No amount of preparation is enough for a race of this magnitude and difficulty.
I arrived at the start line well trained with an experienced, cohesive and organized team.
Jill and I had spent the best part of the previous month in the US with Marc Poland, a US-based cyclist and crewmember who has become a friend. We started altitude acclimatization in North Carolina and continued as we progressed west. We even stopped at Pagosa Springs for a few days to acclimatize on my old friend, Wolf Creek Pass.