Good Morning,
We are heading into the final hours until the race starts at 11:45am here. The last 24hours have been nothing short of nerve racking, but I have a great group of supporters keeping me calm and focused on my goal. I wanted to check in and give everyone a little course info, and tell everyone what our pre-rides have been like.
First ride on Tuesday finished with a trip to the emergency room! The course is very technical and we got about 2/3 of the way through when my friend Jeff decided to hug a tree on a very steep descent. He broke his seat post and wrapped himself around a tree. He got a deep cut above his eye from his glasses, but was otherwise OK. Greg and I who are both EMT’s went into rescue mode and got him out and to the emergency room. He’s stitched up and we’ve been back out on the course again and got through the tough stuff without any other dramas. It is the hardest 24 hr solo course I’ve ever ridden. It’s about 12 miles of mostly single track and very bumpy, rooty, Canadian riding. There are a few steep, scary descents thrown in as well. There are very few places on the course to relax your body and mind and to eat/drink. The riding is fun for one lap, but I can imagine that after 15 hours or so, the jackhammer qualities of this course will be taking their toll on everyone.
Our last few days have been spent as follows:
Riding the course, getting to know each corner and planning strategy
Jason’s completely rebuilt all the bikes with new cables, new drive trains, new grips, new tires, making them race ready
Hanging out with our posse in the house on Carey St. there are 8 of us here now including crew and racers
Grocery shopping
Visiting Bow cycles in Calgary for some gear, poster signing, borrowing tents/chairs
Admiring the spectacular panoramic views in Canmore
Catching up with other racers from around the world
Thinking about the race!
The race has also developed a live website that will have updates, twitters and racer blogs. I’ve got a great crew here with Charles (crew chief), Jason (head mechanic), Donna (clothing/fashion coordinator/motivator), and Karoline (teammate, training partner, timing chief, motivator)! They will be taking care of Greg and myself and attempting to post any updates or photos if possible. The website is: http://24wsc.com/
We are going to do our best to make sure everyone is in the loop while the race is happening. It is going to be a long, hard, but fun 24hrs! And congratulations to Team Astana on their win too!
Cheers
Reba
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