The Cycling House opened its doors a couple of months earlier then normal this November. We hosted our first ever camp focused around El Tour De Tucson; a huge charity ride with over 9,000 riders and 3 different ride options; 60+ miles, 80+ miles or 110+ miles. Six of the ten riders at camp participated in El Tour de Tucson. It was great to get back down into the desert and prepare TCH for our first camp. The house came together with some hard work from the crew and we were excited for camp. Drew, Owen and I (Brendan) are once again running the TCH camps with the addition of new staffer; Heidi Rentz. Heidi will be a great addition and currently lives in Moab, Utah guiding mountain bike trips but she will join us for the entire season. I have know Heidi since the college days and know that she will be a solid addition to the TCH staff. The TCH staff prepared for camp with a staff trail run in Sabino Canyon to shake out the legs and on Tuesday we were ready to rock!
The camp had one returning client and 9 new faces so it was fun to get to know a whole new crew and learn about their goals and what they were looking to get out of camp. After the first day I helped the crew figure out their nutrition plans using Hammer Nutrition. We are proud to have Hammer Nutritions support for 8th season at The Cycling House. You can expect to have the staple Hammer Nutrition fuels, 53×11 Coffee, and Compex Electrical Stimulation demo units at all of The Cycling House camps in addition to the Hammer Nutrition camps. After a brief seminar everyone was ready to implement their fueling strategies and most carried them out in El Tour de Tucson as well.
We had some amazing weather and the crew was able to log 250+ miles in 5 days of camp including; Oro Valley arrival spin, Gates Pass, Mt Lemmon, Dove Mountain and Madera Canyon. Everyones legs were feeling great after 4 days of riding and on Saturday 4 riders completed the 111 mile El Tour de Tucson route and 2 riders completed the 85 mile Tour route. We logged some great miles and everyone enjoyed the desert in early winter colors.
I’m happy to report that Drew still has his cooking skills and the meals were once again top notch. We capped off the week with roasted chicken, butternut squash soup and a kale salad. We now have a couple of weeks off before our first annual Moots/The Cycling House from December 4th-9th. Until December….
