Helen, GA – Another Helen Training Camp down and I’m ready for some spring races. I can’t believe I’ve been coming to this amazing town since 1995. My first trip to Helen was to recon a potential fall mountain bike event to take advantage of the recent UCI World Cup event that put Helen, GA on the map in 1994. Yep…HFP used to produce Mountain Bike races back in the day. After spending a very warm day in May visiting with local officials and running the trails I was hooked. What a super cool venue with the Chattahoochee River running right through the middle of town and awesome pubs like the Troll Tavern serving cold beers and burritos the size of your head (sadly they no longer serve burritos). HFP only produced a couple events in Helen but it became an annual spring training stop for myself and my HFP teammates. The Helen Training Camp has a way of getting you out of bed in the cold winter mornings to get in training that you may otherwise choose to blow off…because you just can’t show up to Helen the first week of April with hopes and dreams to get you through this brutal week of training. No…the only way to survive this annual sufferfest is to have put in some significant miles in advance. The camp gets started each year with our meet n greet at the Troll Tavern next to the Chattahoochee River. The excitement of being in a warmer venue and the nervousness of what lies ahead is evident in everyone’s demeanor during dinner. The first day starts off with a 60 minutes swim workout in the local recreation center pool then a ride to the highest point in Georgia…Brasstown Bald. It’s at this point when the reality of what you signed up for sets in and legs are telling you there is NO way you can go any further…and so it begins. Photos from this year are below. In 2018 we’ll be taking the camp to warmer weather in Oro Valley, AZ (next to Tuscon). Look for more details on our website in the coming weeks. Thanks to all the campers for your photos of this epic week.

Bring it!
Shannon Kurek
aka HFP Man