Robert did most of the planning, including finding a great Airbnb rental house on Lake Wedowee and mapping our riding routes for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Most of the team was able to go to camp: Allen, Bill, Cal, Chad, Cody, Jeff C. (a.k.a. Stoney), Jeff K., Robert, Van, and me. Additionally, our cycling friends Chris and Doug joined us as well as Stoney's wife Jodi. It was a fun group!
Most of us were able to get away from work early enough on Friday for a ride. We gathered at a country church north of Cheaha to approach the mountain from the north. It was an out-and-back route of 26 miles with significant climbing, over 3,300 ft.
I had thought the hills would work to my advantage, but that wasn't the case. Our group spread out as we went up and down the climbs. I really didn't mind falling behind on the descents because that allowed me to take them at a pace comfortable to me. I hoped I would be able to keep up better the rest of the weekend...
We finished the ride with just enough daylight to spare and started the half-hour drive to our Airbnb lake house. A few miles later, we passed the most triumphant roadside attraction I've ever seen:
I SO wanted to go! I proceeded to read about it online. It's all human actors with no animatronics. As if that weren't great enough, it benefits the Hollis Volunteer Fire Department. Maybe I could talk everyone into going the next night...
We arrived at the Airbnb house on Lake Wedowee. It was perfect for our group, sleeping 15 people and having a spacious kitchen and common area, grill, and even kayaks! The only downside was that it was a couple of miles of driving on super muddy dirt roads to get from the main highway to the house. We would have to find an alternate location for the our ride starts on Saturday and Sunday because we wouldn't be able to ride our road bikes on these dirt roads.
When we arrived at the house, Cal said that we ought to go to the Haunted Chicken House the next night. Yea! An ally!
On Friday night we went out for dinner. This is a remote area of Alabama, and so there weren't a plethora of restaurant options. However, the owner of the house had recommended the Mexican restaurant in Wedowee, about 12 miles east. It was pretty good, and it amply fueled us for the next day's ride.
All of us woke up early the next morning, partly because we're all used to getting up early and partly because we had gained an hour going over to Central Time. I had volunteered to cook breakfast both mornings. Saturday morning's menu included Cranberry Stuffed French Toast, sausage, and fruit. Cranberry Stuffed French Toast is convenient because it's assembled the night before. I had done so Friday night when we got home from the restaurant, and then Saturday morning I simply put it in the oven. The original recipe calls for blueberries, which are delicious in it, but I like cranberries in it this time of year. I also add some chopped walnuts with the cranberries.
Blueberry (or Cranberry) Stuffed French Toast
1 loaf thickly sliced bread (I use a 1-lb. loaf of French bread)
1 lb. cream cheese
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (or substitute cranberries)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (add if using cranberries)
10 eggs
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 cups milk
Sauce:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups blueberries (or substitute cranberries)
1 tablespoon butter
The night before, cube bread. Spray the bottom of a 9 x 13" glass baking dish with vegetable spray and place half the bread cubes in the dish. Top with cream cheese (cubed), then blueberries (or cranberries), walnuts (if using), and remaining bread. Beat eggs; add the maple syrup and milk. Pour mixture over bread, cheese, and berries. Cover dish with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, place dish in oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 30 more minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Heat water, sugar, cornstarch, and 1 cup of blueberries (or cranberries) until mixture thickens. Add butter and 1 more cup of berries. Pour over individual servings.
Yield: 9-12 servings (I made two batches for our big crowd of hungry cyclists. There was a little leftover, which was good reheated the next morning.)
I had also brought some homemade pumpkin muffins on the trip. I got this recipe from my cycling friend Jen, who got it from Triathlete magazine. She says it's one of the most popular recipes they ever published. No wonder - they are really delicious and calorie-rich, perfect for long rides or runs. The recipe makes a big batch. Therefore, I offered them to the team to take on our rides and planned to serve whatever was left with Sunday's breakfast.
Pumpkin Muffins
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil*
1 1/2 cups sugar
14 oz. pumpkin pie filling (the kind with the spices, not plain pumpkin puree)*
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
2 cups chocolate chips (Jen recommends dark chocolate chips - good recommendation!)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix eggs, vegetable oil, sugar, and pumpkin pie filling. In separate bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips Spray muffin tins with cooking spray. Spoon batter into the muffin tins and bake for 15 minutes.
*Jen uses a large can of pumpkin pie filling. (I think it's 30 oz.) I did the same but then reduced the vegetable oil to 1 cup because I didn't want the batter to have too much liquid. It worked perfectly.
Yield: about 30 muffins
Robert scouted out a nearby church on a paved road just off the main highway. The church became our staging location for Saturday's 64-mile ride. We headed west to Lineville and then north toward Cheaha Mountain, approaching it from the opposite side as the day before.
After only one mile of riding, I was already averaging close to my threshold power. Uh oh. That didn't bode well for me to hang with the guys. I managed to stay with them for about 10 miles, but then I rode solo the rest of the way. I was disappointed, but I made the best of it and had a good ride.
I took a shower back at the house and settled in for a relaxing afternoon - something I hadn't had in quite a while. I read a little, napped a little, had a little wine, sat by the lake with Robert for a little while, and had a large amount of gratitude.
Van was in charge of Saturday night's dinner. He made his famous pasta dish with grilled chicken. I love pasta, and it's a treat for me to get anything from the grill because Robert is missing the male gene for cooking over an open flame. Because I was enjoying hanging out with everyone, I didn't notice that dinner was substantially later than the originally announced time of 6:00 PM. Apparently, Van had trouble getting the grill going. Jodi joked that the chicken was delayed getting roasted because the cook was roasted.
But at last we had a delicious meal, including the pasta with chicken, salad, potatoes, and corn. Also, Jodi had made a couple of apple pies while the rest of us were riding earlier in the day! She even made special crusts: our team logo on the left and a bicycle wheel with spokes on the right.
It was about 8:30 PM when we finished dinner - still plenty of time to go to the Haunted Chicken House! Alas, everyone bailed on me, even Cal. I'll admit that it would have been hard to stay awake for the drive over there and back, but sometimes you're presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And I missed this one. (sniff)
We all were up early again the next morning. I cooked breakfast, which included scrambled eggs, bacon, grits, fruit, pumpkin muffins, and some leftover Cranberry Stuffed French Toast. Then, we headed out for our final ride of team camp.
Because it was Sunday, the church where we had staged the previous day's ride wasn't a good option. So, we went a short distance farther to a volunteer fire department. From there we headed east toward Wedowee.
Sunday's route was significantly less hilly than the ones on Friday and Saturday. I went into it optimistically, thinking the relatively flatter terrain would help me stay with the guys. Nope. I lasted about six miles. I was bummed, but there wasn't much I could do but ride as best I could. The route was kind of T-shaped with an out-and-back section to the north and and out-and-back section to the south. I rode a slightly shorter distance out each "arm" of the route, estimating how far I could ride and still finish about the same time as the others. My calculations were right on; Stoney got back to the fire station about 30 seconds after I did, soon followed by everyone else.
Back at the house, we showered and packed up. Georgia Neuro team camp 2018 was drawing to a close.
Overall, I had a great time at camp, but I was feeling down about not being able to keep up on the rides. I talked with Robert about it on the drive home. I hadn't been able to keep up with my teammates for most of the season of Tuesday Worlds that just ended; they had ridden in the A group, and I had ridden in the (often squirrely) B group. At team camp, however, I thought it would be more like Peach Peloton, our winter training rides that are intentionally more of a group ride than Tuesday Worlds. Now I have doubts about being able to keep up during the upcoming Peach Peloton season. I'll try, though. And if I get dropped on the first few Peach Peloton rides, I'll either form a B group if others are interested, or I might just stay in Monticello and do long rides from home while Robert goes to Macon for Peach Peloton.
I'd like to think I'm having trouble keeping up with my teammates because they have gotten so much stronger. However, it's also partly because I've done so much ultra endurance training that I can't ride with as much intensity as I used to. Robert helped me put it in perspective. Even if I were at my peak form intensity-wise, I likely still would have gotten dropped at team camp because Robert and several of the other guys had a hard time keeping up. Also, I love randonneuring, and endurance is my strongest suit. I wouldn't want to sacrifice doing well on long brevets just to stay with my teammates for a few more miles.
Having said that, I still plan to work on intensity simply for overall fitness (and maybe it will help me hang a little longer!). Robert outlined some good anaerobic intervals that I'll work on in the near future.
One last note: I must acknowledge the horrific shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, which occurred Saturday during team camp. My heart breaks, I'm outraged, and yet I don't have sufficient words to address the hatred that has emerged to the surface in our country. I suppose such sentiments have always existed, but currently people who harbor them seem much less inhibited about expressing them.
Before I even heard about the shooting, I had already been thinking about the injustices we inflict on each other. My team was riding in a very rural part of eastern Alabama. There were a significant number of Confederate flags. We passed the Dixie General Store; if I were African-American, I wouldn't feel very welcome there. In fact, if we had been a black cycling team, there's no way we would have chosen this area for our team camp because it would be foolhardy. I dream of the day when no one has to take such things into consideration.
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