Spring cycling camp destination?

[myette10]

I'm trying to get my post count up today...

For those of you who have snow on the ground during Dec, Jan & Feb, what's your favorite spring time cycling retreat? I know a percentage of you snowbound riders will say "right out my front door" but I'm talking about heading South.

The reason I ask is that I have a good friend in Puerto Rico and we (family) head down just about every year at this time to shake the cold and hopefully duck the last few snow storms. The riding isn't ideal, but the thought of bibs and a short sleeve jersey are pretty appealing right now. Direct flights from Logan are cheap enough and lodging is included. My network of Puerto Rican friends is growing, so this year I get to choose from a soloist, a tcr team, or a specialized sl2 (no steel down there, it is waaay too humid). These trips have become my spring training camps.

Where do you go? Do you bring the family (if applicable)? Fly or drive? Is cost a consideration?

[shinomaster]

I don't start training till May.

[Blue Jays]

The last time I drove to Puerto Rico it was very humid. ;)

[Steve D]

I'm headed to North Carolina (Blue Ridge Parkway) at the end of March. We're expecting more snow tonight. Ugh!

[coylifut]

Christoph and few pals are riding the Central CA coast head quartered in Morrow Bay. The combonation of climate, roads and good food and drink make one of my favorite places in the world.

[J.Greene]

Here in Sunny Central FL we have another problem. We are looking for a cooler place to ride in the months of July and August.

JG

[Too Tall]

There's a little place I go in Va near WinterGreen :) Hills, no internet and world class BBQ, it just does not get better.

[stevep]

when my guys start the race season in late march the guys who i find to be going the hardest in the first races are canadians with white legs.

move in with grant and learn to suffer like a dog.

oh, you wanna have fun?
go to majorca to a stephen roche camp.

[gdw]

I normally run during the winter and switch to cycling after the Moab Half Marathon in mid March. I spend a few days after the race riding the easy trails and then head home and build up the base before returning with a few friends to ride the White Rim Trail. The weather is unpredictable but the Canyonlands region is always beautiful.

[Pete Serotta]

Wonderful HAMSTEN camp in late March and a JOSH (tootall) in VA in APRIL
Great rides in the Asheville area as well in APRIL. (As well as LANCASTER PA in MAY)

[SWorks4me]

when i was racing full time I would head south to Scottsdale and stay with my grandparents...pre-smog

I would end the trip by racing in THE Cactus Cup. Man those were some great venues. The old Fat Boy downtown crit on mtn bikes! sheeeee-iiiitttt. Tilford would smoke and roast us.

this winter I was suppose to head to Tucson with Z3c...dang work is getting in the way!

[Bill Bove]

Central Florida. The Florida "hill country", Disney World and spring training.

2nd choice would be Tucson. Mt. Lemmon and The Shoot Out. Good Mexican food too.

[Ti Designs]

I vote for Newark NJ. All the other suggestions are plush resorts designed to make you fat and slow. If you return from a cycling vacation in Newark, you will be faster...

[ERDR]

we find a nice little motel around asheville, close to the blue ridge parkway. we try to time it such that the car traffic hasn't started to pick up but the pkwy is still passable. has worked out well except one year we got caught in a blizzard going up mt. mitchell on april 1st. however, excluding one year, the 1st couple weeks in april has made for a good early season training camp. here in ohio it has been freezing rain, ice and snow consistently for a month.
good luck.
s.

[fiamme red]

I vote for Newark NJ. All the other suggestions are plush resorts designed to make you fat and slow. If you return from a cycling vacation in Newark, you will be faster...No kidding. Newark is a good place to get faster in the spring. There's a race in Branch Brook Park every Saturday in March: http://www.premierecycling.net/events.html.

[coylifut]

Myette wrote

"I'm trying to get my post count up today..."


I told the guy who thinks he's my boss the same thing this morning. He had no effin idea what I was talking about.

[Tom Kellogg]

This one will be the ticket for me this year. Too bad I have to bring the ribs and sauce ... Worse yet, I have to try to go up all those "hills" in western Virginia. I have ridden in the area before and it is stunningly beautiful and quite tough. The roads are generally beautifully surfaced though. Camp runs from March 31 to April 5th. Weather permitting, I will have enough miles in my legs that I can acutally get some good fitness out of the week. Even as I puke my way up the ramps, I will have Josh giving me coaching advice and making me feel even worse as he spins lightly by my groveling, cramping body.
THE JOYS OF SPRING TRAINING!

Here you go: http://www.bicycle-coach.com/camps/campcorn08.htm

[stevep]

funny addend to this.
just got an email from a friend of mine,
20 riders and support personel from quebec looking for a spring camp here on the quebec riviera.

we have probably 9 inches of snow everywhere. north of here there is 4' of snow everywhere...

perspective is everything.

[shinomaster]

They should come to Portland.

[sbornia]

oh, you wanna have fun?
go to majorca to a stephen roche camp.

Went there in Feb 96 with Velo Club Lugano...great riding, until it started to snow! None of the locals could believe it. Definitely a fun place - food, drink, and senoritas kind of distracting from training.

[saab2000]

Went there in Feb 96 with Velo Club Lugano...great riding, until it started to snow! None of the locals could believe it. Definitely a fun place - food, drink, and senoritas kind of distracting from training.

I went there in 94 with the Max Hürzeler group. I was getting over mono at the time, but it really is a cycling paradise. Or was at the time. Lots of good roads, nice weather, etc. Now that I am back in the US I believe I would head for California and make Swoop show me the roads out there.