Monday morning and I wake up rested and recovered. This may sound trivial but for the first time since I got my Band a few months ago I slept 8 hours. 8 hours and 12 minutes! And the secret is to stay up a full night before to get a decent night sleep.

I left for Lake Chelan Friday afternoon and I can’t say that it’s been a restful trip. After picking up ¼ of the team at a park and ride in Issaquah we drove to the sunny side of the state. The full team “I don’t remember” met for the first time and we had a nice weekend and an overnight outing in the mountains. After a toasty mountain bike race at Echo Valley Ski area Saturday we all tried to nap but with various success. The race was hot and very sunny and I felt drained even before it started. I had a bit of gear trouble on the first climb but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. It was beautiful and I felt like stopping for pictures but I had to tell myself that it would be ridiculous since it was a race. 30 miles passed fast and without any surprises. Very, very hot but gorgeous trails and views.

Saturday night brought dinner, bubbly drinks (for the support crew) and games before we packed our packs and took off around midnight. After a long car ride to a dark parking lot in the middle of a national forest we all took a deep breath and took off at 2am. Heavy packs and a tiny bit tired from start. Lots of elevation, beautiful surroundings that hid in the dark and snow at 7000ft. When we all turned off our headlights around 5am we saw the sun slowly wake up over the mountains. It is absolutely magical to watch the sun reach the sky an early morning. We sat for a few minutes and ate a little before we moved on. I think we all felt more awake when we got some sunlight. We kept walking and walking, reached snow, turned back and walked again. We reached the car before lunch and packed up and left for Chelan again. I sat down in the back of the car and felt my head tilt back and I could hear myself snore. I bumped my head in the window over and over again but decided to just ignore it. And when we got back to our home for the weekend It was a tired and squeaky body that slowly folded out from the car. After some leftovers and a shower we decided to take a 20 minute nap before heading back to Kirkland. I woke up one hour later with a corduroy pattern all over my face and a swollen eye. I fell asleep or more completely face planted with my eyes open in the living room stretched out on the couch. With two muddy bikes in the back of the car and lots of hiking gear we took off for Seattle and drove all the way to Cashmere where we stopped for greasy burgers. Finally home just in time for dinner and then time for bed.