California National Team Training Camp 2015
Hey all!!
So I am writing this as I am sitting in the airport waiting to catch my flight back to Vancouver. What perfect timing to, as it just started raining here in LA! (So it was actually written in the airport, even though I am posting it much later ;)
I have been in LA for almost exactly 2 weeks at a Canadian elite/junior National Team training camp. It has been an epic 2 weeks with around 35 hours of riding! The camp took place in the county of Oxnard, around two hours north of LA. The place where we stayed was a total beach house! It was this quaint little blue "surf shack" 1 block from the beach with the perfect number of beds for us 4 juniors (Liah Harvey, Katherine Maine, Catherine Ouellette and I) and womens National team road coach, Denise Kelly. It was so nice to get to know Denise and the other juniors, whom I hadn't met before!
The riding was great! You could drive 20 minutes out to the canyons and do 4 hours just on the back roads, or ride from our house for 5 hours. It was really nice, as we always had a follow vehicle and therefore had easy access to more water and food which gave us a lot more freedom as to where we could ride and for how long.
Some days we rode with the 8 other elite women, which was fun socially and added an extra challenge into our riding, while on the other days, the four of us would push through our 3.5 to 5 hour ride, sometimes in 32+ degree Celsius weather, with Denise encouraging us and getting us to keep our ride "peppy" from behind in the van. Some of the 45 minute+ climbs are the longest climbs that I have ever done, and it was great to be able to climb those hills day after day and see how each day I would get stronger. Despite the legs being tired after a long 10 days, I finished the camp in great shape and feeling awesome and strong! I also came out of it more flexible than I was before, thanks to all of the morning yoga and stretching on the beach! I gained more bike handling knowledge as well as worked on technique on the bike, both personally and group training.
The camp was also a great chance to break in my new Colnago AC-R road bike, which handled amazingly around corners and was supper responsive to my movements! It was nice and light up the hills and not to mention the neon green looked so fluorescent and flashy in pictures!
I also wore my new Mixino Catlike helmet, which was sleek and light and one of the most comfortable helmets I have ever worn! Some of the other helmets I have had in the past would put pressure on my head and give me headaches in the heat, but Catlike helmets have kept me comfortable and headache free!
Having my new Power2Max power metre was awesome as a lot of our training was based around our power and heart rate and cadence, as well as we had to send in our power files daily to coach Denise Kelly!
Last but definitely not least, I got to try out a new bike kit from CODE sports, which was some of the most comfortable kit I have ever ridden in! The shorts and chamois were awesome and the jersey was light enough so I didn't overheat, and it was tight fitting and stylish. The pockets were the perfect size and super easy to get into, which was especially important as I had to carry enough food to last me sometimes 5 hours, and I needed to have easy access to it while climbing and riding in packs.
All in all it was an amazing two weeks filled with tons of riding, lots of laughter and great people!
Thank you so much Denise Kelly, Craig Griffin and Dan Peters for everything over these past two weeks!
I'd like to thank my new and returning sponsors Local Ride Racing, Colnago Canada, CODE Sports, Catlike Helmets, Power2Max, Cycles Lambert, Epoch Analytical, Pacific Sport and Cycling BC for the continuous support! I look forward to an awesome race season ahead!
:) Maggie
So I am writing this as I am sitting in the airport waiting to catch my flight back to Vancouver. What perfect timing to, as it just started raining here in LA! (So it was actually written in the airport, even though I am posting it much later ;)
I have been in LA for almost exactly 2 weeks at a Canadian elite/junior National Team training camp. It has been an epic 2 weeks with around 35 hours of riding! The camp took place in the county of Oxnard, around two hours north of LA. The place where we stayed was a total beach house! It was this quaint little blue "surf shack" 1 block from the beach with the perfect number of beds for us 4 juniors (Liah Harvey, Katherine Maine, Catherine Ouellette and I) and womens National team road coach, Denise Kelly. It was so nice to get to know Denise and the other juniors, whom I hadn't met before!
The riding was great! You could drive 20 minutes out to the canyons and do 4 hours just on the back roads, or ride from our house for 5 hours. It was really nice, as we always had a follow vehicle and therefore had easy access to more water and food which gave us a lot more freedom as to where we could ride and for how long.
 |
| Photo credits: Denise Kelly |
Some days we rode with the 8 other elite women, which was fun socially and added an extra challenge into our riding, while on the other days, the four of us would push through our 3.5 to 5 hour ride, sometimes in 32+ degree Celsius weather, with Denise encouraging us and getting us to keep our ride "peppy" from behind in the van. Some of the 45 minute+ climbs are the longest climbs that I have ever done, and it was great to be able to climb those hills day after day and see how each day I would get stronger. Despite the legs being tired after a long 10 days, I finished the camp in great shape and feeling awesome and strong! I also came out of it more flexible than I was before, thanks to all of the morning yoga and stretching on the beach! I gained more bike handling knowledge as well as worked on technique on the bike, both personally and group training.
 |
| Photo credits: Denise Kelly |
The camp was also a great chance to break in my new Colnago AC-R road bike, which handled amazingly around corners and was supper responsive to my movements! It was nice and light up the hills and not to mention the neon green looked so fluorescent and flashy in pictures!
I also wore my new Mixino Catlike helmet, which was sleek and light and one of the most comfortable helmets I have ever worn! Some of the other helmets I have had in the past would put pressure on my head and give me headaches in the heat, but Catlike helmets have kept me comfortable and headache free!
Having my new Power2Max power metre was awesome as a lot of our training was based around our power and heart rate and cadence, as well as we had to send in our power files daily to coach Denise Kelly!
Last but definitely not least, I got to try out a new bike kit from CODE sports, which was some of the most comfortable kit I have ever ridden in! The shorts and chamois were awesome and the jersey was light enough so I didn't overheat, and it was tight fitting and stylish. The pockets were the perfect size and super easy to get into, which was especially important as I had to carry enough food to last me sometimes 5 hours, and I needed to have easy access to it while climbing and riding in packs.
All in all it was an amazing two weeks filled with tons of riding, lots of laughter and great people!
 |
| Photo credits: Denise Kelly |
Thank you so much Denise Kelly, Craig Griffin and Dan Peters for everything over these past two weeks!
I'd like to thank my new and returning sponsors Local Ride Racing, Colnago Canada, CODE Sports, Catlike Helmets, Power2Max, Cycles Lambert, Epoch Analytical, Pacific Sport and Cycling BC for the continuous support! I look forward to an awesome race season ahead!
:) Maggie
As a female cyclist myself, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your story of the training camp. I've attended a few of these myself and you can't beat the camaraderie of such an experience. Your training's a lot more scientific than mine ever was, but I can identify with being plunged into a more mountainous environment and having to work twice as hard.
ReplyDeleteMaribeth Curley @ UP Communication