I just want to say thank you so much for all your support, comments and excitement!  I am so happy that other people are happy too.  That really makes me feel like what I am doing matters.  I want to say a special thank you to my friend Jacalyne Sherlock who left this earth last fall.  She was Australian, and taught me so many things about life and athletics.  She could see that mountain biking was my soul path, and that meant that sometimes I would be struggling.  She taught me to dig deeper for the lessons I needed to learn and to always always believe in the “impossible”.  I know somehow she was watching and giving my wings a little extra span.  Thanks Jacalyne!  I miss you!

Wow, that was a very FUN ride.  You know you are having a good day when you can’t wait to get to the climbs.  I rode my heart out, with my eyes on the gold the whole race.  That is the way you HAVE to race if you want some hardware!  I feel so blessed to have so many amazing people in my life.  I just want to say thank you to my family and friends, my team Subaru/Gary Fisher, my staff, teammates, my coach Rick Crawford, all my sponsors, USA cycling, and everyone who loves riding bikes and watching bike races!  It is so special to have so many people come along for the ride with you!  Let’s keep the wings on!!!

Well, I am down under!  It is freezing here!  I know it is winter, but I thought everyone in Australia just wore bikinis and went surfing.  Guess not!

The flight was as painless as it could be.  I slept for at least 10 hours during the 14 hour flight.  Right next to our hotel is a hippie market with loads of gluten-free foods.  Yeah!  I slept for another 11 hours the first night and 10 last night, so I am feeling pretty rested.

I rode the course for the first time today and I really love it.  The climbing is very technical, and the descents require some cat-like reflexes.  I crashed HARD today, but I am a lucky girl.  My teammates told me to look out for a sign that said “you CAN’T roll this drop!”  Well, I was looking for that sign but never saw it.  Seems like the officials thought it was not needed anymore.  I beg to differ.  I was just riding everything on the course as usual and rode right off this huge drop, nose wheelied, and hit the dirt hard.  I landed on my left shoulder and head/cheek.  Laying there looking up at the drop I thought, “okay, so there’s that section!”  There is a way safer line on the right, which I was planning on taking and will take in the race.  There are many things you could jump and rage down, but I want a flat-free crash free World Championships!

Team USA is out on the relay course right now and I guess I will read or watch a movie.  It gets dark at 5:30 pm, so by that time I have no problem sipping on my organic red grapes!