PACKING!!!!

I can't believe that ALC is almost here!! There are only 2 days left until I roll out of the Cow palace and head towards Los Angeles. This past year has gone by so fast!

On Monday, since I had the holiday off, I spent the day trying to get all my gear packed up. I really hate packing in general and despite my excitement for ALC, this packing was no different. I have slowly been gathering things for the past month or so, so now I needed to get it all organized and fill in the gaps.

In order to get all my cycling clothes organized I got out 7 gallon-sized bags and labelled them Day 1 through Day 7. Thankfully our team captain had put our a jersey selection guide to help us figure out what we could all wear each day. I got started selecting the days outfits.

Everything I will need (other than arm and leg warmers) is in the bag. That way I can easily grab it and get changed in the morning. No thinking involved, which will be helpful during the grogginess at 4am! Yep you read that right, I will be getting up around 4 am so that I can hit the road at 6:30am when the route opens.

I also packed up little bags for each day that contain what I will be carrying with me in my pockets. The baggies contained items like electrolyte packets, sports beans, sunscreen, wet wipes, gloves, etc. I didn't want to have to think about this stuff either, because I would be very likely to forget something.

I don't know how, but I was able to get all my crap into my bag. My sleeping bag doesn't actually fit, but I've heard that it is ok to have it outside of your bag as long as it is safely strapped down (no bungie cords with the hook ends). Thankfully, my duffle bag has an elastic cord on the top flap that my sleeping bag fit under.

Since I am sure that many people will have similar blue duffle bags, I added some ribbon to help make my bag stand out a little more. I'm hoping that the chances of someone having a blue duffle bag with monkey and orange zebra ribbon as well are very slim. :)

I also got my bike all cleaned up and ready to go. I put some new handle bar tape on since the old tape was getting a little faded. And we CAN'T have that!

Bye bye old tape...

I also added a little sparkle to my bike. I'll give you a sneak peek, but the big reveal of my bike in all its ALC glory will have to wait!

I am so EXCITED for ALC! This week is going to be EPIC!