Well, we made it. Took our time this morning and finally rolled out of our driveway at around 12:30. Kind of nice to not be up and out the door at the crack of dawn for the “day before drive”. We both agreed that we weren’t hung up on pre-riding today. I think this was an excellent choice since it made for a more relaxing morning and drive down.

I was out on my bike for an opening work-out, battling the angry morning winds by 8 a.m. Yes, I know not really a leisurely hour, but for an early-riser like me, this worked out perfectly. Solid ride this morning. Only lingering stiffness from Thursday’s fall down the stairs (mental note: do not fall down the stairs again!).

A few errands, some bike cleaning, last minute food preparation, hugging of Murphy (our cat) and we were out the door. The drive really was pretty easy. We didn’t hit any traffic and since we packed our lunch we were able to just roll along. Have to say, I really appreciate mini-vans. So much room. So comfortable. And the pick-up on them is pretty darn nice.

We drove straight to the race course and decided to walk it. This was an excellent decision. This allowed Marc to talk me through the course, we could look at the corners and angles, and talk about how to ride the course. Typically we’re out on our bikes and it just doesn’t work well – Marc is riding faster than me, I can’t hear him, etc. So this was a good thing to do. Though I admit that by the end I was really only thinking about food.

Supper and then a quick trip to the grocery store. We elected to check out the Super Wal-Mart… Hmm, eye opening experience…. I was disappointed to not find any gluten-free food items there. Ah well, at least the peanut butter was cheap and I picked up a treat for my dad.

Chilling out at the hotel and we’ll make it to the course tomorrow for around 10:30. As for the race course – well it is pretty darn good. I consider it to be a power course – lots of long straight stretches, some big corners where time can be easily lost, a funky rooty section that can kill tires, a few little uphills that if not ridden correctly can suck you backwards, super fast barriers right on a corner. All in all, a pretty fun course. Looking forward to getting out and racing tomorrow. So far the weather is looking good – the course is dry – really dry. Should be a good fast one.

After Saturday’s race the plan is to hop in the mini-van and drive to Syracuse for the night and then race at Kirkland on Sunday. Marc is a bit under-the-weather, so we’re playing this by ear. Anyway, expect a race report from me sometime later in the day. Feel free to send fast vibes my way at around 2:35….

Stoked to get out and show off the Ottawa Cross sponsors for 2010-2011!