Road Trip

Yesterday morning, I woke up at the same time as usual, but instead of heading to work, I kept driving past the exit for Quebec and kept heading east into nothingness. We had four people, four bikes, ten wheels, a bunch of bags and some cookies packed into a swank 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan, courtesy of Vista Auto Group. By way of drives, it was a pretty easy one. We made it to Lawrence in just over 7:15 without incident and surprisingly without seeing anything incredibly blog worth, other than the sign that read "Abortion Stops a Beating" with a tiny logo filling in for "heart" that really doesn't stand out. Apparently Kansas doesn't have the meth problems that Colorado and Wyoming have.

The set up for the race is pretty sweet. We are shacked up in the Eldridge which is right in the middle of the downtown part of Lawrence. We had plenty of time after the drive to tool around town a little bit and get settled in. Knowing that a college town would have a barbershop, I headed down the main drag to get my mane chopped. Back in the luxury suite . . .


The street sprints were just outside our front door which was convenient for heading back up to the room after the one "sprint" effort. I'm not even sure why, what, how, but I had very little expectation of doing anything in the event, but it was a little bit of a cluster. I'm not sure if any of us left the room mentally for the sprints, although Zak's girlfriend Melissa took 4th in her event, without even knowing what was going on.


Back in the comforts of the room . . . usually, we try to find the most economical lodging setup possible, but since the race organization was covering the costs for staying at the Eldridge, it was a no brainer. Comfortable is good since we don't race tonight until 7:30.


We've got bikes galore. It could have been a bit tighter in the room, but Zak and Melissa very wisely decided to get a room at a little B&B down the street. We still have bikes for four guys and two of Zac's extra bikes since he is heading on to SuperWeek after this race. He and Chuck carpooled out here, but Zac didn't drop the "I don't have A/C in the car" until it was too late for poor Chuck.


We are almost out of cookies which is disastrous. I can't race without cookies . . . I did the prerequisite, pre-race baking Thursday night and made a double batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for the trip and it might not be enough. Well, only nine more hours to kill before the race . . .