UCI Worlds: Our First 24 Hours, 8 Days to Go

It's Saturday night and I'm exhausted after our first 24hrs at UCI Worlds in Richmond but too excited about the next 8 days to sleep. I'm going to try and blog every evening about our adventures at Worlds. I'm also tweeting, so follow me @GiroJenny for real-time updates.

If you don't have time to read, here's a quick recap of Day 1.

Food: Shockoe Espresso & Roastery, Pasture, Lucy's
Bike: Hotel to TTT Start and Back, except we detoured around most of the TTT course.
Races: Women and Men's Trade Team TTT practice & Women, Men's, U23, and Junior ITT practice
Picks for Tomorrow: Hate to pick one Women's team over another, but choosing Boels Dolmans. BMC feels like family so they are my obvious Men's choice.
Best Moment: Seeing my friend Jill for the 1st time in 15 years
Not the Best Moment: Riding thru Gilpin
Strangest Moment: Gigantic wasp and bird on sidewalk
Best Cycling Encounter: Talking to Manuel Quinziato in elevator followed by Evie Stevens in street with recovered TT bike.

Let me back up to Friday afternoon when the official adventure and vacation started. We finished up work at noon and headed to the airport. This was our first time with the Ritchey Break-Away bikes and with new upgrade status. Check-in wasn't too painful and more importantly, we didn't have to pay any baggage fees.

2 Bikes, 2 Checked, 2 Backpacks, 1 Camelbak

Cowbell is Carry-On but Silenced

The flights were fine and we landed in Richmond just before midnight. Thanks to the upgrade status, our bags came out first and we were off to the hotel. The taxi driver had to drop us across the street due to the race road blocks, so our first adventure in Richmond was rolling our luggage across the Start/Finish line at midnight. I wish I had taken a picture, but we were both hangry and needed dinner. An hour later, we had eaten delivery pizza and crawled into bed ready for our 1st day at Worlds.

We woke up relatively early considering the 2hr time change and late night. Terry was in need of coffee and I was getting excited about the Team Time Trial practice session starting at 9a, so we headed out. We immediately saw friends from the cycling travel circus and Park City, plus we saw BMW p/b Happy Tooth out on course early. Nothing like a wave from Jono to start your day. After breakfast and scoping out The Urban Farmhouse for our Worlds Social event, we watched the Women's TTT practice.

Notice man on left clapping for me - welcome to friendly Richmond!

Thinking the wasp stung the bird and then they both died?

Pictures of many of the Women's Teams on Twitter. This is Boels Dolmans, my pick for tomorrow's TTT.

My friend Jill arrived shortly after the women finished and we talked nonstop for the next couple hours. We hadn't seen or talked to each other in 15yrs! We watched the Men's TTT, then ate lunch and looked at old photos. Such great memories from our time working and traveling together in Idaho, Florida, and Italy. After we said our goodbyes, Terry and I watched the individual time trial practice. Seeing all the riders representing their countries finally made it feel like Worlds and not just another bike race. It's going to be such an amazing week!

Jill & Jenny (we went by Janet & Chrissy back in the day)

BMC Men's TTT - my pick for tomorrow

Corner at Governor and Main - going to be a great place to watch tomorrow

Finally around 3p, we headed back to the hotel. After a short rest, we built up the bikes and went out for a ride. I was in charge of route recon, so chose the TTT course to the Start and back again. Most of the roads had reopened so I detoured us a little on the way out to avoid traffic. We checked out the Start, then planned to stay on course into downtown. I accidentally detoured us again, but to the other side of town and through a neighborhood we normally wouldn't visit. We definitely saw a side of Richmond on our ride that the athletes won't, but just like the rest of the day, everyone was super friendly and welcoming. Quick showers and we were back on our feet for a short walk to dinner. I need to wrap up this blog and get to sleep. I have a feeling it's only going to get better and better here at Worlds and I need to recharge the batteries for tomorrow!