When I first heard that I had to go to a “survival training camp” all I could think was “why?” Despite his public image of being awesome, that Jeff King is actually quite delusional and a bit of a narcissist. But I went reluctantly, and after a couple of days* in the remote corners of the Palisades State Forest (or whatever it’s called), I realized that Jeff may have been on to something. As much as I love training with my coaches (Mike Sherry and Craig Upton), they simply don’t cover basic outdoor survival training skills or team bonding activities. Los Banditos need to be prepared as a team to respond to anything and everything. This camp was the perfect training and the wilderness of southeastern Bergen County was the perfect spot … it’s easy to get to, there’s full Blackberry coverage, car service is available if needed, and Citarella delivers to the ranger station for a $20 additional charge.**

Day one began with the “trust fall” off a big boulder. Let me tell you, I don’t like falling backwards off boulders, especially into the waiting hands of a bunch of jokers with short attention spans. But I did it and it was actually pretty cool. I feel that I can really trust Los Otros Banditos. I know they won’t chase me down in a break, and I know they will deliver the goods if I put myself on the line for them. You can’t buy this type of training. You have to live it.

Day two was filled with more physical activities such as arm wrestling (because a Bandit likes to gamble), rock climbing without ropes (because a Bandit thrives on danger) and a weird tug-of-war track-stand thing (because a Bandit has an insatiable curiosity for the unusual). The highlight for me was tracking the infamous “Hudson Terrace chicken.” We never quite found it, but I know we were close. I could feel it.

At night we gathered at base camp for campfire chats.*** This seemed like a pretty good idea until we realized that we don’t really like each other. EMH shared vegan recipes (snore), Jeff just talked about himself a lot (snore), Ryan and I sneaked pulls from a bottle of Single Malt and threw enflamed marshmallows at everyone (hey now) and Justin tried — most unsuccessfully — to maintain peace in the camp. All hell broke loose a few times, but nothing a barrage of flaming, molten marshmallows couldn’t quell.

In summary, I’m really glad to have completed this difficult training. I feel closer to Los Banditos and I feel better equipped to tackle the physical, mental and emotional rigors of local, amateur, weekend bike racing.

* The full camp was scheduled for 4 days, but we cancelled the 3rd night and the 4th day so that we wouldn’t miss PBR at the Garden. I also left camp twice for brief periods … once because I couldn’t stand spending another minute with JKIA (but Justin talked me into returning based on Jeff’s promises that he would shut up for at least 2 hours a day), and the other because I didn’t want to miss my regular massage appointment.

** Overnight camping is strictly prohibited in Palisades State Forest (or whatever it’s called). Bandit Racing does not condone overnight camping activities at this location and would ask readers to abstain from such activities.

*** Campfires are strictly prohibited in Palisades State Forest (or whatever it’s called). Bandit Racing does not condone the setting of fires and would ask readers to abstain from such activities at all times.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 at 7:21 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.