Watching a spectacular sunrise over the Tennessee mountains as we prep for our first race this morning. Bottles filled, kit items on and packed and food ready to go. It is go time.
The last two days have been full but controlled as we prepared for today. Tuesday morning, after “sleeping in” (times changes help with that) we researched where the TT course was in relation to our AirBnB farmhouse as well as the store, the Starbucks and the necessities. I did my best to write down turn by turn directions of the course as the information provided in the online maps only touched on the highlights. We then headed out to drive the course. After a couple of loops and flipping the mental picture of the course in my head we nailed the course and drove it one last time to feel it as it is. The course lines the Cinch River - with rowers and cool fog sitting on the surface of the water.
From the course, we drove to the store. Grocery shopping with two hungry and one visually impaired cyclist makes for entertainment to say the least. I think it was the longest shopping trip I have had in a long time and required back tracking a few times to find the missing phone, reclaim our cart from the shopper that took it and hunting around for the “healthy” items on the low lying shelves. We returned home to find our deli turkey, intended for lunch, was not with us and still at the store. We improvised lunch with other items purchased and then the bike build commenced.
I was once again amazed by Wendy’s ability to feel her way through the bike build. Her process and system is definitely fine tuned and is a good example for the rest of us. After finding a home for the missing bolt, and making last minute adjustments we were ready to roll. The RAM 1500 rental truck turned out to be a great pick. The bike slides right in the bed. All of our gear in the back seat and we were rolling.
We headed back to the course with plans to ride on the bike path alongside the road. We found the bike path to have many obstacles (big poles in the middle to keep cars off - that are not placed well for tandems) and opted onto the road as other cyclists were out there. We were able to ride the course several times minus the 180 degree turns in the middle of traffic and to strategies a bit about different sections. We then rode the bike path along the river as a final shake out. Things were feeling good.
We returned home. Cooked up a good, healthy dinner and headed to bed - a bit earlier than the first night, but still late.
Wednesday, we woke with plans to head back out to the course at 10. We spent a quiet morning and prepared to ride. Arriving at the course, there was much more activity than the day before. USA Cycling Trucks and Trailers, pro team vans and support vehicles and many other para athletes with their support. They were building the barriers on the course, had lane closures and many people both on and off the course. We were very glad to have had our peaceful recon yesterday as today appeared to be a situation of making the best of what we could get in. We rode for about an hour and a half, returned home for lunch and showers and headed to athlete check-in, dinner and athlete meeting. We had hopes of many questions answered but left with little more information than we already had.
When we arrived back to the house, we gathered things for the morning and headed to bed. One more sleep til race day.
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