Tomorrow- we ride!!

Game time 8 AM MDT tomorrow.  The conditions this year are definitely better than last year for snow. We will see how rain factors in soon enough. 

Had a nice social with the racers tonight at a local watering hole. Nicely done. Met some great guys from all over the world. Starting to see who has what kind of aspirations for their daily mileage. It's all theory at this point. Tomorrow is a whole new deal...

My goal for the next two days are to stay safe and make it to Eureka MT Saturday. That means a bigger day tomorrow. If I make Sparwood BC by about 9 PM, that's good. If I make it to Corbin that's ideal.   That's 140-160 miles.  It stays light past 10 PM right now. Nice. Dawn at 4 AM. Cool. 

I've only ridden that far in 24 hour races. The difference here is the course. Or so I tell myself. 

Talking with riders it seems my preparations are very solid. My only concern is the weight of my rig. My strategy is to be more comfortable and push through weather that will stop the SUL guys. I also have enough food to not stop tomorrow- a restaurant stop takes longer than the extra weight costs in the early days. Later it's a different deal as we get stronger but also more tired. 

People have spent time checking out my rig and the vets have marked me so I guess I'd better own it...  But I will ride my own race.  The breaks in the field will be clear by Sunday. 

Sleeping pills tonight, early breakfast of fruit shakes and granola, as much as I can stand, then roll out about 7:15!

I had spaghetti for dinner then a couple hours later a giant chocolate cake and two scoops of ice cream, one for each kid. Don't tell Navenka...

So you know my plan. For now. 

Funny thing about plans. They change as the situation unfolds...

Enjoy the show. Thanks for the positive energy. I can feel it. Keep it coming. 

I had tears in my eyes riding into Banff this morning. 

It's real.