March South Carolina 09 Camp Updates

[Chris Helwig]

Janice, Taylor, Graydon and I arrived safely in Sunny Greenville.

We left at 4:45 am from London to try to make it all in one day. No line up at all at the border in Sarnia and made it through no problem. The border officer even smiled at me :) A bit of a slowdown with Detroit rush hour traffic combined with some rain.

There is a detour coming down from Port Huron to get on the I75. Make sure you use google maps as they gave us the best detour route, much better than the posted detour.

After the detour things went pretty well. The rain stopped about half way through Ohio. The kids didn't need that many extra stops until about Tennessee. A few extra stops for Graydon, but we still made it through the mountains in daylight. A stop at the Canton Waffle House for dinner and then we made the rest of the drive to Greenville. Got in around 9:30 pm.

I am just going to run for the next couple days so I can spend some family time. Today we are going to the Greenville Zoo:D

Today's weather is very nice. High of 23 and Sunny. Looks like the worst weather will be Friday when Greg, Craig and I were scheduled to ride Saluda. Sunday is high of 13 with a 40% chance of rain but then after that no rain in the forecast and a few days around 20.

We will see everyone on Saturday.

[Chris Helwig]

Headed out for my run this morning in shorts and a dry fit shirt. After 10 minutes I was sweating buckets. Had a great run through the neighbourhood behind the Extended Stay.

Spent the rest of the day with the Fam. We went to the Greenville Zoo. Taylor had lots of fun, but she didn't wan't to see the Alligators :)

Over 25 degrees today. A beutiful sunny SC day. Let's hope for some days like today for camp.

[Chris Helwig]

More typical SC weather today, but still nice. 14 degrees and a little overcast. Still did my run in shorts and a T-Shirt. Run felt kind of crappy, not used to running two days in a row. Still nice to be outside.

Went to the pool with Janice, Taylor and Graydon. Graydon's first swim :)

Palmer and Vedova arrive tonight. Tomorrow is the assault on Saluda. Hopefully no rain.

Everyone driving down Friday and Saturday have a good safe drive.

[Chris Helwig]

Well the weather forecast wasn't great, but Greg, Craig and I got in a good ride today.

We drove south 30 minutes from Greenville to the Greenville Spinners Road Race Course. The wipers were on as some light rain was falling. Temperatures were cold for SC at around 7 degrees, so I wasn't super excited with the rain. The rain eased off as we got ready and headed off.

The loop was 24 km with some rolling hills. Pace was decent but not super hard. After two laps the pace on the climbs was getting hardish, so Greg and I agreed we should save a bit for the real camp. Light rain started and stopped, but the road never got wet and it was a good ride. Greg and I stopped after 3 laps and a little under 3hrs. Super Vedov did some bonus to get the full 3 hours.

Stats for the ride were 159 average watts with 27.1 kp/h on a rolling course. Overall a good first ride. My lesson learned was not riding all week and only running is not good for the legs. They were pretty blocked up and achy feeling, but good I got that out of the way before the start of the real camp on Sunday.

Tomorrow Greg and Craig are going to get in a another ride while I will spend the day moving to the cabins and spending a bit more family time before camp starts.

[Chris Helwig]

Today's ride felt fairly hard, but didn't realize the full extent until I looked at the power data. Normalized power was 210 watts, much higher than the 159 average. With all the climbs I often saw over 300 watts on the powertap on the climbs. Heart rate can be deceiving as I only had 6 minutes of Z4 heart rate, yet my normalized power was only 4 watts lower than Sunday's 214 watts where we did 25 minutes of Z4 but on a much flatter route.

[Wheels]

Drove to knoxville last night, probably heading out to Ashville to check out the bike shops. Doesn't look like we will be able to ride today with all this rain.

[Chris Helwig]

Everyone made it safe to Camp. No big concerns for anyone on the drive.

Today all groups are waiting until 1:30 to ride in hopes that the rain will stop. So far it has only been light rain. My group and John Syrovy's group are doing Furman, while Marty's group is doing Saluda.

Will post a ride report tonight or tomorrow.

[Chris Helwig]

Well we got the weather right and had a great ride on Sunday. A little bit of light drizzle, but the roads didn't really even get wet.

My group and John's group did Furman while Marty's group did Saluda. John and Marty report their rides went well. Marty's group turned it up pretty good up the Saluda climb with Jason, Marty and Blair leading the way.

My group had a pretty fast Furman ride. 3.5 hrs with 28 km/h on a hill route. For me that was the fastest Furman I have ever done. I think we did have some favourable winds. Everyone kept it in check pretty good. A bit of rusty riding after a winter of not riding outside, but by the end we were rotating well and riding smooth.

The pumpkintown sprint was hotly contested. About 2km before the sign guys starting picking up the pace and moving to the front. As we came around the corner with about 900 meters to go Andrew McRae took a flyer. I was sitting second wheel and Andrew got a good gap. I tried for the looong sprint and went from about 600 meters out. I had some decent speed but Trevor D. came around me. I tried to catch him back but ran out of Gas. Tim from Winnipeg nipped me at the line for second.

Rain this morning so we are waiting to ride until 1:30 again today. If the roads are wet we will likely do Furman again today and do Caesar's tomorrow.

[Chris Helwig]

We waited until 1:30 to ride again today, but didn't get quite as lucky with the rain. It was never really heavy rain, and it stopped about half way through the ride. Temperature was good at around 12 degrees.

With the wet roads all groups did Furman. My group started out with only 4 as a lot of my group decided to go with Marty's faster group. We left first, so when Marty's group caught us 3 more riders joined us so we were now 7. A good steady day, a bit easier than yesterday. Our average speed was 26 km/h which is still decent for a pretty hilly route. No sprint today with the wet roads and saving it up for today's assault on Caesar's head. Today we ride at 10:30 am to climb Caesar's. Nice sunny day and temps are supposed to go up to close to 20.

I will post a Caesar's report tonight or tomorrow.

[Chris Helwig]

The weather couldn't have been better for the assault on Caesar's today. 14 degrees and sunny when we left, and quicky warmed up. I think everyone climbed in shorts and a jersey.

My group and John's group combined at the bottom for one big ride together. We all went through the intersection as myself, Lori Kofman, Lori Caruso and Paul Choquette led. I felt good, but may have went a bit hard in the first 5 minutes. I stayed with the two Lori's until about 10 minutes and then settled into my own rythym with Paul just behind. The provincial team was just behind us so riders were passing us as we went up which was motivational. At the top Lori Kofman did the best time from our 2 groups with 40:30, Lori Caruso was just behind at around 42 minutes and I came in at 43 minutes with Paul just behind. Sarah McKenzie-Picot and Michelle Jackman did 45 minutes with Ted Mooney at 46 minutes and Rhonda and Emily just behind even after Rhonda got knocked off her bike by a deer!!

Meanwhile Marty's group and the newly formed 1B group led by Greg Palmer put in some great times. Jason was fastest at just over 31 minutes. Blair was next at 34 closely followed by Trevor D. also at 34 minutes, an impressive time for a first year junior. Marty came in at 34:30 with Leo just behind. Other times I heard of were Andrew McRae doing 36 minutes a great first climb up Caesar's and Jacques Bernier broke the elusive 40 minute barrier.

My group rode out the Marked Beach in shorts and jerseys, what a beutiful day. We did do a little Pumpkintown sprint. It was a photo finish between Trevor and I, too close to call.

I was pleased with my time. It was 1 minute and 8 seconds better than last year, so a PB for me. My watts averaged 272 watts, 2 watts higher than last year and a couple pounds lighter.

Tomorrow some are doing an easy recovery ride, some are taking the day off and a few of us are going for a light trail run.

[Chris Helwig]

My group and John's group went to Saluda today for the epic bakery ride.

Ted Mooney got a flat on the way outside of the park, but with some help from Leo and myself he was off and running. Great weather, shorts came off at the base of the climb. Good steady ride, around 27.5 kp/h for the 120 km ride. Around 4:18 ride time. Good steady climb into Saluda and nice stop at the bakery and Keith's Tri Shop. Keith joined us for the descent of the watershed. By Pumpkintown everyone was pretty tired. The pace did pick up, but no one really sprinted. We rode back in up hickory hollow. Another good sunny warm ride.

Tomorrow is the Sassafrass climb to the continental divide. I will post a report tomorrow.

[londonrider]

, shorts came off at the base of the climb. .


sounds like you may be having too much fun down there in the sun.:rolleyes:

[Chris Helwig]

sounds like you may be having too much fun down there in the sun.:rolleyes:

haha, yes I meant to say knee warmers came off :)

Today was another good day with the climb of Sassafrass. I led the women's group up the 8km or so climb. I climbed with Rhonda and had a nice climb. It was a bit cooler today, but I still took off my knees to enjoy a last bit of sun.

Marty's group went to Paris Mountain. Sounded like a pretty hard ride.

Most people are riding a short ride Saturday am and then heading back. Janice and I and the kids had planned to leave first thing in the morning, but decided to leave tonight and drive through the night while the kids sleep.

Overall a great camp. A bit of rain, but it wasn't cold rain, so really can't complain. Already planning for next year!!!

[SIBO]

Hey the weather here was fine with no rain, 2 days over 14 and only 1 day of snow, no rides without pants though...

[Chris Helwig]

Hey the weather here was fine with no rain, 2 days over 14 and only 1 day of snow, no rides without pants though...

But did you get sticky buns in the middle of a 4.5 hr ride like we did in Saluda :eek:

You just can't simulate a camp at home quite as well as being away. I have tried to do Christmas Camps in London but there is just more distractions and not as much focus on the training.

[SIBO]

There is no doubt going away and focusing on just riding is awsome, I didnt get a Stickey Bun, but lots of Antler Drops, they are fun to stop and pick up off the side of the road . A bit anoying to ride home with. . Going away is going away and everyone should treat themselves to a cycling roadtrip to beat the winter blues....

[londonrider]

gotta say i would love to be down in the sun and some of those rides right now but somebody has to stick around to replace all those flat tubes mooney comes home with.

[SIBO]

Now there has to more to the story than im getting, Its almost some kind of joke like " How many CoachChris riders does it take to change one of Ted Mooneys Flats".. Wannabe lets have some kind of punch line.....

[Chris Helwig]

Now there has to more to the story than im getting, Its almost some kind of joke like " How many CoachChris riders does it take to change one of Ted Moneys Flats".. Wannabe lets have some kind of punch line.....

Hopefully we will get some more rider reports after everyone gets home from camp. Most people were busy recovering from long rides to post in SC. Maybe Marty, Jason, Supervedov, Wannabe and a few others will post how their camp was.

[Jackattack]

Got back this afternoon, 2nd year at this camp. Found it much harder than last year as I pushed myself to reach my limit (up Ceasars Head) & past my limit (Blueridge) but well worth the pain. Total riding time for the week was 23.5 hrs & 620 km. Forgot how flat southern ontario is after coming back from SC camp.

[SIBO]

Hey Jackattack that is almost 26.3 kph average for the week.....

[Wanna B]

Now there has to more to the story than im getting, Its almost some kind of joke like " How many CoachChris riders does it take to change one of Ted Mooneys Flats".. Wannabe lets have some kind of punch line.....

Apparently the answer is 3, 2 more than it takes to tweak a derailleur hanger.

BTW - that is not the right part of the world to have weak braking. It makes you descend like a greased pig but lord help you if there's a stop sign at the bottom of the hill!!

The fix is in the works. That'll learn me to take down a new bike with only 1 shake-down ride in it.

[SIBO]

What pads did you decide on ? Were you Corking? or Swissing? HOw did the Ridley Rocket feel?

[Wanna B]

What pads did you decide on ? Were you Corking? or Swissing? HOw did the Ridley Rocket feel?

I was Corking, thinking about Swissing.

Felt like it was on rails descending and dragging an anchor climbing. I think that's an operator / saddle interface issue though....

[mann83]

Starting to finally come around from a great camp. Just wanted to give a shout out to John S. for his great effort grocery shopping and feeding a bunch of hungry boys day in and day out.

Thanks to everyone for making it a great camp with spirited efforts and great company. See everyone on the road or on the race courses this year putting all that well earned newly acquired fitness to the test.

By the way watch out again for Jason E. Did everyone get that time up Ceasar's head? If not it was 31:30. It's amazing what that looks like as it's riding away from you.:eek:

[Chris Helwig]

Already can't wait until next year. It is so great training full time for the week, as close to life as a pro as most of us will get. I am booking the cabins for next year later this week.