This cyclo-cross season I’m very fortunate to have support from Giro and Mavic thanks to Outdoor Gear Canada and Dave Shirley. Dave and OGC set me up with some great equipment that completes my set of racing and training tools for the 2008 – 2009 cyclo-cross season.

This season my skull is protected with the Giro Monza helmet. I’ve got a small head. This makes finding a helmet very challenging. I’ve tried many makes and models of helmets. I can now safely say that the Giro Monza fits! It really fits – I don’t have to add extra padding, mess around with the chin straps – I just really put it on and I’m good to go. The added benefit is that since the helmet fits – i don’t have to deal with the “bouncing helmet” syndrome that used to happen. Thanks OGC!

Glasses. Everyone has their favorite pair of racing glasses. I must admit that until this season I didn’t really worry about glasses. Primarily because I had trouble finding glasses that would fit with my small head and helmet issue. Enter the Giro Havik Compact glasses. These glasses are designed to fit with the Giro helmets. Perfect. I’m wearing the size small Giro Havik Compact glasses and they fit perfectly with my Giro helmet. These glasses stay on, they don’t slip, and most importantly they integrate nicely with the straps and fit system of the Giro helmets. I typically use the clear lense in my glasses, and have found that even the clear lense helps to sharpen images and make the lines, obstacles, ruts, and mud pop out more and be more viewable.

What is the one piece of gear besides the frame that bike racers love to talk about? Wheels. The all-important wheels. This season, I’m super lucky to be racing on Mavic wheels. I’ve got a complete set of tubular rims hanging in my garage. I have two sets of new wheels for racing on this season – the deep-dish Mavic Carbones and a pair of Mavic Kysrium SL tubular rims. The Mavic Carbones are super smooth – they seem to almost float through the sand and mud. The Mavic Kysrium SL wheels are the work-horse of cyclo-cross racing wheels. Look at any top racer’s bike set-up and there is pretty good chance that these wheels will be on the bike. Durable. Strong. Smooth. Mavic wheels are definitely my first choice on race and training days. Thanks to OGC for settng me up with these wheels.

Here is the one photo I’ve found of me from the Zolder World Cup.

I’m in the background…

Zolder World Cup

Tim always says “One of the hardest things for a cyclist to do is not ride.” Well, today I didn’t ride. No push-biking for me today. I wanted to. I really wanted to. Tim offered to take me out and help me with my sprinting. But this morning I really felt like death warmed over.

A hacking cough. Dead legs. And just a general feeling of malaise. So I made the tough but smart decision not to ride. Have to look forward. I have two big races next week that I want to be sharp for. So the guys went out for a ride, joined by Rachel Lloyd and her boyfriend Sam. Sounds like a good ride. Frosty but sunny. I stayed here and chilled out. Finished another book and then did some yoga with Baron Baptiste. A super hot shower rounded it all out and I’m feeling a bit better now.

Doubtful that I’ll race tomorrow. Not sure if it will help me recover from this cold thing. I’ll play it by ear. Just made the decision – no racing for me tomorrow. Longish ride instead. Hopefully some sprinting lessons from Tim on Monday and then race action Tuesday. Pretty smooth.

Just chilling out here in Westmeerbeek. About to start another book and just really lie around and do nothing.

Hope you’re having a solid Christmas break. Sorry there isn’t much cyclo-cross related news to post today. Have a good one.

My first World Cup has come and gone. What a day! What a great day! Quite cold here – well cold for Belgium: -2 celsius.

Tim drove me to the race today – thanks Tim for giving up your Friday to take me to the race and to be there at the start to collect my warm-up clothes. We left pretty early – 9ish so that we could make it in time to arrive before the U23 race (Tim was helping out the British team). You know me – I don’t mind arriving early – in fact now I’m so used to it, I’m more comfortable being at the race four hours in advance rather than the normal two hours in advance. We got a primo parking spot right next to the course and with a good view of the big screen television.

The race venue filled up super quickly. Soon enough by 11:30 you could barely move. Hanka K. parked across from us and her bus drew quite a crowd. This overflowed to myself and Nikki H. (who had a most excellent ride today finishing 16th – congrats Nikki – you rocked it today!). We were surrounded by people. I really felt like a monkey in a zoo. A couple of people asked me for my rider card (I don’t have any) and one lady asked me to sign her t-shirt. Talk about a spectacle. Fascinating. People stop to look at your bikes. To stare at you. They check your tire pressure. Look at your water bottles. Watch you pedal. You name it – everything is analyzed. I suppose if I paid 14 euros to watch a race – I’d be staring and poking as well.

I’ve written a race report and posted it. The race was good. Good hard. Lots of hard lessons learned and reinforced.

Marc and Ed arrived about half an hour before my race. They were racing in Reusel, NL today. Thanks guys so much for making the effort to get to my race. I owe you both big time. D-Rock SJ stopped by to offer a few words of encouragement – thanks dude – means a lot to me. Lets just say I was super nervous. So nervous I nearly cracked and didn’t line up. But I’m not that athlete anymore…

After my race, I hopped on the trainer and did a 40 minute cool down. I really think this will help me recover. I slugged back a bottle of super recovery drink – glutamine powder and calcium powder. I chased this with a small box of Cecemel. Perfect liquid recovery. Chatted with Marc, Ed and Tim while I was cooling down. Talked to the people who were staring at me again. Then moved over to watch the men’s race. Wow – what a race.

I have a new favorite rider – Thijs Al. This guy kills it. He rides super hard. Doesn’t give up. And best of all is the exuberance he shows when he wins a race. Awesome.

It took us forever to get home. Massive traffic jams on the way home. There must have been about 25, 000 people at the race. All trying to leave on the same small road… Ah well, it is all part of the experience. Got home and Ed had cooked dinner and Marc cleaned up my bike. After a chilled out dinner we’re just sitting here shooting the breeze.

Bonus of the day – I got talk to Jos’s mom! Cool. Now I just need to talk to my brother. Happy Boxing Day!

Well, I was unsure about pre-riding today since my head is still wrapped in head cold fogginess. But I vowed not to ride hard and to take it easy on the course. All I can say is, I’m super happy I went to pre-ride. The course has some sections that really need to be ridden a few times to get a feel for them.

There are two sandy descents. The longer one is kind of sketchy but my tactic is to just choose my line, take it confidently and not look at the people or metal barriers! There is a super steep run-up – I actually have to use my hand to help me up. A bunch of fast sandy corners. Some steep climbs. It is generally a pretty good course. It is fast and challenging.

Many thanks to Marc and Ed for their help out there today. Marc and I went over the key sections a bunch of times so I could try out ways to ride them. There will be new lines tomorrow I’m sure but at least now I’ve got a good visual imprint in my brain.

Merry Chrismtas! Sorry – kind of forgot that it is Christmas. We kicked off the day with a trip to our favorite bakery – the Blauberg bakery. We picked up a cake, a variety of different types of buns, and our favorite bread. We had a nice group breakfast (without Jos – she is sick in bed….) and then we generally flaked out until leaving for Zolder to pre-ride.

Didn’t really have a “traditional” Christmas supper. Well, unless Thai red curry chicken, rice, salad and more cake is traditional…

Just have to get my bag packed up and I’m good to go for tomorrow. I must admit I had a bit of panic attack/case of the nerves while pre-riding today. Part of this is caused by the cold I’m sure. The rest – well I’m not sure really. But I’m good now. It is a race. Yes, it is a World Cup – but I’m not expected to win the race so really the only pressure I have is the pressure I put on myself. I can ride the course. Some sections really well. Other sections fairly okay. I know part of my struggles is with just letting the bike do its thing in the sand…

I’m well setup with a mechanic/pit man for the day – so this is one big stress off my shoulders. Marc and Ed are racing in Reusel, NL and will make it to Zolder in time for my race.

Okay, I’m going to sign off. Time to get lots more liquid in me and to chillax a bit. Hope you had a good Christmas. Send some fast vibes tomorrow – to all of us. Have a good one.