Camp Lynda V4.0 Debrief

That was the best camp we have had yet! The weather was ride perfect, company a blast and St George trails in tippy-top form.

I had a total blast creating a huge fatigue monster in my body which has currently swallowed my blogging skills. I’m reduced to a bulleted list in the void of flowing coherent prose.

  • As always, Camp Lynda wasn’t about me (whew ;-) . All the people who came, made Camp Lynda a very special event to be at. Mountain bikers are some of the finest characters on the planet.
  • I rode with some old friends and made some new ones as did everybody else.
  • We had a few awards this year given out at dinner on Saturday evening for impressive feats at camp.
  • I don’t think anybody bled, bonked or broke a frame! At least I didn’t hear of it while accepting award nominations at dinner on Saturday evening. Only 1 broken pedal was reported later.
  • Zeke passed a kidney stone which made him late for the Day 2 start, but won him a bag of Carborocket.
  • Carey nose wheelied down a rock drop in front of a gasping crowd but pulled it out with her ninja bike skills to win the socks and can of CR333.
  • JK caught Carey’s ninja bike skills on yet another tech section on video
  • This post camp e mail I received sums it up  “I met a lot of really cool people this weekend! It was a great opportunity for me to ride with experts and pros in a non-competitive atmosphere, it was totally inspiring, thanks again!”
  • We had ladies at camp this year. Lots of them! About a third of the campers were chickas. Strong, talented and motivated ladies with impressive race resumes, big goals for 2011 and great stories to share. They were fun to ride with and inspiring to listen to. I regret not rounding ALL the ladies up for a group shot so here is one of Carey, me, Eszter and Kat. We are girls and we like bikes, a lot :-)
  • We had more ladies finish the complete 75 mile route on Sunday than men. Go girls!!!

  • DH missed out on most rides cause he had to work (shock/gasp/bummer). Instead he sat at his desk and watched our Spots move about the desert with the new mobile app he made http://bluedot.mobi/ It was the first real live test of his app and he declared it a success.
  • A select group of us ended up at Golden Corral for dinner on Saturday AND Sunday – that is an endurance feat right there!!!
  • I saw more pink bottles of CarboRocket on bikes than anything else this weekend. I think Brad has some magic in there.
  • I was pathetic at taking photos all weekend but Facebook has hundreds!
  • Adam has fantastic pics and words about camp as always
  • Marshall took lots of photos and shared them Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.
  • We had more Brads at this camp than Daves which is a first
  • Another Brad suggested making Camp Lynda 2012 into a fundraiser for St George trail maintenance. I think that is a splendiferous idea and will make it happen in some format.
  • Camp Lynda in 2012 will remain self-supported. It is the self-supported philosophy that draws the kick-ass people that make Camp Lynda great.
  • Dave and Michelle Byers gave me a thank-you gift of a pound of dark chocolate and a bag of Peets coffee (and some other goodies – thank-you).
  • I would publicly like to state I am happy to accept gifts in the form of dark chocolate and coffee.
  • I am currently using dark chocolate and coffee to assist with post camp withdrawals and taming the fatigue monster I have with me today.

JK brought his camera to camp this year instead of his usual monsoon contribution which was most appreciated and put together a daily show for us. I totally dig his vids so here is our daily camp flow. Big thanks for making and sharing your movies Jeff!!

Last and definitely not least I want to give a BIG thanks to the other half of 2-Epic, DH (a.k.a Dave Harris). Camp Lynda is as much his child as mine even tho’ it has my name. We created it together and DH puts in at least half, if not more, of the behind the scenes work. We called it Camp Lynda as a joke the first year cause we thought it was a girly name for a hard camp! Brad mentioned the first year he was expecting punch and cookies and to maybe play lawn darts. The second year we tried changing it to Camp 2-Epic but the moniker Camp Lynda had stuck and nobody called it Camp 2-Epic anyway.

DH’s personal camp experience this year was cut short by too much work and a torn tire. He is half of Camp Lynda… Love ya DH :-) XXX

Camp Lynda V4.0 Event Bible

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Philosophy

Camp motto is SELF SUPPORTED. Come ready to be independent and self sufficient in every aspect. Everyone is invited provided you come self supported; have your gps with the route (we provide) loaded, ride at your own pace, shortcut/bail when you have reached your fun threshold. Fitness and ability level are non-issues, you set your own pace, make your own decisions, fix your own flats, bring your own food/fluids. Know your limits and when to choose a short cut home. Bring lotsa mojo :-)

Camp Lynda is a training mission. A three day training binge. It is a training camp about fitness on the bike and not so much a guided tour of the sweetest single-track StG has to offer. Rides will be in the 4-7 hour range per day.

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Schedule

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Day 1 Fri Jan 28th

Ride starts at 9:30am in the Starbucks parking lot 1091 N Bluff St, St George.

Dinner is at 6:00pm at Bajio 1091 N Bluff St # 103, St George, UT. Friends, family and non-campers are welcome at dinner. Do pre-warn them that bikes are the only dinner conversation topic…

Day 2 Sat Jan 29th

There is NO group start time for Saturday!!! We do NOT have a start time for this ride today. The goal is to spread riders out by avoiding a mass start. Suggested start time is in the 9 – 10 am time frame but you are welcome to start earlier or later than that. Ride will start in the Albertsons (they have a Starbucks inside ;-) parking lot 745 North Dixie Drive, St. George, UT.

Dinner is at 5:30pm at Golden Corral 42 S River Rd # 10, St George, UT. We have a group seating area reserved under Lynda Wallenfels/Camp Lynda. Friends, family and non-campers are welcome at dinner. Do pre-warn them that bikes are the only dinner conversation topic…

Day 3 Sun Jan 30th

Ride starts at 9:30 am in the Albertsons parking lot  745 North Dixie Drive, St. George, UT

No dinner plans.
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GPS Files

Download the GPS files HERE.  This download includes the NEW Day 2 route. If you downloaded the routes before noon on Jan 26th you have the OLD route. Please update your files.  They are provided as 500 point tracks so will fit on most GPS units with no editing. We recommend using Topofusion to put the routes on your GPS unit. Here is a link to the Topofusion  tutorial on uploading tracks to GPS units http://topofusion.com/tutorials/uploading-tracks.php If you need more help, contact support at Topofusion or ask below.

A visual map for each day for web browsers is here and for smartphones is on http://bluedot.mobi/ On a smart phone this map is interactive and you can use it on the trail. This is a new web app Dave is making. It is in alpha-testing mode so you can’t rely on it as your sole source of navigation for camp. It is really super cool tho!! Check the help section on bluedot.mobi for features. It will work as a map/gps without a data connection, ie, in the bush! This is also a mobile Spot tracker. During camp it will be tracking me (Lynda), Carey Lowery and Jeff Kerkove. Anyone with a Spot unit and a Spot tracking service plan can be added. You don’t need a smartphone to be tracked. Send us your public spot page link if you want to be a player. Your friends and family will be able to see where you are on their phone or on the web.

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Daily Route Details

There are no resupply points for food or water Day 1 and Day 2. Start the ride with everything you need for the day. On Day 3 we pass Bloomington Park at mile 6.9 and 66 which has bathrooms and a water fountain but no food available.

Day 1 Full route is 38 miles.

The route is an out and back. Turn back at anytime you like. The end point is at mile 19. Completing the entire out and back route is about 38 miles.

Day 2 Full route is 46.4 miles.

Day 2 route has been changed. The new file is now available for download HERE. If you downloaded the Day 2 file before noon on Jan 26th you have the OLD route.

There are multiple loops on this route. Each loop can be skipped as a short cut. All loops are ridden counter clockwise except for the first one, Barrel Roll which is ridden clockwise. The loops are ridden in this order and direction: Barrel Roll/clockwise, Rim Rock/counter clockwise, then up Cove Wash, down Stucki, up Three Fingers, down the road to the race course start, Green Valley Race course Barrel Cacti/counter clockwise, Zen/counter clockwise. If you mix up the order and direction that is ok!! All loops are fun both directions and you don’t add any extra mileage.

Day 3 Full route is 75.8 miles. This is the queen stage!

It is a long dirt road loop with minimal single track. The short cut option is to ride to Starvation Point at mile 19 then retrace your tracks back home again for a 38 mile day. You have 8.5 hours of daylight from our 9:30am start time to sunset. Bring lights if you think you may need them or get an earlier start than the main group.

At mile 61 you turn right off the paved highway and lift your bike over a fence. There is no gate. It doesn’t look right but it is. There are some private no access signs which are for the land behind the signs but the signs are crooked so it can be confusing. The route stays in front of the signs.

Mile 6.6 to 7.9 overlaps with mile 64.5 to 66.2  as we ride through Bloomington. To stay on course on the way out at mile 7.9 turn right on Pioneer Rd. On the way back at mile 66.2 turn left at Bloomington circle. We pass Bloomington Park at mile 6.9 and 66 which has bathrooms and a water fountain.

The big climb of the day is Joe Blake Hill. The view from the top is worth stopping a few moments for.


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Other Details

Weather forecast is partly cloudy to sunny with temps 36 – 61F.

Goatheads are EVERYWHERE here. You will not survive an hour at Camp unless you have tubeless tires filled with fresh Stans sealant or slime tubes. Carry 2 tubes with you too! Be warned, they are everywhere… Stans disappears so crack open your tires and pour some fresh stuff in there before Camp.

Best hotel locations? Anything on St George Blvd or Bluff St is good.

What else? Post questions here.

Archive

Typical January

This weekend was what I like to think of as a typical January weekend in StG – it was a beauty. Low 60’s and calm. On Saturday I went for a great 4 hour road ride so Sunday was dirt time.

All the trails are steadily drying out and Dave emerged from his winter hibernation to sample the dirt.

I tossed my chain off my SS cranking through a dip and sampled the dirt more intimately than I wanted with a full body ground slam. It was one of those fast falls where you are on the ground before you know it thinking WTF. I stood up and declared I’m selling this bike. It’s time with me is over!! Luckily no damage to me or the bike.

Dave took his turn about an hour later. Light damage.

We laid some gps tracks down on Dino trail to include it in the Camp Lynda Day 1 route. Dino trail was in prime shape with the sandy bits nicely packed down.

I love winter late afternoon orange glow and long shadows

Soggy dirt and sweet slickrock

I headed to the dirt today with Cimarron Chacon. Cim is the mastermind behind many local trails including the newly designated IMBA Epic Jem trail. She is also the promoter of 25 Hours of Frog Hollow. Today we went out to lay down some gps tracks and get some accurate measurements on her new project TRUE Grit. This is a 50 mile race scheduled for March 26th, 2011. In 2012 her plan is to evolve it into a 3 day stage race. That is very exciting…very :-)

Unfortunately a good portion of the proposed (permits pending) race course was off-limits today. Saturated clay so dastardly that you can’t even walk in/on it.

We did ride the tasty slick rock areas. This race course will be very technical in areas. Pre-riding and learning a few lines before the race would be helpful.

Nice day for riding here. The temps got up to 52F but everything that is not solid rock is still saturated and soft.

Speed racer

Last year we got waxed. Our car was so bad it jumped lanes and took others out. Nothing like a kick in the teeth to motivate some research and design improvement. We did our best to come up with a fast car that would stay in its lane. At one point Wes said to me “I hope we don’t get shamed like last year!”

The big night came. There was nervous excitement in spades (mostly mine).

Finally they go.

Wes’ car is far left. It went a little faster 3 runs in a row as the graphite wore in.

Nothing like notching up one in the ‘W’ column only 4 days into the new year!

Current St George Trail Conditions

Blogging is supposed to be dead in 2011…but luckily *my* blog doesn’t seem to be all the way there yet ;-)

St George had a really wet December. This is what happened when some real cold was added on to the wet.

I’ve never ever seen ice like this in Green Valley. I was slipping around pushing my bike over it. Cleats and ice no es  bueno.

On Sunday Jan 2nd I went hunting all over the county and into the next state for some rideable dirt. Even the reliable roads out on the Arizona strip were too mucky for me. I’ve never been 100% shut out of dirt in St George before. That is a first after living here for 15 years!

Monday morning looked like this.

The pavement dropped into non-rideable status.

Yes I did break out the trainer!!

Brrrr.