already can't wait for next year!