Nationals- part 3

 A trip to a different city would not be complete without sampling some of the local culinary specialties. Here is Eric Brown sitting with his namesake- the 'hot-brown', a Louisville specialty. This 3400 calorie monster is four pieces of toast , turkey, bacon , carmelized onions covered with a gruyere bechamel sauce. You'll have to ask Eric how it was- I opted out. This lunch was the post race meal after the Wednesday races. We didn't need dinner after this meal at the historic Brown Hotel.

 Another place we went to more than once was 'Eatz' , a Vietnamese restaurant that had only just opened a couple of months ago. The food was amazing- good enough for most of us to make return trips for more during the week.

Here is a genuine example of a Jackelope - not something you'll see west of the Mississippi. This was seen in an eclectic junk shop a few blocks away from our rental houses. Alex Work found this store and it was filled with some really odd stuff.

 Team meal # 2 for nine people- Linguini Carbonara in both normal and gluten-free. Everyone got fed well and the entire meal got eaten that night- a first ! Cooking meals for the team has been a tradition going back at least 10 years. We only cooked two dinners at the house as the city was full of great affordable eateries .

 Monday morning everyone had flown out with the exception of myself and Brendan. This is the breakfast I had at the Grael House, a place recommended by Eric Brown. World class grits, biscuits, bacon and eggs. I wouldn't need to eat for another 8 hours after this.

No trip would be complete without a visit to the local bowling alley. We almost missed out on the chance but luckily there was a bowling alley just down the road from the airport. Brendan and I managed to eek out two games before leaving to return the rental van and go to the gate for our flight home. All in all, I would say that this is one of my top three nationals weeks of all time. The city was really a great place- the team rode as hard as they could and everyone pitched in to help the greater good. Trips like this show the reason that teams like this exist- and as we know, reasons happen for a reason.