Race Anecdotes: Winter Park Race Rendezvous

The Morning Of

I woke up from an okay night’s sleep. I’ve reached the age where I have to have a special pillow, a special body pillow I grip between my legs, a temperature in my room (62º F, please), and a bed that hugs me as I fall asleep. Without all that, I usually sleep like shit. I was okay about it because I wasn’t in some dingy hotel, but instead, in Bill’s condo in Winter Park. Less than one mile to the start line for the Winter Park Race Rendezvous. So, there are worse places to wake up.

My start time wasn’t until 11:28 AM. My category was actually the last wave to go which was kind of surprising. I’m used to starting much earlier, but again, Winter Park, sleeping in, you can’t be mad about it. I watched the seventh stage of the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift while eating breakfast. Annemiek van Vleuten annihilated the field and took the GC, yellow jersey, from Marianne Vos, which was both surprising and unsurprising.

If you’ve watched any women’s cycling events, you’ll know Van Vleuten and Vos because they win damn near everything. They’re the racers who show up and everyone’s probably thinking, “guess I’m racing for second or third.” I guess the surprise is who’s going to win out of those two. Regardless, it was a fun race to watch and got me a little excited for my own race.