Riding report from last Thursday until today..

The camp started off last Thursday for a few of us, Owen, Evan, Kevin and myself. The first couple of days we just took it easy and put in some long easy miles. On Saturday the 14th we did the annual “Tour de Palm Springs” which is a 100 mile charity ride. We rode with the front group for the entire 5 hours, which was awesome because Kristin Armstrong was riding in the group as well. To ride an chat with the Olympic Time Trial Champion is a pretty cool experience. We finished off the ride with sun burns and tans which was a nice treat coming from the cold of BC. On Saturday evening Matt Potma arrived after just watching the Tour of California prologue just earlier in the day. Sunday was he day when the rest of the gang arrived. On Sunday morning Matt went and picked a few of the guys from the airport, and a few of us stayed back and headed out for a couple hour recovery ride around Desert Hot Springs. In the evening everyone arrived and got situated at the house, along with a few of the guys finding the floor for their first nights sleep. Monday morning we set out for a plan of riding around 4ish hours. But with the bad weather came a change of plans. We did a different ride with some groups turning back early and others going a little longer. Most of the riders were soaked and freezing cold by the time they finished the ride, so everyone was scrambling for a spot in the showers. Once we were all settled and done later in the afternoon it was a good day For Tuesday’s ride we did a 4 hour fairly hard ride, with three twenty minute hills repeats in the middle. Then we headed back for Palm Springs where some decided to ride the Tram climb which takes around a half hour and climbs a couple thousand feet, it’s a grinder no matter what kind of gears you have. Wednesday was a recovery day, two hours for some and four hours for others. A couple of us rode earlier in the morning to get in an extra couple hours. We all met at the Tram climb for eleven AM sharp. The route for today was 50 km, with a 15 km climb to the turn around point. We went up to a place called White Water Canyon. Which was super cool, some good scenery at the top. Today was the most epic ride I’ve ever been on, we rode from Palm Springs up into Joshua Tree National Park. Which is one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. The ride was fast and hard, especially on the climbs. A little group of us rode in front all day, and rode further into the park than other. At the end of the day we rode 180 km and it was the most epic ride most of us have done. A lot of the guys were pretty cracked after today, because of the blistering pace! Thursday we all thought was a recovery day, so no one brought enough water or food, and when we all met at the Tram Dan told us it should be an 8/10 day. We weren’t expecting a super hard day. A little group of us pinned it pretty hard to the turn around point and then we rode even harder on the way back and had a little race with some attacks and everything, which killed our legs. We then headed back to the Tram which was our meeting point. So a couple of us decided to ride up the Tram, which is a 30 min climb and goes 2000 feet up a mountain. Then we all headed home from a three and half hour, 100km day. The rest of the week, weather wise, is looking pretty nifty. Everyone right now is either on the verge of cracking or are already cracked. Tomorrow will be a 3-4 hour rest day, super easy and then Sunday is a criterium for some people or a long hard climbing day for others, which I will be doing!