2009 Blogs
I left Boulder for Australia on Thursday evening. I was preparing myself for a hellish flight, so I suppose that’s why it didn’t seem so bad. Marc, Russell, and Jill were all on my flight schedule so we cruised the airport together. The flight from San Francisco was about a 15-hour flight. Already passed my bedtime, I fell fast asleep for about 10 or 11 hours. We arrived in Canberra around 10am, grabbed our bags, went to hotel and waited for lunch. After lunch we rode over to check the course out, the venue being only 8k or so from the hotel. Amped to check the course out, we ignored the threatening clouds and got about half way through the course before being pelted by hail! Oh well, the last few days have been fun but low key. The rest of the team trickled in and we’ve just been eating, sleeping, and perfecting the course.
In other news, on Thursday, the morning I left for Oz, I “officially” made my decision to give mountain bike racing a shot for 2010. However, within the first 10 minutes of riding the course here, I was questioning my sanity in this decision!! The course is definitely something I have never ridden or experienced, and I was wondering if we had found our way onto the DH course! Big boulders and huge drops…I was so scared. The first lap was ok, because I didn’t know what was on the other side, so I just sorta went. But the next couple days of pre-riding I let my brain get in the way and I wore my skirt. Going into today, I was feeling wracked in nerves of scariness. I still have nightmares of the Green Goblin from Spiderman, and the last two nights I was trying to get away from him, on my bike, going into these boulders. Then there were mirrors everywhere…have you seen the horror movie “Mirrors”? Well, it probably isn’t a horror movie, but maybe a suspense movie. Point being, I was feeling like an ultimate wuss.
But good news, it came together today. I cut my head off so I couldn’t think. I crashed a few more times, quite a bit harder than days prior, but I knew it was my final day to get my sh*t together. Taking my leg and arm warmers off (because I really don’t feel the same sense of fast-ness with those on), I set out on my hot lap. Suddenly the course was rideable! For the most part…
Tomorrow is the race…Wednesday, Sep 2nd at 2pm. So that’s something like Tuesday at 10pm in CO. Finally I’m looking forward to it…it’s nice when you’re not dreading the course…kinda brings the fun back. The last time my legs were this bruised and battered and, well, mostly purple, was after ‘cross Nats in Kansas City where hell had frozen over and we were riding on purely frozen ruts. At least I’m givin’ er’ eh?
OH, and we saw kangaroos! When I was here last February for Geelong WC, all we wanted to see was a kangaroo (typical Americans). When we drove from aeroport to hotel we saw a herd. Then, there was a herd on the course! They’re pretty darn cute and cool…as Simon says, “like cartoon characters, what a design f*ck up!”
In other news, on Thursday, the morning I left for Oz, I “officially” made my decision to give mountain bike racing a shot for 2010. However, within the first 10 minutes of riding the course here, I was questioning my sanity in this decision!! The course is definitely something I have never ridden or experienced, and I was wondering if we had found our way onto the DH course! Big boulders and huge drops…I was so scared. The first lap was ok, because I didn’t know what was on the other side, so I just sorta went. But the next couple days of pre-riding I let my brain get in the way and I wore my skirt. Going into today, I was feeling wracked in nerves of scariness. I still have nightmares of the Green Goblin from Spiderman, and the last two nights I was trying to get away from him, on my bike, going into these boulders. Then there were mirrors everywhere…have you seen the horror movie “Mirrors”? Well, it probably isn’t a horror movie, but maybe a suspense movie. Point being, I was feeling like an ultimate wuss.
But good news, it came together today. I cut my head off so I couldn’t think. I crashed a few more times, quite a bit harder than days prior, but I knew it was my final day to get my sh*t together. Taking my leg and arm warmers off (because I really don’t feel the same sense of fast-ness with those on), I set out on my hot lap. Suddenly the course was rideable! For the most part…
Tomorrow is the race…Wednesday, Sep 2nd at 2pm. So that’s something like Tuesday at 10pm in CO. Finally I’m looking forward to it…it’s nice when you’re not dreading the course…kinda brings the fun back. The last time my legs were this bruised and battered and, well, mostly purple, was after ‘cross Nats in Kansas City where hell had frozen over and we were riding on purely frozen ruts. At least I’m givin’ er’ eh?
OH, and we saw kangaroos! When I was here last February for Geelong WC, all we wanted to see was a kangaroo (typical Americans). When we drove from aeroport to hotel we saw a herd. Then, there was a herd on the course! They’re pretty darn cute and cool…as Simon says, “like cartoon characters, what a design f*ck up!”