BCBR Day Zero: cheap greeks, new gear and only two crahes...

Friday night arrival went off with without a hitch - managed to maintain my signature "show up at the airport 30 minutes prior to flight, beg the checkout people to cut you through the line, and get through security 5 minutes before the plane doors close" It seems to work pretty well if you can manage it...

Checked into the hotel and and proceeded to one of the seven greek restaurants on our two-block stretch of denman street, where all the food is a fraction of the cost of anything in calgary - not to mention more diverse than the alberta norm (vietnamese subs anyone?).

There's a ton of people and miscelaneous logistics behind this race - its impressive. We spent the majority of the day signing on, showing our mandatory gear (a whole other story) and listening to the rider meeting. In between all of that Craig and I discovered there was absolutely no way our monster sleepingbags were going to fit into the one-bag-for-everything that we were provided, so an ad hoc trip to MEC provided us with the straight goods. Only managed today crash out in the elevator lobby once on the way - skillz to pay the billz...
And then we got smoked by some super-commuter on the bike path 5 minutes later. I think erik almost punched him after, but no serious scrapes.

Ah yes, mandatory gear...
Safety is important. Bears like to eat you.
But as long as you carry 6 simple things, you will survive!
-rain jacket
-waterproof matches
-whistle
-pressure bandage
-water
-emergency food (aka powerbars)

No need to carry a spare tube or tools. If you have a mechanical problem, just build yourself a nice toasty fire and whistle yourself some campfire songs. These materials are so important that you must carry them with you at all times, or risk penalization. 

Off to bed now, tomorrow is a short rip along some infamous north shore trails. Looking foward to seeing how we stack up on the trails and against some strong looking competition.