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Monday, February 28, 2011

The Deep South



A certain nameless someone didn't want me to leave for a week and a half. Such a cutie.

Mid Feb I left for the national team development camp in South Carolina, wooo party. On the way the way to SC, some people thought it would be funny if they forgot my bike behind in Minneapolis.

Awesome.

However that afternoon I wasn't going to be picked up until 5 hours after my flight arrived, so my bike showed up soon after, and i had a fun filled afternoon with the my favorite cute physicists.
Compared to its start, the rest of the week was absolutely amazing. We started out with a 2 hour endurance ride on Friday to get out legs moving, and then a 3 hour ride on Saturday to get some more hours.

The real fun started on Monday when we attacked the first climb of the week, Whitewater falls. This camp was the first time I decide not to detach my derailleur of course the hanger gets bent, boooooo. So this left me without my 25 till Scotty came and saved the day on Tuesday. Needless to say I was stuck with a 23 while everyone else had their 25 or 27 on a lovely steep 10 mile climb. I'll tell you this my legs definitely were having a party once that climb was over. The descent down was happy days until we hit a pretty sharp corner and a gust of wind which knocked one of the girls to a pot hole, which led to her having a very unexpected meeting with the ditch and some trees and leaves. All was good, no broken bones. However we continued to descend in a much more careful state.

Tuesday was "recovery" day. A bunch of use decided that we wanted to go on a coffee ride. Unfortunately the nearest coffee shop was in Clemson, 15 miles away. What was supposed to be a rest day turned into a very long easy effort, with a sugar high. This day especially was gorgeous sunny hot day, so i think we were all pleased to get coffee and some sun.

Thursday was one of those epic days. 2 hours to the climb, 20% grade for 30 minuets, and to top it off I think i bonked on the way there. Wow, such a great bike rider. Anyways that was the only day that was cold and cloudy. Definitely an epic day :).



On the way to the climb. You can already see the length of the hills. yayayaya.



After the climb. Destruction.



Road of Carnage. Most of the hill was ten times worse than this.

Friday was a nice change. Fun in the sun and a little game of ride faster than a pack of dogs with a little bit of lets get lost in South Carolina. Twas a good day.

The rest of the week was followed by several days of sunshine and more amazing rides.



The last morning was just beautiful.



To my surprise when I landed in Greenville and while were riding around, it was quite apparent that all the grass was brown and crabby (obviously its not like you could see anything else). On the last day Katie and I were riding around and we finally found some green grass.



LASAGNA!


Banana Out.