The Odd Team Building Winter Training Camps

[babastooey]

Are these the norm or has some crazy fad caught on? -- No, I mean it, I am asking, because I have never seen Fabian Cancellara saw a log before. Have teams actually done this in the past and I just am now learning about it?

I suppose anything offbeat is at the very least interesting -- but I wonder, do any of you see anything productive happening at these getaways?

Can you put a value on team togetherness when a milestone victory is achieved? And if so, how much is the value increased as a result of one of these team building camps?

 

[Le Baroudeur]

you can read about the origins and effect here on Cyclingnews.com

Bjarne's Boot camps are infamous, originally organised by ex Jægerkorps (equivalent to UK SAS) and survival Guru 'Bjarne Slot Christiansen' for Bjarne Riis's Teams at his request.

 

[Michele]

In the last years there was a lot of "mental training" going on at teams and that kind of camps are supposed to improve the faith/trust in each other and simply get to know each one more in some limit situations where everyone respond in a different way.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

I've always known Riis's team doing this, but only since recently I see almost every team doing it. Any idea since when others started picking up on it?

Of course Team Building exists in Company Management since a very long time.

 

[Michele]

I think Riis was the first with this kind of "extreme camp", indeed it made a lot of noise on the media cause very unusual.

 

[42x16ss]

Riis started these years ago in about 2003 iirc. It seemed to work for him with the camaraderie that the CSC squad showed for so long.

The riders all seem to like them as they are a good way to get to know your teammates without being on the bike and without the pressures and expectations of a normal pre-season training camp.