Training Camp

This weekend was the Mercy women's training camp in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. I had to work on Friday, so I missed out on the 90 mile ride plus getting to climb Mt. Magazine. I arrived Friday evening to find some pretty beat girls, to say the least. Saturday morning we started our ride at 10:00. It was about 38 degrees with a 10 mph north wind. We rode to Mt Gaylor, which was about 30 miles northeast of Ft. Smith. There were a few rollers, but the scenery was awesome. Riding in Arkansas is so different from the flat land of Oklahoma! I mistakenly forgot to change my gears before camp, so I had to ride with a 23 while everyone else was spinning their 27! After climbing 20 miles with an average gradient of 5%, my legs were trashed. I am not used to climbing that much and my legs could feel it, for sure. After the climb, we rode back to Ft. Smith, for a total of 92 miles. We were on the bikes for 5 hours and 45 minutes. It was a great ride!!!

Sunday, I had a cyclocross race in Tulsa at 2:00, so I left Ft. Smith at 10:00 when the rest of the girls were going for a 40 mile ride. My legs were so tired for the race. I spun on my road bike for 45 minutes on a borrowed trainer and then did the race. Luckily, my competition didn't show up. I used the race as sort of a recovery ride, instead of a race.

The team camp was a great experience. It is such a positive thing to hang out with my teammates and get to know them better. We are all good friends and I think that will allow us to race better as a team. We really felt like pros this weekend. We had a follow van with us the whole time and had great support from the Mercy club members. We made our race schedule for next season and I am really looking forward to racing with them next season.