- Crack Bread & Coffee

My eyes snapped open and I jumped out of bed ready to begin a new day. Filled with energy I glanced at my watch… glanced at it again… and rubbed my eyes in disbelief as my watch read 3:27 AM. “Hmmmm” I thought to myself. “Apparently my restful nights sleep was not quit as long as I anticipated”. For the next 2 hours I lay in bed contemplating my day to come. Primarily interested in the prospects of breakfast and skiing I daydreamed about each until I was certain the possibility of further sleep was at a minimum. Rolling out of bed I quickly utilized the water saving toilet and ambled into the hotel lobby where I was met by Willie Via. Also unable to sleep past the 3, we commiserated the woes of jet lag together until 6:30 AM. Breakfast time. Walking into the restaurant my senses were accosted by a plethora of food lining the buffet. Mountains of warm bread, honey, eggs and sausage stretched as far as the eye could see. Momentarily overwhelmed I balked at the shear quantity of choices, eventually settling on the game plan of sampling a small amount of everything. Though generally delicious, Pat Rogers and myself stumbled upon the holy grail of breakfast foods. Affectionately dubbed “Crack Bread”, this warm, crusty, homemade bread proved to be irresistible, leading to our consumption of it in truly excessive quantities. Crack bread with sweet cream butter and dark honey quickly became a cult favorite between Pat Rogers and myself, while its limited supply (only 1 loaf) motivated us to jump out of bed each morning and race to breakfast before other teams could deplete it. Another highpoint of the morning was an unlimited supply of espresso thanks to the do-it-yourself espresso machine. A conveniently located supply of chocolate powder enabled the creation of my favorite drink, the double espresso with chocolate. This breakfast of champions fueled me through my daily pursuits of both skiing and scientific research.

     Breakfast successfully completed and caffeine coursing through my veins I stepped out our hotel door and looked across the road upon the race venue not more than 100 meters away…