Vail-tastic!

Despite the misgivings about my poor little car making yet another trip up to the mountains, I packed the tough bastard full and headed up to Vail this afternoon. I am happy to say it performed well (so far….!) After downing an iced americano and having a personal rave (minus the drugs!) in my car, I arrived!

Nina was waiting for me! She and I have been friends since I first started racing (in fact, she helped get me into the sport… and into COFFEE!) I think I was/am more excited to hang out with her than to race. haha After tinkering with our bikes and taking in the scene, we hit up the singletrack. It was in great condition other than the few muddy spots. I was gasping for air, the race is around 9-10,000′.

Here are some pics from our ride.

So pretty.

Nina is a total badass.

Asssspen!

Georgia Gould came blowing by our effort on the pre-ride while we were chatting. 🙂

I was so hungry I was about to tip over by the end. I hurried back to my car, got the key I had hidden and went to open the car door. My key wasn’t going in, and I was halfway bonking, so it took me time to figure out why. I had taken my HOUSE KEY off my keychain instead of my car key (my usual habit). Where was my car key? Oh, in the car. Did I have a spare? Nope.

I have actually lost a key before on a ride and was traumatized by the whole experience, so I immediately started stressing. Fortunately I have AAA Plus, which has saved my life multiple times. They sent over a guy to pop open my door, and I was so lucky that he arrived in 20 minutes! Nina also saved me with Chili Lime chips and part of a scone!

This cute gentleman came to my rescue.

SUCCESS!

The whole thing was kind of funny, but definitely a rush of unwanted cortisol.

We are staying with some super nice folks in Eagle who offered host housing. Now it’s time to get some much needed shut-eye and hope my body is ready to ride 16.8 miles as hard I can. That was the norm for me for years… now it seems so, well… short! After the race, I’m off to Castle Rock.

Night!