Post Worlds Update

If you're reading this, you're probably enthusiastic enough to have checked out the goings on from Zeddam on Canadiancyclist.com or something like that. But, in brief, it was cold, Sven crashed, Bart didn't win but Erwin did (for the second time) and Page put in a killer ride to slide into 10th place. I finished 47th. Numerically, that is an improvement from last year (I think I was 56th or something), but there were fewer starters this time around. Not exactly the top thirty, which was where I had wanted to be.

Last row start, which is rapidly becoming a tradition for me here at worlds, but I managed to move up pretty well due to a fancy crash avoidance maneuver on the start stretch and some good cornering thereafter. I couldn't sustain my first lap effort and had to let go of the group I was in and slide back to the next one after a couple laps, then got popped out of that one a lap or two later, but I did find some guys to race with and so managed to salvage something of the day. I had a good elbow wrestling match with one of the Japanese guys in some corners, much to the enjoyment of the crowd. I dealt with him OK, but then he rode around me a little later and proceded to execute a perfect Kamikaze-style T-bone attack on my Stevens teammate (and Austrian champ) Peter Presslauer in a corner directly in front of me. They both went down, but Peter didn't get back up. I was a little pissed about that, and seriously contemplated educating him in the ways of the NHL, but I couldn't quite seem to find the right moment.

We had a great support crew over here again this year. Norm did a stellar job stepping in as project manager after Kris Westwood broke his foot and couldn't make the trip. We had great mechanical support from our friendly Dutch mechanic Pim and his friend Bert, as well as Stu Thorne from cyclocrossworld.com. RobbieO pulled a surprise visit from Ottawa in lightning strike fashion - in Friday morning, out Monday morning. Funny, but he didn't seem to be suffereing from any jetlag. Tons of people out there cheering for us this year - I guess the fact that we keep coming back and more of us are racing here during the season means that we are cultivating a fan base.

I barely had time to get back, shower and throw my bags outside the bungalow before the Stevens crew came by for a rapid surgical extraction, and now I am back in Hamburg once again. No post-Worlds partying for me this year! I'll be flying back to Ottawa on Feb. 2nd for a quick rest before the spring training camps start again. Big things for the Stevens continentat road team this year...

home in a flash,
GReain