The Kelly Benefits squad started the new year with a two-week training camp near Greenville, South Carolina. The team’s operating director, Joe Penley, found the team an AirBnB farmhouse in the countryside at the base of the mountains.
The secluded location provided peaceful solace for the team to focus, bond, and prepare as we look to our goals for 2025. From team dinners to 200km rides and a snowstorm, the boys completed a successful team camp and are ready to set their sights on the year’s first race at Valley of the Sun Stage Race. After over 50 hours, 1000+ miles, and more than 70,000 feet of climbing conquered at camp, each team member set a strong foundation of fitness for the season ahead.
The training at camp included a mock race, where the boys split into three teams and competed in a time trial and an hour-long road race. The mock race signaled the end of the first week of camp and kicked off some big back-to-back days of riding. Every morning at camp started at the dinner table with a big bowl of oats to fuel the day, but the boys transitioned quickly to riding for an early departure to the day’s training. They load their pockets with rice krispies, fig bars, or gummies and fill their bottles with a concoction of First Endurance high-carb mix. With this robust nutrition, each rider was prepared to push themselves beyond their limits. When the squad wasn’t out on the road, they were huddled in the team house playing card games, completing 2,000-piece puzzles, helping in the kitchen, and discussing tactics and goals for 2025. Building a strong bond and chemistry at team camp is just as important as the many miles put in on the bike.
On January 15th, the team departed from camp, dispersing across the country and returning to their respective homes. Over the last few weeks, our riders took on the challenge of balancing training like professionals while attending to their obligations at school, work, and home. Winter training for many of our riders can be incredibly challenging with intense weather conditions in many parts of the country; still, each rider has been primarily dedicated to honing their craft and fitness over the last few weeks to prepare for the racing ahead.
This week, the entire squad travelled to Phoenix, Arizona, to race in the Valley of the Sun. A group of six of our riders will stay in Arizona until the following weekend to race the Tucson Bicycle Classic; while a few of our riders will travel to northern Spain for a month and a half of racing through the beginning of April. Racing in premier early-season races in the United States is imperative as we seek to maintain our status as a top Under 23 Elite team and continue our support for the US racing scene. Early-season races are also important for us to garner national team directors’ attention and set a precedent for how we will race in the season ahead.
All of this being said, bike racing is an incredibly expensive sport, especially in the United States. Putting on high-quality races in this country costs promoters a fortune and thus makes entries to these races incredibly costly to teams who already struggle to bring together a budget that is reflective of their goals and the caliber of their riders. At Kelly Benefits Cycling, we strive to support our athletes as much as possible, but it is impossible for us to cover all the costs for our riders to compete at many of the races we attend. Our team is composed of college students, athletes balancing work and racing, and kids living out of their parent’s basements. Many of our riders need extra support to cover the full financial expenses required to compete at races with the team all around the country and internationally. It takes a village for our riders to realize their biggest goals, and they still need some support. Our team director, Nima Ebrahimnejad, has set up a charitable organization called the Giving Wheel Coalition, where any one of you all can contribute and help cover essential expenses for our athletes such as transportation, extra food costs, and additional expenses required to compete at these incredible races. If you are a fan of our team and our riders, please consider contributing and help get these fast young-men out racing.
