When we arrived in Courchevel, we met up with head coach Dave Jarrett and the "VIP's." The VIP's are people who have paid $10,000 to come on the trip. The $10,000 goes towards their food costs, travel, and housing. The rest of the money is thrown into the National Nordic Foundation to help support the USST and the National Training Group. Last year we had three VIP's and this year we have five. In short, we are the "meanest, badest" group of bikers in France... almost.
The first day we jumped in the morning. I started on the HS100 to continue working on technical stuff. Before the session, Marc and myself made some adjustments to my equipment to see if this might help me. The session was much better and was happy with the improvement. In the afternoon, the whole group rode from Courchevel up to Col de Petit St. Bermard. The ride is about 80 kilometers and took about 4 hours. We rode this last year and it is one of my favorite rides.
Yesterday, we jumped again in the morning. I had a much better session. Since it was our last day of jumping for the trip I was extremely happy with the way things ended. In the afternoon we rode a loop starting and finishing in Faverges. We got a little lost at first, but managed to get back on track. The ride was 115 kilometers and took about 4.5 hours. It was a little longer day than I was expecting but I enjoyed the ride and the beautiful weather.
Today, some of the group is going for a day long ride and others are taking the morning off because there is a local time trial that many want to do. The TT goes from the bottom of the Courchevel road to the very top. It is about 20 kilometers and a brutal climb. I guess the fastest time is around 47 minutes.
Tomorrow we will be riding the Alpe d' Huez one of the steepest and hardest climbs of this year's Tour de France. We will go and watch tomorrow so look for the USST or a Captain America costume.
So far the trip has been really fun. I have made some good improvements with my jumping and feel like I am on the right track.There is a lot of biking to come in the next couple days so I will keep my blog updated as much as possible. Au Revior!