Ahhh, team camp...

As we drove toward Petaluma Friday night, I had some serious doubts camp was going to come together at all. Highway 101 was closed in Novato due to flooding. We found a back route only to find every creek in Petaluma had jumped it's banks. Main roads were closed, the KOA seemed cut off from town and the forecast called for rain all weekend. We had packed the trainers in case we were stuck inside but they wouldn't do us much good if we couldn't even get to Kamp. Thanks to the Google GPS/Maps we did another back roads tour requiring only three crossings of rushing water and got to our destination.

We arrived to find a few brave souls who had also found their way to camp. As the evening passed more and more teammates arrived but the rain didn't stop and the reports of flooding seemed to be getting worse. More than a few decided to try their luck the next morning...perhaps the wiser course of action.

Amazingly the weather prognosticators were wrong. Saturday morning we woke to grey but dry skies. The majortiy of our teammates had found their way to camp and we were ready to roll. Unfortuantely, not all the roads were ready for us. Many lakes stood where only a day before a hidden culvert carried an unnoticed stream. Luckily, one of our new teammates knows the area well and navigated us around most of the serious floods.

Saturday turned out to be an epic day for me on the bike. I decided to hang on the tails of some of the fast boys and girls for a long steady ride. By the end of the day 7 of us had clicked off 94 miles and never felt a drop of rain. The best part was we only rode a third of the time on roads wider than one lane (thanks Mitch). Lucky for me I didn't bonk until dinner time ;).

Today I opted to ride with the group that would tackle the scenic Coleman Valley Loop. The day started out sunny and beautiful. Most of the new lakes had vanished as quickly as they had appeard and it promised to be another epic day. The ride out to the base of Coleman Valley was beautiful. By the time we reached the summit the weather had started to turn. More importantly, some of the legs in the group were showing the effects of two long days pushing the pedals. When we regrouped in Occidental some tanks reached empty just as the rain started. In order to get everyone home as quickly as possible we formed a big train, put our heads down and ground out the ride home. I took some looooong pulls at the front of that train, trying to get us home quickly without unhitching everyone. I did my best to regulate the speed in order to minimize the (speed) 'up' and (slow) 'down' requests coming from those behind me. Perhaps my favorite memory of the day is the 'up' request as I pushed hard into a stiff headwind. After a quick glance at my power meter all I could muster was a little chuckle. Luckily Ali was right behind me to interpret for the rest of the group. I'm happy to say we all made it, cold, wet and hungry but we all made it.

So, at my first team camp I covered 170 miles during 10 hours in the saddle. More importantly, I learned that I have great teammates who work well together both on and off the bike and have fun in the process.