Left the beach at 2:00AM to make the 4:30 riders meeting. After an monsoon like deluge in southern New York, and a detour off the Garden State Parkway (an accident forced the CLOSING of the 5 lane expressway) I made it with 45 minutes to spare.

I saw many familiar faces at the meeting of about 15. John C reviewed the rules and we made plans for a nice pre-race carbo-loading dinner.

At the table we have (l-r):

• Rick, who I'd met at the Saratoga 12/24 and who holds the course record for 1 lap at the ADK
• Some joker that struggles with Mittyesque delusions of cycling grandeur
• Ross who is at the ADK for the third time.
• Mark who completed RAAM this year on the Webcor Team and is training for RAAM 2006 solo!

We talked about the course, our plans (Ross was registered for 1 lap, Rick, Mark and I for 2) and ate some great homemade pasta. Rick described the last climb, and a terrible stretch of road he called "Frontier Town". He said once you get past that you're almost home. I was glad I was riding this course sight unseen - in ignorance lies pure bliss.

JB