~ New Destinations on America's Oldest Gravel ~
2024 Spring Epic Appalachian Gravel Camp
Get ready to experience new worlds of adventure with Hunter and the Rockin' PCG Team
Bedford, Virginia
April 7-11, 2024
"With epic mountain gravel climbs, roaring streams and grand vistas, the Appalachian MTNS are a perfect escape."
-- Hunter
Are you ready to get dirty on America's oldest gravel?
Let's do it!
Whether you're racing Unbound, SBT GRVL, unPAved, Croatan 150 or a host of other great rides, this camp is for you.
The goal of this amazing gravel camp is to focus on improving your gravel skills and technique as well as race tactics and strategy--while accurately developing your power profile in WKO! The beautiful Appalachian Mountains are the perfect place for a gravel cycling camp with awesome climbing opportunities, quiet country roads for race scenarios--and it’s the hometown for the Peaks Coaching Group Headquarters!
The "brochure" can't even come close to describing all that happens at a PCG Gravel Camp. But let's try anyway! There's WKO analysis and season preparation by the master himself. There are daily rides where skills like sprinting, counter-steering, descending(!) and pace lining are taught and practiced on gravel roads. There's on-the-dirt-road race scenarios where teams battle it out for all the glory. There're stories from Hunter's many, many years in the industry and as a professional cyclist. There's SAG support, amazing A, B and C Road Groups for different levels, massages, yoga, stretching, on-staff bike mechanics, incredible food, bike fits, rider video analysis... There's just so much!
Camp Breakdown!
Welcome to Bedford
Sunday
2:00pm - Check-in at PCG world headquarters!
3:00pm - 5:30pm Falling Creek Park Skills drills clinic. Be a kid again and enjoy all the fun at the bike park! Safely! Learn cornering, braking, bunny hopping, wheelies and more! You will also learn how to corner safely in gravel, what the best lines are through a gravel turn and how to become comfortable in a gravel turn. It's a great way to kick off an awesome camp!
6:00pm - Dinner- We'll have amazing BBQ and beer from Beale's, which is in our backyard!
7:30pm - 9:30pm Introductions to staff and campers, and we'll go over camp agenda, so you'll be ready to dig into the details tomorrow.
Falling Creek Park- 10 mile
Porter Mountain Loop
Monday
Breakfast on your own
8:30am - Morning Briefing and depart.
9:00am - One of Hunter's favorite gravel loops, we have a short shuttle out to a secluded National Forest parking lot and start our adventure for the day. We will ride on the Porter MTN Loop which includes three great climbs, one of which is paved and the other two are gravel. All three are awesome with some spicy sections so bring your "bail-out" gears! On the first climb, we will warm-up and then complete our 1 min & 5min tests to better understand our current Anaerobic and Vo2 max abilities. "Testing is training and training is testing" as Dr. Andrew R. Coggan always says! Afterwards, we climb to the top, bomb down a descent and then instantly climb up the second climb of the day, which is partly paved and gravel and you can do your 20-minute test here! Re-grouping at the top, we roll along the Porter Mountain Ridge for a while and descend into the valley for a nice 8 miles on the pavement. You will know you are on the final climb when you past the Eddie Van Halen (of the Eddie Van Halen band) mailbox and then ascend back up Porter Mountain for a 3rd time from yet another different direction. Finally, we bomb back down and then back to the cars for a short trip home where our recovery shakes await us!
2:00pm -Yoga & Lunch - back at headquarters
3:00pm - 5:30 pm - Hunter Allen Group Power File Review and Power Education- Review of Power Training Principles
6:30pm - Dinner as a group- A perennial favorite- The Station!
Porter Mountain- 35 miles, 3-4 hours
Sedalia Speed Day!
Tuesday
Breakfast on your own.
8:30am - Morning briefing and depart.
9:00am - Sedalia loop which includes two of the fastest and FLAT(!) sections of gravel in Bedford. Seriously, these are the fastest and perfect to put into practice your fast cornering skills you learned on Day 1. Can you beat Hunter's Strava segment time????? Rolling hills and plenty of re-grouping points with tasty drinks and foods, make this loop a blast. Afterwards, you can say you have ridden on some of the oldest gravel roads in the country, these have been around forever! One of Hunter's training loops with views of the Appalachian Mountains galore. You won't want this day to end!
1:00pm -Yoga and Lunch- back at headquarters
2:00pm-5:30pm - Hunter Allen Group Power File Review & Power Education-In depth look at new metrics in WKO5.
6:30pm - Dinner as a group- Ya gotta have Italian at least once at Camp!
Sedalia, 37miles, 3-3.5 hours
Hunter's Gravel Gran Fondo
Wednesday
LONG DAY!
8:30am - Morning briefing and depart:
9:00am - This day is EPIC. Three climbs today, with TONS of gravel riding. The first climb is the warm-up and is only 15minutes long and has the tightest gravel descents of the week- Safety mode ON! After a re-group at the bottom, we roll along the Goose Creek Valley floor to the base of the second climb which is half gravel and then as you enter National Forest, you begin climbing a more spicy section which is a "Jeep" road. It's not steep, but probably all you want to do on your gravel bike and not have to break out the MTB. At the top of the second mountain, we have food and drinks and put on jackets for riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We bomb down an amazing gravel descent from Powell's gap into the most picturesque trout fishing area around. Lunch is on the road today and you'd better eat as you have a HUGE Category 1 climb next. This is a beast and takes the very best riders an hour, and us mere mortals more like 1:20-1:40! Plan on it! If you have something in the legs.... the climb after lunch is a perfect gradient on a hidden gravel road for over an hour, which could be your Gravel FTP test! Re-grouping at the top on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we head down the road and then we descend one of the coolest mountain gravel roads around. Complete with bone-shaking gravel, waterfalls and a 500meter long steep section that you'll want to use ALL your braking power on, this descent is just badass. After surviving the descent, you come back on a fun gravel road and then the last 8 miles home are on much appreciated pavement! It's a big day- 7 hours..... So much gravel today. You won't be asking for more!
4:00 pm - back at headquarters, recovery shakes and high fives all around!
5:00pm -Group Power File Analysis
6:30pm - Dinner as a group-And ya gotta have Mexican at least once too!
Hunter's Gravel Gran Fondo-63 miles, 7 hours!
FTP Test on Gravel!
Breakthrough Ride
Thursday
Breakfast on your own
8:30am - Morning briefing
9:00am - Why is it called "Breakthrough" ? Your legs are tired, your body is tired, your bike is tired. You don't want to ride, but you muster up the courage. You start out and yes, your legs remind you that you just rode 7 hours the day before. You continue on and pedal up the little hills and soon you find yourself zipping down a country road with a big smile on your face. After our food stop re-grouping point, you find that you feel even better and even want to push the pace... Once home, you get it. You have broken through the glass ceiling of your previous self-imposed limits. You can go harder than you ever thought even when you are tired. You take this lesson home and realize this is what it takes to go to the next level...
1pm Lunch - back at headquarters -Pizza!!!
2:00pm - wrap up and head home -We'll stay as long as you want to do more power analysis and talk cycling!
Bedford Gravel Loop- 37miles, 3 hours
GENERAL QUESTIONS
HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THIS AMAZING CAMP? WE ARE HERE TO HELP.
Paul
OZIER
Peaks Coaching Group Elite/Master Coach
Each athlete is an individual with varying abilities, skills, capabilities, qualities and un-tapped potential. Most athletes have undiscovered potential that is not realized until they have an unbiased, outside view of their talents. It is the 1 and 2% differences that add up to a wealth of improvements for the athlete. I look at each person, learn their talents and their limiters. Each person is a unique work in progress. It is an artform to learn and develop a personalized training structure, so the athlete grows into a well-rounded rider with an array of skills and abilities. Communicating with each other is a critical part of the success. I am an open book of experience, knowledge, and feedback. Sharing what I have experienced
and been educated with over the last 30 years, then seeing an athlete reach a new milestone with a smile on their face is what it is all about.
Whether it is Road Racing, Gravel Racing, Mountain Biking, Gran Fondos, or Zwift, Paul has the passion and experience to help you succeed with your goals.
Experience an unparalleled coaching experience on the gorgeous gravel roads of Appalachia. And learn a thing or two about power.
Chris
Hill
Peaks Coaching Group Elite/Master Coach
Burleson, Texas
2023 Texas Time Trial Age Group Champion
PCG Elite Coach
USAC Level 3 Coach
TrainingPeaks Level 2 Certified Coach
NASM Certified Sports Nutrition Coach
NASM Certified Weight Loss Specialist
Coaching Focus: Road, Gravel, TT, Master’s, Healthy living through cycling.
My racing career started as part of a weight loss journey. Long story made short – I got out of the Air Force to pursue a master’s degree and ballooned up to 325 lbs during that time. I stayed at that weight for some time before health concerns forced me to lose the extra pounds. I found a coach who helped me in this process and also introduced me to racing. I have had a few successes with 1st place finishes in the Tour of Corsicana Stage Race and the Vuelta de Llano stage race along with a number of top ten finishes in other Texas races. I have recently embraced gravel racing and have enjoyed a 1st overall and numerous 4th overall places in the last 6 months. BTW – I am only a little more than half my previous weight.
HunterALLEN
Founder and CEO
Legendary cycling coach, co-author of Training and Racing with a Power Meter and Cutting-Edge Cycling , co-developer of TrainingPeaks, WKO+ software, and founder of Peaks Coaching Group.
Widely known as one of the top experts in the world in coaching endurance athletes using power meters, Hunter Allen's goal has always been to teach athletes how to maximize their training and racing potential through professional analysis of their power data. This goes hand in hand with his philosophy that a power meter helps athletes discover their true strengths and weaknesses, quantitatively assess their training improvements, and refine and maximize the focus of their training.
As a coach, Hunter makes sure to look at each athlete as a whole person. He excels at designing custom programs designed to maximize each rider's potential. He believes we are human beings working closely with other human beings, and it's important to him to work hard to find your strengths and weaknesses and to help you improve your skills, then develop a realistic plan that works for life. It is important that a coach learn as much as he can about you as an athlete and as a person in order to better develop a plan for success. He has now coached over 400 athletes and still learns something new from each one.
Hunter Interviewed by The Gravel Ride!
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