South Carolina 2006 Photos

[Graydon]

Those who were around the first week of the camp last year, might be interested in these. I just got an email from Peter (one of the Toronto guys who joined us on the ride to Saluda):

Hey Graydon,

I awoke yesterday to find the white stuff on the ground, I had my wrist operated on again on October 31 and haven't been able to ride since. I needed something to get me motivated and excited about the bike again. I figured it was time to finally work on the pictures from our South Carolina cycling trip. Sorry it took so long to get them posted. I'm quite sure these will bring back some fond memories for you. Feel free to circulate the website URL to others who were there or might be contemplating going next year.

So here's the first draft: http://torontocyclist.com/sc2006/ (http://torontocyclist.com/sc2006/)
(Press <F11> to maximize the Internet Explorer screen — best viewed on LCD monitor at 1280x1024 resolution)

Enjoy!

Peter

[OhSoFast]

Those are awesome pictures, I wish I had gone, looks like a lot of uphill. Who is this Peter dude? Is he on CoachChris?

OSF

[Graydon]

OSF: Peter was one of 3 riders from Toronto whose stay in the park overlapped ours. They joined us on atleast one of the rides. Peter is the older, really tall guy, in the photos, often wearing headphones.

Yes, a lot of uphill (and downhill). Great for blowing out young knees if you're not careful ;)

[OhSoFast]

Interesting you mention on blowing out young knees. I know a couple juniors who went to Arizona and suffered knee problems throughout the season afterwards. Why would climbing mountains hurt the knees so much, or say more than doing weights or a 40km time trial?

OSF

[Graydon]

Weights: 3-5 sets of 10-12 reps
40km TT: 1-hour, threshold power, at a cadence you (and your knees like)
Too keen at the South Carolina Training Camp: back-to-back, 4-5 hour days, with climbs 6-9% of up to 1-hour, typically in low cadence (who brings a triple?), and high power outputs.

Does that answer your question?

I'd argue if you did 5 hours a day of squats or 5 hours of 40km TT's first thing in march after doing easy nothing but 2-hour rides on the trainer, you'll blow your knees out just the same, if not faster. The problem will occur whenever you expose the body to a significantly large increase in stress in a short period of time.

The hardest part about going to South Carolina (or any training camp) is not going hard all the time, it about knowing when to go easy. The body takes time to adapt to new loads.

Remember: training makes you weaker, recovery makes you stronger.