Team Belladium Climbing Camp

The strong women of Team Belladium graciously included me in their training camp weekend.

This weekend was fabulous. We drove down to Blue Ridge, Georgia, on Friday and then rode 1:10, 20 miles, 17.2 mph pace (42 max, 155 HR, 1645 cal). You can tell by the pace that it was hilly. If I could map it out I would.

Our cabin

Saturday, we had a nice big (maybe too big for some?) breakfast and then headed out for about 65 miles. I didn't get to track it all and missed the biggest descent of the day because I forgot to restart my watch. We did a good climb up Wolf Pen Gap (took me 25:39 to climb and 3.22 miles).

The elevation information I downloaded says that the accumulated ascent was 885.5 meters (accumulated ascent: 883.4 meters). Translated into American measurements, that is 2900 feet of climbing and ~2898 feet of descending. That might be a little off, but it's close to what it felt like! The major climb in the middle, including Wolf Pen, was 5.9 miles—during this time we were continually going up, up, up! Total elevation gain during those 6 miles was 1345 feet, an average gradient of 4.3%. Not such a bad day's work, after all!.

We threw in a few other climbs (Skeenah Gap and Hicks Gap were the named ones), probably doing about 60 miles total. I hit a wall at mile 50+ and struggled the last 10 until I caught on with Michael and Lisa and stuck with them.

Saturday's route (thanks to Lee for mapping it out)

Michael and I had talked about running after the ride, and I went back and forth debating whether to do it. We decided to go for it since we had our shoes and it wasn't raining. The unfortunate thing was that we didn't know how long it was or really where we were going, but we went any way. The first mile was a bit slow, but once we found or running legs we maintained a steady pace. I had to walk up a couple hills—I knew I'd need the energy for Sunday's ride—and was so happy we were able to run. My stats were 4.62 miles, 9:30 pace (thank you, walking up hills, for slowing down my pace immensely), 43:55, 563 cal. Needless to say, I ate a ton at dinner. Thankfully, I felt like I recovered really well. Getting a 1-hour massage definitely helped. It also helped that Parri (in the morning) and Barb (in the evening) helped me with my leg. When I checked it out myself, my left heel was against the wall and I could nearly fit my pinkie finger between my right heel and the wall. Usually Will would fix that for me but thankfully I had other resources.

Saturday after breakfast we headed out for a warm up ride, a 5-mile time trial, and then a cool down ride. My TT took me 18:16.

Time Trial Start (finish time: 18:16 for 4.9-ish miles)

I didn't have any idea about what to expect, so I thought under 20 would be good given the hills and elements. My total ride was 22.25 miles, 1:19, 1380 cal, 16.9 avg, 132 HR. I recorded a little too long after the TT and have 18:53, 5.32 mi, 16.9 avg, 138 HR. Evidently I was not riding at my threshold since my HR was so low. I got passed by Lee midway up the big climb but really tried hard to keep her in my sights. I could feel my quads and glutes the entire weekend and know it's from not riding my own bike. But I was not going to use it as an excuse and felt like I got a great workout and worked myself hard. I gave everything I had.

On the way back from the TT we stopped along the way for a few pics.

TT results:

1. Parri: 15:52
2. Lee: 16:43
3. Cali: 17:00
4. Lisa S: 17:05
5. Valerie: 17:35
6. Lisa C: 17:50
7. Anna: 18:06
8. Kailin: 18:16
9. Jennifer: 18:26
10. Shelly: 18:45
11. Jonell: 20:02
12. Kathy: 21:15

After that little bit of torture, we headed back to the cabins, loaded up, met at the little Lilly Pad Cafe for lunch, and left for home. It was a tiring, rewarding weekend.

Getting ready to leave.