USA Cycling Northwest Junior Camp Recap
Written by Russell
Tuesday, 23 June 2009 20:02
According to Phil Sanders, there was once a junior camp in Oregon. It may have occurred in the 1980s but Phil's details are a bit fuzzy. That is allowed when you hit 72 years old. Regardless of the exact date, a junior camp was long overdo in Oregon and we were lucky to have Phil Sanders as one of our experienced coaches last week for the USA Cycling Junior Camp. We had 15 riders from across the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. I admit being none to excited about staying in college dorms for a week, but the facilities at Pacific University in Forest Grove were fantastic. A brand new dorm with nice private rooms and bathrooms. Facilities were great and the riding in Forest Grove is excellent. No wonder there are so many road races and triathlons in the area.
The camp was well staffed with over a century of coaching experience. Not often do we have that much experience at one location. The head coach was Michael Heitz of VeloHeitz. Michael is a wealth of knowledge and the head coach for most USAC Junior Camps. It was a pleasure having him fly in to assist at our camp. The assistant coaches were Butch Martin, Phil Sanders, Jeannette Rose, and myself. With only 10 years experience, I felt like the rookie coach! It was a class act group of coaches and I must say I learned a lot spending a week with this group. The camp was organized by Jim Anderson, local race promoter and president of Team Oregon.
Sunday. Introductions, an easy spin led by Mike and Jim. Guest ride leader, Kenji Sugahara was also there. An added bonus. The nights presentation was laying the expectations for the week ahead. There was a lot to learn and only a week to do it. Very few of the kids know each other this day, and it is very quite.
Monday. Wake up. Eat. Ride. Eat. Ride. Eat. Presentations. The theme for the week. The early session was on bike skills. Bike handling. Holding a line, riding with one hand, bottle exchanges, cornering, cornering in a pack. Session two was a light spin through the country to work on pack riding skills and to open the legs for the coming day's time trial. Tonight's presentation was on fundamentals of training, presented by yours truly.
Tuesday. The first day of power profiling. The course today was a 5 minute hill outside of Forest Grove called Unger Hill. After a too fast pre-ride, the kids had their race. The talented young Eugene rider Andrew Bennett took the win today. The second ride of the day was a recovery ride through the hills around Forest Grove. Great riding here. The first presentation of the night was by Monica Hunsberger, PhD of OHSU on sports nutrition. It was very interesting to hear how much the average cyclist teenager knows about their diet compared to the average teenager. These kids are smart. Next up was a rousing speech by Butch Martin on the sport of cycling. Complete with Theodore Roosevelt quotes and a plethora of boxing analogies. Butch is a tremendous resource for cycling and we were all taking notes every time he spoke.
Wednesday. More power profiling. This was the day for the 20 min time trial. The course was the all-too-familiar-to-OBRA-riders Hagg Lake loop. It's a lot different when it's not March and raining, though. The riders dug deep over the rolling terrain and KristoJorgenson came away with the win. Afternoon spin was a short recovery ride. We were joined by Carson Miller, "Professional Cyclist" and Roman van Uden from the Land Rover - ORBEA Cycling Team for the rides today. An added bonus for the kids. Butch spoke again this evening in preparation for the following day's team time trial. Did you know the team time trial was once an Olympic event? It was, and Butch represented the United States in it. It also used to be a World Championship event. And yeah, Butch coached the USA team to their best finish. So, we were taking notes from the master. Jacob Rather and Austin Arguello, of CMG and the US National Team gave a slideshow from their trips to Europe. Very entertaining.
Thursday. Team Time Trial around Hagg Lake. Went great and ALL the teams did well. The afternoon was spend with more skills sessions: pacelines, echelons, feedzones, etc. The top 7 riders from the time trial were sent to do caravan practice: feeding from the car, grabbing bottles, musettes, dropping off clothing, and maybe a turbo bottle here and there. The presentation of the evening was on power based training and power profiling. I took care of that one, personally. By this point in the week, the kids knew each other and were no longer the quiet bunch that arrived. We let them stay up a bit later listening to David Lelong's fabled stories of travel with Mike Zagorski. Legendary.
Friday. Photos, a fun ride and then check out. Time to wrap up the camp. We took care of the camp photos and headed out on a fun ride. The kids had warned the purpose of the ride was to "break my legs." And they tried. A mighty effort. They got me on a steep limb through some orchards outside of Banks, but that would be it. Maybe they will have better luck next year. Sorry to Mike Olsen, local bike shop owner, who was collateral damage on the ride. It was a fun ride, though. We came home, packed bags, and waited as parents showed up one by one and took the kids home.
I can safely say all participants and coaches had a great time at the camp. There was an incredible amount of knowledge provided to the kids and they were true students of the sport. Eager to learn on the bike and off. A great week and I can't wait until next year's camp.