First stage race.

[Alastair_S1D]

What has always helped me is to make the mornings as simple as possible. You do not want stress in the morning. So I packed a separate plastic bag (I use those Vacuum bag things) for each riding day. Complete kit for the day incl on the bike nutrition etc... Easy then to kit up in the dark or unfamiliar space and as you take your riding stuff out that bag you put your shower stuff and afternoon wear into that bag. Then as you finish you can grab the bag and head off to the showers, clean up and then use that bag for your dirty kit and put it out the way.

 

Second, make sure you check your bike the night before. You do not want a mechanical surprise in the morning.

 

Eat normally. Too much sweet stuff on continuous days will bugger up your stomach.

 

LISTEN at the briefings every night and on the start line. There can often be last minute changes to route or water points etc...

 

Most important, have fun. We ain’t no pro’s here. When you get back to work nobody will care about your sprint finish for 85th spot :-)

Oh I plan to have fun. But I am also planning on doing as well as possible. Racing elite this year is all about getting as good results as possible in the hopes of catching someone's eye for next year when contracts start expiring. But I have been dying to do a stage race! And I'm going to regret it if I keep putting it off. At best I do well and put on a good show with the big boys like I have been doing at my single day events. At worse. It's a learning curve and a new experience. But either way it's going to be fun. Because nothing is better than riding my bike. Especially when it's in my favorite part of this beautiful country.