Lovin' Louisville

After an early morning run, and successfully picking up my passport, we left Edmonton Monday afternoon and arrived in Louisville about 8:00pm EST. The trip went fairly smoothly- the airline didn't charge us anything for our bikes or luggage- said we booked before the bend over baggage charges were implemented. We were pleasantly shocked! The oversize bag screener was out of order in customs so we had to open up the boxes and let them go through our bikes manually. A bit stressful, but the guy was really nice and very careful. Everything went back in fine and we were on our way. We had a super short layover in Chicago and we were starving so we grabbed some McRaunchies and wolfed it down before boarding our short flight to LV. When we arrived we got to the baggage carousel and were stoked to see our bikes come out almost immediately. Then my suitcase...and then we waited. I joked with D that our bikes made it, but his suitcase didn't. Turned out I was right. It wasn't a big deal though, we went to the United Airlines office and were told his bag went to Denver, was currently in Chicago and would be in by midnight. They took the address of the hotel we were staying at and said it would be delivered. At least it was D's bag and not mine- any girl out there knows understands why :-)
We grabbed a van cab and were on our way. The only glitch of the trip came next... the cabbie was talking to us about the race etc and I mentioned that our hotel was a mile from the race start. He said that I might have booked the wrong hotel cause the address I gave him was a long way from downtown....eeep!
When we arrived at the hotel I talked to the front desk to see if we could move our booking to the downtown location. He said I would need to call expedia as I booked through them, and good luck. I called expedia and was pleasantly surprised to deal with someone who was very nice and helpful. She told me to talk to the manager in the morning and call back with the case number she gave me. So, to make a long story longer, the manager was really great, he called expedia, then talked with the downtown hotel, and then the GM to get the ok to switch the booking and bingo we had a new suite, downtown for the same amount we had paid (even though the downtown rates were 60.00 per night more!!)
So we had breakfast and headed to our new home. I should mention that these suites are awesome. The marriott residence inn is like an upscale apartment, with a full kitchen, separate bedroom and bathroom. There is free breakfast in the morning (real breakfast, everything you could imagine!) and free afternoon snacks. We are now a mile from the race start and within walking distance to most of the downtown attractions. We are both happy. Oh yeah, and D got his bag first thing in the morning at the first hotel.
Once we settled into our new digs we hauled our bike boxes 4 blocks to the bike shop to have them reassembled. The guys there were awesome, they said we are their priority this week (we meaning IMers) and they would have them together by the afternoon. Sweet!
We wandered downtown enjoying the heat (and humidity) and the great vibe this city has. It has lots of green, and a ton of historical old buildings (my favorite) mixed in with new. We had some lunch and then walked down 4th Street Live, the site of the finish line- what an awesome place to finish! It is an open air mall type place with restaurants, shops and live music. And a huge guitar jutting out from the hard rock cafe- a great beacon for the finish!
After a few hours of wandering we made our way back to the apartment and had a wee nap. When we woke up we headed downstairs for free snacks, and then grabbed a cab to go and get some groceries. We went to Whole Foods which is my new favorite store, stocked up on groceries for the week, and had dinner from their awesome selection of hot foods.
By the time we got home it was 8:30 so we just watched some tv and hit the hay.

This morning we were up by 7:30 (I am still adjusting to the time change) and had breakfast. We then walked down to the YMCA to swim, but the lane swim was finished until this afternoon. So we walked back, had a snack and watched some TV and then headed out for a bike. We did the first bit of the bike course and rode the biggest "climb". It is not really a climb but more rollers that are just enough to keep it challenging, without blowing apart the legs. The way back was fast, with a tail wind and more downhill than up. The weather today is cold by LV standards- cloudy and about 26. I was still sweating buckets, which tells me I am going to have to drink my face off on race day as the expected high is 32-34! I am pumped though, this course is so different from any I have done before- the swim is in the Ohio river, which we are not allowed in until Thursday. There are barges going up and down all day, and the current is strong! The water is about 28 degrees, so no wetsuits, and it looks pretty brown today...we should be fine as long as we don't drink it :-)

So that wraps up the trip thus far, we are going to have a snack and head out to see if we can find any deals on wedding rings :-)

Thanks to everyone for the notes of support, we appreciate it!

TFTD: Bike 2hrs