Nationals--the non-racing part.

This week has been all about the National Championships. But it's not a weeks worth of racing. Yes, we are in Bend for 8 days.
Yes, it is the Nationals
No, it is not 8 days of racing.

It is 3 days of racing, 2 days of travel, 1 day of "openers', and 2 days of recovery. What this all means is, we do a lot of stuff besides actual racing.

We do things like going to Trader Joe's to stock up on important things that we can't get at home.We hang out with new friends we make on the road and at our host house.
For me personally, it's been great family time since The Mom and Dad drove to Bend from Colorado to cheer my Team Vera Bradley Foundation teammates and me on in the races. Dang, they've taken good care of me! Thank you.
We make excuses like "it's good for recovery" to hang out in the river during off days.
And, we make good food with our new friends, host family and real family (we do a lot of eating too).
There's a lot of fun stuff to do outside of the actual racing (not pictured is- drink espresso from numerous coffee shops, meet up with old ski racing friends and enjoy seeing what Bend has to offer).

Tomorrow is the last day of racing here in Bend. The U.S. National Road Race. We start bright and early at 8:15am.

The first goal of the morning is to drink enough coffee to get things "moving" before the race.
The second goal of the morning is to be on the bike at 6:50am to ride to the start.
The third goal of the morning is to race.
The fourth goal of the morning....well I can't start planning goals beyond that until the first three have been completed.