Hard to believe this is my first double weekend since Canadian Nationals/Jim Horner over Thanksgiving weekend! Strange really. Especially as ‘cross racer, double weekends are what it is all about. Suffice it to say, I’m looking forward to this double race weekend.

No big races on the calendar. Just a couple of “local” races with the junior boys. When there aren’t any women’s races on the schedule, women can race with the junior boys. This means starting at the back of the field and riding like a crazed person to hold off the super-fast junior boys. Should be a good time. I had originally planned on racing Laarne but have since discovered a close race in Hasselt. Turns out there are two UCI races in Hasselt as well. See how the day goes, might even stay for a little bit of race watching. Haven’t done this yet this year.

As for Sunday. Well, I had planned to race in Holland, but this involved four hours of driving. Normally not an issue but I’ve got a long drive on Monday and a big week ahead so decided that spending a lot of the day in the car on Sunday isn’t the best preparation for the upcoming week. So, I’ll race in Tessenderlo. Again with the junior boys. Tessenderlo is super close. This is the course I trained on in the middle of the week. Should be a good hard fast race.

I’ll be flying solo at these races. No pit person. No traveling company. First time this season. No biggie. I’m sure to see people I know at the races. And if not, I’m sure to meet people at the races. This always seems to happen. Kind of cool. Guess it is part of being a bit of a novelty still. People here aren’t used to having Canadians at the races so early in the season. Too bad about this. Hopefully each year, more Canadians will come over earlier. Once you get here and get a couple races under your belt, you learn really quickly that people love to help out and that you can do this thing solo.

Looking forward to next week. Should be heaps of learning. Lots of pedaling. Some new friends. And not to mention the sand. Glad to have such a busy week next week because this will make the time to Marc’s arrival go by even more quickly. Can’t hardly wait.

Well, that’s really it for today. Did go out for a ride. Had a great roll around for a little over 90 minutes. No SRM today. Just went by feel. Also needed to test out my pedals on my other bike. I switched out on of the pedals and needed to make sure it is okay. Still stretching out my last pair of Look egg beaters. Bought some new gear at the bike store today: two new Dura Ace chains, two sets of brake pads, and some leg warmers… Feeling is that the sand will destroy my chains and brake pads so best have them on hand so I can replace them before the World Cup. (Don’t worry Steve – I won’t be doing this – I’ll find someone to do this work for me!) And the leg warmers? Well, you know me – I’m not a flashy person. I like to be understated with maybe a slight flash of color here and there… This means sticking to black leg warmers. Well, I’ve been forced to branch out. No black leg warmers in my size… What is a girl to do? I cracked and bought some red leg warmers. I know. I know. But I needed a second pair. Hopefully I have the nerve to wear them. They are really nice Vermarc leg warmers. Red ones. You know the saying “might as well be fast and look good!”.