SariAnderson.com

The weeks leading up to an adventure race always involve lots and lots of preparation. We are leaving for Abu Dhabi in just over two weeks and already we are planning what to pack, what food to bring, bike tires, etc.

After racing in the enormous sand dunes of the Arabian desert last year, we found out one of our biggest challenges was keeping the sand out of our shoes (duh!) Even our Nike Aire Structure Tirax shoes with Gore-Tex couldn’t keep all the sand out. Mike, Mona, Chris and Gordon had similar issues at their race in Brazil a few weeks ago. My solution is to order some gaiters from the folks that produce the Marathon des Sables desert race in Morocco. I figure these guys must know how to keep the sand out of their shoes. It’s that, or I’m going to order one of those sweet suits they wore in the movie Dune.lank

Hard to image much sand getting through these.

Of course, ordering the gaiters has turned into an adventure of its own. After a few calls I’ve learned that France is 8 hours ahead of Colorado, the company is only open until 2pm local time and they don’t speak any English. So, I’ll be setting the alarm for the middle of night on Sunday evening in order to reach the sales department before they head out for the day. Oh joy…

The weather here in Colorado continues to be warm and dry and the mountain biking has been great. Juniper and I have been exploring some of the country roads in the area and have found some nice dirt roads with good climbing where I can tow the Chariot. The resistance training is great for me and the scenery and cows are good entertainment for Juniper. Hopefully this pattern will continue for a few more weeks and then the snow will come in full force while we are racing, just like last year!

I’m off for some more riding!