Ambien is my best friend.
Today, or rather, in the technical sense, yesterday, began at 4:15. 4:15 am is not my preferred wake up time, while I consider myself generally a morning person, that’s pushing it. I struggled through a stress and sleep deprivation induced breakdown after discovering that my Bar study materials were making my bag to heavy to travel without a fine, made it to the airport (fine free), through security, etc. While I have generally stated that I am completely unable to sleep on moving vehicles, I’d hoped that reading my corporations outline would work it’s magic on the plane, as it has many times in other various study locations. Much to my dismay, reading only put me in an uncomfortable drowsy state – a useless combination of sleeplessness and a complete lack of reading comprehension. Thankfully, I had a little bottle of Ambien, just begging to be opened on the long flight to Milan…
After meeting up with Fraser in Philly, we milled around in the international terminal for a bit, and eventually boarded our plane. No sooner had the captain turned off the fasten seatbelt sign was the Ambien bottle in my hand… then the pill in my mouth. After a quick 20 minute episode of Arrested Development, I felt the lovely sleepiness kick in and started snoozing. Our food arrived at some point, of which I recall giving most to Fraser and then asking him if I was really cross-eyed (apparently, yes). However, the effect was as desired, since it is now 7 pm Italian time (11 am Colorado time) and I’ve been awake since we were woken up this morning.
Our flight landed at 6 am, a seemingly unnecessarily early arrival time, but worked out nicely for us – as it gave us the whole day to play. We were greeted at the airport by Simon, a marketing director for the SuperEnduro race series who (after a coffee break) drove us up to the town of Sauze d’oulx, outside of Turin and the host of the 2006 Olympic Freestyle competition. We checked into our hotel, marveled at the stunning views, and then jumped at the opportunity to get to ride bikes for the rest of the day. The lifts here run from 10 am – 1 pm, then 2 pm – 5 pm, plenty of time for naps, bike assembly and snacks. The riding is very steep and very fast, but fun and we are eagerly anticipating the race on Sunday.
More to come on the race and pictures as they are taken… However, I’m sitting in the lobby of our hotel, staring at the spectacular mountains across the valley and am smelling something like fresh baked bread… gotta go get some of that!
