3-day Bike Skills Climbing Camp

 

I consider myself to be a good cyclist. But it wasn't always this way.

There was a time - not too long ago - that I was terrified to ride my bike on any type of road that resembled going downhill. I would squeeze my brakes and feel so unstable and this caused me to absolutely dread going downhill. Although I could have avoided going downhill by selecting races and routes that were flat, the problem was that I love climbing. And when it came to tight turns, switchbacks or roads where I couldn't see what was coming next, I would find myself frozen with fear, often with tears in my eyes. Pretty much, if the road wasn't going up or it was flat, I was freaking out. 

When we moved from Jacksonville, FL. to Greenville, SC. I had no choice but to work on my bike handling skills. I was an experienced triathlete with really poor bike handling skills and this showed on our challenging terrain that is littered with punchy climbs, twists, turns and steep downhills. 

With Karel having a lifetime of cycling/bike mechanic/bike racing experience, he worried about my safety - and joy for bike riding in this beautiful cycling playground - if I didn't improve my bike handling skills. 

Over several years, I gradually saw my skills improving. By watching Karel, I improved tremendously. I'd watch when he changed his gears, how he was shifting his weight to turn and how he was moving his body to descend. Although he would often be out of my sight on the downhills, simply being with him meant I was riding on roads that were slightly out of my comfort zone. There were many times when I would stop and cry because I was so scared but overtime, I found myself improving. 

Learning new skills is incredibly scary but if you keep doing what's familiar, you'll never improve. More so, if you try something for the first time but you haven't learned the right skills to perform that skill safely, you may find yourself feeling "out of control" and thus, going back to old/bad habits..or crashing. 

Thinking back to my personal journey of being a scared and fearful cyclist who could never showcase my fitness because of my lack of skills to becoming strong, confident and comfortable on any type of bike, I want to make sure that other triathletes/cyclists can experience a similar joy and confidence for riding. 

When it comes to teaching bike skills, Karel has the cycling experience and I have the ability to understand what triathletes fear/worry about when it comes to riding in certain situations. This combo has allowed us both to help so many athletes get stronger, faster and more confident on the bike - all by learning proper skills and better terrain management. 

The convenience of the indoor bike trainer has created a false sense of confidence with regard to feeling prepared for race day - especially among triathletes who ride triathlon (or TT) bikes. It's easy to build fitness indoors but it's impossible to improve bike handling and terrain management skills. The moment you begin to climb a steep hill, descend or take a tight corner (or u-turn), your FTP is of little benefit.

As a coach and athlete, I know there are far too many athletes who experience great anxiety, stress, worry and fear when it comes to riding outside. I also see a lot of athletes perform below their athletic potential because they lack basic, fundamental bike handling skills and terrain management awareness. There are many experienced triathletes who have very inexperienced bike handling skills.

Just because you can push a lot of watts on the indoor trainer, this doesn't mean you are exceptional at riding your bike outside. I know triathletes love to obsess over power numbers and miles ridden and spend money on carbon upgrades, dual-sided power meters and race wheels but if you want to ride stronger, faster, smarter and safer, you owe it to yourself to invest in your skills.

We just finished our 3-day bike skills climbing camp and these ladies learned so much. It was incredible to see how quickly they improved their skills and how easily it was to transfer those 'parking lot' skills to real world conditions. 

On day 1 we focused on the following skills: 
-Clipping in (not scooting the bike but actually starting pedaling from a stationary position). 
-Sudden/panic stopping
-Cornering
-Balancing - shifting the weight off the saddle for better stability
-U-Turns 

After the morning session, we had a break and then went out to real world conditions. With so many terrain options for us in our cycling playground, we went to the quiet roads by Paris Mountain and practiced the skills that we taught in the morning. We really focused on riding corners at fast speeds (tight corners and sweeping turns).

For many athletes, you probably know how to clip in and out, make a u-turn and how to stop. But if you don't know how to do these simple skills on hills, when going fast or suddenly, this can become a threat to your safety. Additionally, because all of these skills require that you get out of the saddle and shift your weight, it'll be very difficult to perform other skills like getting out of the saddle or cornering. 

We spent some time on this tight switchback to work on corning at high speeds.

On day 2 we focused on the following skills: 
-Getting out of the saddle/climbing
-Stopping on a steep downhill. 
-Starting on a steep uphill. 
-Learning how to use a CO2 (it's not uncommon for cyclists to have a Co2 and not know how to use it). 

After the morning session, we had a break and then went out to apply these skills to real world conditions. This afternoon session brought a few fears (and tears). This was the session that I struggled with the most - descending on steep downhills. This change in gravity can be very uncomfortable and the normal response is to squeeze the breaks to avoid "crashing" or experiencing "speed wobbles." But to ride downhill safely, a lot of things need to happen from how you position your body, how you position your pedals, when you break (and how much)...and staying relaxed. We started off on rolling hills and then transitioned to a much steeper hill. The hill we selected was a "safe" hill in that there were no turns and once you got to the bottom you carried that momentum back up the next hill. We were so proud of everyone applying new skills and overcoming fears. 

On day 3, we put it all together and spent almost 2 hours on Paris Mountain (a ~2.3 mile climb). We went up for ~10 minutes, then descended down. We did this a few times. We then moved a little further up. Although the climb was a great workout and they could practice their climbing skills and changing gears, the ability to descend several times - on the same road - brought a lot of confidence. At the very end of the session, everyone climbed to the top and then descended down the mountain. 

We hope that this camp gets you excited for all the skills that you lack (or need improvement) as learning proper bike handling skills can make for a fun, safe and confident riding experience - no matter your fitness level or racing experience. Never settle - there's always room to get better. 

Why a bike-focused camp is the best bike upgrade

Earlier this week, Karel and I traveled to Pelham, Alabama for a 1.5 day private mountain bike skills camp/clinic with Lon from Single Track Skills. I'll write more about that experience in my next blog but the opportunity to work with a professional coach was an incredible investment of our time, effort and money. 

Since 2014, we have organized, planned and executed over 15 group camps. While our training camps are fun, memorable and challenging, there is a common theme for every Trimarni training camp - bike skills and terrain management. 

The convenience of the indoor bike trainer has created a false sense of confidence with regard to bike handling skills - especially among triathletes who ride triathlon (or TT) bikes. It's easy to build fitness indoors but it's impossible to improve bike handling and terrain management skills. The moment you begin to climb a steep hill, descend or take a tight corner (or u-turn), your FTP (or power) number is of little benefit. 

At my mountain bike skills camp/clinic, I was learning a diverse new set of riding skills to help me ride safely, confidently and efficiently on challenging terrain. Because these skills are not developed naturally and will require time, practice and patience, I know how to work within my current skill set and how/where to improve. 

Thankfully, this doesn't apply to triathletes as there are no rock gardens to navigate, off-camber turns or roots to ride over. Because triathletes ride on pavement, the set of skills needed to ride safely, confidently and efficiently are somewhat easy to learn (and there aren't a lot of them to learn). However, triathletes would much rather obsess about power numbers and miles ridden and spend money on carbon upgrades, dual-sided power meters and race wheels than to invest in improving bike handling and terrain management skills. A skilled cyclist on a mediocre bike will likely outperform an unskilled cyclist on an expensive, top-of-the-line bike. The same is true for a skilled cyclist who may not be as strong as an unskilled cyclist. Just because you can push a lot of watts on the indoor trainer, this doesn't mean you are exceptional at riding your bike outside. 

As a coach and athlete, I know there are far too many athletes who experience great anxiety, stress, worry and fear when it comes to riding outside. I also see a lot of athletes perform below their athletic potential because they lack basic, fundamental bike handling skills and terrain management awareness. 

It doesn't matter if you are training for a pancake flat bike course or a hilly, technical and challenging course. If you want to ride stronger, faster, smarter and safer, you owe it to yourself to invest in a bike-focused training camp. 

We have a few spots left in our three group training camps for 2022. Our first camp is April 1-3rd in Greenville, SC and it is a bike skills climbing camp. Our camps are open to the public - you do not have to be a Trimarni athlete to attend.

To learn more about our camps, click HERE.

If you aren't sure if a Trimarni group camp is right for you, I'm honored to share some of our athlete testimonials.....

 

How to improve your gravel biking skills

Last week (while dealing with Madison's declining health) we had two of our athletes in town for a 2.5 day private training camp. The focus of the camp was improving off-road bike handling skills (gravel biking). We also included swim/run training in the camp as our athletes have several triathlons on their schedule. But with their first ever ultra-distance gravel event (150-mile) happening late summer, it was important that our athletes improve their gravel skills to that they can both feel more comfortable, safe and confident when training off-road. 

Although the weather was not in our favor with predicted rain all day on Thurs and Friday (the two full days of their camp), we got incredibly lucky in that we were able to drive to two different locations and entirely miss the rain. Even better, on Thursday we were able to ride in a short sleeve jersey and shorts! 

For Zach and Ashley's camp (husband and wife from Nebraska) we completed the following over 2.5 days: 

Thursday: 
9-10am: technique focused swim 
1:30-4:30pm: Gravel ride near Sumter National Forest, SC
10 min run off the bike 

Friday: 
7-8:30am: Master swim, group workout
1-3:30pm: Gravel ride near Zirconia, NC
30 min run off the bike

Saturday: 
9-10:20am: Run workout w/ hill intervals

Riding gravel is all the rage these days. Some perks include the wider tires, disc brakes, a change in scenery, being in nature, being able to ride on the road and off the road and feeling much more adventurous on two wheels. More so, many people are switching from road to gravel biking due to far fewer cars/trucks. Although the chances of experiencing motorized traffic is very small on gravel roads, there's a greater risk of crashing due to the uneven surface under your wheels. And not all "gravel" is created equal - neither is tire pressure. There are silky smooth dirt roads and then there are washboard-like roads which will have you bouncing uncomfortably on and off your saddle. Add in climbing and descending, tight turns on loose rocks, deep sand and peanut-butter clay, you may find that gravel riding is much harder than it looks on social media. Oh and don't forget to add in riding over puddles and water crossings. You never know what you will get when riding off road. Additionally, risk of heat stress, fatigue and bonking is also greater than on the road due to the lack of "convenient" stops to refill bottles and to restock edible fuel. 

The truth is that riding a gravel bike is very different than riding on the road. On gravel, you can't just sit on your bike and pedal. Weight distribution is key on technical terrain, especially with turning, braking and descending. With gravel biking, there is a lot of weight shifting that should occur efficiently and smoothly. Whereas you may be able to get away being stiff and rigid on a road bike, safe gravel riding requires you to stay relaxed. For your bike to float freely under you, you need to become the suspension of the bike to absorb the bumps under you. When you watch experienced gravel riders, you'll notice that they are rarely sitting - there's a lot of standing, hovering, moving the hands into different positions on the handlebars/drops and weight shifting. The key is making small adjustments to stay stable and in control. When it comes to turning, this is very different than riding on the road. On a paved road, what you need to do to turn is the complete opposite of riding on gravel. 

Similar to the road, you need to go easy on the brakes. When you squeeze on your brakes, your wheel is not free to roll. Depending on how quick and tightly you squeeze your brakes - and the position of your body - there's risk of washing out, losing control or flying over your handlebars. Learning how to brake on and off road (and the braking power of your brakes) is one of the easiest skills to learn to improve your safety. 

When you are riding off road, it's easy to get distracted and enjoy the scenery around you. While this is easy to do on smooth surfaces, I find that gravel biking requires a lot more mental energy as I am constantly scanning 10+ feet ahead of me to find the best line. And when I'm descending, there's a lot of adjustment to find the right body position to safely navigate down a hill, especially if there are deep piles of gravel or sticky sand/clay. 

Lastly, unlike on the road where you can comfortable ride with your preferred cadence, the key to off road biking is to keep up the speed, which often means pedaling with a higher cadence or a bigger gear - both can feel uncomfortable if you haven't trained yourself to ride with variable cadences (high cadence can cause great cardio stress and low cadence can cause great muscular stress). There are some scenarios where you will feel like you are pedaling and going no where. Learning to pedal at a high cadence, with great power, while also keeping your grip loose and letting the bike autocorrect is a skill that takes time to master. 

Ashley and Zach did an excellent job at their gravel riding camp (no falls!). They tackled all types of conditions from crushed gravel and light sand to thick peanut-butter-mud and washboards. Karel did a great job on helping with water crossing do's and don'ts as well as climbing and descending skills. The biggest takeaway was not to tense up and to just sit on the saddle but to relax, move the body and let the bike flow under you. 

If you are interested in improving your gravel or road riding skills, we have a few slots left for our April bike skills/climbing camp. You can find out more here. 

Every Trimarni camp is guaranteed to include farm animals. 

2022 Trimarni Bike Skills Camp

 

After much request by triathletes, we are now offering a group cycling camp. This camp is limited to eight athletes to ensure plenty of one-on-one attention.

Athlete is preparing for a triathlon. This athlete spends months training in order to feel prepared for this event. This athlete invests into coaching, the latest recovery gear, equipment and nutrition strategies in order to optimize performance.

But come race day, this athlete is unable to perform to his/her potential because this athlete never learned (and mastered) basic bike handling and terrain management skills. Less fit athletes are going faster because of better skills and riding techniques.

Learning, improving or mastering your bike handling and terrain management skills should not be something you only practice on race day. Because many cycling skills are not intuitive and can not be learned on an indoor trainer, improve your safety, confidence and fun-factor when riding your bike by investing in our bike skills climbing camp. 

This camp is designed to help you work on your climbing, descending, terrain management, gearing and bike handling skills. All fitness levels welcomed. However, you will be climbing hills as part of your skill work so we ask that you have good endurance and strength to be able to safely climb various grades/inclines.

While you will be performing your skills in real-world situations (which will bring some fatigue and soreness to your legs), this camp is not designed for accumulating a lot of riding miles. At this camp, you are accumulating new and improved skills. The miles that you will cover at camp will help you improve your bike handling skills so that you can leave camp with improved confidence, skills and safety while riding your bike outside on all types of terrain. We welcome road and/or triathlon bikes at this camp.

Each day of camp will have two distinct sessions. The morning session will be skills, drills, technique and education. The afternoon session will take you to different terrain to put your practice into effect. On the last day of camp, you will have the opportunity to put all of your skills to good use by climbing up and descending down a mountain! Don't be scared/worried - we will help you feel prepared, confident and safe! 

Is this camp right for you? 

• You never learned (or mastered) basic bike handling skills like shifting gears on variable terrain, standing out of the saddle, riding one handed, sudden starting/stopping, u-turns, descending and climbing. 
• You have great fitness on the indoor trainer but when it comes to riding outside, you can't seem to ride to your potential. 
• You don't enjoy riding your bike outside because you feel scared, exhausted or uncomfortable. 
• Riding in a new environment/course/terrain makes you feel tense, scared and anxious. 
• You don't feel comfortable riding your bike around other cyclists. 
• You want to get more out of your cycling abilities but you can't do it on your own (and where you live). 
• You struggle to ride in challenging environmental situations - wind, rain, hills, heat, cold.
• You want a decisive advantage over your competition to ensure that your hard work pays off on race day. 
• You want to learn how to master basic bike handling skills to make riding outside more enjoyable and safer. 

One of the main reasons why we moved to Greenville, SC was because it was incredibly bike-friendly. With countless country roads, we have endless biking routes to choose from - right from our doorstep. Unfortunately, this isn't the case for many triathletes. Because we used to live in Jacksonville, FL (prior to our move), we understand the worry, concern and anxiety that comes from riding outside. Additionally, due to the advancements of indoor trainers, indoor stationary bikes and reality training apps, many triathletes lack the skills, confidence and balance to safely ride outside due to always training in a controlled environment. A trainer is a wonderful tool but it does not allow you to manage rolling terrain, descending, climbing and basic bike handling skills like braking, standing out of the saddle, u-turns, cornering and balance.

When I moved to Greenville in 2014, I was not a fast, confident or strong cyclist. I was scared of riding downhills and I was constantly fearful of routes that I had never been on before. I craved familiar and what was within my comfort zone. But overtime, I had to challenge myself in order to become a better, safer and stronger cyclist. With a great teacher (Karel), my skills improved and I was able to enjoy cycling so much more - and my triathlon bike times significantly improved! 

Just because you can ride a bike doesn't mean that you really know how to ride. If you never learned basic bike handling skills and you predominantly train indoors, this can greatly affect your riding performance (and ability to improve) as well as your outdoor riding enjoyment and safety. 

To improve your skills, you need to practice regularly but more so, you need to learn the right ways to master the skill (which will likely place you in a sate of discomfort or fear as you learn something new). Don't wait until race day or your warm weather training to find yourself in a scenario where your bike handling skills are not up to par with your fitness abilities.

For more information and to register, click HERE.
CAMP DATES: April 1st-3rd, 2022. Limited to only 8 athletes for individualized attention. 

Triathlon cycling 101

Sandwiched between the swim and run, the triathlon bike portion is the longest discipline in both time and distance. With nearly 50% of your race time spent on two wheels, this is where your hard work pays off. But not enough time in the saddle will cost you valuable time and energy during the bike and run.

When it comes to triathlon gear and equipment, cycling is the most expensive discipline. Plus, training outdoors has its hazards, especially when you are sharing the road with cars, pedestrians, nature and wildlife. For these reasons, many triathletes don’t train properly or spend a considerable amount of time only cycling indoors. Because triathletes have a reputation for not having great bike-handling skills, preparation for the bike portion of a triathlon is a combination of having the right equipment, doing the right training and having great bike handling skills.

Fundamentals
The cycling culture may look intimidating but as long as you are riding a bike and having fun, you are part of the club. Plus, building bike fitness is fairly easy – go ride your bike. But to truly showcase your cycling fitness, proper bike handling skills and training are critical for your safety (and those around you), confidence and efficiency. Knowing how to corner, brake, descend, stand, climb and change your gears will take your bike fitness to an entirely new level. For most triathletes, due too much indoor riding (or fear of riding a bike), these fundamental skills are lacking. For example, going downhill on a bicycle at 40+ mph is a pure adrenaline rush – so long as you can safely handle your bike at these speeds. If you get yourself going too fast and you don’t have the right skills, you’ll tense up and may try to over-correct by squeezing your brakes – causing you to lose control.


Descending
Position yourself a bit back on the saddle. Avoid breaking the whole way down as this puts tension on your arms and hands, prevents the wheel from moving freely and can overheat your brake pads. Brake softly and then let it go. The front brake is on the left side of the handlebars and the rear brake is on the right. The front brake has more stopping power but if used by itself, your rear wheel can slip, causing you to lose control of your bike. Practice on a small hill with a slight decline and as you gain more confidence, work your way up to longer hills, where you’ll carry more speed.

Braking
For your safety, it’s critical to practice your braking abilities before you find yourself in a situation when you really need to brake. Find an empty parking lot and ride fast for 10 seconds. Then come to a controlled stop. Learn how long it takes you to safely come to a quick stop to better understand your bike’s braking power.

Cornering
While you may not be corning at a high speed like a criterium racer or descending on long and sweeping switchbacks in the Alps, making turns (especially u-turns) is a necessary skill to master. Always look ahead to avoid grease, painted lines, sand or rocks – especially in the rain. If you are turning, never brake in the turn/corner – get your braking done before the turn. Keep the inside pedal up, outside pedal down, weight on the outside foot. You can even move your butt slightly off the saddle to put more load on the outside pedal. Lean the bike – not your body – into the turn (this is called counter-steering). Push your hand on the side of the handlebar where you want to turn. Always look in the direction you want to go to maintain your line. Instead of trying to get close to the corner/cone, start at the outside and carve a smooth arc through the apex of the turn. As you come out of the turn, straighten up the bike and begin pedaling. Always shift into a lighter gear before the turn so that you can quickly gain momentum out of the turn (the same rule applies for stopping).

Bike handling
Lastly, although it seems basic, you must learn how to signal a turn, point to something in the road and take in nutrition as you are riding. This all requires you to ride your bike with only one hand. The only way to become efficient at this skill is to practice while riding. In an empty parking lot, practice lifting one hand at a time off the handlebar to learn how to balance yourself on your bike. Then practice grabbing your water bottle from the cage.

Changing gears
Not knowing how or when to shift your gears can cause you to lose momentum, drop your chain or struggle to get to the top of a steep hill. For proper shifting, you need to know how to shift to the right gear before you need it so that you can maintain a smooth and efficient pedal stroke throughout the entire climb.

For a big shift (up or down a hill), you’ll switch between the front chainrings. The left handlebar shifter controls this shift. In simple terms, the small chain rings makes pedaling easier (up a climb) while moving to the big chainring will make pedaling harder (down a hill). Before approaching a major terrain change, anticipate what shifting needs to happen and give yourself time to get into the right gear.

For smaller shifts in the wind, undulating terrain, or for more efficient riding, the shifting mechanism on the right side of your handlebars will move the chain up and down the rear cassette (right side of the back wheel). Moving the chain up will make pedaling easier while moving the chain down will make pedaling harder.

Don’t settle into being a one-gear rider. In an empty parking lot, practice shifting form your big to small chain ring and moving your chain up and down your rear cassette so you can feel how this affects your effort. A simple trick to keep your chain from dropping as you change gears is to keep the chain in the middle of the rear cassette when moving from the big to small chain ring (and vice versa).

5 Pro Tips

1. For smoother shifting, braking and turning, anticipation is key. For example, change your gears right before you really need to, especially when climbing.
2. Don’t wait until you are on the side of the road to perfect your flat-changing skills.
3. Learn the rules of riding on the road. Know how to signal appropriately when making a turn or pointing out a hazard on the road. Try to anticipate the decisions of the cars around, behind or in front of you.
4. Check your bike (ex. cables, brakes, tires, spokes, chain, etc.) before every ride. Don’t forget to pump your tires (recommend tire pressure can be found on the sidewall of your tire in psi).
5. In wet weather, stay off the painted line, watch out for oil and break earlier than usual when taking a turn. Look out far enough ahead so you can see and react to any obstacles on the road or on the shoulder.

For more triathlon tips, nutrition guidelines and race day advice, check out my new book Athlete to Triathlete.

Trimarni Greenville camp - Day 4 recap

The final day of camp had arrived and it was time to put everything together that our campers learned over the past 3 days.

Karel and I knew that we wanted to make our camp bike heavy simply because our terrain is amazing for improving bike fitness. With all of our rolling hills, mountains and punchy climbs, you have no choice but to ride and get stronger.
However, a big part of a bike-focused camp is making sure that our campers understand how to ride their bikes. Yes, it's very easy to sit on a bike and just pedal but many athletes do not know (or never take the time to learn) how to use their gears properly, how to descend and climb in the "proper" line, how to fuel/hydrate while riding (especially during intense efforts or while climbing/descending), how to sit properly on the bike and how to anticipate climbs and when to stand, sit or to stay aero (specific to triathletes). 

Karel and I constantly hear these "rules" that triathletes try to abide by like never using the small or big chain ring, they must always wear an aero helmet on race day for "fast" times, never standing or getting out of aero during a triathlon race or not putting adequate nutrition/hydration on the bike because it is not aero or fast. 

And then you see/hear triathletes that will put deep dish race wheels on their bike but struggle to ride in a straight line due to wind resistance and difficulty controlling the bike. The triathletes will forget to install a climbing cassette in hilly terrain races and without understanding how to change gears, they waste precious energy in the legs that can be used for the run. And lastly, many triathletes will chase a specific MPH pace for the bike regardless of the terrain and forget that the fastest ride is the one where you can run strong off the bike. 

Having said all of this, it is critical that triathletes learn how to ride their bike. Above all, you need to feel safe on your bike and know how to ride your bike safely on all terrain. And lastly, you have to have fun while riding your bike. If you dread riding your bike, if you are not comfortable on your bike (and have not been professional fit by an experienced fitter) or if you are scared to ride your bike around others, the best thing you can do is to focus on your skills to make you a smarter rider. 

Our ride was delayed by about 10 minutes because when I got on my tri bike, there was an issue with the derailleur that stumped Karel. It was one of those random mechanical issues that Karel could not fix or figure out in 10 minutes so I was on my road bike for day 4 of camp. (Karel was able to fix my bike later in the day to make it ridable for the week but we did end up having to buy a new derailleur - so happy to be married to my bike mechanic!)

At 7:30am, the campers met us down the road on their bikes and we all went on a recon ride of the run route that we would be running off the bike. After our 7 mile warm-up ride (which was quite welcomed as it was hilly but very conversational pace). Then we made our way 10 minutes down the road to the base of Paris Mountain.

The ride today was twice up Paris mountain. It's a 2.5 mile climb with only two steeper sections but after all that our campers experienced and accomplished, Paris Mountain was an "easy" climb. The only thing that made it hard was that our campers were climbing it after 3 days and over 10,000 feet of climbing already.

On the first ride up, our campers could ride at any pace. We wanted them to work on their bike skills going up and to understand the terrain. Just like in a race when you can pre-ride/drive the course, you can anticipate climbs a lot better when you know what's coming.

The descend down Paris Mountain is a great place to improve descending confidence because you don't go directly down once you arrive to the peak. There are several rolling hills on the top of Paris Mountain and then you eventually make your way down. There are no sketchy sections and every turn offers a view as to what's to come so it's one of those climbs where you can descend and not be worried about  having to quickly break before another switchback.

After the descend, we made our way to a very technical area for our campers to really test their skills. Karel and I have actually ran this entire bike course (that we rode at camp - it's about 13 miles) which is the entire Paris Mountain Road Warrior 20K course and we use the back section of this course (after Paris Mountain) to warm-up on chilly days in the winter with all the punchy climbs.
The course is extremely technical on a bike (after Paris Mountain) but we knew that our campers had the skills to feel confident on the changing terrain. To understand how technical the climbs are - in less than 3 miles you will go through every gear on every chain ring (big/small), stand, sit and be aero.

After the technical section was complete, we regrouped and did the climb up Paris Mountain one more time. However, this time - best effort!!

With the climb taking most of our campers between 14-18 minutes, we told our campers to ignore the pain in their legs and give the best effort possible. Everyone pushed hard and was breathing heavy at the top but no one gave  up - it was an incredible sight to see for me and Karel.

We then descending on the same side that we climbed and heading back to our house to quickly transition to the run. 

Our awesome SAG support had brought all of our campers run gear to our house in the changing tent (garage) and we all did a little dynamic warm-up and it was off for our last run/workout of camp!
The weather was absolutely amazing - in the upper 70's, which was welcomed by our exhausted bodies. 

It was nice to have all of our campers start together. As pictured below, this is our street which is a .25 mile climb out of our neighborhood. Karel and I get to climb this for every run, which certainly makes us tougher as it's not easy to start climbing immediately when you start running. 

Our campers had their bikes in transition area (our backyard) while we ran. 

I had drawn a map of our run which happens to be one of my most favorite run courses around where I live. It includes about 800-1000 feet of climbing in around 7 miles but with all the scenery, it goes by really quickly. And there are no shortage of hills!

We all ran a mile, walked 20 seconds for the entire run and amazingly kept a strong pace even though we kept it conversational until the last two miles. 

Go Angie, Alex and Taryn!!

We had our SAG crew out on the course around mile 3 so that we could all refill our bottles. Even though it was cool outside, underdrinking/fueling was not an option. After 3 days of training and our previous 2+ hour ride with 3000+ feet of climbing, an underfueled body would not perform. 

After the SAG stop, the climbs got a bit longer and the descends got a bit shorter. For the final push, the last 2 miles were strong with a best effort up the Roe Ford Road hill where we live. 

It was great to see my group push really hard on terrain that they had never experienced in their life for 4 days of training. Joe, Adam and Justine finished super strong...and Justine even out-sprinted me! You go girl!

We all waited until everyone was finished and as typical Trimarni camp practice, we all cheer for each other until everyone is finished with the very last workout. 

Our oldest camper (but certainly no less strong than the rest of us), Jim N ran super hard up the hill. Karel ran (run/walk) the entire 7 miles with Jim and we all finished together. 

It felt so great to be done with camp and after 4 days of exhausting training, our campers were a few days of recovery away from a mega boost in fitness. 

We all walked home, chatted and laughed about all the suffering that we did over 4 days. 

When we got back to our house, it was time for delicious and refreshing watermelon to go along with our recovery drinks (which were pre-made and kept cold in the cooler). 

Karel and I gave our final talk for the camp and told our campers how proud we were of their dedication, commitment and great energy at camp. 

We also had our campers talk about their experiences which was great for us, as coaches, to understand what makes their camp experience so great.

I want to give a BIG shout-out to our awesome SAG crew and photographers. 

Thank you Taylor for taking great behind the scene and action shot pictures, for taking care of all of our campers at the lodge (and helping to feed them) and for giving great energy to us on the course. 

Thank you Tricia for giving us the best SAG support!! I know camp would not have been so successful without your help and support. You really made my job easier to coach the campers so I really appreciate all the behind the scene work that you did to help us out!

Thank you Elizabeth for giving great positive energy throughout the camp and for taking the most amazing pictures to capture every highlight during the camp. You also made some amazing meals which was super important for our campers to have happy tummies. 

And thank you to the Swamp Rabbit Lodge for providing the best lodging environment for our campers and last but certainly not least, a BIG thank you to the Trimarni Team sponsors for supporting our camps and our athletes. 

After 4-days of camp: 

SWIMMING: ~2.5 hours
BIKING: ~10 hours and 11,600+ feet of climbing
RUNNING: ~4.5 hours and 3,300+ feet of climbing

TOTAL: 17+ hours of training and over 14,900 feet of climbing in 4 days!!!

We are so excited to plan our next Greenville camp for 2016....and we plan to have more than one!
We hope to see you there! 

Improve your bike skills - CLIMBING

While on our long "foundation" building ride this morning, we made good use of our time on our bikes by enjoying the mountain views on top of Cedar's Head. 

As we were climbing the 6-miles to the top of the mountain, I couldn't help but think about my progress as a swimmer, turned runner, turned triathlete, turned cyclist. Although my love for swimming has not gone away, I absolutely love riding my bike.

And now  that we live in beautiful, bike-friendly Greenville, SC we love riding our bikes even more! We leave from our doorstep on the Westend of downtown and in less than 7 miles we can climb Paris Mountain and in 45 minutes we are on challenging roads and hilly terrain on beautiful country roads.

There was a time, not too long ago a few years ago, that I was not very skilled on my bike. By no means, am I an expert now but my riding skills have improved dramatically over the last few years and I owe it all to Karel helping me learn how to be a better cyclist. 

So I thought that I would share a few tips that have helped me not only race better but also train smarter. 

Switchbacks

Not every race (or training session) will have switchbacks and unless you are in Pyrénées, they probably won't look like this (above) BUT it is important that you know how to properly bike up hills that require turning corners. In my racing experience, athletes often get thrown off with gearing (or struggle) on an unexpected incline turn as well as turns that are not well-viewed. 

When riding switchbacks or turns on an incline it is important to know where you should be positioning yourself so that you are in the least steepest grade possible.

When the road turns to the right, you want to be closest to the middle. You want to always be on the outside of the turn So imagine the trees are on your right yellow line is to your left. If the road is turning to the right, you want to ride yourself away from the trees. Certainly be careful, watch for cars and in races, do not cross the yellow line or get in the way of other riders.
Now the opposite situation, if the road is turning to the left, yellow line is to your left and trees to the right, you will want to ride yourself toward the trees as this is the least steep grade when it comes to how the road pitches up. 

Climbing position 

Sitting or....

Standing?

We get this question a lot and certainly it depends on the climb and the rider size, as well as what you are most comfortable with. It's funny that I picked these two pictures because typically I am the one out of my saddle when I climb and Karel is sitting, however, we both sit AND stand.

Every climb is different so my suggestion is to practice. Learn how you prefer to climb on different grades. The ultimate goal is to climb in a way that allows you to keep a smooth cadence and conserve your energy. The opportunity for you to stay aero while "climbing" will likely only come if there are rollers in that you can gain momentum from a previous climb and comfortably work your way up another climb. Another situation, a very low grade climbg. Otherwise, if a climb is long or steep, sit up and stretch your hip flexors and focus on a very fluid pedal stroke.

The reason why it is advantageous to sit up while climbing is because your natural position when climbing is to scoot back a little on the saddle (as oppose to being on the middle/nose of the saddle while in aero). This position you have placed yourself in while climbing in a seated position allows you to open the hip angle and you have more power.

For athletes who feel comfortable out of the saddle (or when the road pitches up rather steep or on punchy climbs when getting out of the saddle is an easy way to get over the top), keep in mind that it does take more energy to climb standing. But standing  stretches the body (ex. legs/back) and takes you out of your seated position. Therefore, it is good to get out of the saddle every now and then while climbing.  Focus on all parts of the pedal stroke while standing although you may find yourself more powerful on the top of your stroke as you push down on the pedals. You will also find yourself rocking your handlebars a little as you move your arms side to side to help move your front wheel up the climb. You need good core and lower back as well as upper body strength to be a good climber and this is very true if riding out of the saddle. Typically, shorter or lighter athletes are good climbers out of the saddle but also those who have great quad strength may prefer coming out of the saddle here or there while climbing. This is not a rule, just a generalization.

If sitting, the most important thing to remember is a very smooth pedal stroke. To help increase your cadence while climbing, I recommend single-leg drills on the trainer (sitting up) to help you train your legs to be engaged on all parts of the pedal stroke. We typically do 3-5 rounds of  each leg, 30-60 sec single leg drills (clipping out the foot that is not being used) to not only become more aware of  any"dead" spots in the pedal stroke (typically at the top) but also to strengthen the glutes and hamstrings.
It took me a while to get my cadence higher on the bike on flat roads so as you can imagine, it took a very long time to increase it while climbing.....and I'm still working on it.
You never have to just sit or just stand when you climb so be sure you are focusing on being comfortable.  Every rider will have his/her own style of climbing but to conserve energy, try to keep the upper body relaxed without a lot of rocking back and forth while sitting. You want your arms very relaxed on your bars while the legs do the work to move your forward.
Practice sitting and standing when you ride outside on hills so you can get more comfortable on different grades.

Shifting and gearing

When athletes (or race directors) talk about a climbing cassette, you will want to have a 12-27 or 11-28 (it should end with 27 or 28) cassette on your bike. The reason for a climbing cassette is so you can have easier gears.You will also see that some athletes prefer a compact crankset which is another option for relatively smaller chainrings.
If you are riding on any course that is not flat (in other words, the road goes up and down), a climbing cassette is a great affordable investment and if you are not comfortable changing your own cassette, just have your LBS (local bike shop) do it for you (you can typically buy one there as well).

Speaking of your cassette, it is extremely important that you know how to shift your gears properly. This is probably the easiest thing you can work on every time you ride outside but a common error of athletes on race day (does a dropped chain come to mind? Don't worry, it happens to us all at times...even with a chain catcher.).

When it comes to shifting your gears, you will find that your comfortable gear of course will differ depending on the terrain grade. Although it is absolutely possible to climb in your big chain ring, the focus should be on keeping your cadence as comfortably high as possible for a smooth pedal stroke. Therefore, most efficient riders will be changing from big to small, small to big, throughout the ride to keep that nice steady cadence. As pictured above, if you have electronic shifting, it is simply a button to press on your aero bars or base bars to change your gears. This allows the rider to keep his/her hands on the base bars when climbing or aero bars on rolling hills and still be able shift. You can also shift while standing out of the saddle when you have electronic shifting. Now when I talk shifting, I am not just referring to big and small chain rings but also all the gears you have on your cassette.
You must avoid your chain crossing (and your chain being dropped),. If you are on the big chain ring and you keep shifting up, there is more force on the chain and the chain is crossing. This is not good. Don't wait to shift from big to small chain ring until the last moment. You need to be sure you are in a gear that allows you comfortable shift big to small, small to big without noticing a big difference in your pedal stroke.
As an easy suggestion, be sure your chain is somewhere near the middle (not to the extreme top or bottom) of the cassette before shifting from big to small/small to big.
An efficient rider will likely change his/her gears a lot during racing/training to keep that nice steady cadence. Sometimes, I try to shift and realize I am already in the smallest gear while climbing and I wish I had just one more gear! Always a let down. 

As you become a more skilled rider, you will become a more efficient rider. And when you ride efficiently, you train more consistently. Ultimately you become stronger, faster and more powerful. 

So while you are out there enjoying the climbs, a few more things to remember:
-While descending, NEVER break during a turn. Gently break before the turn and then let it go. You can not control your wheels while breaking in a turn and this is setting you up for a risky, dangerous situation while going downhill or even on flat roads
-While descending, look ahead. Be sure to become familiar with new roads before bombing a descend (unless you are Karel) so you are aware of any bumps, ditches, sharp turns, etc. This is extremely important when it comes to improving your confidence before a race.
-Practice fueling while climbing/descending. It is much safer to fuel up a climb than down a steep, technical climb as you need to pay attention when you descend. However, some descends are "easy" and provide a great opportunity to fuel/hydrate And when I say fuel, this is liquid nutrition. You need to practice staying hydrated while climbing and that means grabbing a bottle from your cages while climbing. There is a significant amount of energy being used while climbing so you don't want to go 10,20,40 minutes on a climb without fueling or hydrating. Since there is so much blood being used by the muscles, liquid nutrition will digest much easier than solid food. However, if heading out for a long ride in the mountains, I recommend to bring a sport bar to nibble on as you may get hungry on the descends and you are using a lot more energy compared to flat roads. But for race day, I recommend to rely on liquid nutrition as your primary source of fuel (a little solid food here or there is perfectly fine).
-Don't dread the climbs. What goes up, must come down. The more practice you have climbing and descending, the more comfortable you will be on your bike. I am not telling you that it will be easy to climb (or race on hilly courses) but you may learn to enjoy the suffering on the way up and the fun on the way down.