JB's Adventure Blog: The Last Days of Tiger Base Camp

Training camp has wrapped up nicely. Bryan and I enjoyed the last few big rides before I headed back to Virginia, and he to Texas. Saturday was an exceptional Chicken Ride for a number of reasons. It was the coldest I've ever felt at the beginning of a Chicken Ride, because we started from Scott's house and rode with Zdenek over to the Chicken Ride. The morning fog was thick and it looked like the sun would never rise. But as we sped to meet the Swiss-timed start of the CR at Ian's bunkhouse, the fog condensed into a thick layer of frost on our arms and shins. Once we got away from the lake with the rest of the group, it was much warmer and the sun started to melt away the fog. The Chef seemed to be on a mission, I guessed he had turned the temperature up on the chicken and we had to get home in time before it burned. The group posted the fastest time for the chicken ride at 2:45:54.

After a quick stop to socialize and feast on lemon pepper spiced chicken, Erin and I headed off to N. Georgia where my mom planned to meet us for a hike at the Tallulah George State Park. It was a lot more impressive than I would've thought, with near sheer 750-ft cliffs that dropped down to the raging waters below.

After a tiring, near 5 hours on the bike, I wasn't looking forward to hiking the 500 steps down into and then back out of the gorge, but I put on a smile and toughed it out. We hung out in the shade of the deep gorge and enjoyed the time spent with family.

On Sunday, the last ride of Tiger Base Camp was an even tougher ride, as Z, Bryan and I looked to improve on our Z's Backyard Torture Loop time. Z rallied for this effort with a new lighter gear for his 29'er single speed. To start the ride, we set out on the Waterfall Loop, which would mean we'd finish the ride on the much-more-difficult-for-a-single-speed Pig Horse Loop. During the ride, we saw Erin, the Scotts, Emily and the rest of the gang. It was a pleasant meeting to see everyone smiling, gave Erin a high-five and we set out for the rest of our mission. It's always surprisingly hard to do a five hour ride that is entirely single track. Bryan and I pushed the pace with about 12 miles to go, thinking we were almost done.

The trails were awesome, the weather was warm, we were wearing short sleeves and shorts and were still sweating our tails off! On our last ride at camp, I was enjoying the turns packed into the red clay and the steep hills flanked by tall pines. The trails of Clemson are unique and I'll miss riding them.

A few more days of training ahead, and then I get to enjoy a nice break.

JB

Labels: Training

posted by Jeremiah Bishop # 9:42 AM

The Last Days of Tiger Base Camp

Archives