Wednesday, September 8, 2010

We're in Madison!

We arrived in Madison a few hours ago and checked into our ideally-situated hotel. The room is awesome...a corner room with a curved wall of windows on the third floor. I'd need a wide-angle lens to show you.



We have a view of the Capitol building and, more importantly, Starbuck's. Well, you could see Starbuck's if it weren't for that tree, but trust me, it's there. I've already had a mocha.


George registered, a process that's much easier on Thursday than Friday, when everyone who couldn't come today tries to register. He sailed through, signed the waivers, got weighed, picked up his race chip, transition bags, and such.

Below is a picture of half the parking lot that will be the home of about $5 million dollars worth of bicycles on Saturday.


The scope and scale of this race astounds me every year. Almost 3,000 racers are signed up this year. We'll see how many start Sunday morning.

I bought a Support Crew T-shirt to wear on race day. George refuses to buy any Ironman gear until after the race. He's very superstitious about the race and doesn't want to jinx his chance of finishing by being all optimistic.

He does, however, have an unnatural lust for this bike. I just asked him to tell me again the name of the bike, and he replied with something that sounded vaguely Latin with overtones of Japanese and involving the phrase electronic shifting, I think. If you really want to know, I'll ask him to type it in the comments. Whatever it is, he wants it.


He told me that he would not mind in the least if I bought it for him on race day.

I love him so much. He really knows how to make me laugh.

6 comments:

  1. It's an Orbea Ordu with Shimano Di2 electronic shifting, and she is so, so sweeeet....

    George

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  2. Wishing you the very best of luck, have a fun time. That bike is so cool, well George seems to think it is and he certainly knows better than me so I'm just agreeing:)xx

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  3. Best of luck George! Stephen (hubby) just completed Ironman Canada, not with the result he wanted but nonetheless still made it through in 12 hours and 28 minutes! He purchased a new Guru Crono (or whatever they call it now) with all the bells and whistles, so I understand the bike envy. Will be thinking of you on Sunday - good luck!!

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  4. Elizabeth,

    Told George about your hubby's new bike and he said, "Oh, THAT's a sweet bike!"

    They're crazy, aren't they?

    Congratulations to your Ironman!

    Susan

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  5. susan and george,
    we will be thinking about you both on sunday.
    wish you an excellent day.
    my hubby has done quite a few long distance, endurance "races" and i was always the pit crew for him. they are long days, but such rewarding experiences. enjoy!!
    marty

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  6. Welcome back to Madison! Enjoy your stay, and best to George in the Ironman! I'll pray for (almost) perfect weather!

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Thanks so much for taking time to comment!