Knoxville Camp part 2

I was hoping to have pictures by now, but I forgot my camera and am relying on other people for them, so it may be awhile.

Anywho, back to the recap:

Day 3: It rained all day. Hard. We went to the Maryville Library, drank coffee and read magazines for a few hours then went and ate. Still raining. I decided that at 5:00 we were riding, rain or harder rain (you probably thought I was going to say "rain or shine," but there was to be no shine on this day). So at 5 we went out and road 1.5hrs in the rain. We rode the first half hard, trading pulls, then eased up coming back. It sucked.

Day 4: Bluff Mountain "loop." Misty conditions, ~65miles, rolling, but w/ Bluff Mountain in the middle. This mountain was a ride up, turn around, ride back down affair. And it's a doosy. My watch recorded it as just under 4miles and gaining 1800'. For comparison, our Bean Blossom climb is ~1.5miles and gains ~350'. So Bluff Mtn is a little over twice the distance and climbs over 5x as much. We rode so high we actually went through the cloud line and above the clouds into the sun. That was about the only sun we saw the whole 5 days, but it was really cool. The descent was extra hairy due to the thick fog when going back down into and through the clouds. You are going really fast, can't see much of anything and negotiating switchbacks. This, overall, was probably my favorite ride we did.

Day 5: Final day. We went out and rode the same ~30mile, ~1.5hr out-and-back we did on rainy day 3. We just wanted to get a quick spin in before we left. It rained on us toward the end; but of course.

We said our goodbyes and took off after a quick shower (read: quick shower[s]). Once we got out of TN and hit KY it got nice out and the sun was shining. Funny (not really).

I went out for an easy spin Tuesday morning to keep the legs loose and, according to Josh, 'if you don't ride for at least 1hr after training camp you waste all of the fitness you gained.' I'm not sure if that's true, but I didn't want to chance it.

Then I lifted weights Wed, but skipped squats since I was already a little sore still from climbing.

Then today (thurs) we went out in the a.m. and did some speed work.

Hopefully it all comes together. One thing we were sure to do during camp was eat a lot; on bike and off. Keep the energy up and recovery good. I felt really good throughout the whole trip and have felt pretty good since. I suspect I'll be wanting a little (day or so) rest here soon, but I'll play it by ear.