Days leading up to the race

Lars and I arrived on Thursday late afternoon after flying into Spokane. When we got to the AirBnB, our Canadian BFFs were already there, so there were hugs all around. Hard to believe that 6 months had already passed since we last saw them. We went to the grocery, and grilled out on the deck that evening. It was the last “perfect” weather we’d have…. Before bed, we watched Venom. Lars and I had never seen it, and we are now obsessed with Venom and Harry.

A cold front moved in on TH night, so we woke up to clouds, wind and low 50s on Friday. I knew this was going to happen, so I packed appropriately (more on this later). The 5 of us met our Cuppie teammates Courtney and Ed at the lake for a quick shake-out swim. Turns out if was quicker than we planned because the chop in the lake was a bit insane. As we were getting out, a reporter from the CdA Press asked if she could interview us about the race, and about us in general. We obliged. Courtney, Ed and I ended up being featured, and properly misquoted. But it was fun, and great pub for the Cupcake Cartel.

After the swim, we all went for a ride to make sure the bikes were functioning properly. It was cold. I wore my thermal jersey, and quickly figured out that it wouldn’t be warm enough for race day. I also knew I needed another option for gloves. After a shower and lunch, we headed back downtown to check in. Me, Tamara, Courtney, and John checked in together, so we were all racked close to one another. That evening, Courtney are her hubs Greg joined us for a great dinner, filled with stories and laughter.

Saturday AM brought more wind and more cold. It felt like February and not late June. I had 3 layers of clothes on, for Pete’s sake!!! I started to question my life choices. All of the Cupcakes got together at 9, and we froze our asses off. I felt so bad for our rockstar Captain, Kaitlyn. She worked hard to make it a great catch-up, and Mother Nature wasn’t having any of it. After the catch-up, J, M, T and I headed for the grocery for some soup, the hardware store for plastic gardening gloves (proved to be my smartest decision of the weekend), and Goodwill for some hats and slippers that we could wear on race morning (and then throw away). Once we were done with all of that, we headed back to the house to chill. John made T’s famous bolognase, and I headed to bed at 8. I never sleep the night before a race, and this was no exception.

Next up: race day!!