WCCC - Women's Camp
This past weekend (Oct. 26- 28) marked the second West Coast Collegiate Women’s Cycling Conference. The camp was designed to help the women of the WCCC get to know each other before road season. This year the camp was held in the Berkeley hills at the Anthony Chabot Regional Park. We had a whole meadow to ourselves with connections to mountain bike trails only a few pedal-strokes away.
After Saturday’s breakfast we put our kits on and split into three groups for two different length road rides and a mountain ride. It was a beautiful clear day with temperatures ranging from the fifties to high seventies; in other words, perfect riding weather! The mountain ride was a casual ride around the park’s lake and those of us that went enjoyed the rolly-polly trails and great views of the Bay Area. The roadies were split into two groups, the first took on the great challenge of Mount Diablo, and ended up summiting around noon before beginning the long journey back to camp, a glorious 75 mile ride winding through the California East Bay Area, with lots of good climbing. The second ride took more of a leisurely approach, working on riding in a group and pace lining down to the base of the hills before turning around for the long climb back up.
Once everyone had returned to camp, the B4T9 women’s cycling team presented the WCC-WCC with a scholarship in honor of one of their fallen riders, Suzanne Rivera. Pro racers Olivia Dillon (NOW & Novartis for MS) and Tayler Wiles (Exergy), who rode along on the longer road ride, did a Q&A session where we discussed everything from how they got into cycling to what it’s like to ride on sketchy European cobblestones. Most everyone was spent from the day’s rides and welcomed the time to sit, chat, and eat burritos as the sun began to set. The evening ended with s’mores around a campfire, a track stand stand-off, and a hilarious halloween inspired costume contest. In the morning we said goodbye to those that had long drives ahead of them while others took the opportunity to go on one last ride before heading home. All in all it was a great weekend to get to know the women of the WCCC and go on some fun ladies-only group rides. We hope to see everyone at this year’s races!
After Saturday’s breakfast we put our kits on and split into three groups for two different length road rides and a mountain ride. It was a beautiful clear day with temperatures ranging from the fifties to high seventies; in other words, perfect riding weather! The mountain ride was a casual ride around the park’s lake and those of us that went enjoyed the rolly-polly trails and great views of the Bay Area. The roadies were split into two groups, the first took on the great challenge of Mount Diablo, and ended up summiting around noon before beginning the long journey back to camp, a glorious 75 mile ride winding through the California East Bay Area, with lots of good climbing. The second ride took more of a leisurely approach, working on riding in a group and pace lining down to the base of the hills before turning around for the long climb back up.
Once everyone had returned to camp, the B4T9 women’s cycling team presented the WCC-WCC with a scholarship in honor of one of their fallen riders, Suzanne Rivera. Pro racers Olivia Dillon (NOW & Novartis for MS) and Tayler Wiles (Exergy), who rode along on the longer road ride, did a Q&A session where we discussed everything from how they got into cycling to what it’s like to ride on sketchy European cobblestones. Most everyone was spent from the day’s rides and welcomed the time to sit, chat, and eat burritos as the sun began to set. The evening ended with s’mores around a campfire, a track stand stand-off, and a hilarious halloween inspired costume contest. In the morning we said goodbye to those that had long drives ahead of them while others took the opportunity to go on one last ride before heading home. All in all it was a great weekend to get to know the women of the WCCC and go on some fun ladies-only group rides. We hope to see everyone at this year’s races!
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