Friday night, my wife and I flew down to Melbourne, keeping things simple with a stay near the airport. Early Saturday, we grabbed a rental car and made our way to Geelong—though not without a few delays—eventually arriving around midday. From there, it was a bit of a rush. Building the bike didn’t go smoothly, with some frustrating chain alignment issues eating into the afternoon. By the time I finally got out for a pre-race spin, it was close to 2pm—and surprisingly hot. The rest of the day disappeared quickly: food, course recon, registration, bike check-in. Before I knew it, it was dinner time and race morning was only hours…