Camp Frazier, Jul 13-17, 2011
“This is NOT a democracy”, belowed the coach. “The coach is ALWAYS right”, said Coach Frazier of Frazier Cycling. Thus began the 2011 Camp Frazier junior bicycling camp in Bristol, Tennessee, nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee, hosted by King College, a small Presbyterian school with a varsity cycling program. We had driven from St Louis to Atlanta for my grandmother’s 95th birthday celebration, where I raced at the Dick Lane Velodrome. Then we made the six hour drive northeast, through the Smoky Mountains to King College. Billy, Analyn, and I attended the camp, which was designed for junior cyclists from the ages of 10-17, although children as young as 7 were in attendance. Parents were allowed to participate in all activities, and the camp held breakout sessions for USA Cycling certified junior coaches, all of whom were parents of children in the camp. Fifty junior cyclists, divided evenly between girls and boys, attended the camp with about 15 parents/ coaches.
Frazier Cycling is a dynasty of junior cycling based in the Atlanta area, started about nine years ago by Ralph and Cathy Frazier, when they formed a group ride for their children as they came up through the junior ranks. Daughter Zoe is a two time junior national champ. Ralph is a former Cat 1 cyclist and computer engineer with a passion for cycling. Passion is an understatement. They live, eat, and breath cycling, 24/7. The intensity level of this camp was about 100 times more than I expected. After the orientation I was really worried and thinking “what have I got ourselves into here! Well, we are stuck here for four days, so might as well make the best of it.” Coach Ralph makes no apologies when he describes himself as a dictator, and runs the camp like a Marine drill sergeant. He made it clear from the start that he was in charge and he did not want to hear any whining from campers and especially parents about what group he put their child in, the program, nothing. “No whining!” Later, he shared that he had learned from experience that it simply does not work to negotiate his program with parents. He simply tells them it’s “my way or the highway”. If they don’t like it, they can go somewhere else. But guess what, there is no other place to go, so if they are serious about junior cycling, they eventually come back and submit to his will. And his results speak for themselves. Every year they come back from nationals with a slew of medals, podiums and national champs in the junior ranks. Many of the national champs were in attendance at the camp, especially among the girls. In fact, the girls practice crit was a national caliber race with the current junior girls 15-17 national camp taking the win. She also just received a cycling scholarship to none other than King College, so you can see the connections in place. But Frazier Cycling is not just a racer factory, they take all comers and pride themselves in developing them to their fullest. Their regular program in Atlanta area offers classes every night of the week for all levels with two 50 mile training rides and one 20 mile ride on the weekends. Their top juniors are on the bike six days a week, putting in upwards of 100-350 miles per week during the season, and 50 miles in the off-season, with weight training programs for those past puberty. Most of the 13-14 yr old juniors have power meters. It’s pretty amazing to hear 13 year old juniors chatting, “Wow, I did 300 watts up that hill!” The coach likes to tell the story of a women’s P123 road race where a pro racer was talking trash to the Frazier cat 3 junior girls in the race, saying they should stay at the back because they won’t be there in the end. The pro jumped off the front with 2K to go, a Frazier girl dragged the entire peleton to within meters of the pros wheel, yelled “Go!” and Stephie the junior national champ, jumped and slungshot by her for the win. Many stories centered around Frazier teamwork vs individual “stars” on other teams. The program is so rigorous that kids will be suspended from the team for three races for breaking team rules like chasing down a teammate in a break. All the kids were super polite and respectful, calling adults by “Ma’am” or “Sir”. Adults were named by “Mister” or “Miss” tacked onto their first name. I was called “Mr William” instead of “Mr Bill”, thankfully, and Analyn was “Miss Analyn”. The coaches were addressed as “Coach” so-and-so. I was told this was a southern thing, and that even public school teachers expected to be addressed as “Ma’am” or “Sir”. By the end of the camp, I was really starting to buy into this military/ southern thing, even though it’s not my default style. The zeal for cycling, and high performance was really contagious. By the end of camp, Billy was asking, “so Dad, can I get into racing”, which alone was worth the price of admission.
Day 1: 5K TT
The camp was structured around four races or rides, a 3.1 (5K) individual TT, the criterium, the road race, and an endurance ride, plus tacked on for good measure a “fun ride” on the last morning, where “fun” was defined as an all-out gut-busting 5 min hill climb up to the dam. Day 1 was the time trial. Each day started at 8am with breakfast in the campus cafeteria, usually scrambled eggs, bacon, usual Aramark college campus food, all you can eat. Nine am was plyometrics and stretching in the gym. And when coach says “9am” that means Nine am. He was sitting in the middle of the basketball court looking at his watch, and at exactly 9am he blew the whistle and began roll call. If you weren’t there when your name was called, there were consequences, which usually included some form of good-natured public humiliation, especially for the Frazier kids, and especially for the top kids, and most especially his own bio kids, Nick the 19 yr old, who served as an assistant coach, and his 16 yr old daughter Zoe, the two time junior champ. Phew, I would not want to be his kid! Stretching consisted of 3 or 4 key hamstring, calf and arm stretches, for which he insisted on perfect form. If you were slacking, you got the opportunity to come up front and demonstrate the stretch, like poor little Jack. Jack was slackin. Jack couldn’t keep his back in a perfect L shape with the floor. Each stretch was held for 5, 10, 15, and 20 seconds with numerous groans and cries of pain from the older teens. But all in good fun.
Then it was off to the TT course, held in a beautiful park along the Hoilston River and Dam, a 1930’s TVA project. According to Coach Ralph, we were going to find out “who’s fast, and who’s not so fast”. We met at 10am to head over to the TT course. We were divided into several riding groups according to known and perceived riding ability and experience. Billy had never ridden a paceline so the ride over was a challenge, all rolling hills, and a long downhill, reaching speeds up to 35 mph, which is a challenge for a 74 lb kid. Oh yes, and these Frazier kids rolled out the most amazing carbon, zipp-wheeled, aero bars, skin suits, and TT bikes I’d ever seen kids ride. “Blue” was a popular bike in this crowd. Evidently, the 5K TT is a popular race at Frazier, they do them regularly to benchmark progress in “the engine”. Results are announced in team meetings and celebrated or jeered. Coach Ralph keeps stats on every kid, for every year Frazier has been in existence. He is a stats nut. It’s rumored he rides his bike every day of the year, and has been known to get up at 3am or ride at 11am to get in the days ride, in any and all weather. He said he’s never missed a day journaling his rides.
TT was done in two groups, with the experienced group escorting the less experienced group to preview the course, a flat out and back along the river. This was a professionally run TT, timers, starters, holders, run as good or better than any USA Cycling TT. During the morning, the inexperienced group practiced starts from the holding position, instructed to start in the big ring and a couple cogs down so not to drop the chain. Billy ended up with a 10:22 with his new friend Devin killing it at 8:36. Devin had just started riding but was strong as a horse. Coach Ralph asked how fast I could ride a TT. I blanked on my most recent time and answered I did a 9 mi TT in 23 min, trying to remember my Tour of STL Columbia bottoms ride. That worked out to something like 27mph. Not! Coach Ralph looked at me, got in my face and charged, “I don’t think you can do 27 mph. I don’t think you can even do 25mph”! OK, just put me in there somewhere, I responded. Ralph must know what he’s doing because at that moment I wanted nothing more than to prove him wrong. So out on the course, I busted my ass to get the best time I could. Steve, a bike shop buyer from Tampa Bay, tatooed, 30-something parent of 8 year old Eva, showed up with full TT bike, helmet and gear, and did a 7:46. All I brought was my carbon road bike, and ended up with a decent 8:04, gaining time on the kiwi and fit 50-something “Mr Roger”, holding off my 30 second man 13 year old Devin, and Coach Duco, the prof from Vanderbilt, behind him, Duco with a 8:16. This was enough to earn me a spot in the fast group for the next days crit. Unfortunately, Billy’s poor time ended him in the “kiddie crit” with the under 10 crowd.
Each night after dinner, we had a recap and analysis of the days racing. This went on for about an hour of in depth interviewing of each racer in each race, with analysis, encouragement, and good natured kidding from Coach Ralph. This was probably the most entertaining and valuable part of the camp. You could tell Coach Ralph was clearly in his element, doling out quick-witted and pertinent analysis. For the TT analysis, he replayed the TT times for the two groups by reading times one at a time in race order. He made it clear that 15 minutes was too slow. All the Frazier kids knew their 5K times because they practice this race periodically as a benchmark for progress. Coach Ralph knew the PRs for each Frazier kid and best times for each age group. Arvin, Coach Duco’s son, was only 10, but a good foot taller than Billy, was in group 1, the supposedly slow group with the young riders. Duco’s family had the tall gene. His father was 6’ 9”, mother something like 5’ 8”. At 6’ 3”, Duco is the runt of the family with brother 6’ 10” and sister 6’ 2”. His 14 yr daughter at 5’ 11” and is already being recruited by college volleyball programs. Anyway, Arvin had the best time in the young group at 9:30 and change. “Arvin is fast”, stated Coach Ralph. Each subsequent rider was asked, “Are you faster than Arvin”? Nope, Arvin won the first group TT. When Billy’s time was read, he mentioned Billy was the “fastest in toe straps”, yeah, he was the only kid in toe straps. Billy was asking me for clipless pedals the next morning. Then we started into the second group. Most of the Cat 4 juniors were well under 8:00, around 7:32. Tyler, a Cat 2 had the best time at 7:01. Course record for older juniors is 6:30 and change. When he got to me, he started with “Wow, Mr William got an 8:04”, then quickly recovered and said one of the 15 yr girl juniors also had the same time. Nice! The 5K TT would be used to seed riders in future races throughout the week so if you plan on attending Camp Frazier, practice your 5K TT before camp! Don’t show up out of shape or else everyone will know you are slow. After all, it is the race of truth. And as Coach Ralph stated, “We found out who is fast and who is not fast”. “Who here wants to be slow?” No one raised their hand.
Day 2: crit
Day 2 was the practice crit. They had set up a .6 mile course around the King College baseball field, which included a long uphill gradual climb with a little kick up the last 20m, then a little flat to the finish and then fast downhill through two tight turns with some rough pavement in the best line. But first we had to practice pacelines. Coach Ralph split us into groups and sent us around the course with instruction to count to 10, pull off left, then flick the elbow to indicate the next rider should pull through. After that, we practiced lining up for a race. Again, Frazier kids practice this all the time. Coach Ralph sent us about 200 meters to the bottom of the hill in the “staging area”, then called out “racers to the line” and blew the whistle. The idea was to make it to the front of the line. But the Frazier kids were jamming the front line of the staging area! They were jammed shoulder to shoulder, backing their bikes in. Man, I would not want to race against these kids. They are aggressive and tough. In fact, that was one of the lessons of the day. “It’s OK to be tough”, stated Coach Ralph. “It’s not Bible school out there!” was my favorite line. When you think about it, kids are taught to be polite and nice, share, etc in school. But bike racing is different. He taught his kids to win. “You think it’s not fair to elbow someone out on the line. Well, let me tell you something, BIKE RACING IS NOT FAIR! Get that in your heads, just like life!” So he sent the groups down to the bottom of the hill again and again. Each time the kids and parents who made it to the start line first were allowed to rest in the shade. The slow and slackers were sent down the hill again. In addition, to the lineup lesson, the secondary lesson was aggressive racers work less. The slow guys and girls had to do upwards of 6 hill repeats. The fast guys only had to do two. Evidently, there was one local crit where the staging area was a good quarter mile from the start, and when the official blew the whistle to line up. There was a 30 mph sprint to the line! I later learned that Frazier cycling dominates the junior racing scene in the southeast. They show up at races in force with upwards of 20 juniors and a team strategy, and aggressive tactics like the lineup at the front. Unattached juniors have no hope. Talented riders on others teams are worn down by team tactics. Some races, there are so few other juniors, Coach Ralph divides up the Frazier kids into two teams so they have someone to race against.
Afternoon was the practice crit. Billy’s slow time, small size, and toe straps earned him a spot in the kiddie race. Later Coach Ralph said this was a mistake since he was racing against under 10 kids. Unlike the flat TT, the hill climb crit favors Billys style. Indeed on the warmup lap, Coach Ralph yelled at him for riding too fast, he was just blowing the field apart. Coach set up four races with two teams in each race and assigned a team leader who was responsible for developing a team strategy. Boys and girls raced together but were scored separately. Billy said his job was to block for the leader, but the hill ended up blowing everyone up so he ended up chasing down the breakaway by the other team and shooting past them on the last lap. Only two girls were 20m ahead. I got in the fast crit with the Cat 3, 4 juniors, Joe the Cat 2 dad with a back injury, and Steve the Cat 4 tatoo guy. I’m too heavy to climb well but hoped I could make up time on the descent. Our team leader Nick, the coaches son, didn’t want to set a strategy because “it never works out anyway” and just go with the flow. I stuck with them the first lap. Then JJ, the fastest junior, attacked the climb on the second lap and I was off the back. So I backed off and set my own pace up the climb with the pack gradually gaining time on me. I was thinking, “the hell am I going to get lapped by a bunch of juniors!” So I killed myself to stay ahead by 500 m. Mr Roger the kiwi, who was only 15 sec slower on the TT than me, but got put in the lower 10-14 race, said he thought I was going to die. I was doing it for pride and to show Coach Ralph I had some grit. Together with Billy’s win, maybe he would get moved up to faster race the next day for the road race.
Day 3: RR
Before the road race in the afternoon, Friday morning was bumping practice. We were all looking forward to this. Again, the Frazier kids practice bumping all the time during the year so they had this skill down. In fact, Coach Ralph was taking delight in pairing kids who really got into bumping, just like prizefighters slugging it out. We all dressed in long shirts and pants in case we hit the deck, but we were riding in grass for the same reason. Before bumping proper, we did an exercise to just get used to riding close together. We were paired up and told to ride with one arm on the shoulder of the rider next to us, out about 50 meters, around a cone, and back. No problem. Billy did nicely. Then the top juniors were asked to demonstrate two at at time bumping. These kids were really going at it, not just bumping but leaning and riding each other off the course, head butting, the whole nine yards. Man, I don’t know what kind of races these juniors are doing, but I’ve been racing Cat 4 for 10 years and haven’t been bumped once! I made more contact in this drill than in ten years. Billy and I also got to do the touching exercise, which was some nice father, son time. Now three at a time bumping, a biker sandwich. Coach Ralph paired up some of the older aggressive juniors with less experienced riders to show them the ropes. JJ went with Anna and another girl, and ended up crashing them out. Anna ended up with a broken collar bone and the other girl with a mild concussion. Again, these Frazier kids are tough as nail. About 1/3 of them had road rash from recent races so they are riding hard and aggressive. Later, Billy said this was his favorite exercise. He really got into it and didn’t back down when paired with the bigger kids. Good to see a little grit in Billy.
Afternoon was the RR back at the park and dam where we held the TT. They set up a four mile course, about 1.5 mi of which was the TT course, fairly flat, but there was a long climb on the other side, which would be a real challenge for me. The same races as the crit were set up so I got in the fast race again. Billy’s performance on the crit earned him a spot in the 10-14 “slow” group. Some of the kids his age were riding with the 16-17 junior girls race, along with Devin, the fast but inexperienced 13 year old. I told my team they better use me early because I doubted I could survive 20 miles with this fast a group, especially with a climb. Billy’s group would do four laps, or about 16 mi. Our race started first. Nick and Duco got on the front. Again, Nick refused to set a strategy other than “go with the flow”. Before the race he told me they wouldn’t expect an attack from me, the slowest rider in the group. Soj I got on the front, initially with the idea to keep Nick out of the wind, but Nick and Duco shut down the pace to a crawl and I found myself off the front by about 50 m but still wtihin sight. Then I got the idea I should try a break. From the ride over, I knew there was a sharp turn that was blocked by trees. I soft pedaled looking back, asking someone to come with me. No response, slow as snails. Rounded the turn, and waited till I was out of sight, then HIT IT! BAM, gave it my full sprint for 200m then sat down into a fast tempo to stretch out my lead. Looked back and no peleton. Outta sight, outta mind. Then I was on the climb, which wound around with a couple turns. Had to dial it down. Looked back around each turn and no sight of the peleton. Reached the top and screamed down the hill to the start finish. Then Coach Ralph came up in the Frazier car, leaned out and said “You’ve got a good lead”. I had been watching the Tour with all the breaks and so fancied myself in a solo escape. As I went by each course marshal, oh yeah, this RR was also professional run, with course marshals, follow vehicles, the whole thing, as good as any USA Cycling race I’ve done. Passing each course marshal I put on the show of dumping water on my head, taking a drink and spitting it out, standing, then lifting the speed to sit back down in my tuck with hands on top of the brake hoods. Lap 2: I was out in front the whole 4 mile lap, up the climb down the hill, across the line. Looked back at the base of the climb and sighted the peleton far back down the road, but they saw me and got a time gap, not good. Lap 3: still had a lead, stood up and stretched it out, around the base of the dam, towering 300 feet up to my left, then onto the TT course. Around the turn halfway into the lap where I had attached, that made two full laps off the front, then on the flats on the way to the climb, looked back and, uh oh, there was the peleton, closing on me. I was cooked, so started up the climb, then bam, Nick stood up and attacked up the hill with Greg on his wheel. During the evening recap, learned that Nick was reeled in and the pace was shut down till the final climb on the fifth lap where there was a series of attacks with JJ headed down the hill in his junior gears with parent Greg on his wheel, Greg said he saw 48 mph on his speedometer and was spinning 120 rpm, which we guessed put JJ at 150 rpm, said he was going so fast that he hopped a wheel coming around the final turn.
Enough of me, what about Billy, this is his camp. Well, he hung tough through the final lap. He said he attacked up the side but then was blocked and forced into the grass! I told you those Frazier kids are tough. There was a break that formed but Billy missed it. But later Billy said he really enjoyed the road race the most.
During the RR analysis after dinner, one funny incident happened during the 15-17 yr junior girls race that had several national level caliber riders among the girls, sprinkled with some of the most talented boys from the 13-14 group, one of whom was Zach, a triathlete from Florida. Stephie, the national girls crit champion, flatted during the road race so helpful Zach stopped and offered her a tube. !!! At this point, Coach Ralph, stopped, did a double take, leaned in and shouted with a smile, "Zack, wait a minute, let me understand this, the leader of your team, Stephie, has a flat, and you offer her a tube! Zack, this is a BICYCLE RACE, we don't take time to stop and change flats!" He went on to interview Stephie, who described the interaction from her perspective, which basically consisted of her demanding Zach's wheel and him giving it to her. Then Zach's mom a triathlon coach from Florida defended him, saying, well that's what they do in triathlon. News flash to Zach, this aint triathlon, it's BICYCLE RACING. :)
During the RR analysis after dinner, one funny incident happened during the 15-17 yr junior girls race that had several national level caliber riders among the girls, sprinkled with some of the most talented boys from the 13-14 group, one of whom was Zach, a triathlete from Florida. Stephie, the national girls crit champion, flatted during the road race so helpful Zach stopped and offered her a tube. !!! At this point, Coach Ralph, stopped, did a double take, leaned in and shouted with a smile, "Zack, wait a minute, let me understand this, the leader of your team, Stephie, has a flat, and you offer her a tube! Zack, this is a BICYCLE RACE, we don't take time to stop and change flats!" He went on to interview Stephie, who described the interaction from her perspective, which basically consisted of her demanding Zach's wheel and him giving it to her. Then Zach's mom a triathlon coach from Florida defended him, saying, well that's what they do in triathlon. News flash to Zach, this aint triathlon, it's BICYCLE RACING. :)
Day 4: Sat endurance ride
Phew, finally made it to the endurance ride. I was taking Advil 24/7 to keep my body going, but was starting to feel it. Coach Ralph gave me the choice of the fast 40 mi ride up into the mountains with the fast group or to ride with Billy in the slower 10-14 group. I knew that that fast ride would turn into a race, plus the whole purpose of the camp was to spend time with father-son, so I chose to ride with Billy. Good choice because the 40 mi fast ride turned into an epic ride with a rainstorm in the mountains, and a treacherous decent where Coach Duco was chased down the moutain road with a semi truck on his wheel, no slowing, blinded by the rain. Fortunately, everyone made it back safe. Our group consisted of Mr. Roger, the kiwi, his daughter Sophie, Mr Steve, the wrestling coach, whose son Blake was on the faster 10-14 ride and rode a Blue, two solid girl juniors Kaly and Katie, Jack “the Slacker” who was made an example in stretching class, Billy and myself. Jack and Billy were pretty well matched in size, experience and ability. We headed the 5 mi down the main highway to the park where we started every days ride, and would turn early onto country roads for a 30 mi ride, which would be Billy’s longest ride of his life, previous long ride was a 16 mi ride in St Louis County roads out to Wildwood, Clayton Rd, Outer 40, ride. Almost immediately Jack flatted! Our support car got confused and followed the other 10-14 ride, on our same route but with a 10 minute head start. So unbeknownst to us, we were on our own. Roger was the only one with directions. And this area was all new to the Frazier parents since they are from the Atlanta area. Jacks tire was super tight but finally got it fixed and were back out on the road. This camp was Billy’s first experience with a paceline and he was a little nervous riding close to the wheel in front. He started dangling about 10 feet off the wheel, creating a gap, so we would ride up next to him and tell him to gradually close up the gap. By the end of the ride, he was riding comfortably 3 feet from the wheel. The next day on the fun hill climb, we were in a tight paceline on the fast downhill to the park, and he was riding close on the wheel in front when he ran over something in the road which gave him quite a bump, and sent him a couple inches in the air. I was on his wheel in a tuck, feathering the brakes, and fortunately just slid up to his left, while he sat up, caught some air and thumped back down. Fortunately, he didn’t overreact and grab the brakes. Anyway, back on the endurance ride, this was a really pretty ride, all rolling hills through Tennessee countryside, farms, river running along the road, out to a small town called Bluff City. The ride was uneventful, except for a wrong turn by Mr. Roger, which added another mile, to put us over 30 mi. Billy did a great job, although he and Jack were getting fatigued at the end. Sophie was sliding off the back on the uphills so an adult would fade back and wait for her, then at turns the group would wait. Made it back about 3pm, with a 1pm start made for about a 15 mph average, not too bad for Billy’s first long ride. That should build a lot of confidence for the future.
In the evening after the RR and endurance rides, we had presentations from various people including a sports psychologist and Mr Krige, the professional wheelchair and cyclechair racer. The psychologist talked about “the energy room” that gets filled with positive energy when we think positive thoughts and visualize positive results and energy gets subtracted when we are negative, illustrated with plastic golf balls in a bin. We have an average of 10,000 thoughts per day and roughly 80% or 8000 of them are negative, which is thought to drain energy. She also talked about relaxation exercises to reduce anxiety before races, which can be either debilitating if too much, although some people are too relaxed and need to rev up the energy level and use anxiety as “rocket fuel”. She is a paid consultant for Frazier cycling, which shows their commitment to performance enhancement.
Mr. Krige told the story of how he lost his legs. He grew up in South Africa and was serving his 2 year mandatory military service in Angola fighting the communists. His platoon was bombed by enemy jets, and one bomb landed about five feet from him. He has a memory of being lifted up in the air by the blast and his legs getting folded up to his chest and his foot landing on his upper chest. Both legs were amputated at the upper hip. He had been an athlete before the loss, and sport was his salvation during rehab. He did everything, but ended up as a professional wheelchair racer in running events and cycle racer in bicycle events. This is his full time job since he receives sponsorship from a German bank as well as minor sponsors for parts. He had his two boys at camp, both under 10 and super cute, one with a Zipp wheel from his dads sponsor. He went on the share stories from some of his races, crashes at 50 mph, and how difficult it is to maintain success, one having obtained it.
Day 5: am fun ride, aka gut-busting hill climb TT!
Sun morning, we had time for one more ride before having to check out by noon so we all met a 9am after breakfast. Coach Ralph divided us up into two groups to ride over to the park where the dam loomed a good 300 m above the river, holding the lake above it. An access road winds up to the dam through the trees. At the park, Miguel, a 15 yr junior and the revelation of the camp, 13 yr Devin were chosen as team leaders, and allowed to pick their teams. Within teams, groups of three were pitted against each other, who would form six man races up the climb. My team consisted of 10 yr Arvin, son of Coach Duco, but a good foot taller than Billy due to the tall height genes in that family, and Alex, a 14 yr junior who can track stand one-handed for as long as he wants. We were up against young Blake son of Mr Steve, Mr Steve, and Anthony, who raced in the fast 10-14 group. Billy was in the first slow group, riding against two 15 yr junior girls and a Frazier parent who had arrived to pick up his son Fletcher, who races Cat 4 as a 14 yr junior and holds his own. Billy ended up fourth in his group. I took fourth as well behind an attacking 5 min race with Arvin, Anthony, and Blake duking it out in a three man break, with Anthony taking the win at the line with Arvin second. At the top, we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the lake above the dam, and the valley below.
Conclusion
We asked one of the Frazier Coaches, Coach AJ, what he recommended for Billy and he said rather than a specific training schedule, just work on his love of cycling, look at the entire arc of his cycling career, from now to age 23. Key is to find friends his age who cycle. Coach Ralph said later at a parent meeting that it might be fun for us as parents to enjoy riding with our children, but for them it’s like riding with “old people”, like if we went to a retirement center to play checkers with the real old folks! Especially has kids get into older adolescence, the 15-17 yr olds. Unfortunately, in St Louis, the junior 10-14 group is pretty splintered, only 4 kids in the state race this year, including Billy. We later heard from Coach Ralph about how parents who believe their child is the “next Lance” are the biggest impediment to their childs progressive in cycling. Even if the child is talented, and Billy is certainly way behind the best Frazier juniors his age, who have been training 6 days a week for three or more years, with power meters and professional coaching, racing junior nationals, and placing well, and also racing Cat 4 against adults, and beating them! So the distance in training and performance between Billy and the top juniors his age is about the same between me and elite Cat 1, 2, which is a pretty big gap. That “reality check” alone, was worth the camp admission price. But that doesn’t mean Billy can’t enjoy cycling, just that we don’t have to apply a lot of pressure to train and race. We left camp with Billy super motivated to race, and especially get some clipless pedals! Unfortunately, days after arrival back in St Louis, Billy’s road bike was stolen, which pretty much nixes race plans for a youth triathlon. But it opens the door for purchase of a better bike next spring, perhaps he will be ready for 700 wheels, and another crack at Camp Frazier 2012.
