Whole Athlete/Specialized Winter Training Camp (part 2)

 

Friday finally came and I was super excited! We made plans to have two different rides that day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I went on the morning ride with Dario-my coach, Zach Peterson, and Cole Avery. After the ride, we came back and went to the Whole Athlete center to eat lunch. When the riders who went on the afternoon ride came back, we all went to the team house for dinner. 

Saturday was the "official" Day 1 of camp. Those of us who were staying at the team house met the others at the Whole Athlete Center to take photos. After photos, we got the bikes ready and went out for a ride up to the top of Mt. Tam.  The climb up to the top took about 45 minutes. Once we got there, we took some more team photos. 

Then we rode down the other side and took some video. The downhills were so fun! I got to play around, catch some air, do some tail-whips and bomb the descents.

Dad came on the team ride

The views near the coast were awesome!











Once we got back, we ate lunch. Whole Foods Market supplied the food. Then we did a group yoga class and ate dinner at Taco Jane's.

I'm all the way on the left in the back of this pic.

Sunday was spent attending sponsor presentations from DNA Cycling, Osmo, and SRAM at the Whole Athlete Center and receiving all kinds of sponsor swag. Afterwards, we all cleaned up the center and met back at the team house for our last night of dinner together.

Here is the short team video that was made about our camp weekend.


WA Team Camp 2014 from Matt McCourtney on Vimeo.

My family and I spent one more day in San Francisco on Monday. We were pretty tired after a busy week, but went over to Alcatraz to check it out. EARLY Tuesday morning we flew home.

 

Overall, it was great time! I am fortunate to have the opportunity to be on an incredible team with some amazing athletes and I can't wait to represent Whole Athlete/Specialized at Mellow Johnny's in a couple of weeks!!

**Thanks to Dario and the Whole Athlete/Specialized team for some of the photos I used on the blog.**

Whole Athlete/Specialized Winter Training Camp (Part 1)

The first thing I want to say about my trip to the Whole Athlete/Specialized Team Camp is that it was a blast!! I met some great people and rode at some amazing places.

My dad and I, along with my grandparents, left for camp on Wednesday afternoon. We originally had a really early morning flight, but with the weather in Atlanta, it got cancelled the night before and my dad had to scramble to find us an alternate flight out to San Francisco. Luckily, there was one leaving Wednesday afternoon that had room for us. We had one plane change in Phoenix before getting to California. By the time we got there, it was 12 am west coast time (3 am Florida time) and I was exhausted.

Thanks to my awesome EVOC bike case, my bike made it safe and sound. I got her put back together first thing the next morning and couldn't wait to ride. Of course, camp didn't officially start until Friday, so I actually did end up having to wait one more day.

Thursday I spent with my family sight-seeing around San Francisco. We saw some beautiful beaches, woods, and views overlooking the city and the bay. It was a good time, but I was really looking forward to riding and staying at the team house the rest of the weekend.

More on that in part 2.