Sunday, July 21 - Day Zero	9:00 p.m. St. Paul, MN
Almost forgot to write in this. Well, this is it.  Registration went reasonably smoothly, and everything was in order.  I've been hanging out with Sue, my tent-mate, quite a bit.  I'm so lucky to have hooked up with her.  It's the first ride for both of us, and we're worried about a lot of the same things, so we can commiserate and cheer each other on.  I think we're both going to do fine. Natalie [my best friend from high school, who lives near Minneapolis] stopped by this morning and helped me with last-minute shopping.  I'm so glad I was able to see her and Dan.  We had lunch and, as usual, talked about everything under the sun.  Matt left around 11; I can't believe he was willing to drive up with me yesterday and back today--but I'm really glad he did.  The drive wouldn't have been as good without him, and I was glad he was here last night.  Still haven't heard from him; I'll call when I finish this. The best thing about the ride so far is how nice everyone is.  The staff and volunteers are incredible, and everyone seems willing to help with everything.  And, John is driving my duffel over in the morning--yay!  And Bob and Greg made luggage tags and bike tags for the whole team, which was super.  The whole team is just incredibly cool. I'm starting to hear rain on the window.  That's a really good thing--with any luck it will cool things off and be gone by morning.  Right now the forecast is for highs in the 70s the next two days--that would be fabulous. My nerves aren't too bad, so far.  This morning I did find myself thinking, "You have to do this.  You told everyone you would.  You can't back out now."  It was almost a relief when Matt left so I couldn't possibly get a ride back home. Opening ceremony tomorrow.  I'm sure I'll cry.  I started to tear up during the safety video, which apparently wasn't nearly as emotional as last year's.  Just gotta remember the first rule: no whining.  By about Day Four, that might be kind of tough.  But, honestly, with all these encouraging people around, how can anyone whine?  (Quit snickering, Matt.) Time for bed.  I hope I'll be able to sleep.  Dreams of Stillwater Hill will probably be running through my head.  I do hope I can get up that one . . . maybe I should work on channeling Lance Armstrong. On to Day One Back to the index