Dan Oryall: USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals #2

Edgewood College senior Dan Oryall is in Lubbock, Texas to compete in the USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals, which will be run on Saturday. He is blogging about his experience for the Eagle Blog. His first entry can be found with this link.

I have finally arrived in Texas! The trip took me the expected 18 hours and I traveled the 1186.3 miles that I had to go. I didn't write yesterday because I got kind of a later start than I originally intended. I had always heard that Iowa was fairly flat, however I found it to be filled with rolling hills. I ventured into Missouri for a short time and was into Kansas before I knew it. I stayed overnight in Emporia, Kansas at the Holiday Inn Express. The commericals were right; it was a great room and the bed was very comfortable. I left Emporia at about 8 a.m. this morning and drove another 9 hours and made it into Lubbock around 5:30. The weather had been great the entire trip, although it was fairly windy. About an hour outside Lubbock it started to rain. Upset that my bike was getting poured on I pressed into Lubbock and frantically unloaded my car. As I was moving the bag into my room the rain let up...go figure. I am staying at the Overton Hotel, which is where all the event information is being held. Again, the room was amazing and I look right across the street to Texas Tech University.

Since the rain had let up, and I didn't get a workout in yesterday I scrambled into my bike clothes eager to go out and explore Lubbock and the Texas Tech Campus. Little side note: my little racing bike tires don't like rain...or standing water for that matter. I got out on the road and realized there was NO bike lane. Obviously the students at TTU don't bike too much on the roads. I crossed the road and started to bike around the campus. Every building was intriging and interesting, but they were all the same color and shape. So about 10 minutes in I found myself all turned around, searching for the massive height of my hotel from across the street. I rode back to the hotel and kind of chalked it up as a bust. Tomorrow it is suppossed to be warmer and dryer so I hope I can get a better indication of what riding will be like.

For dinner I went to Ruby Tequila's Mexican Kitchen, which turned out to be the college hang out...so there was Texas Tech shirts and hats galore. I walked in with my Wisconsin gear and definately stood out like a sore thumb. After a excellent dinner I headed home to clean up my bike, stretch, and call back home.

until tomorrow...

Thanks,
Dan

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