March 20, 2009 – Here are the reports from days 15 of the Team Ontario training camp in South Carolina. A record number of riders are participating this year — 39 athletes and 8 coaches — made the trek down south. Beijing Olympian Leigh Hobson is the featured coach/rider/mentor/presenter for the camp. The athletes are certainly drawing inspiration from her in many ways.

South Carolina Training Camp — Day 1

by Krista Ruby

It was a cold and rainy day at Rocky Bottom, South Carolina. Regardless of the weather, thirty-nine athletes were ready and eager to ride right at 9:45 even though all the coaches, except for Frank Fogolin, were a couple minutes behind. The ride was pretty standard, keeping the pace at a slower, recovery ride to get the ‘fleets’ record 13 hour drive out of our legs. (The fleet consisted of three twelve passenger vans, one minivan, one cargo van and one cube truck!). The decent down to Sketchy Bob’s was anything but sketchy, with all the athletes handling the tricky and slippery decent very professionally. Everyone was so excited to get back on the roads again, that not one complaint was heard. After the ride was finished we headed out for our first big grocery shop. The cargo fan was needed to accommodate all the bags and boxes. Back at the camp, everyone started getting settled into our new home for the next nine days.

Tip of the day: Make sure that the rinse cycle on your washing machine is working before doing the laundry.

South Carolina Training Camp – Day 2

by Kyle Fry

After yesterday’s cold and rainy day everyone was hoping for sunshine for the second day of the camp, however it was more of the same with rain pouring down when we rolled out of the driveway. The ride descended the mountain out of Rocky Bottom to the flatter roads around Pumpkintown where the groups did some tempo work to open up the legs before we make our first foray into the mountains the day after. Though many of us hadn’t ridden in a larger paceline since the fall the pulls were very fluid and right on the intensity that the coaches where hoping for. On the climb back up to Rocky Bottom the rain stopped and were gifted almost 20 minutes without our rain capes putting a nice cherry on top of a great ride.

Tip of the day: Waterproof cycling gloves do not exist — waterproof grocery bags do.

South Carolina Training Camp – Day 3

by Jordan Cheyne

Today was challenging 3-4 hour ride including a loop around Macedonia region with some steep climbing. For the third consecutive day the ride was a wet one but slightly warmer than before. In general the riders showed good spirits and made the most of unpleasant conditions. Most groups completed a seventy-seven km route with one adding an additional nine km on Toxaway Road. The terrain was undulating and featured some rough road. This provided a chance to put in some harder efforts and open up the lungs and legs for the next day’s workout up the eleven km Ceasar’s Head Climb. With such a big day on Tuesday individuals were forced to carefully monitor their fatigue and make smart decisions about their pace and fueling. Overall there were few problems in the ride and the riders worked well to support each other in their groups.

After another grocery trip to Brevard in the afternoon (and some quality time spent on the internet in Starbucks) everyone was treated to a meal from our guest “Jeff the Chef”. Despite DK’s warnings there was plenty of delicious food designed for the nutritional needs of cyclists. Fuseli pasta, baked tarragon potatoes and “Sasafrass Chicken” were the main feature of the high-carb, high taste menu. With full stomachs the riders the riders showed some professional dish-washing skills to clean-up in record time before retiring for the night. With a solid day’s riding, a good meal and a early night to bed the riders were as ready as they could be for the trial up Ceasar’s Head.

Tip of the Day: Ontario cyclists aren’t just fast on the road, they can also tear it up in the kitchen.

South Carolina Training Camp – Day 4

by Kevin Massicotte

Day four saw the sun come out and the mercury rise for the first time since our arrival. Today, riders faced the infamous climb to Caesar’s head, twice! The first time up was to be a sub-threshold effort and the second would be a handicapped race to the top. Lactate levels were taken at the top of the first climb by Denise. Some people had numbers over the acceptable range of 2-3 mm, and some were comfortably in the range. Zack Hughes scored the lowest reading of the day with 1.8 mm.

Riders were eager to try their legs at current Caesar’s head record holder Andrew Lattimore’s time of 28:45. In the last group to start, the pace was cranked right from the gun. Some riders would have liked to comment on the small black 450-500’s on their watt meters, but probably couldn’t find the breath to do so. The group splintered quickly and at the top, Mitch Bailey and teammate Steven Noble finished side by side with times of 28:05. Maybe next year someone will crack 28 minutes. Laura Bietola had the fastest women’s time of the day with a 39:24 and Daniel Varga won the retro Ontario K.O.M. jersey for being the first to the top.

Many riders learnt to gauge their efforts today and many improved their times from last year. The night was caped off with an informative presentation by coach Frank Fogolin about nutrition and carbohydrate consumption during races and training.

Tip of the day: Make quiche.

South Carolina Training Camp – Day 5

by Mike Garrigan

Dan Maggi set us straight on what a recovery day was all about — camp record is 17.5 kph. We set out in six separate groups to challenge the record. Unbeknownst to the other groups, I was determined for my group to win the race. Stealth tactics came into play as we slipped into a hideaway just past the Continental Divide, safely sheltered as the other groups rode by oblivious to the superior tactics that were employed. Mission accomplished — spot at the back secured. After that it smooth sailing along East Fork Rd. We couldn’t have been happier with the stellar weather — day two of sunshine after three days of rain. Fly fisherman were enjoying the river as we rolled by.

In the end, we won the recovery ride but came up just short on the record by one kph. Next time….

Tip of the day: In a mountain biker’s dictionary, road tactics and Tomfoolery are one and the same.