2024 Team Camp Recap

Orlando, Florida

January of 2024 presented a unique opportunity for the Mustangs to come together for a few days of training and camaraderie. After months of planning and looking at dates that would be most suitable for a majority of the team, we settled on some dates (Jan 9 - 14) and began the search for location and places to stay.

Outwardly it seems easy to make happen, but how often are (amateur) teams able to gather an entire team for an event, let alone almost a week after a major holiday?

A true testament to the commitment of our team members, each made it a priority to attend but it's truly worth noting a few key tips on how to make a team camp a success. In the last section, we will share some lessons learned and tips in case you're planning a camp of your own; or, if anything, to simply document our trials and learning experience.

Day 0 - Travel & Sponsor Love

While our camp began days before actually migrating to Florida with planning, meeting teammates to carpool, as well as prepping equipment, we figured we would start here. With most of the team making the 7-10 hour drive and Alex flying from California, we began piecing together the arrival, check in, and airport pick up plans.

This particular Tuesday had some weather in store for us. Torrential rain storms and winds plowed the southeastern United Sates (even spawning a tornado in Panama City, Florida) making the drive seem much longer than usual. With crowded roads and poor visibility, our driving teammates made great time and got to the Airbnb the evening of the 14th.

The Airbnb was quaint and a perfect size. A garage space for the bikes and each bedroom had it's own bathroom. This seems underrated, but I will say it again. EACH bedroom had it's own bathroom and we only had one room that individuals had to double up in. This was incredibly ideal though not exactly replicating a true race-weekend living situation. This did offer a significant level of comfort and privacy to each rider which made a world of difference when you have 6-7 adults under one roof.

The night of arrival was mostly quiet. Everyone settled in, stowed their gear, got unpacked, and their bikes ready for the next day but not before receiving team care packages with a ton of items from our beloved partners.

Brotallion provided us with custom team t-shirts, hoodies, and embroidered hats highlighting both our team and our sponsors. Rudy Project Nytron aero road helmets were issued to each rider, incredibly wrapped and customized by BirdWorx who also sent us some amazing swag. Formula 369 arranged a team deal with us and set up each rider with nutrition and an awesome custom bottle. Bringing it all together, this would be the first time as a team we were able to showcase our 2024 kit designs from Jakroo.

Day 1 - The Airport Ride

The morning of what we will call our first day of camp was relatively low key. A quick run to the (conveniently located) grocery to pick up some basic items and begin prepping for the day. Our resident team barista, Matthew Manley, even brought his Moccamaster coffee maker. If you are a coffee person, you know this machine is amazing and it was fantastic to have throughout the week and was definitely an item a lot of us laughed about him bringing, but quickly realized it's value.

On tap for the day was two rides. One of our riders, John Sasser, would not be arriving until later in the day from Atlanta and had a local connection who mentioned a "race-pace" Wednesday evening group ride near the Orlando airport. Weighing our options, we settled on an early day spin for around two hours followed by eating a bit and getting out the door to meet our teammate for the evening ride.

The first ride of the day was mostly Zones 1 & 2 with a few openers to check out local roads and get a feel for the area. While we did recon Strava and make routes prior to camp, these routes did not accurately reflect the traffic on some main roads. We were luckily able to start routes by means of a newly finished road that allowed us to bypass the busiest highway near us. Overall, the traffic in the area was moderate, but mostly respectful of riders. A few characteristically normal "honks" from cars here and there and that would continue throughout the duration of camp.

After driving in the rain, we were stoked to be able to enjoy some beautiful Florida weather on our initial day of riding at camp.

Now, when a bunch of motivated riders hear the term "race-pace" ride that can equate to a myriad of ideas. Is this a training race? A fast group ride? As the outsiders to this weekly event, we had no idea what to expect. So, in Mustang fashion, we prepared as though the locals treated it as a race.

The meeting point for rolling to the start of the ride was on the outskirts of a local Wal-Mart parking lot. We rolled into this parking lot with riders and bikes packed into Matthew Bratcher's lifted F-250 with "Mustang Cycling" decals on the side windows. We were those people and any idea of subtlety was gone the moment we pulled in. Sprawling out of the gypsy-wagon was a rag tag group of young men, one of which was wearing a jorts and a cowboy hat (Manley). It took all of two seconds before there was a mechanical issue with someone's bike that we scurried to rectify prior to starting the ride.

With whispers about "the team that showed up" running rampant, we rolled to the starting point for the ride on this chilly Florida evening alongside some locals who knew the way. Crowding at a small service access point along the highway, rider after rider rolled in and the group grew. For most of us, especially those in the Tennessee region, seeing a weekly group ride of this size as "regular" was really incredible. At the start, there were likely around 50 riders of varied skill and ability.

Along the starting point stood Best Buddies/ACG founder and former national champion Michael Hernandez (Reign Storm Racing) along with several Category 1s and 2s both men and women. Beyond that stood numerous local Masters racers and riders of a variety of skill and category further drawing us to an inconclusive state as to what the ride would be.

The ride would be six laps of the very flat out and back road segment roughly equating to around an hour of riding. The first lap, customarily, is a warmup lap before the flood gates open. And open they did. With the majority of the team at the front, attacks began. Bratcher. Then Manley. Bratcher again. The attacks continued to pump the pace of the ride drawing some eyebrow raising from a few locals, but with no complaints. Chase efforts would form, but eventually Bratcher and two other riders made it off the front of the group with a solid gap.

With no sustained interest in bringing the break back, Michael Hernandez took the opportunity to "motivate" the group with a series of burst attacks. Presumably, his theory was "pick up the pace or I will continue to make this miserable for everyone." With knowing the break was established enough, the team began rotating through the front as well as continuing small burst attacks of our own.

Eventually, in the second to last lap, Alex sent a bridge attempt off the front of the group and made it to the break while the rest of the squad worked on practicing positioning at the final.

Day 2 - Chaos

In preparing for camp, there were several factors that played into ride length and the departure times for rides. About half the squad works remotely, so squeezing mileage in around multiple work schedules in conjunction with Florida weather proved to be challenging.

We set out in the late morning (admittedly later than scheduled) for what was to be a three hour ride. With impending weather, we knew that we would be crunched for time. Within the first two miles, Sasser had a flat resulting in the necessity for the group to continue while he returned to the house to work a fix.

The plan? Sasser would reverse ride the route to meet up with us. The reality - we did not see Sasser again until we got back to the house.

The route was mostly quiet until the last hour, in which we found ourselves on perhaps the busiest road of the entire trip. As every cyclist knows, this can spawn a bit of unease as everyone just wants to avoid being hit by a car. For a stretch of five miles, it was relentless honks, close passes, and gestures from Florida natives commuting on their way home from work. All in all, however, this was on us. We did our best to select roads and routes based on the information we had and we learned from it.

Further chaos ensued when roughly a few miles from the house, an object that can only be described as a bolt used on a mainline cargo ship was impeccably placed in the bike path making contact with one of our riders wheels blowing his tire. This bolt was not just a bolt. This was a literal meteor that could have destroyed a wheelset. We had no fix and the lesson was learned. Bratcher and Nick returned to the house to pick up the truck to backtrack for the bike. Louis and Alex waited for the truck, then began the last few miles home dodging a machete on the bike path. Yes, a whole machete. Sasser rolled in shortly after. The group that started as a whole finished in bits and pieces but we all got the time for the day in.

Chaos ensued, but learning occurred.

Day 3 - Diamond in the Rain

Our third day began with steady rain followed by the warm sun drying out the roads. Due to the chaos on Day 2 and some recon of local rider's Strava routes, we decided to head up to Lake Louisa State Park to knock out a recovery ride on protected roads.

But what is a recovery ride without sprint offs? On the southern road of Lake Louisa stood a 200-300m stretch of road with definitive signs that offered a perfect opportunity for some fun. The team began several rounds of two-rider sprint offs, opening the legs up and blowing off some steam.

The park roads were fantastic for getting time in without the worry of an abundance of vehicle traffic and there were several other recreational cyclist using the park for exercise.

What started out as a questionable rainy day turned in to an excellent opportunity to ride in some warm (albeit humid) weather and get much needed recovery time in on the bike.

Day 4 - The Long Ride

The culminating ride of team camp was a 100 mile (+) route that would take us North near Clearwater, FL utilizing a bike path for almost a third of the ride. This bike path, while phenomenal, did become quite monotonous at times. The northern half of the path has no turns, no elevation change, and moderate-to-good surface conditions. While that may seem amazing, on a five hour day, it begins to seem like it may never end.

What this did offer the opportunity for was actually riding together. While Bratcher unfortunately had to head back to Tennessee early, it allowed the team to spend time socializing with one another without the worry of traffic or impending turns.

Once off the path, the crew found a local coffee shop that had everyone excited because, as Sasser stated, "Coffee on long rides is a must." Unfortunately, upon arrival the shop was closed due to Unforeseen Circumstances taking us to the next closest and available option. McDonalds. Coffee, cookies, and some fries were on tap for most. Despite the cold winds setting in, Alex opted for some Ice Cream to accompany his three pounds of gummy bears consumed in the first 70 miles of the ride.

As stated, the cold winds were setting in. Departing Clearwater, the winds coming across the road over the water after we had allowed our bodies to cool down (perhaps too much) were relatively brutal to what we had experienced earlier in the day. Nearing the final roads, the team began pace lining the last 10-15 miles of the ride to get home with a few riders doing a final effort on the last kicker hill getting home to bed in a recently created Strava Segment of which Alex holds the KOM.

Long days in the saddle with teammates is vastly overlooked and underrated, especially when roads that allow socialization are selected. It's not always about going at 90-100% on rides and often times, the long easy endurance rides offer much more than physiological development when done with teammates and friends.

Closing Out

On the last day, it was all business. Clean the house (and mop the sink leak that was occurring in the kitchen), figure out travel arrangements for those who need to go to the airport, get on the road. Luckily the weather was substantially better than the drive down for everyone.

Lessons Learned

As we stated in the first section, a few lessons learned;

• TIME - Time is everything. We did relatively well at scheduling out events for camp, but still ran into several constraints with time while working with schedules of remote workers, unplanned flats on the road, and varying weather conditions. The byproduct of this was having to adjust meetings with partners as well as adjust ride times and routes last minute to make things successful. Specifically for a team of riders that do not earn their living doing this, there are truly two different solutions to this;
  

  • Plan greater time buffers between events (or)

  • Stick to schedule and understand one or two riders may have to deviate from the team's schedule of events based on work.
    

• Route Planning - Strava and RideWithGPS are great tools with heatmaps, but locals can offer significant insight beyond what is offered by Strava. When we drove on some of the roads included on routes we initially created, we knew they were unsafe to ride. The cycling community is great - leverage connections!
  

• Sustainment - Have tools, tires, and tubes available. We were lucky in that our beloved sponsor, Trail & Fitness, assisted us with this but always ensure riders bring things that they know will work with their setup to a camp or several day event with them as everyone's setup is slightly different.
  

• Food Planning - We were lucky in that a grocery store was directly across the street from where we were staying, but that may not always be the case. We made a handful of trips throughout camp to the store, but as every rider has differing preference in nutrition and food, ensure that riders bring what they want personally with them or plan a team grocery trip at the beginning of camp to avoid squeezing it in later.

Thank you all for reading! As always, we are continually gracious for our partners and supporters in this journey. We are constantly learning and looking for ways to improve. Have questions? Drop a comment and we will do our best to answer!