An eleven day adventure of swim, bike, and running across the Pyrenees
I had a marginal lead in the yellow jersey competition over Phil Paterson, George Grey and John Newsom. There were several “fun events” on the schedule for today but they were all lumped together as one event for points purposes and the real points were awarded in the triathlon. There was a first across the …
Continue reading “Epic Camp France 2019 Day 10: Je suis finis”
After having a very rough day yesterday, I was a bit apprehensive about how to approach the last K.O.M. of the camp. This was a two for one climb in which there were points awarded for whoever could predict what %FTP they would complete the climb at and also the standard K.O.M. points. Considering how …
Continue reading “Epic Camp Day 9: Prades to Ax-les-Thermes”
After a very poor night of sleep, we were up at 6am to do an Aquathon. We headed to a lake on the outskirts of Prades. The plan was to do a 1500m swim and 5km run. In my half asleep state I heard four laps of the swim and three laps of the run …
“It takes all day to train all day” Gordo Byrn circa 2004 While it wasn’t exactly what Gordo was referring to in the quote above, today was definitely an epic day on many fronts. With the last several days temperatures running in the mid to high 30s C, it was a bit of a shock …
Continue reading “Epic Camp France Day 7: Andorra to Prades”
I was more apprehensive about today’s 100x100m swim than any other session at Epic Camp. On top of being a bit nervous last night my stomach was a bit off and I was up every few hours sitting on the toilet. I was very worried about my stomach so had only some black coffee and …
Continue reading “Epic Camp France 2019 Day 6: A long day at the pool”
Today was a “broken handicapped triathlon”…I know that sounds like sounds like a sporting event to be held at a home for the elderly. In reality it was a series of “events” where we set off at staggered starts based on our threshold paces for the 3 disciplines. After a 20min run to warm up …
I realize that I haven’t really explained the various jerseys which are part of the points competition on this camp. Each day points are awarded for completing the camp itinerary, which typically is ~3k or swimming, the bike of the day which varies significantly day to day, and ~10k run. If one achieves camp completion …
Continue reading “Epic Camp France 2019 Day 4: Luchon to Sort”
Our so called “easy day started with a 6:15 meet in the lobby of the hotel. We drove ~15min unloaded from the vans and started a run with either a 1hour option (1 point) or 2hr option (2points). The first mile was down a significant decline on a paved road and I was left on …
Le moment de jour “the moment of the day”…it’s amazing how little things can make such a big difference… After riding over 5 serious climbs (well at least 4 serious climbs and one pseudo climb), gaining 4600m elevation, and then riding an extra 28km at the end to total 180, just to gain an extra …
The time difference caught up with me and I was wide awake at 2am. I did my best to fall back asleep but ended up just tossing and turning until 5am when I finally gave up got ready for the aquathon. We drove down to the Atlantic Ocean and jogged one lap of the 3×1.25mile …
Continue reading “Epic Camp France Day 1: Biarritz to Eaux Bonnes”
Epic Camp France 2019