Following a warm month of March with snow melting from the trails it has quickly become riding season in the Okanagan. The dirt is especially good during these first few weeks of the season and riders took full advantage of this during the first training camp of the year in the region.
On Saturday, April 2nd, the 12+ age group—including racers from cross-country, enduro, and downhill—all gathered to work on skills and fitness. The group of ten riders worked together and progressed their skills from the basics on flat roads and then out onto some singletrack.
Half of this group is preparing to start the race season very soon. Riders did intervals specific to their discipline. The cross-country riders used a few minute-climbs to race up before dropping into a descent and continued their cornering skills. The downhill and enduro riders did a shorter uphill sprint into the same downhill to prepare for their specific sprint ability before a technical downhill.
After this workout, the whole group casually rode together up the mountain before descending back to the starting point.
On Sunday, April 3rd, the age 8-12 group focused more on skills-based drills that required a lot of repeated steep climbs to loop around the skills courses. This group consisted of fifteen riders and three coaches. They worked on the basics and fundaments after a long winter away from the bike—body position, braking and cornering were the three main topics. The group lapped courses laid out in cones and pushed both their skills and bikes to the limit.
To finish off the day, the group continued up the trails to a beautiful lookout over Okanagan Lake before a long descent back to the parking lot.
Stay tuned for the next interior camp happening in mid-April.
Submitted by: Evan Guthrie, Cycling BC Regional Mountain Bike Coach (Interior/Okanagan)
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