Wednesday...I mean Thursday

Okay, so I missed yesterday...I got it!  Man, where did Wednesday go? 

We (Alec, Brady, Bryce, and I) did some downhill riding on Wednesday.  We took the Gondola up Vail Ski Slope and had a good time taking the trails back down...well, sort of.  Alec took off on some technical single-track and I went with Brady and Bryce on some "easier" trails.  We left the "easy" stuff for "more difficult" and oops, we had a few little bumps along the way...but darn if I didn't see a single one of them.  First I came up to Bryce, brushing the dust off his backside and just 15 feet in front of him but just as far off the trail, was Brady, picking himself up out of the weeds.  Guess they came into the turn a bit too fast.  Bryce tried to catch himself and stressed his wrist a bit.  Says he is good to go today, though.  Brady has some nice looking bruises and scrapes and yes, some sore muscles.  I believe he needed a little help getting out of bed this morning as he was a bit tight.  He actually took two different spills...I missed them both - RATS!  HA!

Alec has found his passion, I think...he ended up making three runs down the mountain and the third was on the "Experts Only" course.  He had a good time!  I think it is a skill that will come in good use, in Illinois!  HAR-HAR!

So, some technical fun yesterday meant I needed to get a good spin and a few miles in today.  I hit the good climbs and pushed 27 miles in pretty quick time today.  Even improved on a section of the "course" which is 3.7 miles with some awesome elevatiuon gain.  I dropped nearly 20 minutes off my climb time today...I finished with a nice downhill spin back into Vail and then spent the remainder of the morning cleaning, lubricating, and adjusting my bike in preparation for the race on Saturday.

Tomorrow morning a few of us will head up to Leadville.  I have medical check-in and packet pick-up.  Then we will head out and mark our support crew spots with tarps.  And following will be the mandatory pre-race meeting.  As soon as it is over, we will head back to Vail and begin packing up for the early morning departure on race day.  Tomorrow night will be pasta and pizza for the final carbo-load (plus I need the left-over pizza for race food - Perfect) along with some pre-loading of sodium to hopefully prevent any chance of cramping (it worked great last year)!

We continue to get donations and challenges and are moving closer to our "adjusted" goal but we do have a ways to go, still.  Spread the word and help us make our goal.  And if you have a minute, give a shout out.  Would love to hear from you.

Until tomorrow...

Saddle Up, Dig Deep, and Ride Hard!

TNT OUT-