Time to race

Well thinking, planning and preparation time is over, now it is time for the doing bit.

As far as I am aware everything is now good to go. Today was spent driving down to Mandurah, registering, racking bikes, getting briefed etc. It all seemed to go pretty smoothly. Standing around in the sun waiting to register was pretty warm, but other than that the whole process seemed to go without a hitch. Other than that everything that I am going to need in the morning is packed. My plans for the morning have been made. Unless I am missing something (which I really hope I am not) I am set to go for tomorrow.

With the race tomorrow, a lot of noise has been made about how hot it is and how hot it is going to be, but to be honest the forecast has come back to predicting 31, which really is pretty nice. After the briefing I bumped into Stu and Ali Fitch from Darwin and was thinking about how hot it was, when they said how lovely it was to be standing around outside and not sweating. Made me think that perhaps I just needed to suck it up a bit more. Once I made that mental shift, it certainly started seeming more pleasant.

Since the forecast during the week was for it to be a lot hotter, mitigation measures have been taken by the organisers, with an extra water station added to the run etc. That was all very welcome news. Whether it is warm tomorrow or not, I would much prefer organisers who are proactive about looking after the athletes than ones who take a 'She'll be right' attitude, and then only take action when things start going wrong. Those actions, combined with a very comprehensive briefing have meant that the organisers have left a pretty good impression on me. Hopefully that good impression continues tomorrow with the actual running of the event.

For better or worse I have made the decision to drive down to Mandurah tomorrow morning, which is about an hour away. I weighed up the pros and cons and decided that a night spent in my own bed was worth the long drive. I am hoping I don't regret that decision. As a result though I have a very early morning tomorrow and so I having a very early night tonight. Thanks to our young son I didn't have a great nights sleep last night, so at the moment I am pretty tired. As a result I don't think falling asleep early is going to be a problem.

Not much else to say now. As I have said, I think everything is good to go, all that there is left to do is get some sleep. After tomorrow I will get an update out about how the race went as soon as I can. Hopefully the news will be positive.

Wish me luck.