The athlete's village

I arrived on Wednesday afternoon, on the train after Sandra had dropped me off at Falkirk. My bike was already assembled so I had to squash into the door area. Arriving at Edinburgh was an experience. My map showed me I had 1.3 miles to walk - not a problem. However the station is about 200 feet below street level. That's a lot of stairs to climb with a bike and two bags! Then once up there I had to negotiate the busy sidewalks, which I can tell you are not very wide.

Anyway, thanks again to the wonders of GPS (and a spare battery) I found my accommodation just in time for a quick shower and the regular 5.30pm team meeting. By 9pm I was out so sleepy I turned in for the night.

Yesterday we had registration, which went without a hitch or a delay. There is an issue with the NZ team uniforms - the letters on the back are the wrong size. Normally this will prevent one from racing (it has happened before where a whole team has been disqualified). I understand though that we have been given special dispensation.

In the afternoon I rode over the course. It wasn't quite as daunting as it looked on the map, or from the athlete's village. This mini-mountain looms above us, with the road way up high. And we have to ascend it five times on the bike for a total of 750 yards of vertical climbing in 25.7 miles. I had to ride the main descent the wrong way - its a single lane, and the normal flow of traffic is up. On race day its down, and I suppose is the riskiest part of the course. There is an open training session at 5pm tonight, but by then its rest time for me, and besides there will be thousands of cyclists out there and there are bound to be a few prangs.

Then last night we had the carbo dinner. Its not so much of a formal dinner as a walk through buffet. There are a couple of thousand athletes so obviously they have to accommodate everyone somehow.