Day 1 Sunday 6-21-09

(2:45)

On the way down we ate lunch at Fazoli's. There was much talk about my newly shaved legs. They still itch. Bri and I have rooms across from each other and were using this down time to journal silently. The view is amazing. Especially from Bri's room. Brian's roomate just came in. His name is Andrew Hammond. In my room I have only one bed. At this point in time, I am worried that I am going to have to sleep with someone. My sheets are pink and its probably the most girly room in the building. I'm right next to the big bathroom though! Everyone is pointing out that my legs are shaved. For Nick Yates, that was the first thing he noticed. I'm very excited and am ready to ride!

(10:00)

We went for a one hour, optional, ride today. It was really easy. We had pasta for dinner. At 8:00 there was a welcome meeting and there was a 10 minute segment on bike repain and tuning gears. The last hour before lights out, we chilled in Drew's room with alot of newly met guys. It was really fun.

Day 2 Monday 6-22-09

(1:30)

I got up at 6:50 to get ready for breakfast at 7:30. At ( we went on our daily three hour bike ride. It wasn't as hard as i thought it would be. I found it was easiest to ride at the front of the peleton because you didn't have to break as much. After an hour we stopped for water. Each hour we were paired with a different riding partner and rode two across with around 36 riders. Near the end we climbed our first time trial hill for practice, and to get back to the top of the mountain. The first half was really steep but the second half wasnt as bad. This morning I had to wake Dan and his roomate up. Their alarm wasnt working very well. We just got back from lunch and are enjoying our hour break before skills in the feild. We have to carry a water bottle everywhere or else we have to do "motivational exercises." It's a good thing because I didn't get that thirsty during our ride. Dan and I are just chilling in my room.

(4:00)

At 2:00 we went out into the feild for skills. In our forst drill we were leaning against each other to get used to being so close in a peleton. At first we started with two people but then worked our way up to five people. It was really good practice. After that, we played six rounds of foot down. It was so much fun. Drew and Luke each won once. We now have about two hours of free time before dinner. The showers were really accesable and were not as bad as I thought they would be. Many people are still making comments about my legs. This is turning out to be a very fun camp.

(4:15)

Dan ripped out some pages from my note book to make me think he was ruining my journaling. We're in it to win it!

(9:30)

I just got back from our 8:00 meeting. It was all about core strength. We did a lot of new exercises that worked on our core muscles. Ath the end, we each got our own USA jerseys to wear in the time trials. They look really good. "I'm proud to be an American!" Dan says he's going to win the time trial. Then he mad nasty faces at me while walking away sadly. Our first full day is complete. SUCCESS!!

Day 3 Tuesday 6-23-09

(10:00)

We went and did a morning time trial at 9:00. We warmed up on the road for one and a half hours. The time trial was up hill. My time was 5:26. Five minutes of torture, but i was pretty proud. I also found out that I am the third heaviest guy at camp. Instead of going on a group ride we did skills. We foccused on feed zone work and looking backwards. Our evening speech was on race preparation. I thought it was pretty helpful. Bri and I had a push up competition and of course I won. Joe Dirt, I found out today, is amazing at the piano. It was truly mind blowing. I am now going to bed.

Day 4 Wednesday 6-24-09

I just got back from skill work for the day. The campers were split into two groups, 2/3s and 4/5s. I was in the 4/5s. We stayed on top of the mountain and worked on pace lines, single and rotating. Earlier today we rode for three and a half hours. It was very tiring. Then we worked on skills for an hour and a half. Water truly is the key here. I've been eating so much. I am always very hungry. On our morning ride we previewed the next time trial hill. It was around three miles. I hope I'm ready after this tiring day.

Day 5 Thuresday 6-25-09

Too tired to write.

Day 6 Friday 6-26-09

I haven't been journaling because I've been so tired. Our presentation wednesday evening was on nutrition. We have handouts. On thuresday we left at 8:30 for our 20 minute time trial. We were out for four and a half hours. Then at 2:30 we left to go do cornering skills in a very hot parking lot. On the way there, I crashed, go figure. I hit my ribs pretty hard but I was just a little bruised. I ended up winning the award for the best unplanned dismount. Last night our presentation was on racing in europe. All the coaches also answered all the questions we had. It was pretty fun but tiring because the meeting lasted so long. This morning we had breakfast and the awards were given out. I won best unplanned dismount and Dan won best overall camper. I definitely want to come back next year.