Joe and I flew from cold and blustery Milwaukee at noon today, stopped off in Cleveland then landed in a warm and humid Charlotte only an hour later than we were supposed to. The flight into Charlotte was pretty rough for me. I don’t fly all that well despite having flown all over the world for the past 20 years. I nearly barfed.
It’s warm and green here. We drove windows-down for the last 10 miles to the race site then toured the venue in the dark enjoying the warm, southern air. We managed to find some course-front access only a few hundred yards from the pro pits. In the dark it feels like we are in a good spot but we’ll have to wait until the morning light and the opening races to find out for certain.
We are sitting in our folding chairs, in the dark, typing madly on our computers on the edge of someone’s field near Union, South Carolina. Surreal.
The personal yet familiar anxiety that the race creates for us has yet to set in. We are happy to have gotten this far into another fly-to race. The bikes need some TLC in the morning and the camper needs a small sink repair but for the most part we are ready to go. We talked about our goals at this event on the drive down. That discussion often gets my head in gear and my stomach fluttering but not yet.
I’ve been doing some nutritional research with the help of my wife since the last race. She offered some guidelines to help me consume enough carbs during the race. I’ve been fading in the later parts of the past three races so I’m hoping to turn that around this weekend. Perhaps I am not a fit as I could be my fitness is still good and I shouldn’t be giving away so many minutes in the last lap of the race.
With the warmth this evening there are few generators running near our camp. I’m optimistic about a good night’s sleep.
