2014 Road Plan - Instagram

So what's my big goal for the 2014 road season?  To take at least 1 picture on every ride.  I'm not planning on any road racing this year but will be riding as much as possible to get ready and fit for cross season in the fall.  I decided that what I wanted to do this year is to take at least 1 pic on every ride and post it to instagram.  Over the years I've said countless times, "oh that would make a great pic."  Well this year it will.

I am posting most rides to strava, which will sync with instagram which is pretty cool.  I was worried for a bit because the for the first couple of rides the pics were all roadkill.  But i'm fortunately finding enough other good stuff.  

I think it'd be cool if more and more strava users would make use of this feature.

2014 Cyclocross Worlds - Elite Men

2014 Cyclorcross Worlds - U23 Men

This race included one of my favorite moments of the whole world championships and unfortunately i didn't catch it on camera.  As i made my way to the large open flat section of the course, Wout Van Aert was well on his way to winning solo.  As he was about to lap an Australian rider, the Aussie jumped off his bike, raised it over his head, and cheered Van Aert as he rode by.  The crowd loved that one.

2014 Cyclocross World - Elite Women

Finally getting my videos up.  Here's the Elite Women.

CX Worlds Trip - Day 1: Belguim

So the trip began with a little worry that my flight wouldn't get out because of the snow in Chicago but those worries proved unfounded and i was on my way on an overnight flight to Dusseldorf, Germany.  We actually got there ahead of schedule and by 10am i was in my rental car headed for Oudenaard.  I had planned ahead to have an offline mapping system on my iPad and iPhone but i went ahead and got a navigation system with the car and I am really glad I did.  The thing actually was easy to use and worked extremely well. There was never any guess work.  Made the drive super easy.  During the 3.5hr drive it was fun seeing road signs for towns that I knew of from different races i've watched on tv but never been to.

I stopped around Antwerpen at a Mcdonalds and grabbed a bite and continued on.  I arrived in Oudenaard, at The Chainstay, around 1:30pm.  I met Gregg and got stuff moved into my room.  I talked with Gregg a bit and asked what was the best way to get to the Koppenberg and with a map in hand, headed out the door.

I drove over to the base of the Koppenberg and the immediate impression was wow, it don't look that steep on tv.  As I drove slowly to the top while taking pictures, i saw that there was a car ahead, with people also taking pictures out the window.  Once at the top we both pulled over and got out.  Hearing that they spoke english I asked where they were from.  "Chicago," they said.  They were 2 guys that flew in the same morning and were going to the Cx championships and drove down from The Netherlands to see the Koppenberg.  I didn't know them but do know the team they race for in Chicago.  Small world.

I spent some time on the Koppenberg.  I walked all the way down to the bottom and then back up, taking pictures the whole time.  I spent a little time trying to figure out exactly where the course for the Koppenbergcross turns off the road and into the field and also where it crosses again further up.

After the walk up I got back in my car and drove a little loop to the road that's just a bit southwest that the Koppenbergcross course also goes on and drove down that back to the bottom of the Koppenburg and took a few more pics.  

My next destination was the Patterburg and Oude Kwaremont.  I headed in the general direction and started to notice that there were signs posted at every intersection of routes for different rides or races.  There were signs for the Ronde van Vlaanderen course, which i assume was last years route.  There were signs also for a Eddy Mercx route.  I found the Patterburg and Oude Kwaremont and drove up those and took pictures at the top of the Patterburg.  The Kwaremont is by far the worst cobbles of all 3 climbs with big ridges and dips in the road as well as the cobbles being much more diverse and rough than the other 2 climbs.

After exploring those 2 climbs it was time to head back to Oudenaard to check out the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen museum in town.  I decided i'd try to follow the Ronde signs back to town to do the route.  That actually proved to be quite fun.  The road is in most places nothing more than the width of a bike path and the ditches you see on tv along the side of the road are DEEP.  Racing on those would be insane and I will have much more an appreciation for what it would be like to be clawing for a position before the base of those climbs.  I shot a video of me driving those roads to the base and up to the top of the Koppenberg.  

Back in town i went to the Ronde museum which was pretty cool.  It isn't huge but they have quite a nice collection of bikes, jerseys, and other equipment from the history of the race.  They also have a little room that recaps the previous race.  In it they had a video playing as well as posters of significant moments of last years race.  Apparently Sagan's butt pinching incident was something they thought worth preserving because it is one of the posters that they put up.  They also had Fabian's jersey there with the numbers still attached.  The thing looks like it's about the right size for my 9 year old.

After the museum I walked to the main square, took a couple of pics, found a frites shop and got a sandwich and headed back to the Chainstay.  That night they were doing a pizza night for all who were staying there.  They made pizzas that looked and smelled amazing and also looked pretty healthy.  I was too full to eat but enjoyed hanging out with everyone at the table.

The Chainstay is a house run by Gregg Germer and his wife Holly.  He was a pro racer in Belguim from 2004 - 2008 who stayed in Belgium when he retired.  They have 4 rooms on the second floor where you can stay and have a common kitchen and dining room / family room area.  There is also a bike garage area setup  with trainers and a workbench for all your bike needs.  There were 3 people staying while I was there.  There was a guy from New Jersey who had just arrived about a week before.  He had signed on with a Belguim team and they had their team presentation the week before so he had to be there for that.  He's staying the whole season.

The second guy was Luke Gray, a cyclocross racer from Great Britian who had wrapped up his season and would be leaving soon.  Also staying was a woman named Michelle Geoghegan from Ireland who is preparing for the 2014 road season.

Since this was a very full day I decided to go to bed at 8pm.  That was a mistake because I was up at 10pm and couldn't fall back asleep for a few hours.  It didn't help that it was raining constantly the whole night and while that would make for a great race conditions at Hoogerheide, I didn't bring the right clothing for standing in the pouring rain for hours.  Finally I fell back asleep and that was the end of day 1.

Fun seeing signs for cities I've heard of but never been to.

Selfie on the Koppenberg!

Chapel that's at the top of Oude Kwaremont

Top of the Patterburg

Route signs all over the area

Painting along the Flanders route.

Film center in the Flanders museum.  Cool use of jerseys for the benches.

Tom Boonen's jersey.

The famous podium shot.

Fabian's jersey from last year.

2014 Cyclocross Worlds - Junior Men video

Well I'm finally back home now.  Here's a video of stuff i shot with my little camera and iphone during the Juniors race.  I will make a video for each race.  Hopefully it captures what it was like to be there.  Eventually i post a whole writeup about the experience.

Yep that happened!

Worlds was amazing. I'm now in Germany on a work trip and so busy I've barely had time to look through my photos and videos. I've got tons of stories to share but it'll be a week or so before I'll be able to sit down and write. 

Hoogerheide 2014

In just under 48 hours from now I will be on a plane headed for Dusseldorf, Germany to begin 10 days in Europe. It's a work trip, where I'll end up in Leipzig, Germany for a Leadership Conference that I'll be mixing sound for but the the first three days will be cyclocross heaven as I will be in attendance at the Cyclocross World Championships in Hoogerheide, The Netherlands. 

The World Championships have always sort of lined up with this trip that I go on every 4 years but this is the first time that the timing was perfect and so I'm jumping at the chance. I basically have 2 1/2 days in cycling heaven so I'm going to make the most of it. Here's the plan. 

I arrive Friday morning in Dusseldorf, Germany where I will pick up a rental car and drive to Oudenaard, Belgium. Since my final destination is Leipzing, Germany, it is cost prohibitive to rent a car in one country and return it in another so that is why I'm flying to Dusseldorf. 

In Oudenaard I'll be staying at a place called The Chainstay. http://www.thechainstay.com/ I originally found this place doing web searches about Oudenaard and found it to be a great source of information. The more I read the more I wanted to stay there so I asked and they said yes. See their site for more info but it's basically a place to stay for an extended amount of time and race in Belgium. The idea once I arrive is to drive around a bit and see the Koppenburg and other climbs, then go to the Tour of Flanders Centre in Oudenaard. http://www.crvv.be/en/295-home

Saturday will be the 1 1/2 hr drive up to Hoogerheide to watch the jr's and the Women's races and hopefully see Katie F'n Compton win Gold for the U.S.  Sunday will be a return trip to Hoogerheide to see the U23 and the Elite Men. Then as soon as the race is over I'll hightail it out of there and begin the 6 1/2hr drive to Leipzig, Germany. 

I will try to post pics and stories every day. Gonna be quite an adventure. I'm bringing a P5 jacket to wear so be on the lookout for that on the webstream. 

Finally a bit of irony. Last year with Worlds in Louisville, I was planning to go but instead I had the privilege of taking a trip to S. Africa. I found myself in a Johannesburg hotel room trying to watch the Worlds on the UCI YouTube channel. Now I'll actually be in Europe watching it in person. Too cool. 

Screen capture of my Tripit map. 

Can't believe only 3 days left. 

XC-Ski at Beaver Creek Reserve

I was up in Eau Claire, WI over New Years and got a ski in on New Years Eve with my brother in law. It was about -2 our but it turned out to be not so bad. 

We got tons of snow at home now so hopefully I'll get at ton of skiing in. Temps are really going to drop again so I'll get to try some sub zero skiing again.