Well, finally all settled into a hotel here in Koksijde… Bit of an adventure. I had booked a hotel. But it turned out to be like a haunted house… So I had to scramble to find a new hotel – not easy in a city overrun with cyclo-cross racers and fans. But I found one. Phew. Then I had to race back to the registration and give the UCI officials my new hotel information – in the event of a doping control. Only last snag is my phone has run out of credit – so I need to get this sorted – in the event of a doping control.

The pre-ride went really well. The course has changed a lot since Wednesday. The sand is a lot firmer now. There are a lot of ruts and tracks that make the sections more rideable. But sand is sand – one lap you can get through and the next lap you get stuck. Took it pretty easy and did only three laps. The weather is a bit rotten cold and wet so I didn’t want to be outside too much.

Got all my clothes hanging up and drying. Bikes are clean and good to go. Now I’m just trying to sort out my supper plans. I could eat here or go into town. I’m thinking of going into town. See how I feel.

The race is at 1:30 tomorrow. Feeling pretty good about it. The course is challenging but interesting. There are some sections which I think I ride really well and then there are sections that I struggle with. This is the same for everyone.

Pretty impressive to see some of the elite men ride today. At one point I was walking up a big sand climb and everyone watching (yes there are people out watching the warm-up) started cheering and gesturing. I smiled because I thought they were cheering me. Nope. Zdnek Stybar of Fidea was coming up from behind me – only difference was he was riding the sand hill and I was not!

Okay, I’m out. Sorry for the short post but I’ve only got two hours of WWW access here at the hotel. I’ll do a race report tomorrow night from my next hotel.