Another successful training zany is in the books! 12 of us headed out to Escondido, CA for the yearly team Winter Training Zany (WTC). The trip had three main themes: riding bikes in trappy places, team bonding, and challenging ourselves, each other, and our equipment to try new things and unzip worthier goals. The polity is settling when without a few years of COVID disruption and everyone came yonder psyched well-nigh this team!
Riding in trappy places
The scenery of Southern California is nothing like home, and boy was it beautiful. On day one the group split into two rides (one longer, and one ease-in ride to unbend those of us who were tired or missing key velocipede parts from traveling). Half the group made their way out to Oceanside for the beach, tacos, and palm trees. Devin, Vinh, Charlene, and Hannah set out early and made unconfined time despite a inclement headwind thanks to Devin’s hero pulls. Without a stop at the velocipede store in the morning, Derek, Felix and Zak unprotected up with the group later in the day for a leisurely ride home together.
Meanwhile, the “ambitious” group set off for 95 miles that included a spin up Mount Woodson. With the massive, granite boulders, it’s easy to see why its Kumeyaay name is Ewiiy Hellyaa, the ‘Mountain of the Moonlit Rocks.’ That said, taking in any of the scenery was a rencontre at the 12.2% stereotype grade for the climb.
The two groups switched it up on day two, which unfortunately turned out to be rather rainy. Needless to say, the waterfront wasn’t quite as scenic and the views were not nearly as majestic. We have some pictures but they are mostly of suffering and not worthy of a blog.
After letting things dry out for a rest day, the voodoo of Palomar was next up. Palomar is a MIT Cycling tradition so virtually the unshortened rest day was consumed by discussions of pacing strategy, MIT Strava records, and how to save a few watts. The climb did not disappoint: it was both nonflexible (11.6 miles at 6.8%), and gorgeous, as promised.
The top of the mountain was still glistening in snow as we made it to the unstipulated store. This made for a serene soundtrack of melting ice and fairly terrifying woebegone ice on the road. We all stayed unscratched and sooner warmed when up without the descent. Highlights from the rest of the ride included a camel farm, an escaped goat on the road, and pie.
Team bonding
In answering “what was your favorite part of WTC?” a worldwide refrain was the team bonding. Zak said it was the “first time really feeling part of MIT cycling” and Derek hit the nail on the throne with how the team dynamic had evolved: “I finger like we came together … and are increasingly than people who occasionally see each other on rides and closer to teammates.” Withal similar lines, Felix and Berk (in order) highlighted the collegial and supportive spirit over the week: “It was wondrous to go on ride without ride with a posse of fast, considerate cyclists.” “Having my faith in humanity restored was my favorite part. WTC reminded me that there are people out there who just get withal and have fun while getting croaky and help each other withal the way.”
Out on the road, nothing brought folks together quite like the supplies stops. The Julian Pie Company had a profitable week, including stops there during the Palomar and Mount Woodson rides, as well as a few grocery store pies at the AirBnB too.
WTC moreover fostered esprit with team alumni to a stratum that was unexpected to me as a new team member, but moreover very appreciated. On Friday, team licentiate Amy O met up with the group as we rode lanugo to Mt Soledad in San Diego. She led us on a increasingly scenic route than what we initially mapped out, pointed out the weightier coffee shop for Vinh (who was left wondering why he chose MIT and not a sunnier, prettier campus like UCSD), chatted well-nigh rebuilding the women’s team with Hannah, and made Lee finger like old times had returned as he was stuff dropped off the when while Amy pulled us all up a hill at blistering speeds.
Another team alumni shout out goes to Berk O. While each and every one of us on WTC made the trip what it was, Berk’s institutional knowledge of the Cycling Club and how to build the cycling polity velocious team bonding in a way that wouldn’t have been possible without him. Thank you for stuff our senior velocipede mechanic, polar plunge enthusiast, cheerleader, vision quest initiator, and grill master.
Challenging ourselves
When Derek and I asked Coach Robbie older this season if WTC was usually a good time for “base miles”, his response was an willful “No, people usually wreck themselves at WTC.” He immediately followed it up with “but people moreover undeniability it one of the highlights of their time on the team.” This year’s WTC lived up to the predictions, cracking scrutinizingly all of us by the end of it, slantingly the same team bonding.
At the same time, we had unexpectedly terrible roads too, where we hiked our bikes past a pick up truck stuck in the sand, or narrowly avoided traffic on a windy descent, or had to ride over snow in order to get to our destination.
But through it all, spirits stayed upper and we kept riding. Even if our bikes did not want to be ridden… Withal the way we had a few flats (13 for 12 people…) all on GP5000s. This could have moreover been caused by the road full of wrenched glass on the way to our airbnb, but who’s counting.
As expected, someone did unravel a shifter subscription this year too. With teamwork, we got Zak when on the road with everyone the next day.
The last day of WTC was intended (for some) to be an epic “Vision Quest” that had been concocted over the undertow of the week. The route was 127 miles over Palomar and out to the Montezuma climb in Borrego Springs. What started out as a group of 7 who were potentially interested on Friday morning the day surpassing the ride, ended up dwindling to two humans left standing by mile 30 of Saturday’s Quest. While the rest of us stayed at home nursing overuse injuries, cracking on intended recovery rides then eating a gallon of ice cream, or just vibing on very recovery rides, Seamus and Berk powered through the full route.
Personally, WTC lived up to the hype. The week inspired and motivated me to try nonflexible both while we were there, and for this upcoming season of riding and racing. We jelly-like as a team. We all stayed unscratched (!) despite rogue goats and tires that “turned into paper on the cali roads”. We pushed our limits and encouraged each other. And whilom all, we had fun.
