Two Days on the Road and Now in Bend!
We left Durango early Wednesday afternoon with plans to make it to Boise, Idaho where we would stay the night before finishing our drive to Bend, Oregon on Thursday. However, due to adverse driving conditions we were unable to make it to Boise and stayed in Burley, Idaho where we arrived a little after midnight.
The roads were pretty bad all the way to moab which made driving pretty treacherous.
We quickly got settled in our hotel and got a short night’s sleep before hitting the road at 7:00 on Thursday morning. The roads were dry and the weather was good all day and we arrived in Bend shortly before 5:00.
Watching the sun rise from the car after leaving, Burley where the temperature was 10 degrees.
We headed straight to the 2009 Cyclocross National Championship course where we set up base camp for the weekend. Our setup consists of the team trailer, which is mainly used for storage, and a 18′x22′ canvas tent, donated by Dave Ellis Canvas, which is heated by propane heaters. The tent is a wonderful and serves many purposes including a place for our team mechanics John Bailey and Chad Cheeney to work on our riders’ bikes, a spot for the team to gather and hang out, and a warm place out of the elements where racers can ride on their trainers. While camp was being set up our riders got bundled up and ready to take some practice laps on the course.
Ian Burnett gets his bike dialed in and is ready to check out the course.
The course is flat and technical and will suit our team well. Since it was late in the day the riding was very tricky as the course was covered in packed snow and ice. Several riders resorted to the trainers to get the proper workout that they needed. After spending two days in a car it is very important to get the legs moving and flushed out. There was not much time to ride and after a short while it was getting dark and time to head to the houses where we are staying to warm up and settle in.
We all gather around the kitchen to take in some serious calories for the upcoming weekend.
The night went well with a big group dinner and a meeting to go over the next day plans which includes an early morning ride on the course and an afternoon practice. The weather is supposed to take a turn for the worse with a winter storm watch in effect until Saturday. We will just have to wait and see what the weather does but rain or shine we are guaranteed to have some epic conditions come race day on Sunday.
