Clermont Training Camp Updates

[Chris Helwig]

Everyone has arrived safely at the Old Bicycle Inn in Clermont Florida. A few delays getting our luggage at the Orlando airport and then getting a bit lost coming out of the airport, but no worries everyone arrived. Picked up $300 worth of groceries at the Super Taget and we are ready to go.

Tomorrow we ride at 11:00 after some of us put our bikes together. On tap is 3.5 hrs in the Florida Hills (really there are hills :) with repeats of Sugarloaf. Sugarloaf gains 60 meters, so a decent climb (effingham gains 100 meters)

I will post ride report daily.

[Suprvedov]

How's the weather?:)

[Chris Helwig]

How's the weather?:)

Weather looks great:D Currently 11 degrees at 8am. Supposed to be 21 by 11am when we ride and then a high of 24. Nice and sunny.

[Chris Helwig]

What a great first day in Florida. Close to 20 degrees when we left, knee warmers came off by the stretch break at the head of the Orange Trail. No problems with directions, easy to get to the climbs. By mid race temp was 25 degrees.

Everyone was feeling pretty good as we headed down the path towards the hills. Nice and easy as my Father and I led to the stretch break. Once we headed North on 455 Jason and Ted came to the front and the "easy" part of the ride was over. Set a good pace out to 561A and over to Buckhill. My Father and I let the others go and they went pretty hard. Over to Sugarloaf we went. First time up Jason went hard followed by Ted, Rob, Ashley, myself and my father. Keith did 1 time up, I did 2x, Ashley did 3x and everyone else did 4x.

After the climbs we retraced our steps and again set a pretty good pace. Back to the trailhead for some bonus time. Overall time was 3.5 hrs. Average speed was 26.1 km/h on the hilly route. My average power was 147 watts with a normalized power of 202 watts. My TSS (Training Stress Score) was 258.7. Critical Power (CP) for 2 minutes was 355 (up the climb) My average power up the climb was 295 watts for just under 4 minutes. My HR average was 149 bpm with 25 minutes of Z4.

Overall a great first day. Everyone was a bit tired, especially their backs from climbing. Forecast for tomorrow is a bit cooler with a high of 19 and a chance of Thunderstorms.

[Suprvedov]

Any of you guys watching to TofC on-line down there? Caught a clip yesterday of Lance pushing some costume-cladded devil into a snowbank because he was getting too close to the peleton. Funny stuff.

[McRae]

Any of you guys watching to TofC on-line down there? Caught a clip yesterday of Lance pushing some costume-cladded devil into a snowbank because he was getting too close to the peleton. Funny stuff.

Didn't see that clip, but the leadout that the Cervelo test team gave Thor Hushovd in Tuesday's stage should be mandatory viewing for the junior racers--just doesn't get more textbook than that. There's no way a sprinter can lose when your leadout man delivers you to 150m to go already with a 15-foot gap to the next rider.

[SIBO]

Love Clermont, cant wait for my 6weeks there,,,,,, Chris I have the unoffical record up and down..... Up was 17x thats from highway to street at top of hill non stop..... it did get boring..... down was around 75 I will have to check the old cycling peaks...
Check out the Windemere Roadine rides.... They have a good group and racing on Wed nights....

[Chris Helwig]

Another good day of riding.

Headed out to Florida Boys Ranch Road to Groveland and then down to the Van Fleet Trail. Ted and Jason did most of the pulling but kept the pace steady. Out to Groveland for a store stop and then back to the Van Fleet Trail. Ted and Jason kept going on the Vanfleet to do 4.5 hrs while Ashley, Keith and I turned around to do 3:20Our ride was 28.4 kp/h while Ted and Jason averaged 29.4 kp/h. I averaged 138 watts for the ride with almost all Z2 heart rate. We got just a bit of rain, but really not enough to get wet, but just after we got back it started pouring rain, so the hard men Jason and Ted did their last hour in steady rain. Pretty warm at around 20 degrees so really can't complain.

Tomorrow is back to Sugarloaf for another 3.5 hrs. Can't wait :)

[mann83]

It pretty cold here in the great white north so I just finished up a great 2.5hrs on the trainer with bunches of ints just to keep my brain from going numb. Thank God Cycling.tv is showing the tour of California for free this week to keep me going.

Ready for another long one tomorrow (on the trainer) so you all just enjoy the warmth and for all of our sake's please bring some back.:confused::eek:

[Chris Helwig]

Another day in the Sugarloaf Hills today.

A little cold, but still nice and Sunny. It was around 8 degrees when we left, but warmed up to around 13 by the end of the ride.

Keith rode with us out to Monteverde and then turned around. The 5 of us continued on at a nice steady clip. Took our shortcut across from Buckhill to Sugarloaf the Bruce Hunt Road. On to sugarload where Jason flew up followed by Ted, then Rob and Ashley and I came up together. We went down the other side almost all the way back to the highway and then turned around for an out and back to get our time in.

Overall a pretty hard day with an average speed of 26.9 kp/h. I had an average wattage of 158 and a normalized power of 226. My TSS was a pretty high 320 with a .98 Intensity Factor (IF)

Tomorrow my father and I are going to Epcot but I am going to get in an easy run in the morning. Everyone else is going to do an easy 2hrs.

[Chris Helwig]

Another good couple days in Clermont.

Saturday was an easy day. Ted, Jason, Rob and Ashley went out for a leisurely "bike walk" for 2hrs with some pretty warm temps. I went out for a 35 minute run/walk in the morning and then my Father and I played tourist and went to Epcot.

Sunday was another assault on Sugarloaf. Around 12 when we left, but before we hit Buckhill it had warmed up quite a bit and off came the knee warmers. We did 3 repeats of Sugarloaf and then went back down the other side and came back up. All together 3:35 time with an average speed of 28 kp/h which is pretty fast considering the hilly terrain.

Today we do our last day, a Florida boys Ranch ride. Ted and Jason will do 4.5 hrs while everyone else will do 3.5 hrs.

[Chris Helwig]

A little chilly for the last day, but really can't complain. Around 10 degrees when we left but it slowly warmed up to around 18 by the end of the ride.

Headed out Florida Boys Ranch at a decent clip. Went by a big brush fire, which was kind of cool, but made breathing a bit tough. Went out to Groveland for the store stop and then back to the Vanfleet trail. Ted, Jason and The Big Show kept going as Ashley Keith and I turned around. A pretty big headwind, but still a good ride. 27.7 kp/h for Ashley Keith and I. I had 133 average with 163 normalized power.

Overall a great camp. I am pretty tired, so the timing of the finish of the camp was about perfect. Total hours for the camp was between 19-21.5 hours in 6 days depending on the person. Now back to the Winter and try to get in some outside rides before heading back down to SC.