On Friday, I picked up Alistair from his USA cycling camp at St. Mary's and we drove to Hornitos for the Gold Nugget Stage Race. The first stage was a 9 mile uphill time trial starting at 5PM. We arrived early in the "little ovens" and I rode for about an hour on Alistair's bike. It was 100F out. Then he got ready and I drove behind the 15-16 group to the end of the stage. Alistair finished second that day. Only two survived the fast tempo to the top.
On Saturday, there was a road race in the morning, and I rode 3 laps of 5 miles after Alistair finished. It had some climbing in it but overall the course was pretty nice and not too difficult, with some shade to boot. I rode a bit more over lunch and then we got ready for the 3PM time trial. Alistair was second in both races and by the end of the day, he led the GC by 10 seconds.
On the way from Coulterville to Mariposa, we blew out a tire on the car and that added some extra spice to our trip. When we got to Mariposa, Alistair was exhausted and he quickly fell asleep while I did some more riding before dinner.
On Sunday there was another road race and I had planned to leave right after so I did not take any cycling gear to the start. When I got there however, other parents were going on a ride and one of them offered me his bike. I also got some shoes (a size too small) and a helmet (also too small) and I borrowed a jersey from Alistair and rode in my regular shorts. We rode 2 loops of 12 miles each (the race was three) in the opposite direction and watched the riders. We got back in time to watch the finish. Alistair won the stage and the GC.
After the race we had to leave early to check out. Then we drove home and by 3:30 we were back but pretty tired. I decided to rest for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Today I swam for about one hour. I tried to work on my technique and (once again) tried to breathe on my left. I probably swam a little over a mile doing so, but made very little progress. It feels really weird to breathe on that side and I can never seem to get enough air that way. Lake Placid is near, we will see how it goes. I should be tapering now, but I feel I have not done enough hard stuff to prepare properly.
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