Brone's Training Camp Report

In early April, I had the opportunity to experience the best Cycling Training Camp in the Midwest.  Owner, Mark Brone of Brone's Bike Shop in Fountain City, Wisconsin has organized this 3-day Event for many years.  Camp starts on a Friday Evening and rolls through Sunday noon.  No matter your fitness or bike, there's always a group and route that will challenge you.

 
Day One (Friday) starts out with a 50 miler and 10 climbs.  For this one, I decided to use my mountain bike 1x11 to challenge my fitness which was a couple of months behind where it usually is by April.  Ten climbs is a lot to sqeeze in a short amount of time on any bike, but I was able to do NINE before dark took hold.  Legs were starting to cramp by the end.

Day Two (Saturday) is considered to be the fast pace RACE DAY.  The group always starts out together for about a 30 mile stretch and then the fun starts just like a road race.  There's only one climb on this route and the rest are rollers.  I chose the road bike for this one, but the legs weren't quite where they needed to be this time of year.  At mile 44, I fell off the back due to poor placement in the wind.  Still, I was only about 3 minutes back at the end.

  
Day Three (Sunday) was forcasted to be the opposite of the previous two days - Cold and Rainy.  This is by no means an easy day coming off the last two day efforts.  However, I chose to bring the FAT BIKE on the road ride.  Sunday's group was small and we did get some rain towards this end, but it was well worth it.  Whenever I get the opportunity to take part in training camps like this, the main goal is to accelerate my fitness and/or to reboot it, if needed.  This year was no different, and the guys in yellow and black always make it worthwhile and fun.

Thanks Mark and the Brone's Cycling Team for your hospitality all these years!