Lisbon Downtown

Finally....we made it! After a bit of a hectic drive down the coast Lee, Jill and myself finally arrived in Lisboa. Some of the Portugese are CRAZY drivers and I am surprised we are still alive! And if the driving didn't kill us, the hours we spent lost almost did. I guess that's what we get for using a 5 year old map! However, the Hotel all the athletes/teams are in (Lagoas Park) is beautiful and the weather is a sweltering 32 degrees so we can't complain.

Today was a relatively quiet day. Early morning breakfast followed by a trip to the local jetwash to clean the last of Vigo off our gear and we were back in the hotel pool by lunch!

We did some work throughout the afternoon getting our pits set up downtown Lisboa. It is such a cool city. The new city is busy and full of statues, but the old town (where we race) is really cool. We start the event from a castle at the top of a hill and then race pretty much to the seaside. The buildings are super close together and full of tiny little walkways and stairsets. There are trams that run through a section of the track and a few local cafes and businesses that we pretty much ride through their front doors! The perfect place for a RACE! We always hit up course walking as a group with film crews in toe, and this year was no different. The race organisers took us through the tiny streets and showed us the new car jump and a few other new little twists and turns. I think a few of the new obstacles are going to make for some tight racing! Check out www.lisbondowntown.com for some more photos and info.

Tomorrow is race day. 4 practice runs each followed by 1 qualifier. Top 25 men and top 10 women go through. There is a car on the line for the guys (no such luck for the ladies) and one of the Honda Formula 1 guys is going to be there watching the race and doing press conferences during the event. Even the President of the UCI is coming out to watch some racing. Hopefully I can hold it together and finally finish on top of this event. I have raced the Lisboa Downtown for 5 years and have yet to win it, so fingers crossed.