The day before a race usually provides a good transition between the chaos of traveling and the familiar stage race routine. Tomorrow is the first stage of the Cascade Classic here in Bend, Oregon. Most of us arrived yesterday evening and today was a chance for us to preview the course for Thursday’s hilltop finish. Judging from past years, it will be one of the more decisive stages for GC.

Not having much of an idea how to get there, we headed out of the hotel for our ride following our Garmins. Too bad we couldn’t take all the sweet dirt roads that it found for us instead of the busy highway because we were short on training wheels and a few guys were riding tubulars. In the end, we made it to the top of the climb for a nice 3-hour ride. The soigneurs and mechanics had lunch all ready for us and drove us and our bikes back to the hotel. It was a nice relaxing day for us, thanks to the staff.

After all of us had massages, we headed to a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant where there seemed to be a never-ending stream of jokes and laughter coming from our table. Capping things off on a serious note was the team meeting. Now it’s off to bed with the team in high spirits and ready for the job at hand.