Epic Camp Canada 2014 Day 10

Epic Camp Canada 2014 Day 10
August 29

In Lake Louise    Epic Ethos and fit adventures

About the Epic Ethos

Sir Steven Lord; who has taken home a couple (?) Yellow jerseys; has set a high mark, and the ethos for the camps ethical committee to carve into the stone Epic Camp commandments for future campers to live up to.
  With Lord's impetus we've fine-tuned the points system over the years and most of the changes have to do with transparency.
 As you probably know by now the points system is designed to push the campers to their max, and the ways to acquire points are almost all based on an honour system.  If you want to tack on or do extra stuff for points then no one is there to witness it for the most part.
 We have had some very sketchy folks over the years who tried to game the system but I'm happy to say they are either now fat and lazy or in prison.
  One of Lord's main contributions was to instigate the "declaration rule" which is an announcement to the camp if you are going to do extra stuff for points.  You just say what you're going to do, then anyone else who wants to tag along or do something else to stay in the points game can decide what they want to do, and they also announce that.
  This accomplishes 3 things:
1) it leverages the person's determination to follow through by announcing what he's going to do
because everyone will then be checking to see if he/she actually did it.
2) It further confirms that self-belief and a solid work ethic are 2 integral parts to success in any endeavour, the camp being one of the least important in our lives.
3) It allows everyone to know what they are up against in the pursuit of Yellow.

During the camp you have the opportunity to sit in the bunch and only put out effort when it counts for points.  Or in the pool on the sets for bonus points you can draft by leaving 2-3 seconds after the person in front of you and sucking feet the whole set.  Steven Lord, Gordo and some of the other high achievers who've had on the camp over the years would rather cut their heads off with a chainsaw than do that stuff!  We try to pass on that ethos.
The essence of the camp ethos is that hard work pays off and if you are cutting corners then you're only cheating yourself.  I believe its a very worthwhile message to contemplate thoroughly and often.
The thing that's critical for us to remember is that the whole camp environment is about a group working together to get the most out of each of us.  Its a team effort.  Can't lose sight of that.

Adventures through Fitness

I vividly remember many moments as a pro in the 80's and early 90's when I was able to do wonderful things that required an excellent level of fitness and I hared those experiences with my friends.  One of the main things I promised myself a million times during those years was that when I was old and grey I would keep myself fit enough to enjoy similar wonderful adventures.
 Epic Camp is an outcome of those promises.
And the walk/run we did to Sentiniel Pass today was also an outcome of those promises, though it was Newsom's adventurous spirit that found the route.

To be able to experience what we did this morning is the type of gift only a fit body can help deliver.

You can't get the same experience by taking a flight over the area or just watching a video of it.  No way. So I reminded myself once again to do a better job of looking after my body and not abusing it to such a degree that I'm prone to do.
These types of adventures are one of the main sources of joy in my life and I really do hope to continue to do similar stuff for many years to come.
I do fee sorry for people (especially young people) who can't get to do this type of thing on their own two feet because doing stuff like this helps us to fully appreciate the natural beauty and wonder of our planet and I feel that helps us to want to savour and maintain it better for future generations.
Plus its a really great way to get high! (figuratively and actually).

Day 10 - a) what we did today (camp minimums for camp completion points) and b) the craziness that pursuit of the Yellow Jersey involved.
 a) Ride up a mountain 15km to the Lake Morzine.  Run up the trails 6+km from 6,000ft. to 8500ft to Senteniel Pass, then run back down, then ride back down.  Looked to be about 3.5-4 hours of effort. That was followed by lunch and for me - a spa with a couple beers and a nap.  Perfect.
Then there was:
b) Young Adamski to begin with. He decides to really go for it again with only 2 days left his options are limited.  So after a good lunch he heads out to run 20km with the second 10km including the fat run set of 7x1km with 1 minute rest between reps.  That's a damn big effort after pour mt. journey this morning.
THEN! He comes in, has a quick bite to eat, loads his pockets with food/phone/money/ipod/jacket and heads out to ride at least 90km and possibly 120km if energy allows.  He gets 1 point for every 30km and will most likely miss dinner as he started training at 9:15am this morning so can finish at 9:15pm.

Adam B - He got an early start to run 10km before we set out on the ride to the trip run.  After our outing he set out to ride long.  Ended up doing 150km with Gary as training hack for the first 120km to Banff and back. So that's about 5 hours of additional training to the camp minimum of approx 3.5 hours.
Lucky for him he has a good mate in Gary who is supportive of his tri goals, including coming on this camp and the pursuit of Yellow.  So Gary got drug out there for the extra riding
We should all be so lucky to have friends like that.
Besides that he left most of his 12-pack in the fridge and since he was gone all day and obviously wasn't gonna be able to get to it I was able to help myself to it!  Cheers, Gary.

Tomorrow is another scenic run in the am up around Lake Louise then a 200km ride to Calgary.