A day in the life of a Looney: Nova Norba National, pre-race day

After facing crazy winds coming down I25 to Albuquerque with 4 bikes on the roof, we finished day 1 of the trek to AZ. What should have been a 5.5 hour drive slowly turned into 8 hours. Brian and Ryan stayed in Santa Fe with a friend. My dad showed up in style in his Z06 Corvette to take me to ABQ where my mom made a delish lasagna. My dad and I killed a bottle of this really awesome wine. It was called "Red," made in Sonoma, 2003. It was a mix of three different berries. Speaking of wine, I'm sipping on a very flavorful merlot out of a hotel plastic cup.

anyway, the boyz picked me up in the morning and the drive to Phoenix went really smoothly. That is, after they fixed a flat tire before they picked me up. We zoomed along the highway happily at 80 mph versus our heinous 60 the night before. We even gained an hour of time because AZ doesn't have the lame daylight savings. The little Honda was totally loaded down and there was barely room for me to even sit in the back seat. the 29'er wheels were huge and we didn't have room for 2 of them, so we TIED with clothesline and bungee corded the wheels to the bikes on the roof.

We rolled into the Comfort Inn in Fountain Hills, AZ, but not without difficulty. Yuki (the other guy staying with us) flew to the race and got there early. The man couldn't find our reservation so I had to talk to him in the car. I said, "YOU were the one I talked to when I made the reservation." He finally found it. The guy spelled my name wrong. Okay, I know Looney is kind of a crazy last name. :) However, people always mispell it AFTER I spell it for them because they are just in disbelief.

Let's go ride dudes.

We went to the race site and prerode the TT course twice. It's a 6 mile loop that makes you dizzy there are so many turns with a couple gnarly downhill sections, and a few short climbs. It is going to be a fast sufferfest. I have done this race twice, but the beautiful landscape never ceases to impress me. It is like racing in a botanical garden. After tearing up some singletrack, we went to good 'ol Safeweizer(Safeway) and tried to find organic food. We did pretty good and made some awesome dinner in the room. Brian got some wine from Trader Joe's the night before, but we were sans wine opener. Ryan was genious enough to open the bottle by pushing the cork in with an 8 mm allen. yeah boy.

So yeah, tomorrow is the TT. The weather is pleasant. Did you know it snowed like 10 inches in boulder today? SUCKAS! It's very nice to be on vacation. I couldn't be happier-- nice weather, bike racing, good friends, food. yeah baby. I'm stoked to race tomorrow. The legs are feeling better although I am outta shape! ;) It's going to be sweeeeet. I can't wait!!!! I love bike races.