26 August 2014

Epic Camp Canada 2014 Day 7

Epic Camp Canada 2014 Day 7
August 25th ( I think)

Blue River - Jasper 210km

Kinda losing track of the days now.  Had to ask what day of the camp and the date just now and its not just due to the beverages.

The day started at 6am on the beach with a 2km swim in the lake 30m from our cabins followed by a 7km run, all "before breakfast" as Bardsley would say. Nice little lake about 1km around the edge. Warm! I ran along the tracks again in the opposite direction.  No bear sightings but saw a nice hawk.
Reminded me of my Colorado days.

Michelle whipped up some wonderful pancakes for us today.  Too bad for me I was last to get to them  as the authentic Canadian maple syrup had only a few drops left!  Last time I get to breakfast last I can assure you.

Big ride today of 210k and once again Charlsey rolled out prior to the grupetto which was about 30 minutes before us on the road.  Didn't take our group long to get rolling and at the first aid station at 52km we weren't far behind.  Charlsey waited there for us which meant he rode with us!! Which was nice as I hadn't seen him on his bike for a while.
The clear, concise instructions before the ride was that after the first aid stain anyone would be free to ride as they chose to the KOM at 130km although there would be another aid station at 100km for those who whose to use it.  As we approached that aid station Petro made it very clear he wasn't stopping with a 500Watt attack.  So 30km from the KOM with a significant climb enrolee it was all on.
I knew it was way to early to chase to settled in behind "Don't Miss That Train" Olsen as I knew he's blow by everyone on the decent or the flat leading to the final climb and that proved to be a wise move.   Still didn't change me from a mule to a racehorse on the club but at lest put me in a good position to see Shannon teach the boys a bit about climbing!  Girl can motor.
Keep in mind she's ridden the whole camp with no aerobats so she's got to be a bit pooped from that by now.
Zach took the KOM with young Adamski 2nd andShannon 3rd ahead of Petro.  That's right - Petro got chicked so all of you who have been hearing about his climbing prowess for the last couple of months now can take his bravado with a grain of salt ....... I had the opportunity to grab a few places in the last 400m so figured I might as well make a bit more effort.  Not that many KOM's on this trip so I really do need to show a bit more of my former self.

At lunch after the climb I was thinking about how many Tri vets we have on this camp.  Newsom did his first tri's in '91.  Lou (39 IM's) and Petro started in the mid-80's and my first tri was in '80.  Charlsey's done about 40+ IM's.  Some real stickability here and you can see it reflected in their attitudes every day.
We've also had quite a few people at the camps over the years who've come and gone in the sport - kinda "part-timers" really who came and went after a few seasons. Brandon Del Campo, Gordo, Mike Montgomery and Scott Davis come to mind .......    Mind you Montgomery had a really valid reason for taking a sustained break from the sport.

Lovely dinner tonight at our hotel here in Jasper.  4 courses including cheesecake and a fine Pale Ale for me.  Life is good on Epic (especially cracking jokes at our missing friends expense! HA!)
Lots of stories of previous Epic Camps tonight at dinner - good fun as Charlsey has amazing recall.
Early start tomorrow as we're in the pool at 6am.  We've got it reserved for ourselves for the first hour so might have a few fun and games to begin with.
Cheers from Jasper.

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