USPro on the Docket

Pre-pre-race today and things are excellent. Let's go through the checklist, shall we.I woke up to find my teammate and American partner in bike excellent Timmy Duggan. He was supposed to arrive last night, but USAirways decided it would be wise to cancel their flight from Charlotte to Greenville. A series of text messages and emails ensued between Timmy and myself offering different plans of attack before Timmy and the misses settled on a drive. A taxi drive, no less. It wasn't quite an arm and a leg, but it was close. That said, being able to sleep in the location of where you'll be sleeping the day of the race makes all the difference in the world, so it's actually a stellar idea to have arrived at 1am or whatever rather than bunk up at a hotel and try flying today.Timmy's hard work earns him an A+ and gold star for the day.As not quite the contributing editor but mere contributor, I then proceeded to write a piece for Bicycling Magazine. I've never had deadlines before for writing - or it hasn't been since college I should say - but I thrive under this sort of pressure and think that the next piece you'll read in Bicycling will cut the mustard, to be totally vague.From there I kitted up and... actually no, that's not right. Let's backtrack to right when I rolled out of bed this morning. I then zipped down to my buddy's Rich's place and had coffee talk with the guys. Believe it or not, Saturday morning coffee talk is badass and manly, so it was a pleasure to start the day off on the right foot with proper caffeination and good company. Thanks fellas.Okay, so then I kitted up and went outside. It was about 10am and the entire city of Greenville is melting from the sweltering heat. I was (nearly) racing in snow last week and now I've traversed the country only to find the thermometer busting at its upper seam. Oh, with 98.5% humidity. After having melted myself, I scraped myself off the pavement and went for a ride over the ICAR - whatever that means - and watched some of the USPro time trial. A lot of people generously wished me good luck today, which is very friendly, but all my eggs are in the road race basket for Monday. I did help out heckling some guys racing... actually no, that's a lie. It was my intention to do that, but I was very friendly and bid my well wishes to everyone I saw with a number pinned to their hind-quarters.I also received a jar of speculoos from one JTKatz. I nearly didn't take it for risk of eating it all just 36 hours from the start of the race, which would be delicious, but probably not prudent.You know the expression, There's not a snowball's chance in hell...? Well here's my new one, There's not a sealed-jar-of-speculoos's chance of being unsealed... Oooh, speculoos. Oh so tasty.In other news, things are coming along well for the race. As I've mentioned before, given that Timmy and I are basically flying solo, we've had to rely on the exceedingly generous help from a lot of people around us. Friends, mechanics, soigneurs, friends, spouses, and more and more friends doesn't even begin to cover the number of people helping out. We sincerely thank you for all the help and offers we've received.Bike racing in 3... 2... 1...