Death Valley Training Camp

We arrived in Death Valley (Furnace Creek Resort) on Sunday afternoon.  Put our bikes together and went for an 18 mile easy ride.  I had had a couple bad falls on icy bridges a week ago so had not trained for a week waiting for my knee to feel better.  The knee was a bit painful but overall, biking was comfortable.  Beautiful scenery, breathtaking mountains and desolate landscape.  Plus I could wear shorts!!  LOVE.

Pete Olson at Valdora Cycles helped me upgrade my PHX2 to Di2, he painstakingly drilled the frame and routed everything internally.  Absolutely phenomenal shifting quality and the ability to shift in the bull-horns increased my comfort level a lot.  This ability makes it easier to ride in groups and adjust gear during climbs.  I now am the proud owner of a super-bike!!

The swim venue was incredible, a spring fed 25y pool with no chemicals with complete water turnover every 6-8 hours.  Absolutely heaven.

We rode 350 miles for the week.  This is by far the highest mileage week I have ever had.  Great base miles and fun groups to ride with.  We had a great time sharing a room with Rodney and Diana!!

The pinacle (in more ways than one) of the week was climbing Dante's View (25 mile climb, a HC climb according to STRAVA).  Steve and I had checked out the STRAVA records the day prior (yes we are such competitive little bitches).  We thought we could take down the mens and women's records and we were successful.  The last 1/2 mile of Dante's is >15% grade and after 24.5 miles of climbing with no rest it felt impossible.  I kept telling myself....just don't fall over, pedal just enough to keep yourself upright.  Success, finally we were at the top and just a breathtaking view was the reward, totally worth it.  True respect to the Tour de France riders who hammer the fuck out of HC climbs, it was hard enough just getting up it for me!!

We did a century (well, 108 miles to be exact) to Scotty's castle on the Friday, uphill for 56 miles (I was riding with Rodney and Steve, the skinny boys so they turned the screws on me) and then the ride back was lovely, as I was a wheel-suck the entire time, no shame!

The desert is a great venue for winter training and the lack of automobiles and people in general made it a great vacation.  It is a peaceful place and the desolation allows true relaxation.  The night brought us beautiful star viewing and of course we indulged in a tub of Ben and Jerry's between the four of us at least four of the nights, we deserved it!