Mini Camp

I'm just getting back from Rite Aid's first team mini-camp which took place in fridged College Park, MD. Despite the cold I had a really great time! I finally got a chance to meet a bunch of the guys on the squad who I've never met before, as well as get to know everyone a lot better.

Saturday started off with introductions, photos, and getting information about the team. Then the Vellum guys showed up with the bikes that we're going to be riding this year and they look awesome! Of course once we got the OK to swarm around the bikes to check things out, I straightlined it immediately to the TT bike, named the Uno. This thing looks like a rocket: great aero lines, aggressive geometry, lightweight, and stunning. The attention to detail was first rate. The Elemente, which will be our road bike for the year, is also a great looking frame, and light and stiff to boot. I can't wait to get riding on these bikes this year.

After we wrapped all that up, we started the "team building" portion of the ropes course we were slated to do for the day. We went through a bunch of activities that really helped me get to know everyone a lot better and really opened up the communication in our group. This was very benefitial to me, as coming in as one of the new guys, I only knew 1 or 2 of the folks in the group prior.

After lunch we suited up in harnesses and hopped onto the high ropes course. Our challenge for the day was to climb up a telephone pole 50 feet, walk across a rope brigde, then across a plank bridge, then over to a balance beam walk, and finally across a tight rope cable before rapelling back down. We had a couple of guys in the air at a time, and pretty quickly the people on the ground started realizing "hey, there's snow on the ground and those guys up there are pretty much sitting ducks. Let's pelt them with snowballs!" Hilarity soon ensued. I felt bad for Robbie who was the last one to go and therefore had everyone on the ground focused on hitting him with as many snowballs as possible. Not even our Jon, our DS, was immune to attacks.

Saturday evening was a nice meet and greet with ABRT Cycling, our team's supporting club. Great group of guys and very hospitable. Then Sunday we went out for a nice ride with the ABRT club. And instead of "nice" I should probably say "ice" because it was 19 degrees to start and the wind was howling the whole time! I was bundled up in every piece of cycling clothing I brought, including ski gloves. We still had an enjoyable ride; my first with the team. Getting back to the team van and blasting the heat never felt so good though!

It was great meeting everyone over the weekend. I think we have a great group put together and racing this year is going to filled with fun and success.

Thanks for reading. -- Al