Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1540850
10 Team Camp: Before the ISDE, we all get together and train as a team. This year, we were in Hickory, NC, at a team camp set up by Trophy Team member Josh Toth. We walk tests, we talk strategy, we prac- ce parts swaps, ride special tests, and get pointers from the top coaching talent in the country – this year featured Steve Hatch, Ryan Sipes, and Cole Mar nez. In theory, this also helps us to get into a team mindset, which is more important than you might think. We are individual athletes in an indi- vidual sport who directly compete with each other most weekends of the year. It takes a serious mind- set shi to move beyond a compe ve mindset and work together as a team… I've never struggled with that personally, as I'm a very social person and want to befriend everyone, even though I might run over their face that same day to gain a posi- on. Friends ll the helmets go on, friends once they come off, but I understand that doesn't work for everybody. (Most of all, I enjoy befriending the foreign compe on at ISDE, which I'm sure would confuse and trouble our team manager to no end – lucky for me, I don't think he reads Trail Rider – hey An Kallonen, if I'm wrong, shoot me a text and I'll issue a correc on next issue!) Walk week: Some people pay lots of money to go on long hikes through European mountains and fields. Most of them, unlike my teammates and I, do not have old, lingering injuries, the mental load of trying to memorize their en re twelve-mile hike line-for-line, and arguably the most important work event/physical contest of the year coming up immediately a er. So these people, I suspect, enjoy their hikes a lot more than we enjoy ours – though I s ll, of course, appreci- ate the views. Walk week has sort of a Goldilocks too- hard-too-so -just-right aspect. You have to do your job. Which is seventy to ninety miles of walking and memoriza on. It's hard, and it's only made harder when you sit in the team van, no talking, no laughing, just driving in silence to the tests like I've seen some teams do. Completely serious, no fun to be had. However, you can't just drive around, swim in the river, and eat gelato. But if you do things right, you can do both! Keeping walk week (and the ISDE as a whole) as fun as possible, remembering this is a once- in-a-life me experience improves your mindset more than a team manager pep talk ever could (I'm really banking on An not reading this now, hahaha). I feel like my team, especially, has always done a great job of walking that line.