Bike Camp and a Practice Tri

Me, Alex, Thomas, Max, Hans, Zack(AMC Staff
Jeremy, Joe, Jack, Tyler and Greg(AMC Staff)

Back to reality, I've been away for the past few days leading teens on a 5 day mountain bike camp. All boys and lots of fun. The best part is seeing them progress and grow so much over the few days I have to work with them. The camp ran from Tuesday to Saturday. During camp I had two races; Tuesday afternoon, Great Glen Trails Summer bike series and Thursday is my long day-Red Jersey Summer Race Series 9 miles and co-ed ice hockey in the evening. My legs get a great workout! I packed everything I needed for biking, camping, racing and hockey loaded it on top of the van, picked up the boys and headed south to North Conway. Luckily I was able to stay at a friends house (thanks Anne!) in a nice comfy bed on Thursday night and not roll back into camp at 10:30 pm. Day 4 camp started at 8:30 and they were all ready to go. Cedar Creek- fun, fast easy singletrack trails! We took the Mineral Site trail to descend about 2 miles down to the singletrack flats. We were just about to pop back out on the fire road, I turned and the group was not behind me. I stopped and waited and waited- no sign or sound. I make the climb back up and everything went through my mind. Someone got hurt, how bad? Just some scrapes, broken wrist, broken leg? head injury? We are about 3 miles from the van and another 15-20 minutes to the hospital. I meet the group and was relieved to find Jack and Hans looking at the bike. Jack had gone over the handlebars and somehow there was not a scratch on him. The bike did not fair so well. I always bring an extra bike just in case. We made a plan to split up, a few kids and Greg walked back to the van for the spare bike while Zach and I rode with the rest of the group. We met for lunch about an hour later and enjoyed the rest of the ride together. I camped with them that night after some fun swimming in the river. Day 5 was a half day, we rode for 3 hours at Sticks and Stones, I dropped them back at AMC for 12:30. My day was only half over, after camp I unload all bikes, reported bike issues to our mechanic, Chris, she does a fantastic job keeping them working so well. I vacuumed and washed the van and returned my supplies. It takes about 2-3 hours after catching up with co-workers, but it's nice to unwind and think about my camp and figure out where I can improve.

I've got one day off and back to another one day guide on Monday.

Sunday workout-sprint triathlon. Swim 1/2 mile, bike 12, run 3-Nationals are just 5 weeks away and putting it all together helps me get the kinks out. I swam in Durand Lake, one of the most beautiful and peaceful places. The northern presidential range sits in the background, a freshly mowed path circles the pond, and there is no real beach just a few dirt steps cut into the bank- it's quaint and perfect.

As I prepare, Gina snaps a few photos.

I pictured myself on race day visualizing every part of the race, I know I will be ready. I'll just need to execute it all perfectly and remember to take take it all in- I'm competing with some of the best in the country. I felt pretty good in the water, but when I transitioned to my bike I could feel the past 5 days of riding and 2 races- my legs were tired. I backed off to 50% and settled into the aero bars. The temp was 90º I didn't need to push too hard because then it would take longer to recover.  I really felt the heat on the run and finished at a slow jog. It was a great training block and will tweak it a little for next Sunday's mock triathlon.