We made the ~2.5 hour drive to the Atlanta airport and parked in the Park n’ Fly lot. I reserved a parking pass for the lot for only $88 for the week, which was very affordable compared to the other parking options. Logistically it's a bit more complicated as we have to take a shuttle from the parking lot to domestic and then to the international terminal. But instead of using the parking lot shuttle for our luggage and bikes, we parked at the hourly parking, checked our bags and bikes in at the airport, then drove to the parking lot so that all we had to bring with us to the airport was our carry-ons. We had to then take the domestic shuttle to the international shuttle so having only our backpacks was a lot easier than 2 bikes + 2 suitcases.
I like to give us ~3 hours at the airport for international flights so that we aren't rushed, so once we went through security, we had ~90 minutes before our flight was boarding. Our flight was a little delayed but we had plenty of time so we had a small meal at the airport before heading to our gate. We got a bit of work done before our long flight to Milan. The nine-hour flight left around 6:30pm.
I was able to book a very affordable one-way flight to Milan (MXP) and comfort plus seats. After being served dinner on the plane (I requested a lacto-ovo vegetarian meal in the Delta app), we tried to get some sleep. I was able to sleep a bit better than Karel as his back was bothering him.
We arrived to Milan around 9:30am and after getting our bikes and luggage, we walked to the car rental (Stix). I heard great reviews from this rental company and it was in Terminal 1 – just a short walk from baggage. We were surprised how nice the agent at the car company was to us – she was worried that our bikes wouldn’t fit in the car we reserved so she had Karel bring a bike case to the car just to make sure. This was just our first trip introduction to the kindness of the Italians.
Karel did all the driving throughout our trip as we had a manual car (I don’t know how to drive a stick shift). Shortly after leaving the airport we made a stop at a gas station for the bathroom and coffee and we were once again, delighted by the kindness of Italians (and the great coffee from the gas stations). The gas stations in Europe are not like what we have in America and you can expect great coffee (in real cups if you choose) and delicious bakery goods and sandwiches. I got an egg plant and veggie and cheese sandwich and it was amazing.
After loading the car, we decided to make a slight 1 hour detour and visit the Ghisallo Cycling museum. I found this museum online prior to our trip and after telling Karel about it, we knew it was something we needed to see. Our museum tour had a radio guide (English) to walk us through each of the 20+ exhibits. For only 6 Euros each, it was well worth it! We even bought a few souvenirs and had lunch just outside the museum. Compared to France, the food was much cheaper, better quality and there was much less smoking. We were already falling in love with Italy.
If you'd like to see more pics from our museum tour, you can check out all my pics on my Facebook page from September 27th.
And if you've never been to Europe, the food is extremely tasty. Meals are celebrated. Stores shut down for lunch. Meals are not rushed. There are several courses and it often takes 2+ hours to complete a "meal." The desserts are not sweet and leave you feeling satisfied, not uncomfortable. It's a very different food culture compared to the US and after a few trips to Europe, I can see why American's can often struggle with their relationship with food.
It was nearing noon when we headed out for our ~10 mile ride. There was a lot of climbing, a lot of fire roads and a few technical sections with roots. After making our way around a drained pond, we approached a steep downhill with a 90-degree right turn and then left turn. I really struggled with this as it's something I am still learning and as much as I tried to face my fears, I wasn’t able to conquer it – so I slide my way down the hill with my bike. Karel showed me what to do but I was still too nervous.
We then approached the “downhill” part of the course which started off with several berms – it was a lot of fun. We then got to a more technical section with rocks and tight turns and although I wasn’t afraid for this section, I wanted to be careful not to hurt myself. The end part of the course was a steep gravel road into town and then onto the cobblestone roads of the town. I bravely went down the stairs without thinking twice – which was my first time tackling something like that.
After riding the loop, we headed back to our hotel, got cleaned up, had a snack and made our way to the race venue to get our stuff. Here's a video from our ride.
After checking in, it was time to brave the cold water. We heard the water was 17 degrees Celsius which is similar to St. George – which is a venue we have a lot of experience with. I was very nervous about getting cold as the air was cold (50’s) and the water was cold. I was also upset because I forgot my booties in the hotel room.
Karel made his way to the water first and when I saw him get into the water and submerge himself to his neck without moving, and then he gave me a thumbs up. Karel’s feet hurt him in cold water so I knew if he was ok, I would be ok.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t as cold as I imagined and although it was a bit cool, it was a beautiful lake to swim in. The water was blue and clear and very fresh. We swam along the buoys that were set up to get familiar with the course.
After the swim, we bundled up and walked back to our hotel. We had a little time before dinner so we made a quick stop at the local store for a few items and then met our friend John for dinner at our restaurant at 7:30pm. We had another amazing 4-course meal from 7:30-9:30pm and then it was time for bed. We didn’t sleep as great on Wednesday evening as we did on Tuesday but it was still a good night of sleep.
On Thursday morning we set an alarm to get up at 7am as we needed to check out of the hotel at 10:30am. We were really sad to leave the hotel as it was in the perfect local in town, it was super cute, the staff was so nice, one of the staff had a dog (which I loved on) and the restaurant food was amazing. After breakfast, we went for another swim in the lake and then finished packing up our stuff to load our car. The hotel let us keep our bikes in the bike room in the garage since we didn’t have room for luggage, bike bags and bikes. With the city being very safe, we left our luggage in the car and parking at the on-site event parking and went for a run on the course.
I learned my lesson from Xterra Czech not to do too much before the race so my run was a combo of running, jogging, walking and hiking. The first and last part of the course was on gravel/road but the middle was very technical on dirt, over roots and rocks. There was even a rope to help climb up a 30+ % hill. After the ~3 mile run, we checked out the expo, bought a few things (we couldn’t believe how affordable everything was – from food to clothing!) and then went to check in at our Airbnb, which was less than ½ mile from the venue, right on the lake. After our run, it started to rain so we warmed up with coffee and strudel at a cafe near the venue.
With the grocery store not open between 12-4, after unloading our stuff we drove back to the grocery to pick up some food for our place. Once again, wow – the food was really affordable and we bought a lot of local and fresh food for less than 40 euros! The weather was getting cool and it was starting to rain. The rain continued from Thurs until Friday evening.
After we ate dinner in our Airbnb, we watched a few YouTube videos from pro athletes in Kona, finished up some work and then went to bed. The next morning we tried to time our ride for when it wasn’t raining as rain was predicted all day. It was barely 50 degrees out and I bundled up for our shake our ride. I was very nervous and feeling anxious about the conditions after/during the rain so Karel thought it would be a good idea to ride up the paved path to the “downhill” section to get more familiar with it. We reversed the route on the path (which included several miles of climbing) and then made our way to the pond and steep technical downhill. The trail was muddy and slippery and I couldn’t get myself to ride the steep downhill with the two tight turns so I made the decision that I would just slide down it on race day (I wasn’t able to walk it as it was too steep and I was sliding anyways). The rocks and roots were challenging so I rode only the sections that I felt most comfortable with as I didn’t want to hurt myself. There were other riders on the course and we were all getting a bit muddy. This was my very first time riding in these conditions so it was all very new to me. My biggest worry on race day was slowing other people down or getting in the way of other riders.
After our ride, we rode to the bike wash to clean off our bikes and then went back to our Airbnb. We ate lunch at one of the (many) local pizza places with our friend John (it was amazing – just like all the food in Italy – so fresh!) and then got our stuff ready for the race. With the weather predicted to be 48-52 on race day (and cloudy), I wasn’t sure what to wear so I decided to wear a two piece kit (to put on a dry jersey after the swim). I also packed shoe covers, arm warmers, “hot hands”, a piece of a space blanket, glove, knee warmers and a vest just in case (I ended up only using the gloves and jersey).
After dinner, I laid down around 7pm to watch a show on Netflix and really struggled to fall asleep. I could feel my heart beating hard and I felt a lot of anxiety about this new, unknown experience. Whereas I’m normally really confident going into triathlon events, this one had me extremely nervous – the weather, the course, the cold, the other athletes. On one hand, I wanted to embrace this new adventure but on the other hand, I wanted to be on the sidelines (warm and safe) and just cheer for Karel. I had a lot of inner dialogue going on in my head but eventually I felt asleep. Thankfully, Xterra races start later in the morning so I woke up feeling rested to my 7am alarm.
I had to modify my typical pre-race meal as there was no waffles, bagels or peanut butter in the town so I had bread with hazelnut spread and jam. Karel had his normal oatmeal. We ate around 7:30am and then each went for a short jog around 8am. It was nice to get the blood flowing and to warm up a bit. I bundled up to ride to the venue as I didn’t want to be cold before the race. We left our place around 8:45am and rode on the gravel road (which was also the start of the course) and followed the reverse of the course to the transition area. We arrived just after 9am, which was when the pros started (Men at 9am and Women at 9:03am). The transition closed at 9:30am so we had around 30 minutes to set up our stuff. They were very strict with the transition set up and only gloves and helmet were allowed on the bike and everything else needed to be in the box or on the ground. We each had our own box and we were required to put our previous used gear in the box, otherwise we would get a penalty. According to Europe/Xterra rules, no booties allowed for 62 degree water temps but thankfully, we had gotten used to the water and we were ok to be without our booties.
After setting up my transition, I met Karel outside of the transition area. We did another short jog and bathroom stop before putting on our wetsuits. We dropped off our bags at the bag drop and then Karel told me to have fun and to be safe. I told him the same. I could tell he was much more calm going into this compared to myself. Karel’s wave went off at 10:05am and my wave went off at 10:15am. I decided to wear my Hoka sandals on the rocky ‘beach’ as I didn’t want my feet to get cold. I put my sandals in a plastic bag and left them to the side of the corral (I felt safe leaving them there as Molveno is a very safe area). We lined up by the water and I put a few handfuls of water down my wetsuit to adjust it and then the official gave the 1-minute countdown.
Whereas in an Ironman and half, I can’t wait to get on my bike, I was really nervous about the bike. Once the gun went off, I stumbled over the rocks, made a shallow dive and started swimming. This was really happening. My second Xterra and first Xterra World Championship.
Race Report coming soon......