Sonoma County Team Camp

This weekend, I attended the team camp for the bike team I joined this year, Early Bird Women's Developmental Team. We stayed in a cute cabin, next to a river in a tiny little town, Monte Rio, in Sonoma County. We all showed up on Friday night in time for team photos & planning for the rest of the weekend.

Camp Day 1

Oh my! This was the hardest ride of my life. The morning started pretty chilly (for here) at 34-degrees, so we bundled up with multiple layers. We started out on a flat, warming our legs up, but after about 10 miles, we began to climb, for what seemed like 3 hours. Really, this is not an exaggeration. Despite this, the ride was absolutely beautiful. We made our way north then over to the coast where we followed the stunning coastline and hooked up to Highway 1 for a bit. We added another climb about mid-ride that took us through farmland and country, past the little black lambs chasing their mothers, past horses and cows. A dad of one of the girls rode behind us in his car in case we had flat tires, needed to shed clothing, refill water bottles--it was so nice of him and reassuring to know we had support if we needed it. We stopped in Occidental at an adorable bakery to refuel on smoothies. That evening we hung out, chatted about the season, made dinner, and relaxed.

Camp Day 2
We rode through Sonoma County wine country over the rolling hills, through the vineyards. We simulated a road bike race, so worked on our team strategies, drafting, descending and ascending. This ride we focused on cadence (leg speed) and overall speed. Even though we didn't have the monster climbs of the day before, it was incredibly intense, and we still rode about 55 miles at a fast clip. We had one of our sponsors ride his motorbike with the lead group for support, and a teammate's mom drove her car in the rear.

Korbel Winery

We got our team kits (outfits for cycling) this weekend. We wore them on our training rides, and we looked really sharp. I really felt like I was a part of a team, especially with the "support" cars. As always, I learned a lot--keeping my legs moving, refueling, cornering, catching people on the descents.

On the way home, since we were in wine country, we stopped for a quick "pick up" of sparkling wine at Korbel Winery. The grounds filled with budding and flowering trees and shrubs, shaded a bit overhead by the redwoods--it was beautiful.