Training Camp - Getting There

36,000 feet above Utah it hit me. What a wonderful experience I had just been

fortunate to be part of and now it was all over. I was reminded of my niece who

years ago proclaimed after ripping through all her Christmas gifts, “Oh no, it’s all

over!” Triathlon camp was that good. Months spent waiting and now it was over.

It began in the summer when my coach Jaime showed me information on the

triathlon camp he created and ran in Tucson. I was intrigued and immediately

started to figure out how I could take time off and attend camp. By the fall I had

put my deposit down. I was going to attend my first training camp.

The original idea was for he and I to fly to Tucson and ship our bikes and some

equipment down with another teammate that was going to drive down to Tucson.

Jaime would leave on Saturday, rent a car, and I would follow on Sunday.

The week before camp there were indications that a major winter storm might be

heading our way. The Tuesday night before we were set to leave I went for a run

in the snow. It was magical and invigorating but it was only the beginning of what

would be an epic winter storm. On Wednesday it was clear and the temperature

had dropped severely – freezing the ground and cooling the road surfaces. This

cold weather bled into Thursday. By Thursday evening things had begun to

warm up a bit but with it came the snow. I woke Friday morning to about 2

inches of snow – nothing major by Bend standards. Throughout the day it

continued to snow and get deeper and deeper. That afternoon I drove home in

4-wheel drive. I talked briefly with Jaime and he expressed concern about his

flight being cancelled. It would be a long evening of wait and see and through it

all, the snow continued to fall and pile up all around us.

Early Saturday morning at about 5 am Jaime texted me from the airport to tell me

his flight had been cancelled. He noted that he was trying to get out on a later

flight. An hour later I got a text telling me my ski lesson that I was supposed to

instruct up on Mount Bachelor was cancelled because my student could not

make it in from Eugene. Throughout the morning Jaime and I texted back and

forth about what was developing and throughout that time the snow continued to

rapidly fall in large and heavy flakes.

By all accounts it was one of the biggest snowstorms in the history of Bend. I

passed the time shoveling the snow out of the driveway – upwards of two feet or

more of the white stuff. By 11 a.m. the airport was completely shut down. Jaime

was going to catch a ride with Wendy – the person who was going to originally

drive to Tucson. She was going to be joined by her roommate Justin, who was

supposed to be in Portland, but had remained in Bend due to the weather. I

cancelled my reservation – it would later be cancelled hours later – in order to

join all of them in driving down to Tucson.

I packed everything up and headed out into the snow. I figured I would start

walking and meet them out on the major road that ran by our neighborhood

because I was concerned that Wendy’s car might get stuck if she attempted to

drive onto the unplowed streets that surrounded my house. About 30 minutes

down the road here they came – a Subaru with 4 bikes on the back. The road

trip to Tucson had begun!