Day 1:
Today’s ride was the first of the camp for the 2013 junior/u23 warm weather camp. The group partook in a beautiful 3hr tempo ride through the foothills of Ventura into Ojai and back down a gradual decent into town. The weather peaked out at a sunny 23 degrees with clear views of the blue oceans, sandy beaches and endless citrus fields. The team is lucky enough to be staying in a fantastic location on the top of a hillside complete with a hammock and our own grapefruit tree. On the agenda for the coming weeks are big miles in the sunshine with lots of climbing. Everyone on the team is grateful to the generous sponsors of the program who have given us the opportunity to train in the sun and prepare to have a killer season of
racing. – Adam de Vos
Today was the first day of the Cycling BC warm weather training camp, in Ventura California. We did 3 hours of steady riding to open are legs up after the long travel the day previous. I felt good today on the couple hill leg openers we did along with the wicked downhills. I am looking forward to the awesome days of riders to come. later in the evening we talked about the weeks to come, to say the least, im stoked. thanks to Haywood and all are sponsors formaking this camp possible. – Joel Taylor
Day 3:
Today was day three of the Cycling BC warm weather camp in Ventura California. We woke up to bright and sunny skies which has become the norm for this beautiful golden coast. Todays ride started of with the team driving out to Point Mugu State park to meet a very generous supporter of Cycling BC Bernard Leroux for a ride in the Canyons of Malibu. The first canyon pass which was approximatley 10km long took us up the twisty and windy Mullholland road and then down a quick descent which was very fast and windy Jeff Ain had a hard time keeping up in the van! The next climb was also quite long and tough and was about 9km up to the picturesque Cold Creek Reserve which over looks L.A and the Pacific Ocean. Then down another descent which led us to the beautiful beaches of Malibu. The rest of the guys continued on up yet another climb and descent. Then everyone else joined me in the van and we drove home to get some food and recover from the days efforts. For dinner Mike Rothengatter, Joel Taylor, and Adian Caves made some delicious tortillas with beans, rice, chicken, and veggies: thanks guys. And as Forest Gump would say, “thats all I have to say about that.”
Thanks to Cycling BC for putting the camp on and thanks to all the sponsors of the high performance program. A special thanks to Bart Engal for all your help with this camp, and thanks to Team H&R BLOCK and Norco Bicycles for all your help. – Kyle Buckosky
Day 5
Another Beautiful day here in Ventura, the weather just seems to get better as our stay goes on. Today we rode out to Wheelers Canyon for a 7.5 km TT test to get a baseline as we are closing in on our first week here in Ventura. After the TT’s we had a mini photo shoot with an Audi R8 that happened to be parked on the descent before climbing our way up to Ojai. After a quick pit stop for water and fresh California grown oranges, we headed back to the house. This made for a 3+ hour steady ride the day before we head to Goleta for the Island View Classic Criterium. Thank you to all the sponsors who have made this camp possible, our time here has been incredible and will benefit us huge during the racing season.
Day 6
Today’s ride was a little different. The Cycling BC crew loaded up the van and set off in search of some racing. The search took us to the outskirts of beautiful Santa Barbara for a typical SoCal. criterium. This was the kick off to our crews race season and with the California teams year already well under way by this point we were a little unsure of what to expect. In the end all apprehension was unwarranted as the team managed the win as well as 4th place and a clean sweep of the primes. On the drive home my evening pastime of reading endless UrbanSpoon reviews payed off, I knew just the place to stop for some killer recovery food Mexican style. Check out “La Super Rica” if you are ever in Santa Barbara. Thanks to the sponsors of Cycling BC who make these camps possible. All in all not only the race but the entirety of our time down here has been the perfect start to the season. – Adam de Vos
Today we raced, it was a good race with everybody racing in category 1,2 with Adam De Vos getting the win with a “unique” winning salute, and the team winning all the primes. We are all pretty happy with the results and look forward to another two weeks of camp! – Aidan Caves