After nine hours of driving I finally made it up to Bend, OR. I left around 7am and made good time, allowing me to squeeze in an afternoon course pre-ride. I wanted to make sure I got a feeling for the terrain and overall course, figuring out where the start and finish were.
The drive up was great. I hadn't been through Kalamath and that part of southern Oregon. Since I wanted to make good time going up I only stopped once for gas, grabbing a few snacks, but no lunch. I did make good time, but I felt like crap in the afternoon.
I didn't have too much time to explore. The start of the course was mostly fire road before cutting into some single track. The trails consisted of deep dust and sand, never climbing for too long before descending. Great for trail riding, but really exhausting for cross-country racing. At 50 miles it's going to be a tough day on Saturday.
Tomorrow I pick up my race number before I head out to pre-ride more of the course.