Wahine
08-12-2012, 09:51 PM
So, I wanted to be involved in the Trek Women's Dirt Series in Hood River. I live here, had heard good things about the camp and was assured that all skill levels could be accommodated. At first, I thought I'd volunteer. I'm of Scottish heritage and I'm a little cheap, so to be honest, I wanted to participate in the camp but didn't really want to have to pay.
In the end, I just signed up and paid my $325ish dollars. I had a very busy month at work and decided that I needed a treat without any responsibilities. I was a little worried that I would feel like I wasn't getting my money's worth out of the camp since it was in my town and I would be riding trails that I already knew.
Pros:
It's definitely worth $325ish dollars.
The demo gear was great and at no extra charge. The coaching sessions in the morning were fantastic, with very user friendly, appropriately graded stunts.
The coaches where mostly excellent. In the skills sessions I thought they were all excellent, on the trail sessions in the afternoon, the coaching was mostly good but I have a comment on that I'll make below.
Overall, I felt the organization did a very good job of placing people in groups according to their skill level, as per a questionnaire we were asked to fill out at the beginning of camp.
The lunch was much better than average fair that I've seen at events like this. They made a big effort to accommodate people's food issues. Not an easy task!
We had a few injuries at the camp. These injuries were not a fault of the organization. I mention them under "pros" because they were handled professionally and appropriately. I have a lot of experience in "out in the field" medicine, so I say this with solid background.
The group vibe was unbelieveably supportive and I met several ladies to ride with at my skill level.
Jennifer Wilson is an amazing switchbacks coach.
Karen (sorry I don't know her last name) was fantastic on drops and jumps.
Charlotte was great at wheel lifts and straight line riding. Plus she gave me a ton fo fantastic training tips for my next big adventure. She's done long mountain bike stage races and is a wealth of knowledge for how to train for these things as a real person with a job and family.
There were other coaches that I had who were apprentices that I was really impressed wit. Jill Hardiman, especially.
The riding was great of course. That is a function of where we are, but cudos to Dirt Series for their location selection.
Cons:
Our morning skills sessions where 2 sessions of a little over an hour each. It would have been great if they could have been condensed a bit and made into 3 sessions, with the total coaching time in the AM being a little longer. There seemed to be a lot of dead time at the LBS in the morning before we got started. It would be good if registration started a bit earlier and we spent less time at the LBS.
Saturday was a REALLY long day for my group. There was socializing time in the evening at the LBS with dinner delivered. I never made it there as we didn't get back from the afternoon trail session until nearly 7 pm. There was no way I was going to make it to the social hour at that point.
Sunday was hard, mostly because I was fried from Saturday. So I think that overall, the Saturday trail ride needs to be shorter (in time at least, including shuttling etc) in order to make the weekend more manageable. An easy way to do this would be to up the cost a bit and add a shuttle bus service. That would save a lot of organization time, dealing with getting cars ready etc.
Lunch was great but, we are PNWers, therefore, some efforts at recycling and/or composting are expected.
Finally, I understand that it is the coaches job to encourage people to push their abilities. But I am generally a pretty aggressive person (read - I tend to push the envelope more than I should at the expense of my body) and at times I felt like I was being encouraged to do something that I'm pretty sure I should not have tried. In one instance I think this encouragement contributed to an injury in our group. It could have been worse but fortunately it wasn't. The participant was concussed, badly enough that she couldn't continue the ride or the camp the next day. But really, in medical terms this was considered a minor concussion and she will be fine, Ultimately, the participant is responsible for their own safety. That is how it should be. But I do feel that in this one instance the participant was encouraged beyond their ability in a place where the consequences of screw-up could be significant. It's one thing to push someone when the consequences of a screw-up are minor. It is an entirely different matter when the consequences could be devastating. Please note that I only felt this way with one coach in the entire team of people I dealt with and we were exposed to a lot of different coaches.
Final comments:
Do it! It's awesome and I learned a ton.:D:cool:
Remember that ultimately you are always responsible for your own safety, just like you are any day you go out to ride.:o
Fill out all the questionnaires before you go, they really do use the info to place you well.
Take advantage of the knowledge and equipment available at the camp. It's well worth it!!:D
Use the shin guards if you're using platforms pedals!! Trust me on this one. I don't call my platforms "shin-shredders" for no reason. I got cocky and it was hot so I took my shin guards off... ouch.:eek::mad:
The door prizes are great.:cool:
The unexpected benefit:
I met other ladies in my area to ride with of very similar abilities. It doesn't sound like much, but that's actually kind of hard for me. So I was really happy about that.:D:D
In the end, I just signed up and paid my $325ish dollars. I had a very busy month at work and decided that I needed a treat without any responsibilities. I was a little worried that I would feel like I wasn't getting my money's worth out of the camp since it was in my town and I would be riding trails that I already knew.
Pros:
It's definitely worth $325ish dollars.
The demo gear was great and at no extra charge. The coaching sessions in the morning were fantastic, with very user friendly, appropriately graded stunts.
The coaches where mostly excellent. In the skills sessions I thought they were all excellent, on the trail sessions in the afternoon, the coaching was mostly good but I have a comment on that I'll make below.
Overall, I felt the organization did a very good job of placing people in groups according to their skill level, as per a questionnaire we were asked to fill out at the beginning of camp.
The lunch was much better than average fair that I've seen at events like this. They made a big effort to accommodate people's food issues. Not an easy task!
We had a few injuries at the camp. These injuries were not a fault of the organization. I mention them under "pros" because they were handled professionally and appropriately. I have a lot of experience in "out in the field" medicine, so I say this with solid background.
The group vibe was unbelieveably supportive and I met several ladies to ride with at my skill level.
Jennifer Wilson is an amazing switchbacks coach.
Karen (sorry I don't know her last name) was fantastic on drops and jumps.
Charlotte was great at wheel lifts and straight line riding. Plus she gave me a ton fo fantastic training tips for my next big adventure. She's done long mountain bike stage races and is a wealth of knowledge for how to train for these things as a real person with a job and family.
There were other coaches that I had who were apprentices that I was really impressed wit. Jill Hardiman, especially.
The riding was great of course. That is a function of where we are, but cudos to Dirt Series for their location selection.
Cons:
Our morning skills sessions where 2 sessions of a little over an hour each. It would have been great if they could have been condensed a bit and made into 3 sessions, with the total coaching time in the AM being a little longer. There seemed to be a lot of dead time at the LBS in the morning before we got started. It would be good if registration started a bit earlier and we spent less time at the LBS.
Saturday was a REALLY long day for my group. There was socializing time in the evening at the LBS with dinner delivered. I never made it there as we didn't get back from the afternoon trail session until nearly 7 pm. There was no way I was going to make it to the social hour at that point.
Sunday was hard, mostly because I was fried from Saturday. So I think that overall, the Saturday trail ride needs to be shorter (in time at least, including shuttling etc) in order to make the weekend more manageable. An easy way to do this would be to up the cost a bit and add a shuttle bus service. That would save a lot of organization time, dealing with getting cars ready etc.
Lunch was great but, we are PNWers, therefore, some efforts at recycling and/or composting are expected.
Finally, I understand that it is the coaches job to encourage people to push their abilities. But I am generally a pretty aggressive person (read - I tend to push the envelope more than I should at the expense of my body) and at times I felt like I was being encouraged to do something that I'm pretty sure I should not have tried. In one instance I think this encouragement contributed to an injury in our group. It could have been worse but fortunately it wasn't. The participant was concussed, badly enough that she couldn't continue the ride or the camp the next day. But really, in medical terms this was considered a minor concussion and she will be fine, Ultimately, the participant is responsible for their own safety. That is how it should be. But I do feel that in this one instance the participant was encouraged beyond their ability in a place where the consequences of screw-up could be significant. It's one thing to push someone when the consequences of a screw-up are minor. It is an entirely different matter when the consequences could be devastating. Please note that I only felt this way with one coach in the entire team of people I dealt with and we were exposed to a lot of different coaches.
Final comments:
Do it! It's awesome and I learned a ton.:D:cool:
Remember that ultimately you are always responsible for your own safety, just like you are any day you go out to ride.:o
Fill out all the questionnaires before you go, they really do use the info to place you well.
Take advantage of the knowledge and equipment available at the camp. It's well worth it!!:D
Use the shin guards if you're using platforms pedals!! Trust me on this one. I don't call my platforms "shin-shredders" for no reason. I got cocky and it was hot so I took my shin guards off... ouch.:eek::mad:
The door prizes are great.:cool:
The unexpected benefit:
I met other ladies in my area to ride with of very similar abilities. It doesn't sound like much, but that's actually kind of hard for me. So I was really happy about that.:D:D