Away from home for a long weekend of base training. The goal: get in some long, steady, solid miles on the bike. The venue: Greenville, South Carolina.
My buddy Ethan and I arrived at GSP last night and made our way over to the Hotel Domestique. Developed by former pro George Hincapie, this hotel is the perfect destination for a cycling-centric get-away. The property itself is beautiful--feels like you're in Tuscany--and there are many services which cater to cyclist, e.g. "bike concierge", on-site mechanic and soigneur, etc.
Today, we kicked off the visit with a steady ride down to Paris Mountain State Park. We started by working through some beautiful neighbourhoods with quiet, quality roads. Then we did a pretty great climb up Altamont Road (which weaves you up Paris Mountain through a beautiful set of homes). After summiting, we worked our way over to the State Park and worked our way around some lakes and brooks and waterfalls.
We are both a little out of shape, but we felt motivated to have a solid first day. So, after the state park, we worked back to the hotel and did another climb. The route was a bit of a lollipop that took us into North Carolina, out and about and the back down. Solid, solid climb up towards Hendersonville, NC through some heavily wooded areas. Minimal traffic and beautiful views of the Saluda Reservoir:
When we finally got back to the hotel, we had put in some good work in the saddle: 5:20, 85 miles, avg 215 W, NP 230 W... and 8900 ft of climbing!
And to cover the 3400 Cal workout, a phenomenal post-workout recovery snack at Domestique's great Restaurant 17:
No comments:
Post a Comment