Bwastin. Or something like that.

It's been a rough life the past week.  Last Thursday I hopped on a plane heading to Boston, raced my bike over the weekend, and have done literally nothing but sit on my butt, eat, and ride my bike for the past 4 days.  Did I mention sleeping in until 9am too?  Which means, I've been getting at least 10 hours of sleep a night, compared to my measly 6-7 while at home, I feel like a princess.  The hardest thing I have done all week was decided what to blog about for this post, because lets be real, you don't want to read race report after race report after race report. That would be quite boring, in my opinion.  So instead I'm going to brag to you about my awesome time out East.  

It started with a late plane into Boston (11:30pm Thursday night).  Chris and I then piled all of our luggage into the shuttle to take us to the rental car company.  The shuttle was empty, and there was a ton of room for all 100 pounds of our luggage.  Then the shuttle started to make multiple stops, and before I knew it I felt like I was in a clown car, seeing how many people and bags of luggage can we get onto the shuttle.  I believe I took a picture.  One reason I have Chris around with me (besides for his mechanical skills, and keen sense of direction) is because of his membership perks he gets from being a part of the Firefighter Union.  We're fancy and he's a part of "The Emerald Club" at National.  You know what that means?  Discount on car rentals AND we just show up and pick a car (after we have reserved it online of course).  It's awesome and easy.  Thank you IAFF for having such awesome perks for my husband.  After picking up the car and heading towards Chris's cousins house, I discovered a valuable lesson when using GPS.  It doesn't work in tunnels, or Boston.  Boston has a lot of tunnels, and a lot of roads and freeways.  It was confusing.  A 25 minute drive turned into a 40 minute drive.  Good thing we made it there and had a lovely nights sleep.

The new kit in all it's colors!

Friday we visited with Cousin, had breakfast, built bike and headed up to our Host Housing for the weekend in New Hampshire…at the beach!  Saturday was the big race day, okay moderate race day since it's only a C2, BUT HUGE FIELD!  It's fun to see how big the fields are out here on the East Coast.  It's really great!  Saturday I had a less then stellar start to the race.  I don't know if it had to do with starting in the 2nd row instead of the first (like the rest of the races I've done), or just a bad start.  I was able to catch up to the front group, only to find myself suffering/not having a lot of fun.  The front group consisted of about 8-10 riders, and it was a very tactical race.  I had a hard time trying to find a good position, and had a bad mental 'ttude. With 2 to go I really wanted to pull out of the race, I was suffering!  On the last lap there was still a large group of us, and with about 3/4 of a lap left, there was an unfortunate crash in front of me and Crystal Anthony and Meredith Miller where on the ground in a cloud of dust.  I figured they would get up quickly and pass me, but as it turns out, Meredith cut her leg straight to the bone, she had a knarly gash right below her knee.  I hope she heals up quickly, because stitches SUCK!!  

I ended up 5th for the day.  


Sunday I was hoping my legs would have opened up a bit, they did, so that was good.  When the gun went off I felt like a hard a great start, until the top of the hill when I got boxed out of the turn, and my start on Sunday made my Saturday start look divine.  Before I knew it I was back in the 20's working my way through the field to catch the front group.  This day was weird, the front group was extremely split up after 1/2 lap, and I ended up catching some riders who where dangling off the back.  I stuck with them for awhile, and then we approached a crash which held up about 3-4 riders, with 2 up ahead.  Next thing I knew I was riding 4th wheel and feeling pretty good.  That went away quickly when I passed the pits and realized I needed to pit and was having a mechanical.  :-(  I rode half a lap on my mechanical, losing a lot of time and A LOT of positions,  I pitted for my B bike (even though I contemplated just calling it quits, thank goodness for Chris yelling at me to get off my bike and pit) and tried to chase as hard as I could.  I could only do so much before I ran out of real estate and finished 9th.  Wa WA Wa.  After the race I only had a small panic attack.  It was hot, dry, and VERY dusty I was having a hard time breathing when I finished.  

Thanks to WD40's dry lube my bikes ran smoothly, riding American Classic's carbon tubulars I was comfortable enough on the rocks and bumps, and of course my Rock Lobster frames shredded the grassy turns.  Spy Optics happy lenses protected my eyes from the bright sun and kept them happy.  My KASK Vertigo helmet kept me and cool and protected (in case I crashed).  Of course without GE Capital and SSC none of this would be made possible!  Thanks to my wonderful awesome partners!

There's something really awesome about finishing up a weekend of back to back racing.  There's that sensation of relaxing, you know you put in your hard work and effort, and now you get to hang out, relax and decompress.  It's even better when you know the week ahead consists of doing absolutely nothing.  I've been looking forward to this time out East for SO long.  I planned on Monday for Chris and I to do a recovery ride and then head into Portsmouth to hang out and let him see the cute little city/town.  It reminds me a lot of Fairhaven back at home.  If you recall last year when I was Portsmouth I slugged on an awesome pair of Seven jeans.  I wear them all the time, I love them.  This year I splurged on a pair of Frye Boots.  I love them too, but unlike last year, my prize money covered my jeans, prize money did not cover these boots.  :-)

Monday night Chris left me to head back down to Boston to catch his early flight out Tuesday morning.  I have really enjoyed having Chris around with me on these weekends, it makes it that much harder when he leaves.  Last year traveling alone I was used to it, and now this year having him around for every other weekend feels like a tease.  I see how wonderful it is to have him around, and then he's gone, it's hard.  I like company, so having him around really keeps me company!  

#rocklobstercycles #clementcycling #fizik #lizardskins #amclassicwheels 

The beach!  Last year it was sunny and beautiful.  This year it was just a tad bit wet...



Life on the road

It's truly official, Cyclocross season is FINALLY here!  As mentioned in my previous post about my new sponsors, there has been quite a lead up to this season.  I have been thinking about this season since February!!!  No matter how much you say "I'm ready", I don't think we can truly be ready.  The season starter of CrossVegas was a little disappointing, the whole slipped bars thing, Colorado didn't prove to be that much better in terms of my legs, and then I went to Wisconsin.  

Back Pedal.

Home from Colorado on a Monday, early flight out, get back home in the early afternoon, get a massage, unpack, do laundry, you know, the usual.  Go to work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and before I know it, it's time to fly out to Wisconsin.  Is this how my life is going to be for the next 4 months?  Pretty much!!!  I had the most fantastically stressful trip out to Madison.  For those that know me well, they know my anxiety level is high.  Like…really high.  Add travel and racing to the mix, and I'm a hot mess!  Needless to say, my flight was delayed 20 minutes (I had a connection to make in Minneapolis) and Delta decided to charge me $150 for my bikes.  I was bummed, because I have the whole Delta Credit Card and I thought they would treat me well with that (I know high hopes).  bummer.  So now, I'm sad I paid $150 for my bikes, my plane is delayed, and I'm a ball of anxiety, for 4 hours.  The anxiety didn't calm down once I landed in Minneapolis, even though I had plenty of time to make my connection.  I ended up leaving my cell phone in the bathroom stall, didn't realize it until about 10 minutes later and halfway to my gate.  Once I realized my phone was missing I turned around and started sprinting through the airport, backpack and rolling carry on and all.  I had visions of me tripping and smashing my face onto the concrete floor.  I'm happy to say, my phone hadn't been touched, I made it to my gate in time, and had a safe flight to Madison and all my teeth are safely in my mouth.

I've mentioned this before, I'm quite a sight at the airport with all my luggage.  Unlike the pro teams, who have vans and mechanics to drive their bikes around the country, I lug mine back and forth on the plane.  I hate it.  That means I have to take my bikes apart, pack them into a bike box, hope TSA and the airlines are good to my bikes, and then rebuild them once at my final destination.  It's a tough, not-so-glamourous, do-it-because-I-love-it life.  Not to mention the hilarity of such a small person carrying all that luggage!  

Back to Madison.  I quickly put a bike together, and went out for a spin/opener ride along a lake I can't remember the name of.  :-)  It was a beautiful evening, and I made it back to my host house before dark, went grocery shopping, and had a great nights sleep.  

My favorite little team hosting me for the weekend/s!

Saturday was the big C1 race with equal payout, which is AWESOME.  The race promoter Renee has always pushed for equal pay to the women, which is so amazing to have someone like her working the races for us.  Thank You Renee for your weekend efforts, they really shined and I appreciate you!  The course was laid out in the fields around Trek's headquarters in Waterloo, WI.  It consisted of lots of twists and turns on some fantastic hilly and flat terrain.  There where some good off camber descents (wish it was muddy) and lots of flow.  I found myself battling with Nicole Duke and Crystal Anthony for most of the race.  Nicole, who is coming off walking pneumonia, faded back and it was Crystal and I left to battle it out.  We kept attacking/pushing each other, and she eventually got the best of me on the long start/finish straight away.  I closed the gap on the techy stuff, but it wasn't enough!  She finished 6th and I finished right behind her for 7th.  Post race we decided we probably should have tried to work together and attempt to catch the gals in front, oh well, next time!

Sunday the course varied a little bit, the techy descent became a little more challenging with a few more turns and loose ground.  The first couple of laps I couldn't get out of my own head on those downhill sections.  I slightly slid out the first time on the downhill, I think I let my head get to me when girls where trying to pass in awkward places.  After that I tried to stay as close to the front as I possibly could, and finished the race in 6th.  One spot better than Saturday!  My results literally just keep climbing the ladder!  

The following day I had the opportunity to hang out in Madison for the day since my flight home wasn't until 5:30pm (oops..that put me home far too late).  I slept in, took apart one bike, hopped on the other and did a small recovery ride before packing up the rest of my stuff.  The day brought beautiful sunshine and warm temps.  Madison really never disappoints.  

Just my bike, the lake, and some sunshine.

Bittersweet Colorado.

Literally every time I go to Colorado something happens.  Colorado and I, we don't get along!  Last year for this race on Saturday I couldn't stop crashing in the loose ground, and on Sunday I broke my wheel.  Nationals..if we read my blog post about nationals here, you will remember I spent the weekend of Nationals puking.  Colorado seriously hates me.  I debated about not going to Colorado and racing Starcrossed at home.  It was a HUGE payout, but the C1 race on Sunday was calling my name.  

Way back when (which was probably the end of August) when I was booking tickets to Vegas, I knew I wanted to go directly to CO from Vegas.  I was looking at flight tickets and I couldn't find a flight that was reasonably priced, I kept thinking "holy smokes, that much for a two hour flight PLUS luggage"???  Chris was racing in Vegas as well, so I knew we would have 2 bike cases and a lot of luggage.  Needless to say, I was concerned on the financial cost of flying everything to Colorado.  Someone then mentioned to me about driving, I thought "thats not a bad idea, I won't have to break my bikes down, it's 10 hours, if we leave early enough we can get there in a reasonable time".  I can't lie when I say that was the worst idea I have ever had in my entire life.  The night before we were supposed to leave I freaked out and told Chris I wanted to book us tickets out of Vegas, I didn't care the cost, I didn't want to drive anymore.  I panicked, like really really panicked.  I had a moral dilemma, I didn't want to drive, but I couldn't bail out on the people we were going with, so we stuck with the original plan of driving, and I hated every minute of it.  We left Vegas at 930am and didn't arrive into Boulder until midnight.  Lets leave it at that...

Saturday I knew would be a rough one, and it was.  I tried to do my best to keep my mind open and use the race as an opener for the big C1 race on Sunday.  My legs sucked, they had one speed, they really truly sucked.  On the bright side, I did way better at this course than I had the year before.  While warming up for the race on Sunday I was pretty convinced I was going to suck even more than I had on Saturday.  I only slightly panicked to Chris (he deals with so much).  Turns out, I didn't suck that much and I finished 8th!  Only one spot better than the day before, but my legs felt snappier than the previous day.  That's success to me!  

Photo Credit: Kenny Wehn 

Sunday night we had dinner with my favorite CX couple Nicole Duke and Ben Berden, then went back to our fabulous host housing (thank you to the Needy's) and packed up the bikes and are our bags and flew out bright and early Monday morning (I will leave out the part about how Chris thought he was going to miss the flight).

Thank you so much to all my sponsors, if my racing wasn't fantastic, my equipment was truly dialed, from my Rock Lobster frames to my American Classic wheels (LOVE) glued up with the trusty Clement tires (I ran MXP's both days, they rocked that Colorado dust, marbles, and grass).              

Check out my custom KASK Vertigo 2.0 helmet.  So comfy and SO good looking!  Plus a little Clement PDX love tire choice (actually rode MXP's during the race).  

Introducing…GE Capital/American Classic

Its been a long time coming…waiting, er one of the two?!  I have been waiting to make my announcement until I received my kits, I wanted to do a really fun photo shoot in my back yard so I could feel like a super model, but alas, we're all busy and unfortunately I didn't receive my kit until this last week and I did my own photo shoot with my I-phone, a mirror, and a really messy room (because as someone asked "did you try on every piece of clothing?" yes…I did).  I am pleased to announce my new team!  I have been seeing press release after press release from lots of people creating their own teams, and I kept going back and forth on wether I should write up a press release, but then I remembered who I am.  I'm Courtenay, I enjoy blogging, and I'm personal, I want my readers and fans to feel a personal connection to me and a personal blog entry is just what I'm going to do.  So to further a-do let me introduce you to my new team/sponsors, GE Capital/American Classic.  A little back history.

What do you do when you're a relatively new rider who doesn't have many connections in the cycling world, but yet you can consistently finish with top results at domestic UCI races.  You start searching and looking.  I sent my resume out to a few places, and I heard nothing, so I was left to my own devices.  I've been working towards this goal since February.  The first thing was to look for a title and presenting sponsor, after all, racing at the top level requires a lot of financial sponsorship.  Once I found a title sponsor, I knew I would be in need of more sponsors and then ultimately find the best product to race!  

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I'm proud to announce GE Capital as my title sponsor and I can't wait to represent American Classic Wheels, leaders of the tubeless technology as a supporting sponsor.  I will be riding their Carbon Tubulars with only the best tubular tires out there, Clement!  I'm so excited to partner up with Clement and race and train on their tires.  I LOVE them, and I can't imagine racing any other tires out there, seriously, they are the best.  Clement has a large line up of cyclocross, mountain, road and gravel tires, and I have ridden almost all of them, and they always leave me smiling.  

Now I realize, I can't just roll my wheels around with out a frame.  I will be ripping around the race course on my Rock Lobster custom frames, American Classic wheels, Clement tires and I can't forget the powerful stopping ability of my RevoX Carbon TRP brakes.  WD40 Bike will keep my bikes squeaky clean all season along with some supported mechanic and pit help of Chris Bondus (heaven sent)!  Squadra clothing will keep me comfortable, cool when necessary and warm when needed, while training and racing.  Clif will fuel my hunger for all things tasty and recovery purposes.  KASK helmets will keep my head safe in a stylish manner.  Thanks to Fi'zik my bum and feet will be the comfiest they have ever been during racing and training (saddles and shoes).  Thanks to the stickiness of Lizard Skins bar tape, my hands will never slip off my bars in the muddiest of conditions.  Spy Optics will keep my eyes protected on the sunniest of days and muddiest of courses.  Last but not least, my heart goes out to one of my favorite local businesses Barlean's, makers of the worlds freshest organic oils (Flax, Fish, coconut, + more).  

A huge thank you for the following sponsors and supporters and their belief in me for the upcoming season; SSC, United Healthcare, Digipen, Kibble and Prentice, The Meltzer Group, and Xelleration.  

Stay tuned for future partnerships!  

The never ending circus of Las Vegas

No, we didn't bring that much to Vegas!  :-)

Every year I go to Vegas, I quickly regret it, what bike racer likes Vegas?  The lights, the heat, the dry air, all those people.  It's an anxious person's nightmare (AKA, my nightmare).  Our (from here on out when I say "our" it refers to my lovely husband and I) trip to Vegas was already chaos before we even boarded the plane.  Sunday night I realized I forgot to register, and at that point registration was already closed.  I emailed and called the promoter with no such luck. Monday morning I waited and waited and waited to hear back from him.  Nothing.  Chris called him and had no luck.  I was texting one of my friends/amazing sponsor at Clif to see if he could help me out.  I spent the better half of Monday in tears, had to leave work because I couldn't stop crying, all of this effort I was putting into Vegas, all the sponsors I told I was going to race, was for nothing.  I was extremely upset and very stressed.  By 1pm I received a text from my favorite Clif Bar employee that I was in the race.  I felt as if a 20 pound brick was lifted off my chest.  

May the circus continue!

I love flying to Vegas because we can fly direct from Bellingham.  It's so much easier than flying out of SeaTac, we leave 10am and arrive 12:30pm, pick up the rental car, head to the hotel, put bikes together, skip out on riding and take a nap instead, pick up race numbers, continue to put bikes together, and went to dinner.

Dinner was a whole new experience for me.  Perhaps both of us.  Tuesday night I had a dinner planned with a new sponsor!  This season I am extremely excited to say I am a KASK sponsored athlete.  KASK is an Italian company that makes/designs helmets, and a whole lot of them!  Not just biking helmets, but safety and climbing, just to name a few.  We planned to meet for dinner at 8pm, but it was then pushed back to 10pm, which then meant we didn't sit down for dinner until 10:30pm.  Italian style.  At dinner they presented me a couple of new custom helmets, and they are beautiful!  Exactly as I had imagined, black and fuchsia.  They make me smile when I see them.  I had a really great time meeting the Italian KASK family, and I'm really looking forward to working with them this year!  Look for awesome looking helmets on my head throughout the season.  

Chris builds bikes while I roll out my muscles with my favorite products!

Wednesday night the real circus begins!  Racing CrossVegas has it's highs and lows.  I love the crowds, but I really could do without the dry desert hot air.  Every year I have raced with a bottle cage and have never regretted it.  My mouth gets SO dry!  It will get so dry that I can't open it and then I can't breath.  This is problematic when your heart is beating at 190bpms and all it want's is a little oxygen.  This year I forgot a bottle cage, and I probably won't do that again!  I had a really great start and I was feeling extremely comfortable with the group I was riding with.  Within the 2nd lap the race split and I certainly wasn't able to stick with the front group, but that's okay because I was still riding in the top ten with the chase group.  I was extremely excited with the way I was riding and the group I was riding with.  Halfway through the third lap at the bottom of one of the flyovers my bars slipped and where now at a 45 degree angle facing the ground.  It startled me at first and everyone in the group came flying by me.  I thought perhaps I could try to pull them upwards, but no such luck.  I ended up pitting as I was dangling off the back of the group.  Once on my "B" bike I dug really hard to catch the group in front of me, which consequently made me explode.  For the last 2 laps I did everything I could to just hold a solid position.  I kept telling myself it would be okay, and Vegas doesn't really depict how I am going to do all season.  I needed to stay positive to get through the race.

In the end I thought my throat was going to explode and I wasn't sure I would be able to open my mouth, but I caught my breath grabbed some water and continued to find the positive from the race.  

I think it's important every race to think about what you did right, and not just dwell on what went wrong, because sometimes things aren't going to go your way.  I had a great start and my legs felt good.  I'm happy with that.

Thursday we spent most of the day at Interbike.  Which was a whole new experience for both of us!  I had some sponsor booths to stop by at and meet.  It was so great to have the opportunity to stop by and meet my sponsors face to face.  More on Interbike later!  

Over all I would say my trip to Vegas was pretty successful.  Friday morning we started our adventure to Boulder, in a car, which I will never…ever…do…again.  

I'm going to do my best to get some better pictures posted in my blog, and remember to take pictures, so I will be sure to work on that!  For now you have silly photos taken from my phone.  

Just a little trip to the Venetian in Vegas.  This place was super triply, considering this photo was taken at 10pm and it was pitch black outside.  

Bikesport Kids Cyclocross Camp

The group on the last day!

A few months back a friend of mine, who owns a local bike shop, asked if I would lead a Cyclocross camp for kids.  Her 10 year old son races CX and he wanted to share with his friends what he does in the Fall nearly every weekend.  My first response was "of course".  I would love nothing better than to share and introduce Cylocross to the future generation, after all, they are the ones to take over the sport when I'm done with it!

We sat down and had a planning meeting a couple of months back, deciding what we would do each day, how long the camp would be, etc.  We decided it would be good to have some helpers and other coaches too, so my friend Jess Cutler came up from Seattle to help, and Bellingham local junior rider, Shannon Mallory, helped as well.  Our main plan was to work on skills for the first three days, and the last day would be a mock race for the parents to come and watch their kids put their skills to the test.  My original thoughts where "If it's a small group we probably don't need so many helpers.  I got this, they're only kids after all".  If only I had been fully prepared for what we were to encounter.  

I love kids, they're cute, energetic, small, fun, and quite naive.  This doesn't mean I was prepared for 10+ kids for 2 hours a day Tuesday-Friday.  I learned a lot, and they learned a lot.  I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to share with the kids my love for the sport and teach them how much fun life on two wheels can be.  Now for the fun part.  

Day #1

Teaching kids how to mount and dismount

The coaches introduced themselves, we warmed up playing a little follow the leader.  Then I took the kids on a loop around the park (Cornwall Park in Bellingham).  The age ranged from 7-14, thats a very large range of ages, with most of the kids 9 and under.  We had kids on single speed bikes with back pedal brakes, and kids on hard tail mountain bikes.  The warm up lap consisted of some flats, some up hills, some descents on gravel, and a little double track dirt up and down.  The first day the kids fumbled getting up every hill, one of the kids super manned into the bushes on a decent, the kids didn't know how to shift their bikes to make it up the hill.  After the warm up we decided we needed to teach the kids how to dismount and mount.  I was braking down the dismount to the kids 9 and under, and I have never seen so many varied opinions amongst little people.  I tried to start with the basic 'ride on the side of your bike'.  The kids didn't like it and I lost their attention.  So I decided to show them the full on dismount.  They watched and within minutes next thing I know every single kid has the dismount down like they've been doing it for years, and then they wanted to move onto something else, It had to have only been 4 minutes (I swear).  I quickly show them the mount, they learn it instantly.  Then before I know it, they're putting the mount and dismount together like it was no big deal.  Such quick learners those little people are.  Next up on the agenda, learning barriers.  This proved difficult because the kids are quite small and their bikes are quite heavy.  I didn't know such a small bike could weigh so much, did you?  I haven't ever taught little people cyclocross, so I didn't know any secret ways to tell them how to pick up their bike.  Every single kid fumbled with their bikes.  

Barrier practice!

"this is too heavy"

"the pedal keeps hitting my leg and it hurts"

"I hate this"

"Can I do something else"

So I find a stick to act as a mock barrier and what do the kids do?  They dismount their bikes and then drag it over the stick as they stomp on it.  It was a losing battle and before I could blink the kids decided they where bored, thirsty, tired, and wanted a break.  We finished out the day playing some more follow the leader and having the kids work on their barrier techniques.  

 

 

 

Day #2

Run ups!

The day started out with the same warm up loop as the first day, the kids really loved that loop.   After the warm up, a quick drink of water we decided it would be fun to play a little "Cyclocross Simon Says".  Simon said dismount, mount, dismount and run over a barrier, etc.  You get the point.  It was a total blast, the kids loved it…for about 10 minutes before it wasn't fun anymore.  We took a little "simon says" intermission and decided to show the kids how to do a run up.  Cornwall park has this perfect small side hill that the kids struggled riding up, and made a wonderful run up.  Once the kids learned this new skill, we played one more round of "simon says" and included run ups, running in circles, some push ups, and a few squat jumps to had some variety (after all I am a personal trainer)!!!  

Because the kids attention span is only so big, we decided to teach and work on starts!  We taught the kids how to start, and then had them race each other to a cone.  After they excelled at starts, we did starts into a barrier, and they loved this!  Once again, because they're kids, they eventually got bored, and we wrapped up the day a little early.  

Day #3

A friendly game of foot down for the third day!

The day all about games and working on handling and skills!  We started off with the usual warm up loop, those kids where getting really good at that warm up loop, so we decided we needed to work on a little down hill cornering.  At the park there is this pretty steep and fast gravel downhill, so we would force the kids to turn at the bottom to learn how to navigate the bottom of a decent, because after all, this is a camp all about skills!!!  I only had a few mini heart attacks watching the kids FLY down the hill.  After we where all primed and warmed up we taught the kids how to play my favorite game…"Foot Down"!  I'm not sure how much they liked this game, we did have to explain the purpose to them.  This game was tough because once you put a foot down, you're out of the game.  I think it left some kids feeling left out, so we tried to make sure the kids who where out still had something to do, so we worked on barrier skills, run ups, etc.  To continue on with the balancing skill we had a "slow race" for the kids.  The goal of the game was to work on balance by finishing the race last.  You have to keep moving forward and you can't put your foot down.  We split the kids into two groups and the top two of each group then race each other in a third race, I offered the winner a box of Clif Bars, this REALLY motived the kids for the game.  

After we had enough games, we decided we should teach the kids how to ride off cambers.  We set up a couple of cones on the side hill, showed them how to go about navigating through the cones, and sent them on their way!  This was by far the hardest thing for the kids to do, but they pushed through, and at the end of the day, they really improved their skills.  

Day #4

This was the day we put it all together in a mini mock race!!  The kids wanted to play tag for a warm up, and of course the coaches had to be it.  So we played a little freeze tag to get our blood flowing.  After the coaches where tired out from freeze tag we did the usually warm up lap.  Now the best part about this was seeing how much the kids REALLY improved their skills throughout the warm up.  The lap consisted of lots of log barriers, ups and downs on a loose surface, and down hills into corners.  These kids worked so hard and felt so much more comfortable by the end of the week.  Once we got back from our warm up lap it was time to show the kids the race course!!!!  We did a couple of laps on the race course and reviewed some sections that would be difficult for the kids.  Then it was time for the kids to race race race!!  I will be honest, I was thinking the kids wouldn't be very into the race, judging by their reaction to a lot of what we did that week, I thought they wouldn't put a lot of effort into the race, boy was I wrong!!  These kids continued to put me in awe.  They raced for 25 minutes, and every single kid was all in, 100%.  Those kids where sweating more than they ever had in their lives, and I could hear them all breathing as they zoomed by me, but at the end of they day they all had smiles on their face, and THATS what it's about.  

The best part of the week was watching the kids improve their skills from day 1 to day 4.  As I have stated multiple times, I am in awe of how hard these kids worked, and how they improved so quickly!  At the end of the day they kept talking about next year, and honestly, I CAN'T WAIT!!!!  I have 1 year to make next year's camp even better!  Thank you kids, for bringing so much joy to my week.  

racing

Off camber navigation

Navigating the off camber during the race on the final day.

Navigating the off camber during the race on the final day.