Bend Camp, a retrospective

Pepa, this one’s for you …

Matt, Tim, and I just finished up a two week camp in Bend, Oregon, where we got to do some skiing on snow with the USST, Sun Valley, the MOD team,  the Canadian national team, and many more.  The conditions were pretty great considering it was late May through early June.  Zero skis were the ticket the first week – Bachelor received a few inches of fresh powder each night and the mornings were mostly clear and cool.  The second week it started raining, which softened things up, but no one could really complain because it was snow in May.

Our mandate for the camp was to work on efficiency on snow, so in the weeks prior to leaving Pepa drilled us on the various technique changes we needed to make.  Getting to work on striding on snow after a few weeks on rollerskis was particularly advantageous for me.  I felt like my classic skiing came along quite well over the course of the camp.

The scene in Bend is pretty much an endurance athlete’s dream.  Great singletrack, a host of mountains to explore within a half hour’s drive, and [allegedly] gorgeous weather.  After skiing at Bachelor every morning, we’d set out to explore the trails around Bend (or the weight room at Central Oregon Community College) in the afternoon.  In the evenings we’d watch movies, sample the fantastic local beer, and generally relax.  We even got to take Chase Hammond out for his 21st birthday.

Huge thanks go out to the Hammond family for putting us up for two weeks, Kristy Aserlind for hosting us in Portland, Matt Whitcomb, Chris Grover, and Travis Jones for being so accommodating and inviting us to join in various workouts, and the Fereday brothers for being great training partners.  Below are a few pictures from early in the camp.

Getting equipment ready

Briggs in the natural half-pipe

Big smile

On the way home from Bend, Tim and I made a stop in Trout Lake, Washington to see Tim’s buddy Spencer Paxson ride in the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic.  XC Oregon skiers Brayton Osgood and Marshall Greene gave us a ride up the day of the road race in Trout Lake – both those guys are ripping up the amateur race at the MHCC.  Marshall is currently first on GC for the Cat 4s and Brayton is in 7th for the Cat 3s.  Tim’s buddy had a rough day, but was able to rally and put in a good time trial the next day in Hood River, Oregon.  Spencer is a pro mountain biker who hops in road races as a Cat 2, which means he has to race with the pros (which has its drawbacks, particularly on days when everything’s not going perfectly).  Spencer’s family hosted us (along with a bunch of other cyclists) on Thursday night and then we caught a ride to Portland the next day.

All things considered, Bend Camp was a total success.  The weather was decent, the workouts were fantastic, and fun was had by all.  I’m definitely headed back next year.

UPDATE: check out Andy Newell’s blog for a quick clip of Timmy doing L3 intervals with the USST.