CAMP

Every year in June Mark runs a USA Cycling Development camp on Monteagle Mountain. It is a really fun, completely exhausting week for us. Mark is the camp director and myself, along with a number of other awesome coaches, are the coaching staff. This year our camp ran from June 21st to 26th and it was the best one yet. Shannon and I represented the Vantaggio coaching staff and Helen and Emily both attended camp to help with their development in cycling.

We had too many fun times to recount accentuated by total exhaustion. The highlights included a "kitten save" (Shannon now has a new addition to her family...) and ice cream at St Andrews Sewanee (the high school up there). We had 36 kids and 7 staff member. Staff was SERIOUSLY outnumbered. Fortunately, we had great kids so although we were tired, we didn't ever have the urge to kill any of them. (Or at least the urge passed quickly; they are teenagers after all...) Emily did almost get strangled on day two when she informed Mark that camp was so much fun that it should be two weeks long.

Helen and Emily both did AWESOME and learned a ton. They were two of five girls and held their own even if they were outnumbered by the boys. Being one of only a few girls they were very popular....

We made it through the week without any real crashes; there were a couple of "unplanned dismounts" but no blood and no bruises so that doesn't count as a crash.

Mark, Helen, Emily and I had a day and a half after camp was over to get ready for the SERC race on our home trails at Raccoon Mountain. Things might be ugly for that one!!!

Wish us luck...