2025 Gravel Skills Camp

This weekend we held our third gravel skills camp in DuPont State Forest. We welcomed former gravel skills campers and a few new faces.

We spent over 11 hours, spread over two days, discussing, demonstrating and applying important bike handling skills for riding off road. 

On Saturday, we met at Fawn Lake parking lot and discussed PSI and puncture repair kits. We then rode out to the airstrip and spent the next two hours discussing and working on specific skills (ex. cornering, descending, stopping, heavy feet/light hands). We took a break for lunch and ate in the parking lot and around 1pm we headed out on our adventure ride through Dupont forest and around Cascade Lakes. It was a beautiful day with warm temperatures in the upper 60s. 

On Sunday we met at Tuxedo park in Zirconia, NC. We started off with a refresher of skills around the lake and then headed out on an 8-mile road ride before hitting the gravel into Dupont. We had a 4 mile steady gravel climb and then did a loop around Fawn Lake. We worked on making a sharp u-turn on rocky gravel at high speed. We then descended down the gravel climb and road back to the park. 

Some of us went to Flat Rock Bakery after camp and enjoyed some delicious food. 

We were so impressed by the campers and we are excited to hear what adventures they have planned with their new and improved skills. 

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A post shared by Marni Sumbal, MS, RD, CSSD (@trimarni)

We've been putting on training camps for the past 11 years and after over 25 group triathlon camps, we have realized how many athletes lack basic bike handling skills. And I can attest as I was one of those athletes! I was one of the many triathletes who were indoor fit with poor bike handling skills.

Can you relate? 
You spent countless hours on the indoor bike trainer (or on familiar roads) and your power is where you want it to be but because you lack basic bike handling skills, you constantly perform below your bike fitness abilities on race day.

🚲You feel uncomfortable approaching or passing athletes.

🚲You waste energy in and out of corners because you are not confident at taking a corner at speed.

🚲You don’t feel confident grabbing or rotating bottles and taking in nutrition.

🚲You get anxiety (panic) when it comes to descending.

🚲You worry about u-turns.

🚲You are constantly afraid of your surroundings and have a fear of crashing.

🚲You don’t know how to safely stop on demand.

🚲You were never taught how to use your gears (outside of the big chainring) for hilly/rolling terrain.

And the list goes on.

These aren’t “racing” skills. These aren’t professional skills. These are basic, fundamental, critical bike handling skills that will keep you safe on the road.

We enjoyed working with our campers at our recent gravel skills camp as they became more aware of the proper bike handling skills needed for a variety of off-road terrain conditions. And the great thing is that they can now ride even better on the road. 

If you are interested in taking your bike fitness to the next level (so you can ride faster, more confident and safer), we are offering two more training camp opportunities for triathletes in 2025.

⭐Early Season Triathlon Camp - April 25-27th (Travelers Rest/Greenville, SC)

⭐Long Distance Triathlon Camp - August 22nd-24th (Travelers Rest/Greenville, SC)

2025 Trimarni Camps - open for registration

As you begin to plan out your 2025 triathlon racing season, we hope to see you at a 2025 Trimarni camp.

We have three different camp experiences for you to choose from.

Since our very first group training camp in Clermont, Florida in March 2014, our focus has remained the same. Our mission is to provide you with an unforgettable camp experience, empowering you to stretch your athletic limits while providing you with a great amount of education and skill focus to help you become a better athlete. When you participate in a Trimarni camp, you will learn new skills and training techniques (and break some old bad habits) to ensure that you can train smarter and race better.

We have the perfect training playground in Greenville, SC and we can't wait to share it with you.

At a Trimarni camp you will leave your stressful and busy life behind you.

Your camp investment will give you the opportunity to train in a group format (alongside two hands-on coaches) while learning a lot. You will eat well, fuel smart and receive a lot of motivation and inspiration from your fellow campers.

You do not have to be a Trimarni coached athlete to attend.

All three camps are open for registration.
Check out our website to learn more about each camp experience.

Gravel Skills


Early Season

Endurance Camp

2024 Trimarni camps - registration open

We are extremely passionate about our training camps. We enjoy planning every detail of our camp itineraries so you can make the most out of your entire camp experience.  Since our very first group training camp in Clermont, Florida in March 2014, our focus has remained the same. Our mission is to provide you with an unforgettable camp experience, empowering you to stretch your athletic limits while providing you with a great amount of education and skill focus to help you become a better athlete. When you participate in a Trimarni camp, you will learn new skills and training techniques (and break some old bad habits) to ensure that you can train effectively in your home environment, after your time at camp has concluded. As you travel to a beautiful training location, surrounded by like-minded triathletes, you will leave your stressful and busy life behind you. We want to take care of everything for you so that all you have to do is book your travel. Your camp investment will give you the unique opportunity to train in a group format, while gifting yourself great sleep. You will eat well, fuel smart and receive a lot of motivation and inspiration from your fellow campers. 2024 TRIMARNI CAMPS Our Early Season triathlon camp in April caters to all fitness abilities.  This camp is designed to help you improve your swim, bike, run skills as you prepare for your first race of the season. This camp will help you build confidence to help you become a more well-rounded triathlete. As with all our camps, this early season camp will have a heavy emphasis on swimming technique and cycling, specifically skills and terrain management. To meet the criteria for this camp, you should have enough endurance to ride your bike for at least 2 hours on rolling terrain, you can train for at least 3 hours a day (total) for the duration of your camp (two or three workouts a day) and should arrive to camp with at least 6 months of consistent training (and fitness) to get the most out of this camp. Your health is important to us, thus the criteria. We never want any athlete to feel left out so if you feel this camp is not for you, we do offer private camps to meet your individual needs. Please reach out and we can discuss some options for you. Our Long Distance triathlon camp in July is designed for athletes who are preparing for an endurance or ultra endurance triathlon and desire to gain bike confidence, fitness and skills. Expect to do a lot of cycling. To meet the criteria for this camp, we ask that you arrive to this camp with great fitness and endurance to absorb an intentional overload of training (the majority of the volume will come from cycling). You should feel comfortable riding in a group, biking for at least 4 hours on hilly terrain and be able to train for 4+ hours a day. Your health and safety is important to us as we stretch your comfort zone, discover your strengths, improve your skills and help you prepare for your upcoming event. We never want any athlete to feel left out so if you feel this camp is not for you, we do offer private camps for to meet your individual needs. Please reach out and we can discuss some options for you. And for 2024...we are offering a gravel skills camp in March AND an off-road triathlon skills camp in April.  The goals of the Gravel and Off Road Triathlon camps are to help you safely and confidently ride off-road by teaching you correct bike handling skills and how to correctly navigate the rugged road under your tires. Our off-road skills camps are open to all fitness levels, however we do ask that you have enough endurance and fitness to comfortably ride for 3 hours. We held a small gravel camp last year and it was well received. The camps are designed to help you work on your off-road climbing, descending, body position, cornering, body position and bike handling skills. To ensure that you can apply your skills to real-world situations, we are combining the gravel camp with the Southeast Gravel Grinder and we are combining the off-road triathlon camp with the Whitewater off-road triathlon. Within each camp, we will take you to specific features of the coures to help you work on your bike handling skills so that you can leave camp with improved confidence, skills and safety while riding your bike on different types of terrain. You will also learn about tire choice, optimal tire pressure and how to care for your gravel and mountain bike. Both camps will include optional run workouts.  To learn more about our camps and to register, click HERE.

2023 TRIMARNI GRAVEL SKILLS CAMP

Riding gravel is all the rage these days. Some perks include a change in scenery, being in nature, and discovering new roads and routes. 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.

I learned this all too well in 2021 when I had two crashes within a few weeks in my first few months of riding my gravel bike. Although I had fitness to ride my bike, I lacked the skills needed to take my bike off road. Riding a gravel bike off road requires a very different skill set than riding on the road. I'm happy to report that with a lot of help from Karel, not only have I become more confident on my gravel bike (and no more crashes!) but I've also learned how to ride a mountain bike on very technical terrain - and haven't had any major crashes or accidents. 

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 purpose of this gravel skills camp is to help you become a safer, more skilled and confident cyclist. 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, especially when you are riding on sand, mud, loose gravel and roots. Weight distribution and surveying the ground in front of you are very important on technical terrain. Whereas you may be able to get away zoning out and sitting on your road or tri bike while being stiff and rigid, gravel riding requires you to stay relaxed and to react dynamically to the ground under you, so your bike can float freely 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, safe and in control.

This camp will be divided into two distinct sections - developing skills and then applying the skills. You will have the opportunity to work on specific bike handling skills - like body position, descending, navigating curves and turns, riding through water and on single track, climbing, braking and pedaling mechanics. You will also learn about the inner workings of your bike like tire pressure, tire choice and cleaning/maintenance.

By attending this camp, you can expect to learn a lot. By mastering fundamental gravel cycling skills you will be able to feel confident and safe on any type of terrain, while keeping a smile on your face because you are having fun.

Quick Camp Facts

Location: Zirconia, NC and Dupont State Forest

Dates: February 17th - 19th, 2023

LEARN MORE HERE 
GRAVEL SKILLS CAMP