3 Days Till Race Day

This is our first update from New Zealand.  The last few days have gone quickly.  The flight(s) over here were painless.  We arrived at about noon local time, and got right into the New Zealand timing, so jet lag has been non-existent.  Our bikes survived the trip with only minor scratches, so that was a big load off.

The first full day here started with a team bike ride on the race course.  Riding on the left side of the road is interesting, and currently terrifying. Especially starting out in downtown Auckland, you don't really have some time to ease into the concept.  We have a week to get used to it, and to get to know the course as well as we can.  Interestingly though, on race day the course will be run on the right side of the road - so hopefully I can forget what I have just spent a week learning as quickly as possible.  The course looks good though.  Fast pavement, a good variety of hills, and turny enough that being able to handle a bike well will be a big advantage.  The last five or so kilometers are flat and wicked fast back into the downtown transition area, which will be an excellent way to end the bike portion.

We also discovered an open air, salt water, unheated 60 meter swimming pool within walking distance of the hotel.  The unheated and salt water parts are the key parts, because it makes this pool a perfect way for us to transition from swimming in an indoor pool or a warm lake to the cold ocean that we will be racing in.  There is also a long stretch of seawall right next to the pool with a running lane.  Definitely no complaints about the training facilities that are available.

Today was a rest day, so we went and checked out the expo and the grandstand area.  It's pretty cool being able to race in a race like this, with the full ITU set up.  Feels very professional.

And then the athlete parade.  Also a very cool experience.  According to the MC at the athlete dinner tonight, there are 3001 athletes racing the age group races.  Of these, over 600 (20%) are from Australia.  Team Canada has just over 300, so at 10% we aren't doing too bad either.  There is also 1 athlete from Belgium.

I apologize for the crap pictures, by the way.  We'll work on it.