Borrego Springs Camp Review

Back home in San Diego after the Borrego Cycling Camp. I had a great time and met some really good people. It was a pleasure to ride with others who were really experienced and very helpful. Not helpful in a question and answer way, but in a way that you could observe their actions throughout the miles on the bike, with such varied terrain and weather. Some people were from the East Coast, some from Northern California. Although I was only on the bike for two days (Wed & Thurs), I did rack up almost 300 miles if you count the ride on Tuesday morning before I headed out to the desert. 17,000 feet of climbing. I think I was pretty much at my limits for the week. I have never done a 100 mile ride to begin with. Plenty of 70-80s, but not a 100 miler. I've also done lots of climbing, but never 8800 feet on the same day as the 100 miler. I know that increasing mileage too fast can be a bad thing, so I feel really good about the camp. Base miles were the goal. No hammering. I stuck to this both days. I kept my heart rate down around the 80-85% range with the exception of a couple moments.

I was a little concerned at the start of my second day. We had planned on the Borrego Loop which was 80 miles. As it turned out, we ended up doing the Borrego Loop opposite of what the route sheet had printed up. This meant that we would start with the climb out of Borrego via Montezuma Grade. It was 11 miles and 4000 of climbing. I wouldn't have been concerned about it other than the previous days 100 miles and 8800' of climbing. This was going to be a good test of my body. I was conservative at the base of the climb and as it turned out, conservative to all the way to the top. I was surprised to be in the front group as we crested the top and went into Ranchita. Probably the highlight of the two days was staying with the lead group on this climb. I was able to do this and keep my heart rate down. I never went anerobic and felt great the whole climb. One thing that was bothering me was that I only had a 25 rear cog for my lowest gear. It had been reccomended by my coach that I get a 27 atleast for all of the climbing. I was unsuccesful at getting one before camp, so I went with the 25. It was definitely a bit of a hinderence on this climb. Not too noticable on the previous day. We ended up going into Santa Ysabel via Mesa Grande, another climb that would hurt a little.

I came home on Thursday morning via the Montezuma grade. This time driving the RV, towing the Toyota truck. That climb took a lot of time to drive, let alone ride up. Great couple days at camp. I was able to measure my fitness and strength with other riders. Pretty much everyone out here were in some form of racing or another. Some pros, category and age group racers. Everyone and I do mean everyone was great. I'm looking forward to going back next year and being able to spend the full five days on the bike.