Week #5: World Championship Edition

It's funny how a few weeks ago the stretch between the holidays and race season seemed like an insurmountable hurdle at which I was white-knuckledly chipping away. Now it's half over and it almost seems like time is flying too fast. I have a mere four Sundays between now and the Death March, and I have non-bike obligations for two of them. And I still haven't been to Callahan yet.

Of course, the biggest highlight of this week was that the cyclocross world championships took place in Louisville over the weekend, so training wasn't the number one priority this week, but it still turned out pretty well. I took Friday off with the intention of getting a good recon ride in before being out of town and off the bike for two days, but the 12 degree temperature that manifested on that day threw a monkey wrench in those plans. Luckily, I still got in a good mountain bike ride on my day off. It was less than two hours, but the combination of the extreme cold, the ungroomed trails, about a half-inch of snow, and an ample dose of boy pace made it a sufficient ass-kicking for the week. On one hand, my training so far this winter has felt kind of unorganized and random, but it really works out as consistently hitting all of my weight workouts with some aerobic riding in between, then adding one proper on-bike ass-kicking per week. I feel like it's working well for me.

Since the world championship races were condensed into one day, I considered a second self-imposed ass-kicking for the weekend, but too much additional snow fell yesterday for the HNF roads and trails to be anything less than miserable.  Plus, I think I've just had my fill of cold in the last 48 hours.

Anyway, I guess I should mention the worlds races themselves. With the exception of the unfortunate incident dramatically depicted above and the fact that I was overwhelmed by having to stand in a huge line for everything always upon arrival, the experience was pretty fun. I'm sure everyone has seen lots of much better pictures already, but here is one from my perspective as I was pinned to the railing during the elite men's race:

It was cool to say that I was at a world championship and to see such huge crowds at a 'cross race, but in the end, I have to say I prefer regular ol' 'Merican-style cross races any day. Oh well, in nine more months I'll be back at Eva Bandman wearing a costume, drinking any "outside beverage" I want, and coming and going from my car as I please. Oh yeah, and hopefully not being DFL this year. I'm definitely looking forward to that.