20 August 2008  |  Misc

Finally Here!

We arrived in Beijing yesterday evening and got to the Athlete Village with just enough time to put bikes together and go for a short spin. The village is amazing- just walking around and seeing all the other athletes in all of their National team gear is pretty cool. The cafeteria seats 5000 and has a huge amount of different kinds of food. I am staying in an apartment with Jill Kintner (she races BMX) and Mary. The village is beautiful- lots of gardens and ponds, a short running track, practice areas for tennis, basketball, a pool and I’m sure a bunch of different stuff that I haven’t even seen yet! It’s been pretty overwhelming, in a good way of course.

We woke up thi morning, ate breakfast and headed over to the venue (about 45 mins drive from the village) to check out the course. Most of the course is similar to the course I raced on last September but there are a few changes- they added in a few more steep climbs and some steep downhills. Overall, I think the changes make it more interesting and it is certainly Olympics-worthy. The course is definitely challenging and will be tough, but I like it and am excited to race it! I will have one more opportunity to train on the course tomorrow morning and then it will be race day. Time is already flying by, but I am trying to soak it all up and really savor this moment!