Life Through My Eyes: The First NTC Adventure-Frisco TX (Day1-3)

Day 1: The Travel

Mr. Keith Hillier was kind enough to pack up my bike after a late night of pursuit training at Hellyer and chauffeur me and Korina to SFO to catch our flight. Korina and I lugged our (actually Lala's and Franks that they let us borrow) bike bags (that are as big as us) around the airport until a fine airport employee gentleman offered to carry and check our bags priority. Yep- pro status! We got through security without a hitch...... well apparently Korina was trying to smuggle a jar of Peanut Butter through security! Haha. Duh Korina, PB is a “liquid” and that jar is more then 3OZ..... who knew? I guess I couldn’t remember what side of the periodic table PB was on! What good is this Master of Science degree I hold? Hmmmmm. We made it through the gates and ordered some grande, never ending, super expensive chicken salads at the airport. Beth Newell had given us a few words of advice; 1) Everything takes twice as long as you think and 2) Have fun and laugh a lot. Those words proved to be true as we encountered some flight delays due to a tornado that roared through TX. We touched down safe and sound, grabbed our luggage and took a shuttle to our rental car. Ohhhhhh, the joy of meeting our little Mario Cart for the first time. We were tired from the late travel, but our Mario Cart only provided laughter as we attempted to fit 2 huge bike bags and duffle bags in the back seat. We did it!

(Bags are packed and we are ready to go!)

(resemblance?)

We decided that Korina gets to be Mario and I get to be Luigi for this trip. Ya Ya – we did about 50 circles around the DFW airport a 2am........ Siri hates us! We finally made it out and on the road to our wonderful host house Christine and Toby.

Looks like we made it to the correct house!

Day 2: Getting Settled

We slept in, ate breakfast, built up our bikes, did a little grocery shopping and tested out our legs at the Superdrome. We spent an arm and a leg at a local natural food store and then went to a nice and cheap food mart that resembled a grocery outlet. Just in case you were wondering, the stores do not give you bags or give you the option to buy one for 10 cents! If you come to TX bring some bags or be prepared to carry your $150 worth of food........ yes, we eat a lot. After the shopping adventure we were able to get to the track early to test out the legs and get a feel for the track. The track is a bit of a Home Depot/Hellyer mixture being a wooden 250 meters and outdoor. I can’t wait to wear my custom Jakroo Hellyer skinsuit and race! I have a feeling we are going to kick some a$$......... take a look at our STRAVA segment! (haha)

(I built my bike all by myself!)

(The Frisco Superdrome)

Checking out the track - How am I going to ride on that?!

(Look at those speeds!)

Today is Day 3.....

We rode the rollers, did some stretching and now I am updating everyone. :) We even had a wonderful little visit from two very nice Mormon girls this morning. Their first question was, “What kind of pants are you wearing?” Answer, “Compression tights.” The second was, “Have you read the book of Mormon.” Answer, “It’s a big book.” Haha. Question priorities.

(Korina chatting with the ladies in her compression tights)

Tonight the racing kicks off with match sprints. Oh my...... I have never actually competed in this event, but it will be a great way to get comfortable on the track and do a few leg openers before the endurance racing begins!!! YAY! We will be competing in all of the Women 1/2 events..... yes, even the sprints!

http://www.superdrome.com/admin/pdfs/2013_Matrix_Track_Cup_NTC_Schedule.pdf

Big thanks to all of our Hellyer sponsors and supporters: