End of West Coast and on to the East!

The last few days training in Palm Springs has been great. The weather turned around and we had a nice dose of sun that is so common for that part of California. Because of the rain prior, I spent a bit of time in the pool and put a few more “K’s” in than usual. Turned out to be 17 in 3 days. Surprisingly it all felt really good. I think I needed that to get me rolling again. All the campers did a hefty load of swimming. We had a few do 6K one day and that was by far the most that they have ever swum. It made me reflect a bit on my own journey in the sport. It was around this time three years ago that I did my first 6K swim. It was in New Zealand at Epic Camp. I remember how it made me feel and I could see that “feeling” on the campers face.

The riding was also a bit more than I had been doing but it was at a very tame pace. Mitch, Mike and myself decided that we would let the campers pull and set the pace for our first ride in the sun. It was just shy of 100 miles. We had started a tad late and I began to get concerned about the amount of daylight we had. The pace out was not that fast. Since the ride was on out and back we had no choice but to turn around and go back. We told the campers that Mike and I were going to go on the front and pull. The pace would have to be picked if we were going to make it back before the sun went down so we made sure they loaded up on some black gold (coke) and got rolling towards home as quickly as we could.

I had the sun go down on me once before when I was training in Kona. I was on the upper highway and got totally screwed with darkness. Scott Jones and Ben Cotter were with me but that didn’t really help since neither of them glowed. Luckily we had Teresa back at the house and called her to come get us. By that time that Cougar found us the sun was on its way back up! Anyway, I’m sidetracking from the fact that all of us were now in this same situation.

Mike and I kept pulling a bit too hard and loosing the bunch. There was one guy there that seemed to be able to hang on. His name was Adam but I’ll just call him the London Dynamo. He was from London and had a KIT that said that and wore it everyday so of course that is what I called him. I am a lot like Sawyer on “Lost” and tend to call people anything but their actual name.

The three of us waited for the bunch and Mitch gave Mike and I the go ahead to take off. LD stayed back with the group and Mike and I went to chase what was left of the sun. Again, it was that time of year when Mike and I seem to get together hammer out miles. It wasn’t crazy, which I enjoyed, and ultimately I pulled hard enough for a while to make Mike feel like he needed to challenge me. Trick worked and I sat in for the rest of the ride and got home faster with less effort! I’m so smart.

We managed to make it back just as the sun took a dive over the PS mountains. The riders made it back shortly after as we not knowingly took a longer way. They were lucky there was a shorter way because they would have been in the pitch black for sure. Not typical camp protocol but Mike and I were ready to do a rescue pick up in the CpC Van. If it had been me, there would have been a call from me saying “You can pick my ass up at Starbucks!”

The next day we did another swim ride combo. The ride was headed up in the Mountains. Palm Springs has got some awesome climbing. One of my favorites actually so I was very pleased that the weather was good enough to do it. Going up would be great but the descent might be a bit chilly so we all packed up like mules. My back pockets were total porn star. I hate to be cold so I had pretty much everything I owned with me.

The climb was tame at first but then Mike took off. I bridged back up to him a while later, dropping my London Dynamo companion, but Mike didn’t like that. He took off again and I had to stay 40 seconds back in order to keep it at a sane pace rather than a race. Fine with me. I was enjoying myself. The mountains were looking alive and we started to have snow on the ground. Pretty, but not good for going down.

We regrouped at the top and then took the crew a bit further along the top where we described it as Kiwi rollers. That is some bullshit because really it just goes up. Rollers, Kiwi or not, need some down hill. I took off on my own for a little bit trying to enjoy the peace up there. Amongst all the snow, rocks and trees without any iPod, what do I have going on in my head? “Let me see that thong. That thong tha thong tha thong.” Really? A sole biker in natures playground and I have the “Thong Song” stuck in my head. Wonderful.

After 20 min of that we made to the point where would turn. I waited for the other campers packing my bike in the snow to keep it up. When they got all arrived I had to give them the good news and the bad news. The good was that we were going to turn around and go back because it was so cold. The bad was that the store on the corner was closed. I was really wanting a coke too. Damn.

The ride down wasn't nearly as cold as I ad planned. However, I figured I would be okay calorie wise and I wasn't. While descending I felt the strong onset of a bonk. I wasn't even really working but sure enough my blood sugar went way down. It was kinda funny to because I seemed almost euphoric. Flying down the side of this mountain totally spaced out not really caring if I just flew off the edge. I think my mind figured I would take off like Eliot in E.T. Good thing that didn't happen!

Once down everyone but me was pretty damn cold. That is very rare. Usually I am the one with my shoulders crammed up by my ears shivering. I decided that we would all just go to Starbucks and have Mitch come get us in the Van. We weren't far from the hotel and the rest of the ride would be traffic ligths anyway. Mich was on the same wavelength and showed up in the van before I could even call him. He turned early and was super cold so he figured we were all screwed.

Having a nice coffee with the campers was perfect. We all got a good climb in and now had some down time to socialize. Everyone seemed very pleased with the day and they effort they put out. I was definitely okay with my ride.

I had to pack my stuff up that night as I am heading to Florida in the AM to meet up with Joanna, Carole and Billy for some warm weather training in Florida. My flight connects with Carole's in Denver so having a buddy to travel with should be fun and filled with stupid shit to write about. Will keep you posted from Gatorland!

Cheers,
bdc