Day 1- Panorama to K2 Ranch

After a great night's sleep we started the day with breakfast at the base of the ski hill. For those of you who were wondering where the bikes "sleep" at night. Here is your answer, next to the fridge, of course!

The weather is cooler than originally forecasted, which is probably better for the racers. Cool and clear right now, however they are predicting thundershowers this afternoon. We are about 30 minutes away from the racer briefing at 9:45, and then the race starts at 11:00 am this morning.

Here is our walk from where the RV is parked to the lower village. From the lower village we catch a little gondola to the upper village.

Here is a picture from the base of the mountain that Blaine and Ted will be pedalling up shortly. Laura, Mark and I are hoping to take the ski lift up to meet them after their ascent.

Blaine and Ted just left for the race start, we will meet them at the upper village soon for the start! They look great, sound great and are feeling great. I think a good night sleep helped with their nerves. Many of the other teams at breakfast was talked about how challenging the first 2 stages are. They predict 20% of the racers will not continue after Day 2. Very daunting...

More to follow soon!

Track us live tomorrow!

Hey there - now it's Ted's turn to write. We're just using Andrea's and Mark's computer, I love Andrea's super sweet pink mouse.

Anyway, to the point: Breathe Magazine has been kind enough to loan us their Spot Satellite Tracker. You'll be able to 'live track' us online during the race at http://www.breathemag.ca/track. If you were to go there now, for example, you would see right now where we are camping in our RV tonight... in a test of the system. Thanks Breathe Mag!!

Anyway, I need to do one more thing to my bike, get a couple of other things in check, and then hit the rack. We're all feeling a little tired. We had a late night last night in Tunnel Mountain and an early start this morning.... plus the fact that the thing I've been training for the past 13 months starts tomorrow.

Should be fun!!

Ted.

Stage 1, big day tomorrow

Well we just got back from the big meeting where they talk about safety and the rules and what to expect. We talked about stage 1, which we are doing in the morning, starting at 11am. Stage 1 is at Panorama ski resort, and I swear the course goes straight up the ski hill, 12 km climb right at the start! Talk about intimidating, its long, windy and steep, its going to break alot of people mentally I think. Climb starting at 1100 meters above sea level and climbing to 2300 m, all in about 12km, then after another 15km of rather level ground, we start a downhill of almost 20km, cant wait for that one! Well, tonight is going to be an easy night, lots of food, and lots of rest, fill you in when we get in, our plan at this point since we don't have all the red blood cells and need to adjust to the altitude change is to just take tomorrow easy and let our selves warm up and adjust. Big day tomorrow so that's it for now.
Blaine

We're Number One!

We're Number 1! Blaine and Ted managed to snag plate #1 for the Team. We're hoping this brings good luck for them!

After registration, we came back to the RV, Blaine and Ted opened their registration packets to prepare for the first day tomorrow. Day 1 will take them from Panorama to K2 Ranch. A total biking distance of 52.3 km with a 2,478 m climb. The start line is at the bottom of the ski hill, and the first leg of the race takes them up and over the mountain.

Their reaction:

They managed to get their bikes assembled just as the rain was falling. They have now taken their spare parts over to the Team Mechanic (thankfully, not Mark-- for anyone familiar with the Bike n' Booze).

Lake Louise

We made a quick detour up to Lake Louise on the way to Panorama! We just stopped for groceries in Golden, BC at the base of Kicking Horse and are en route to Panorama.

Small Introduction to the Team

Well here we are sitting in Tunnel Mountain this morning, just finished up breakfast and the team is just about ready to get on the road. The view here first thing in the morning was spectacular, the camp ground is literally in a small valley of a huge mountain range, morning mist hovering off some of the faces. Well as Ted is doing dishes, and I watch, we realized that some of the people out there following us on this journey, might not know who everyone is or how we all know each other, so here it is, sort of.

Both Ted and I met each other through Canadian Ski Patrol, strange enough at a summer event that Ted was working for Chico racing, at the time, a O-cup Down Hill race, well I think that was the last downhill that Chico did and I can remember thinking that these guys have totally lost their minds!
I continued to help out at mountain bike races with Chico racing where ted held they glorious volunteer position of head of safety, so we got to deal with each other alot. Now after 6 years, Ted and I have done zone ski races representing Horseshoe valley ski Patrol, competed in 3, 24 Hours of Tremblant ski races in Montreal, a 8 hour relay race (took third!!!) and have both recently started to get into kite boarding, or skiing, what ever you want to call it, its fun but scares the crap out of both of us!
Andrea Meury, (aka Andrea Betzold) as you can probably guess, is my sister, yep, known her all my life, when she wasn't telling on me or blaming things on me, she supported me and cheered me on, so, here she is again, this time on a bit of a larger scale!
Mark Meury, if you haven't also figured this one out, is married to my sister, I think for about 9 years now, wow time flies! Mark has always been one of those guys that will try anything at least once (part of the reason we invited him! ah cozy little RV!) and has supported me along side with Andrea since him becoming part of the family.
Laura Millar, well, that's my girl, we met in high school where I was in grade 10 and she was grade 9, we were friends all though high school but moved apart when we both headed off to college. We found each other again about 1 1/2 years ago and I guess you can say we get along better now than ever, she has been to several of my races in the last year, 24 hours of Hot August nights, the squeezer and dealing with my never ending rides.
Ted and Laura have met a few times in the past, Rock games and at the 24 hour Chico races, but it wasn't until late yesterday that Ted, Andrea and Mark met for the first time. Just think, 10 days in a small RV with basically strangers, it that isn't a test of your nerves I don't know what is.

Blaine

Good morning from Banff

We arrived in Banff last night after a stop for dinner at the Drake in Canmore. Here is our first team picture in our team jackets.

The drive to Banff was beautiful. We arrived a little after dark so we're hoping to explore today. We played cards and had a few drinks last night before retiring into our beds.

The first of any race events starts today. We are planning on being in Panorama by around 1:00 pm this afternoon to register Blaine and Ted, meet the mechanic and assemble the bikes. We'll also need to get the support team credentials, as well as our travel packets outlining the route for our caravan. It will be the first time that we see the Transrockies Race operation which is incredible.