The final blog post of our 2015 #mammothmagic (Mammoth Lakes Altitude Camp) has arrived! This week is full of a lot of great adventures and maybe the best road trip I have ever been on, so lets get going.
Picking up where Daniel left off in week two; it got pretty cold, and at the altitude we were at (Town Level 2400m) snow crept its way to roughly 2700m. Safe to say our feet were soaked on the 3 hour run we did from June Lake to Agnew Meadows, but if you follow our Instagram feed you would have watched my video of Colin and I enjoying the sunshine when it finally came out at the end of that run.
From that point on things just kept going up. The next day we tried a new rollerski climb up Tioga Pass, and it did NOT disappoint! Smooth pavement, a gradual slope, quiet traffic, and the views were unreal. By far my favorite workout of the camp was Tioga Pass. After that day we were up and down from Bishop to Mammoth Lakes for rest, and intensity. With Canadian Thanksgiving coming close, Julien made some Pumpkin Pie for all of us, finally using up that giant pumpkin we bought the first day we arrived.
Till next year Bishop!
The last few days of the camp were spent with lighter (2h distance) training twice a day, and starting to pack up. On the last day we got up early, loaded the trailer, and went for a long rollerski at June Lake before we started our journey home. Overall this camp was great. Training, as it was last year, is better than any place for high altitude training in North America. We all felt pretty special to be there with Dave as our coach who knows the terrain like it’s his backyard, as well as all the attention he gives us. Thanks Dave.
Final ski/bike at Benton Crossing
Roughly 1700km is the distance we had to travel back to Rossland, so we saw everything from High Mountains, to what looks like a desert in Nevada/South Oregon. In Northern Oregon, we stayed the night in Ontario. Just passed there, mountains made an appearance again, followed by prairie farm fields. It might seem uneventful reading this, but as tired as we all were from the camp, being able to lie down and watch the landscape change was great. (For me anyway) On the final stretch we made our way up the Columbia River in Northern Washington, which is cottage country at its best. Beautiful sections of the Columbia River all the way up to Northport made for a fantastic time to have the front seat.
Our next major event will be pre-season racing in Canmore Alberta on the famous Frozen Thunder loop October 26th. Watch out for our hashtag #frozenfantasies that will be trending on social media once we arrive.
Scotty
