Thanks to Doug Milliken, ABRT was introduced to Idlebreaks training camps. Two groups of ABRT riders went in February/March for 7 days. The trip was all about riding/training, no phones, no internet connections, and very few other distractions. Just hard riding with friends and some awesome scenery. One of the things that made the trip so unique was having a guide, in this case Ironman Andy Idle, who knows all of the local routes and along with John, his sidekick, took turns riding with us and following us around in the support van. As they say, Airfare: $700, Training Camp: $700, Spending Money: $200, Support Van: PRICELESS.
There were many memorable climbs, such as Puerto Del Sol (left) which was 7km at 8%, but the highlight climb of the trip was the climb up Pico Veleta in the Sierra Nevadas, just east of Granada. The climb was 32k at an average gradient of about 6.5%, but the first 10k was more like 9-10% with a few shorter, harder sections just to soften you up. This route is used occasionally in the Vuelta Espania. The following video is contains a slide show of the climb:The week was not all work though. We did have a lot of fun; uh, the kind of fun only a guy-only group can have (the second group I was in was only men, the first group was mixed). The humor, in our group anyway, was, shall we say, sophomoric as shown in this video:
To see more pictures and videos of the trip including the decent of Pico Veleta in the van and some other climbs, see this You Tube search or watch the slideshow below.
