Every day began for me at 5am my goal was to get on the road by 6:30. Anything later than 7 would lead to bicycle cluster fuck and unpleasantness. I am now comfortable saying "I am a fast rider" both due to my bike's awesomeness, and some skillz I have worked hard for. SO that means that if I got stuck behind 1500 slow riders, I would spend hours yelling out "on your left!" until I was hoarse, passing people, and avoiding traffic, and generally being flustered, feeling claustrophobic. Kind of like riding your bicycle in a street fair.
By day 3 I had it down. I would go to breakfast in my pajamas, skipping the eggs and bacon lines in favor of express line oatmeal and cereal. Long lines at 5am...for the porta-potties as well! I'd go back to the tent, put on my bike clothes, pack my gear bag, drop it off at the gear truck, then go to sports medicine to have my ankle wrapped and "get stretched."
The medical/sports medicine/chiropractic people were OUTSTANDING! On the second day I started to experience painful tendenitis in my left achilles tendon...they totally hooked me up. Chad would basically make me a new external tendon with tape, which would stabilize my ankle, and allow me to ride with reduced pain. Then, one of the chiropractors or physical therapists would SRTETCH ME! Yes, that's right bitches, they would do my stretching for me...deeper and more effective than I would have bothered to do myself.
They would set up an area with hard "foam rollers" which when rolled on, using your body weight to basically squeeze the lactic acid out of your muscles. I NEED ONE OF THESE! I was surprised at how I was not really all that sore or tight through the ride...I think it was because of these little numbersI would also join a stretching class if one was going on, then hit the road. They give you a directions breakdown and hill profile to clip to your bike - check yer air, fill yer water, and yer off for a day of hill, dale and inner thoughts.
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