Team Camp 2025
By: Elle Marley
This year’s edition of Apex Team Camp was sure to be both similar and very different from past team camps. Myself (Elle) and the other returning riders knew what to expect in some sense as we "camped" where we have for the past few years near Red River Gorge in Slade, KY. While the roads were familiar the team being only women and the much smaller in size ensured a different feel for the weekend than years past.
Most of us arrived Friday afternoon to meet up and ride together before the check in for our cabin! Getting out of the car after several hours we were met with really warm sunshine and almost hot temperatures. We all kitted up and headed out for a 48 mi out and back from Miguel’s Pizza in the beautiful Kentucky hills. After our ride we pieced together maps and directions to find our cabin at the end of a gravel road overlooking some lush forest and more Kentucky hills. The Lincoln log style cabin smelled of new lumbar and we each were happy to discover we got our own room! That evening was filled with the arrival of the last few teammates, delightful DIY pizzas, and loads of talking around the kitchen table catching up and getting to know each other.
Much of the same carried into the second and third days of the team camp. We enjoyed some really great breakfast the next morning- oatmeal, fruit, pancakes, and coffee (thanks to Lilly). Over breakfast that morning as the rain poured down outside Dylan shared exciting news that we had hit our minimum goal for fundraising and would be able to have strong financial support this season, largely due to some friends of the team and cycling community connections helping us quickly raise funds before the season got underway. A lot of genuine excitement filled the cabin as this was shared and that momentum carried us for the rest of the weekend and got us even more excited for the season. Knowing there were people who believed our team was doing meaningful things in the peloton and even believed in us as individuals to accomplish our goals both on and off the bike, for the advancement of women’s cycling. We couldn’t do this without you all!
We had some lovely miles on the roads directly adjacent to the Red River Gorge with a lot of smooth surface and long climbs. Dylan was on the radio informing us of upcoming conditions and we narrowly made it both after and before massive downpour of rain and storms for Saturday’s ride. “Heavy rain in 10 minutes!” was something we heard a couple miles out from the cabin, so we sent it once we got to the long gravel drive and made it moments before the next storm!
It was really productive to get comfortable riding on each other’s wheels, and in a close pack. We also did some higher speed pace lining to get used to each other’s riding style. It was genuinely so fun to ride together the time we were on the bike went by way too fast! Saturday night after the Lizzie Maguire movie and Tex Mex, we were going around the table talking about just about everything (basically how we met our spouses/boyfriends/fiancés, and our parents moving out of our childhood homes) but we finally got around to sharing our ages after some old man jokes flew Dylan’s way. As we went around it finally got to Claire and she confessed; “I’m 25... I turn 25 today actually!” We all burst into screaming and shock we had spent her entire birthday with her without knowing it! Naturally, we burst into singing and broke out the Oreos to celebrate! She was so gracious towards all our ignorance and it made the weekend that much more special knowing we got to spend her birthday weekend with her while just getting to know her!
Sunday started with a slightly more brief breakfast and packing up before we rode. Our route was similar and the pace lining continued, but it was seamless compared to the day before which let the ride feel even more flowy and fun. We hammered it on some of the main roads the second so the ride felt super short but it ended up being nice for traveling back home that afternoon. We ended the weekend with lunch out of the back of Dylan’s van and some camera timer group photos! What better way to close out a weekend full of great riding and even better friends?
