North Carolina and Beyond!

Current Song: Friend of the Devil, The Counting Crows
What I did Today: This is more about what I did Last week
Energy: Pretty tired.

Well there are several things I can say about Brevard, North Carolina. But everything I say points to one sign, it is awesome. I absolutely loved every minute of my trip and can't wait for next year. My Mountain bike camp was amazing. I learned so much and perhaps the funniest thing was how similar skiing is to ripping turns on a mountain bike. Hopefully I can get to the same place I was on skis. Well this is a blog, So I am going to write as much as I can remember about everyday.

Monday- Arrival day. The flights were long and boring. At least I got a window seat. I had a long layover in Atlanta which I spent watching a world cup soccer game. By the time I got to North Carolina, I was pretty much ready to sleep( I had been up since 2). Once I finally found Corry, my airport pick-up, I was on my tour of North Carolina. I couldn't stop looking out the window as we drove from Asheville to Brevard and then to Cedar Mountain. The place we stayed was a huge house, the property had a huge lake and was basically amazing. I un-packed the bike as fast as I could and once that was done, Jeremiah Bishop showed up. How amazing. His help this week was beyond comparison, he is so fast and very friendly. We went off on our first ride in DuPont State Forest. It has hundreds of miles of dry, super-fast, flowy, smooth trails. Not typical east coast riding but it was great. This will definitely be a fun place to go for next year as the technicality allowed one to rest but, the flowy berms and turns allowed one to really have a blast. That night we went swimming in the amazing pond and had a blast with everyone. We talked a lot about exercise science that night (and every night) which was great. It felt more like a full on classroom then a bike camp. I learned a lot.

Tuesday- Time Trial Day. Well to start the day off, we all had to put slick tires on all of the 26 inch mountain bike wheels. After that ordeal and by the time we all got ready we finally left around 11. A little late but oh well. We rode to South Carolina (2 new states in 2 days) and started the time trial. Since there were not enough slicks for everyone and the people riding 29ers could not put the slicks on, we had to do two groups. I was in the second, so after warming up, we sat for an hour in the nice hot sun. Then we switched wheels, yes I rode a 29er with 26 inch wheels. It was interesting the only difference I could notice was a low pedal clearance. The five minute time trial started us off. I went off way too hard and noticed what I had talked to Jeremiah about the night before. That when one comes down from altitude (8600 to 2200) that with the respiratory system no longer being the limitor, the muscles get burned fast because you can go so much faster. Well I felt pretty good and with a few spins I was able to head back down to do the 20 minute time trial. This was entertaining. I did not notice I went through several of the switchbacks, so thinking I was still halfway down I was scared then I noticed our five minute time trial start which was very good to see! I actually timed myself this time and when andy asked me my time, and I said 13:27 he looked at jeremiah and said really? and asked how fast jeremiah ran his, he said 13:43. He was only doing intervals but it did inspire him to go back down to try one more time, he got a 12:30. It was fun to know that I pushed him to do a little better. In short I won both time trials. I was pretty psyched. We did skills in the grass that night. Brake drills and what not. I took a spill there. Then we did a u-turn drill where you had to coast in and not use brakes. Scared me so much and I realized how bad I was at turning. Andy the camp manager took me aside to talk about countersteering, also known as a strong inside half (skiing). It was funny because finally I was applying what I had talked about in my paper. Senior Project is a very cool thing. Well in short, my turning improved drastically that one hour, yet I still suck. After a good dinner and a talk about nutrition, we finally got to bed

Wednesday- Short Track Day. The coaches made a sweet short track in the grass. It was so fun. We each had to do two races. One short race with less people that the other group could watch and talk about. After which we all raced a 5 lap race with everyone. It was great. Because I was in the bottom half of the first race I got a front line start position. I had a good start and was in the lead group. Then I got gapped because of some stupid choices on my part. Then Jeremiah Bishop comes up on me and tells me to hop on his wheel. He pulled me up to the lead group of which I was the only camper. With one to go Jeremiah slowed the group, and I attacked. I held the lead going into the descent and the Corry got me. I got second and first out of the campers. It was a blast. We videoed it but did not watch it yet. That night we went for another nice ride in Dupont. By the end of the day, I was so tired. But was one more jersey heavy. Jeremiah gave me his jersey for winning. He signed it and everything. I was so so so so excited and was almost embarrassed.

Thursday- My first Pisgah Ride. Pisgah national forest is the second National Forest in the area of Brevard and is right on the side of town. Rather than being fast and flowy this is much more east coast. Hard technical climbs with hard technical descents. I had to go to the big tires (Wolverines 2.2) They were so awesome! I had a blast. The riding is so different but its still really flowy just in a very challenging way. It was a blast. It was like a rain forest not even joking. It was amazing. I had so much fun. We did like a 22 mile ride which translated to about 4-5 hours of riding. And this is only like one of the five or six rides like this! I like it very much. It will be great because I can do some days in Pisgah and some days in Dupont and feel like I have been doing two different areas not even going on to the road bike! With that the Blue Ridge Parkway is about thirteen miles away. So awesome. We went on to sliding rock, a waterfall that is so slick you can slide down it. It was really crowded but I did get one in. So much fun. We went to a chinese buffet place afterwards and had a blast. Some funny fortune cookies.

Friday- My last day. Well Andy Applegate the main coach doing the talks talked a lot that morning like about bike fit and what not. By the time we got out it was like 2. Then we had to get to Pisgah which was like 2:30 Then it was raining and thundering so hard we had to wait until 4 to ride. But we finally got out and did like a 2 hour ride (not using any of what we had done the day before) and it was even more awesome. Super technical yet really fun. It was great. Afterwards, Jeremiah had quit early to get more rest and he got us some donuts and chicken. It was really funny. He said the rule stands post ride food, if there is no good food, forget all nutrition facts. It was great. We took a nice ice bath in the river and headed back to get dinner at about 9. Jeremiah went on to talk about how he got to where he is and what challenges he has faced and is facing. I really look up to him. It was so cool to hear about how he got to where he is.

Saturday- Orientation day. Well after packing up in the morning and saying good bye to everyone, we had to go to the orientation at Brevard. The school was awesome not all the talking. By the end of the day I had fallen asleep in one of the talks (athletic one). Well it was fine and afterwards we got to meet up with Thad, my coach for next year that got me to the school. It was awesome finally getting to meet him. He was a really cool guy and it seemed like next year's cycling squad should be good! I can't wait already. Afterwards me and my dad went to sliding rock, this time at like 8. Nobody was there! It was great! We had fun.

Sunday- Last day. Well after finally getting new brake pads installed, I got on a ride in which it poured down rain. I made it to where I was going but was too afraid of lightening and was not absolutely positive. So I turned around. The rain here really gets one wet, like a bucket of water just got dumped on you. Well my phone didn't make it. It drowned out there. It was about time considering the screen was about to fall off but it was a bummer to see it go. My Dad and I had a blast after I packed my bike and what not. We went to an awesome place for dinner and even got some ice cream. Well it was time we said good bye.

Monday- Travel Day. Planes suck. I hate being in them. I had enough flying for the next few months on this trip. Well one positive was that the baggage guy did not charge us for flying the bike home. So instead of 225 we paid 25. It would have been more expensive to ship it home and it would have taken a week longer. Well on the way home we had to stop by Sam's, I checked into a new phone and got a free touch phone which was sweet! It was nice to get it so quickly.

Well that was my very eventful week. Hope it was as entertaining to read as it was to write. Overall I can't wait for next year. It was so fun there and the people were so nice. Well the next plans are the CTS race in Colorado Springs and then Nationals. We will see! Over and out