Wereld Kampioenschap and Belgium

It's so hard to believe that last week I was in Belgium racing my bike in the Masters World Championships of Cyclocross. What an experience!! I met so many cool people along the way and learned a lot too. The race itself was only an hour out of the whole trip, but will leave a lasting impression in my mind forever. The two days leading up race I was able to ride the course quite a bit as it was right out the back door of our cabins. It was very technical with tight twisty singletrack, roots, drops, bermed corners, and of course SAND, SAND, and more SAND.

Race day started with an early jump down to the registration place to get signed up. The place was bustling with bikes all over outside and inside was packed with cyclists. The officials said my age-group was missing the shoulder numbers so to come back in 30 minutes. I hung around and waited for a minute and happened to be first in line... receiving none other than #1. How cool! I went back and ate breakfast, had some espresso and prepped for the day. I was able to watch some of the other people in our group race in the morning and the lines had significantly changed from the day before. Some sections were now rideable where they weren't on Friday. The weather was super windy, light rain, and around 40 degrees. I did my warmup on the roads around the park for a solid 30-40 minutes and seemed to be as ready as I was going to get. Typically I don't have jitters before a race, but I did that day. I had to keep telling myself to focus, calm down, and that its just another race... do what you do and race your race.

The whistle blows for people to come to the bullpen for callups. They start calling random numbers to the front row. Mud&Cowbells Greg gets a front roll callup as does his buddy Kurt. Many more names and numbers called, then finally... #1 Kyle Bush United States in a heavy Belgian accent. I was back in the 4th row and was just hoping to make up some ground. I chatted with a nice guy next to me for a minute as the rest were getting called... David Lenoir who was wearing a French national skinsuit. One minute. Its on now. TWEET! We roar down the wet pavement for a solid 400-500 meters into the hard 90 degree left. I'm still in good position and make the turn, no crashes yet. Into the sand, made it about 15 feet before I was forced to dismount and run. I felt like I passed 50 people running, but surely didn't. Got around the corner and back on the bike, ride the beach section and then blast thru the deep sand up onto the single track (people were going down everywhere). Over the first root drop, twist turn, more sand, another root drop, more sand. Still holding solid but the guys in front of me are bobbling a little so I give some room. Get passed by a couple guys near the pits. Up the first runup and remount on the top "hump"... get all jiggy down the backside in the sandy soil. Down the dropoff into the sandtrap and ride it! Up the next runup, more sand then more twisty single track back to the pavement. I jam it on the pavement and pass a couple guys and really hauling. Lap 1 down... only 40 minutes to go. I really help my position until the last lap when my lower back was hurting pretty bad and I got sloppy. I was riding the sand almost all the way to the beach, which is a feat in and of itself, which probably contributed to my lower back pain. I had been taking a left line thru this one deep sand section and this time I got pulled far left and was going off-course right at one of the big wooden posts. I almost had to leap off the bike to avoid it by somehow missed it and went thru the tape. Back on course and two guys had passed. Made it around to the pavement and the leader laps me at the start/finish. 37th place out of 53 starters. Can't say it was my best performance, but I did beat some of the Euros. Not last, but did get lapped which I was really trying to avoid. I was there amongst Belgian champions and former world champs so considering, I'll take it.

All in all my most amazing cycling adventure/experience ever and can't wait to do it again next year. What I will do different is to go earlier and race more over there. The courses are different, way more technical, and the pace is uber fast. Starting to plan next year NOW! After the race I caught up with Monsoir Lenoir and exchanged emails, saw Greg and crew and got the debrief. Just a well run event with actual certificates of participation for all the racers. All I can say is get over there and do it. Already have people onboard for next year.

Almost There!!! Belgium within reach

Its almost 1am right now and I just got done with all my packing and prep. This included clearing the camera and video camera memories, etc and needless to say getting all the bike shit together and boxed up. We leave tomorrow morning for the journey of a lifetime. It's going to be sick!! Alison, my wife, had all her stuff ready by mid-day, but of course I had to get a 2 hour ride in this afternoon and then tear down the bike, get it packed. I was busting balls on G Keller last week about all the stuff he took, only to find out all my stuff wouldn't fit (I only took half what he did). I'm like a little kid on the Christmas eve right now and can't even think about sleeping. The alarm is going off at 6am, so its time to hit the sack, at least lay down and rest. I want to be able to sleep on the plane tomorrow evening so this might not be so bad.

Peace out my Americano brothers, its off to the Motherland of Cyclocross. KC to DC to Brussels to Mol... Destination Zilvermeer. Break off some Belgie legs, I hope. My new favorite quote was found the other day on this guy's blog when I was randomly searching around.... "Eff 'em I say. I'll crush their souls and ride away on a bike made of their bones." This was written in the context of going to Worlds, so it is so fitting.. I love it.

T-Minus 5 days and Counting- Breathe

Holy Sheetz! The days are whizzing by like telephone poles on a roadtrip. I have 5 billion things to do before lift-off and not getting crap done. Right now work is sweating me bigtime, it feels like a wrestling match where you're being pinned and they guy is squeezing the breath out of you and you're just waiting for the slap on the mat. Or maybe better when a wave is holding you down,washing machine style, you can see the light of the surface but you can't yet take a breath. Just too much to do before I even think about packing, working day and night, but the end is near. My bike is still a wreck from last weekend, gave it a quick bath, but it's lookin' ugly and muddy. Need to clean it up pristene, pickup a new chain, ....blah blah blah the list goes on.

My UCI license finally arrived and the foreign permission letters, so now just have to get a photo affixed and laminate. Another menial task to take up some of my scarce minutes. The grandma is coming to stay and watch the kiddos while were gone, so that is making the whole trip possible. Just have to get through another 2 days of work, and take a huge breath before the next wave pushes me under, packing. I can see the light.

Vindication by Domination - Grote Prijs

After taking my lumps at Nationals I had to get back on the horse and keep Belgium in my sights. Watching what I ate (not so much) and training during those cold snowy days of Christmas has paid dividends. Last week I raced with the Elites (1/2/3) at the Epic Holiday cross race and the conditions were pretty harsh. It was cold and icy snow on the ground mixed with sandy mud. I put in a good showing and hung in for a 4th place finish.

This week however was the final race in the De Stad Cyclocross Van Kansas race series, and I was leading the points race. As much as I wanted to do 2 races, my race was the last of the day and didn't want to risk my chance at winning the series. Our Localcycling.com team puts on this race, so we were out the day before doing course setup and it was going to be a muddy muddy race. Especially being the last race of the day, that course was going to be chewed up by the time I hit it. The start was fairly fast up 500m of pavement and I took 2nd wheel into the first turn. I followed the leader through the first few sections, then made my move and turned it on. After that I pulled away from the field and had 15 seconds by the end of the first lap. A key point on the first lap was riding a large dirt mount that most would run (Thanks David for the heads up). See example of Studnicki doing it in this clip on his blog.

http://markstudnicki.blogspot.com/2008/01/grote-prijs-shawnee-mission-video-clip.html

There were some deep mud sections that I did run when my momentum slowed but other than that it was pedal to the metal the entire time and by the end I had at least 1:30 on 2nd place. That was the final race tune-up for Mol, so feel great and ended up winning the series as well. My legs were so sore on Monday, moreso than any other time this year. That's a good thing from my perspective knowing I went really hard and the thick mud will be good practice for the sand in Mol. The crowd was great and cheering me on so much I just kept pushing. Boulevard beer provided some nice libations for the crowd, 6th Glass Quadruple Ale, so they were in good spirits by the last race of the day.

Mitch Before a Flat took him out

Belgium Bound

It's official, we are heading to Mol, Belgium for the Masters World Championships in Jan08!! Oh my this is exciting. It's been on my mind all year, but just hadn't pulled the trigger. When a few locals were going and had everything lined up for accomodations, it made it that much easier. Mark from localcycling.com has been over for the last 3 or 4 years and has it down pat. He has friends on the ground and knows how to navigate the country on a budget. We'll be staying at Zilvermeer, right on the race course, in some cool little A-frame cabins. Since my better half is coming too, we've planned it so I race about the 3rd day there, then vacation/party the rest of the time. We'll for sure hit Hoogerheide for the World cup race on Jan20, then off to Brugge, Antwerp, maybe a couple days in Amsterdam, and if everything works out right cap it off in Paris.

So right now its just get through the massive workload, keep training for Nationals, take a week break, Christmas, then ramp it back up for the final stretch into Worlds. It weird to even say that, but its ON! I'm going to Belgium!!