Updates from March SC Camp

[Chris Helwig]

Camp is almost here.

Some are travelling down Friday while others are coming down Saturday. Janice, Taylor and I will be leaving Saturday super early around 4:30 am so we can get through the mountains in daylight. We hope to arrive at Camp around 7:30 pm.

Forecast looks decent. Sunday is a cooler day around 10 degrees, but so far no rain forecast. It then looks to be warming up with highs of around 16 degrees. Later next week (as if they can predict that far well :) they are calling for warm temps around 21 degrees but some rain.

I will post reports every couple days as I get into town for wireless. Monday will likely be my first post.

Should be a great camp.

[Chris Helwig]

Janice, Taylor and I arrived Safely in Saluda North Carolina. We drove all night to make sure we got down in time to check in Saturday.

Hope to get out for a nice easy 2hr ride on Saturday morning before checking in at 4:00 pm.

Weather forecast for the Saturday drive down is calling for some snow. Be carefull and take your time. Even if you don't arrive until Sunday you will still get lots of good riding in.

[Chris Helwig]

Everything is going well in the Sunny South.

Saturday I rode with Keith from Saluda, a couple hours with the watershed climb. Felt a bit blocked up, obviously the lack of sleep doesn't help. Greg and Vedova did a harder loop with a tough climb.

Sunday most people arrived as the fast group did Saluda and the other groups did Furman. My group was pretty well behaved keeping things moderate with a long week ahead. We did about 3:20. It was cold when we left, around 3 degrees, but warmed up to around 10.

Today everyone had arrived with some delays due to the storm. Today was the assault on Caesar's Head. My group waited until 10:30 am for a bit warmer temps. It was about 7 when we left but quickly warmed up. For the climb up it was probably around 12 and 16 by the ride back. Lots of good times, a few too many to report, but a few highlights included Jason Evaraert around 33 minutes with a bunch of riders including Marty, Jan, Greg, Peter and Leo all around 34-35 minutes. The juniors road well with Cadet John Carden the fastest at 36 minutes. The rest were all around 38 minutes. Jill did 38 and Lori Kofman did 39. I rode up with Jean Michaud from Toronto. A decent climb, beat my time from last year by a slim margin of 9 seconds for a time of 44:06

Tomorrow the fast group is doing the new Sassafrass loop while everyone else is doing Saluda.

[Chris Helwig]

Another good couple days in SC.

Yesterday Groups 1 and 2A and 2B all headed out to Saluda. Fairly warm temps of around 10 when we left. A little cooler up the mountain in Saluda but we fueled up at Keith's shop. A little bit of rain on the way back, but not even enough to get wet. My group did 4.5 hrs as the other intermediate group went a bit faster and the first group a touch slower. Some good natured trash talk in cabin 12 as I have managed to beat the juniors in the Pumkintown sprints despite their best tactics and efforts. I ride them about the sprint wins and they get on me about my slow climbing and less than slender body type.

The fast group rode up to the Parkway, a 5.5 hr ride. A huge 13 km climb to the parkway that apparantly was much tougher than Caesar's. Marty blew a tire on the descent and got some road rash, but otherwise he is fine.

Today was a well timed rest day. About half went out for an easy spin as the other half took the day off completely. Everyone is a bit tired, but after an easy day will be keen to get back at it tomorrow.

[A.J]

So today was another great ride with Chris. Brent came out of no where and dominated the hill sprint beating John Carden and Chris. The Sprint was a close one today less then a wheel length away. Chris is getting a little worried as Brent is tanking it up and quickly catching him in the sprints. We expect a win tomorrow to knock chris off his sprint championship.

[Chris Helwig]

Another great day in SC.

All groups headed to Furman under warm and Sunny skies. Everyone was in shorts by the stretch break.

So far the juniors have all been much faster than me on the long climbs, but I have won all the sprints. To break the tie we decided on a sprint to the top of a hill. The hill is the toughest one on the way to Furman, maybe around 1.2 km. John Carden went first followed by Brent. I had the tactical advantage as they were all in the small ring, but I knew it could be done in the Big ring. I got a good gap on everyone but Brent. Brent came around me near the top, and I suffered to the top for second.

The sprint to Pumpkintown was nice and fast and clean. Aidan led out the boys with John followed by Brent with Alex and Trevor behind me. It was a pretty fast sprint, it took near my max wattage of 1173 to barely beat Brent at the line. Brent is definately getting faster as the week goes along.

Tomorrow forecast is for some Thunderstorms, so we will have to see how the ride goes in the morning.

[fancy]

boy do i wish i was down there for those sprints right now, i am in the mood. it would be nice to give you a run for your money chris. good to see you guys are having fun. i am leading the RWR sprint competition now, but it is not the same on the computrainer, although i almost hit 1200 watts on the computrainer the other day tire slipage and all.
look forward to a sprint ride in the summer.

fancy

[Chris Helwig]

Saturday was the final day of camp.

Some of us avoided some nasty rain, while others got pretty wet. We left at 10:30 am after some heavy thunderstorms cleared. We did a loop just over 1.5 hrs to stay close to camp as the forecast called for more nasty rain.

My group had a good ride with a race up the 2km River Road climb. I tried to stay with the young guns but only lasted about half way. We just made it back to camp before some nasty rain started.

The fast group wasn't so lucky. Palmer road back in the rain while the rest of his group took shelter at Aunt Sue's. Greg and I drove down to pick them up as it was lightning and dangerous riding conditions.

All and all a great camp. Janice, Taylor and I left last night at 8pm and drove through the night to make it home. Looking forward to Camp next year already.

[Chris Helwig]

boy do i wish i was down there for those sprints right now, i am in the mood. it would be nice to give you a run for your money chris. good to see you guys are having fun. i am leading the RWR sprint competition now, but it is not the same on the computrainer, although i almost hit 1200 watts on the computrainer the other day tire slipage and all.
look forward to a sprint ride in the summer.

fancy

It would have been great to have you at camp Ryan, maybe next year. Look forward to doing some sprint rides with you this summer and maybe some Tuesday night races as well.

[fancy]

hey did you see post on the OCA website on the team ontario camp. and old obc cadet the provincial champ from last year did ceasers head at the camp in 28:44, that is crazy. he just turned 17 this year.

just thought that knowledge would make every one feel worse about early season fitness

fancy

[Chris Helwig]

I saw the time, very impressive. Coincendatlly our camp Caesar's record was also broken and very close to his time. Ryan MacDonald from Nova Scotia did 28:45 up Caesar's. That broke Graydon's old record of just over 30.

[Mel Bernier]

Does anyone have pictures of the camp that they can post?