Phoenix, AZ — Ted and I flew back down to sunny Phoenix, Arizona this morning. We both took the early America West non-stop flight which put us into Phoenix at 10 AM. Then we picked up our minivan, another Dodge Caravan like our last trip. This time we shipped our bikes to a bike shop so there would be someone to sign for it. So the first order of business was to pickup our bikes at DNA Cycles. The guys at DNA Cycles were really cool and we chatted with them for a while. They’re doing a 24-hour mt bike race this weekend which they said is usually a blast. Then Ted and I built our bicycles in the parking lot and headed out for a ride.

We went out on Power Rd to Bush Highway. We made a right on Usery Pass and that’s where we split up and did our separate pre-race routines. I did a series of pushes focusing on my power. Each push felt pretty good and I was excited about the time trial tomorrow. We rode back to the bike shop and did one more effort on the way back. Then we headed to our host home in Mesa where we I put together my time trial bike which both Ted and I will use.

Laura, the team captain of the women’s America’s Dairyland team, arrived while we were working on our bikes. She’s the one who hooked us up with the host housing. She’ll have two other teammates joining her for Valley of the Sun. Later we headed to the airport to pickup Laura’s teammate Trish. On the way back we stopped at Landis Cyclery for race packet pick-up. Betsy, another teammate, is going to drive in tomorrow since she’s from LA. By the way, nice hat Laura!