Master's Worlds Fundraiser/Slideshow Tonight!

Taking place at the hallowed halls of BCS in North Boulder. Be there to help support Ben's CLIF Bar Cyclocross Program with a $5 suggested donation and entry into the raffle for some cool schwag from Chris King, Rocky Mounts and more!

Chris King is donating this custom Belgian Flag Edition headset for one of you lucky raffle winners!

Enrico's CAAD 9

Mmmm. American Nonferrous. Enjoy.

Dubba's last Chocolate, Waffles...

...and Cross article from za Motherland never showed up on the production VeloNews website. It is however on their new beta site. Weird.

Chocolate, Waffles & 'Cross: Bye-bye, Belgium

By Brandon Dwight, Boulder Cycle Sport

Posted Jan. 24, 2008

Article Extras

It’s rather comical how meticulously I pack my bikes and gear for a big race trip, such as this recent adventure to Belgium. Everything is cleaned, wrapped, folded, and hermetically sealed, then put in its perfect place.

However, on the return leg of trips such as this one, it’s a different story.

I just finished packing my bikes and gear for the long trip back to the States following my last cyclocross race of the 2007-08 season, and basically it looks as though a bomb exploded in my bike case and duffel bag. I pity the person at airport security who inspects my duffel bag, which has been stuffed to the gills with dirty cycling clothes, wet socks and muddy shoes. At the end of an epic week of slogging through thick Belgian mud, my luggage weighs about 10 pounds more than when I left. Although, it might have something to do with all the Belgian chocolate I am bringing home.

Continue reading za rest here....

Vacation

I'm on sabbatical folks. I am going to finally take some time off and maybe do me some hiking and enjoy some of the natural surroundings here in our home. I've got this feeling inside me that I've got to push back which is to 'keep going. keep going!!' I call that the badness. On a sprint Sunday, I cranked out 1600 + w for a 300m sprint. In some sense that's cool and I'm probably on my way to another mini peak, but it amounts to nothing at the wrong time and I've got to release and let it go and get out of the tunnel vision I have around keeping at the sharp end of the fitness scale. Maybe we need a Peak Season series here in CO. Hmm....

I'm going to finally be building up that Ahrens two-niner I've been anxious to since Mike sent it to me this fall. I'm so looking forward to getting my groove back with this new bike. I have that addictive craving to get back in the woods this Spring and groove in the trees. The roadie taught me things last year about myself but it became a slavery tool. I need to get beck to where I came from.

Hope you local folks can make it this Thursday to Boulder Cycle Sport! The good people at New Belgium Brewery have donated the fine stuff for us and Chris King (which every single one of my bikes have...including one on my single speed from 1996 which is ROCK SOLID....but why am I telling you this....you all know Chris King''s quality) has donated a Belgium Flag colored headset in honor of Za Trip for one of you lucky folks to walk away with as a raffle prize! THANKS TO YOU NEW BELGIUM AND CHRIS KING!!!

Anti-climax

Oooooh. Shocker. Boom won. Who'da guessed that one? Honestly, I'm stoked for him and the Dutch. Lars oozes class and now has accrued all kinds of world champion stripes. Good on him.

The interesting parts beyond Lars winning though are:

a) Stybar. Another world champ (U23) and is going to do something special next year. His Kalmthout win this year was huge and next year I think he can pull a rabbit out. 5 seconds behind Boom today is insurance of the kids abilities. My man Klaas didn't follow through for me this year the way I thought he was going to but a win at Torhout and a top 10 today ensured his great season.

b) The time gaps were SO SMALL! You've all seen CyclingNews by now and the deltas between riders were nuts! the Top 25 all cam in within 1 minute behind Lars.

c) Rhinos! Who was not using them today? You'd be crazy not to especially with that 45 degree off camber grass slope and that crazy hill climb.

Congrats Netherlands!

I had to do it

I just had to do it. The experience at Shriek Grootlo and using their Karcher power washers had me in extacy.

So in the spirit of feeling Belgie, I pulled the trigger on one:

When does cross start again?

Postpartum

I'm home. Really home. It feels great....even the veritable fire hose work had pent up for me that started up Tuesday AM at 6 AM when I got back to it.

Ironically, it felt good.

But now I feel empty. Weird. I want to cross more. I want to hear my name being called out over the loudspeakers in a language that is totally foreign to me. I want to finish up my race and get a beer ticket from those nice people that seem to be at every race and submit the ticket to the even nicer people in the beer tent to drink the brown goodness. I want to stand in the pits with my boots on talking with more and more people about this sport I love.

I want to learn more.

I went out on a ride yesterday on the roadie and found myself up out of the saddle sprinting. Didn't even think about it. I just did it. I've GOT to stop that and start to release and let the body rebound a bit. OK, rebound a LOT.

I miss it already. Worlds this weekend to keep me satiated. Then, I need to think about fat tires. Projects to hold me over like building that 29'er....until its time to dial in the cross bikes. Shit, maybe I'll just dial them in now and just look at them all Spring.

I'm home. I'm happy. I'm longing already.

Just when you thought cyclocross season was over...

...you realize that it's a 365 x 24 x 7 sport! (OK, for me it is)

Boulder Cycle Sport and Mud and Cowbells (er...ah, me) would like to invite you to to join us for a little slide show viewing, cyclo-cross talking, friend seeing, beer drinking and most importantly some fund raising for Ben Turner's team green: The CLIF BAR Development Cyclo-Cross Team.

The deets:

What:

• Come hear stories and see pictures from Za Trip: 3 old men go race cyclocross in the Motherland. This is not a film by Sam Smith.
  
• A suggested donation of $5 American Dollars will entirely be donated to the CLIF BAR Development Cyclocross Team and make you feel like a hero.
  
• We're going to attempt to get some raffles together. Stay tuned. Possibly the chamois from Ben's USA Cycling issued skin suit from his World's venture. Mmmm.
  
• Beer will be served and all the cool kids will be there.
  

Why:

• Why in God's good earth do you need justification to come see friends and geek out on cross?
• More Americans need to go to Belgium and duke it out with the best on earth. This is our chance to Jedi Mind Trick you to a) do it yourself and b) help kids do it cause they like, have a future.
  
• We need you to help support our young'ns and help get 'em to races and buy some new Dugasts for 'em.
  
• Beer. Celebrate it. Cross. Celebrate it.
  

When:

• Thursday January 31st
  
• Doors Open at 6:30 PM
  
• 7-8PM Slide show
  
• 8-9 Happy hour!
  

Where:

• The hallowed halls of Boulder Cycle Sport. 4580 North Broadway, Boulder 80304

We hope to see you there, else Dubba and I will have to drink all the beer and recount stories: "Dude, remember that time, when you like slipped in the mud? And you got like, muddy. And your bike got mud on it? Remember? Yeah. That was good."

It's gonna be awesome.

Mol videos on CTodd.TV

While in Belgium, I was able to finally hook up with the man behind CTodd,TV, Mr. C Todd himself! Great to meet and hang home boy! You can see some videos and read some of his perspectives on the race here.

Braaaaaap

Embedded Here:

Za Trip: A last post with some imagery and thoughts...

While I am in the zone, I wanted to get these up for you all to have some look sees at the various daily goings on from our trip. You can always go to my PhotoBucket Site to see originals.




OK, I'll let you in on our secret training. This is how we got utterly amped for our races. Who needs EPO? I used to listen to Rage, but have moved on...



Here's Dubba at Fort 6 Sunday. Ha! Sunday. I can't believe I was racing my bike in Belgium last week. Sweet.


Dubba had a very strong race against heavy contracted hitters at Fort 6.


So there you have it folks. Some vid and stills from Za Trip. I can NOT thank you all for reading and commenting religiously. It made me smile. I think I got my points across about the trip and the impact it had on many levels. I can't wait to hear other people's stories of their trips next year. START PLANNING NOW! That is my only advice. Again, Brandon and I are scheming a slide show at Boulder Cycle Sport for local folks and have some beers and give you some color commentary on the experience. I'll post something in the coming days.

Hole shot

Hole shot. Money. I looked like I crapped myself. I grabbed this from Edwin's site...
The complete set can be found here.....

Team Raats!

So check out our boys at Team Raats. These guys are CORE 'crossers from The Netherlands and our boy Edwin (below in light blue) took 3rd in our race on Saturday at Mol. Oh, he wears previous Masters stripes too, kids.

So Edwin and some other Raats guys got our beer on today with us in the pits and shared stories after our race and they are totally looking forward to going to Cross Vegas! Look out Chris G. The Dutch are coming!

Visit their site! I've got them linked too.

Za Trip: Sunday January 20th - Lived the dream

Place: Wilrijk, Belgium

As I type these characters, I have a warm flush rushing through my cheeks...partly due to the work today in the mud of Fort 6, part due to the work apres-race cleaning and packing of ALL the equipment for our trip to the airport but a LOT due to the Westvleteren Yellow Cap hitting every friggin happy-nerve synapse in my body. Yes, it is an incredible beer.

My beautiful friends: Za trip. She is done.

I want to write. A lot. At this moment I have so much to tell you my 'crossing brethren but in sum, I can only say: I 'saw' it. You know those album covers or posters made by computer generated imagery...e.g. the ones where if you stare long enough you see Jesus or the Led Zeppelin signs or maybe a fish? Well, it didn't take much proverbial squinting on my part to see what they have here in Belgium. By that I mean how this sport is Belgium and Belgium itself as a society and a culture is lived out each weekend on these muddy pastures. Field riding. Veldrijden. And that is the slightly hazy imagery I started to see come into focus with each and every race, and each and every experience here in the Motherland.

In Belgium, when a crosser is seen on the parcours with hands on hoods, head focused forward, jaw clinched, rooster tail of mud and grass spitting out the back, the Belgian silently watching is not watching like you and I watch a cross. Indeed, there is the sport of it all they are interested in, but beyond that, it is a communion of all that they are as Belgians and it is inherently known by the spectator there lining the tape on these fields. They're born into it. Grit, determination, nature, heart...they are watching a communion of their boys with the same earth and fields and conditions they call their home. It is not like what you and I know when we watch cross. We've made a spectacle out of it. And it's fun, do not misconstrue what I am saying, but the essence of that person and how the person communes with their birthplace is something we do not yet have the history to embrace and have sunk in.

They, my friends, are harder than us. But we are fast. Faster than you think.

Please do this. Please race over here and talk with as many people as you can about it when you return....but talk about it in the RIGHT ways. Please ask them their opinions on their racers...on their local courses, on their local beers. You will be taken in.

OK, enough of that. It is what it is over here, and what it is, simply needs to be experienced as a racer if you truly feel you are a crosser and you truly want to understand its roots. That was my mission and I call it complete. And the completeness has me staggering on how I want to build courses and involve town committees, and....well, you get the picture.

Rant over.

On to the day, peeps. Today was the Fort 6 Cyclocross literally within the city of Wilrijk, just outside of Antwerp. I'll get right to it and say: 18th folks. Out of the money (15th was the cut off for za prijs). It was inexplicably hard for me today and no excuses. Seriously. I am better than that but I've never felt more empty. Zero in the legs after truly leaving my corpse on the sands of Zilvermeer yesterday. Absolutely nothing. Let me give you a bit of a taste of the day.

We got to the course, went to the inschrivung, said hello to folks we've seen at the registration TONS already, and grabbed numbers. We then kitted up and jammed out on our B bikes. We could immediately see that today equaled MUD. When we got onto the parcours, holy God, tough. axle deep mud, slippery single track that pitched up at 45 degrees and equally down at vicious pitches. Dubba, as always, has us totally dialed, bringing our A rigs to the start, collecting all our crap to keep us focused.

So, we got the 5 minute to race time TWEEET! and we all queue up. I was hoping for a good call up but it wasn't to be. they called up 1-30 and the' De reste!" which means the rest should fall in. Literally last row. I was bummed! After pre-riding and knowing that the legs were not turning over the way I needed them to, I knew I was in for it.

"Ein minuten!". Again the tension then TWEEEEEEET! The whistle blows....



We roll down the pavement into a 180 switch back into mud and from mud into a mud uphill. Dudes are squirly and I am fighting to get past as many as I can. We climb this muddy fire road up onto the 45 degree pitches. LITERALLY, people are standing still so I run through the woods to get around some of these foolios. More climbing. with whoops and off camber slippery mud. Dodgey. On this one downhill chute, there is hesitation. I dismount and run past 5 guys (literally) to ensure I am safe and out of their schwag.

The course demanded unbelievable power which I was not in surplus of today. My 42 x 12/25 really needed to be a 42 x 12/27....



So I ground it out and got 'er done. I had Richard Groenendaal in my head as I had to dismount and cross country run through the fields and up pitches to stay within contact of my competition.


I changed bikes once to lighten up the mud and eventually came in on the lead lap about 4 minutes after the winner today who was flying.

I am...dead.

It is late here in Belgium and I've got to finish up so I can get some Z's. I will post on Brandon's race tomorrow or Tuesday when I am States-side which was great! I have a TON of photos as well. Arne won today amongst a pretty impressive field. Tim Van Neuffel looked uper strong early on but faded and big Arne just dieseled this mud with inexplicable power. You really have to witness it.

Oh, we met Mario De Clercq today after our race who was pitting for his son Angelo and we chatted and it was really fantastic! It confirmed the communion I speak about above when you see a 2 time world champion working his son's bike over in the muddy pits, running across the fields in the mud to get to sections to cheer him on. Awesome.

The dream has been lived. More to report in the coming days so you can see some more digital celluloid. Brandon and I are talking about a slide show between our numerous photos and videos to talk you through our experiences. Likely at Boulder Cycle Sport in the coming weeks. We'll bring the beers. Stay tuned.

Lived the dream. You will too. 363 days.

Tick tock tick tock....

'Cross on.
GK

Za Trip: Saturday January 19th - The Suitcase of Courage , Opened and Emptied!

Place: Zilvermeer Strand, Belgium -
MASTER'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, BABY!

Ladies and gents: She's in the books. The UCI Master's World Championships age group 1968-1973. I will say this before I dive into the gory details: I left every single solitary ounce of myself out there on the sand, pavement and single-track today. It is done.

So let's get to the day, shall we? We rolled out of Blauberg at 11AM for our 45 minute drive to Zilvermeer. We passed Dubba on the way as he's getting his training on today. All those 'nice' days we had caught up with us today with pissing sideways rain and windier than a mo fo out there.

We get to Zilvermeer and look out out the course...
It's gonna be brutal today. We proceed to inschriving (registration) and it is like a well oiled watch. You walk up, fill out a form, show them your UCI license and they take care of the rest. Oh, and they all speak perfect English.
While there, I was able to meet with Phillipe (did not get last name, but the gentleman in the middle below in the pic) who is the MAN. He literally runs the show. We chatted and he is an incredibly great guy who was as excited for us to be there as we were. Thanks Phillipe!

I finished up and grabbed my numbers for the back and arms. I got Bo Jackson'd today. Sweet.
So, let me tell you a bit about the atmosphere. In the summer, you could see how this place must go off with a bunch of pasty white dudes with banana hammocks hanging with their kids and tanned brides. it's a full on beach play land in the middle of nowhere. Today, only the hearty, not afraid of sideways rain and fashion faux pas with a set of Wellingtons on came out to line the Visa tape of the course. There was cheesy 80-'s re-mixed music blaring (e.g. I could NOT get Hall and Oates out of my head...STILL can't: "I can't go for that. Nooo, no can do.") and lots of cross fanatics from EVERY place in the EU. Sick. So many languages it was incredible. I spoke more German today than I have in 10 years.

Dubba was our FULL ON mechanic, soigneur, coach...you name it today. Brandon, thank you my brother. I tapped into so much of your calmness and advice this week. I am indebted. Dubba dialed us in on our pits, spare bikes, etc and came to the start with all the other North Americans (thanks Dave, Tom, Henry, Gannon and Kathy....and CONGRATS KATHY ON YOUR WIN TODAY! Sweet! American's rocking the dark blue and stripes. So g.d. good).

OK, stay on topic, Greg. So KP and I were able to pre-ride about 3 laps between races. The course had changed significantly in my opinion within the woods...the sand being exactly the same as we rode it yesterday. What changed were the berms and more importantly specific drop offs and the like within the woods. This was significant enough to keep you on the bike in some sections versus running them or taking totally different lines we trialled yesterday. So net net it was great to get at-speed laps on before our race.

We kitted up and headed to the start. Everybody is circling and then the UCI officials head down to us with their clipboards and watches. "TWEEEEEEEEEEET!" Whistle blows and the racers flood up to him. He starts announcing names and numbers in the language of the racer! Sweet. 1, 2, 3, 4 people called up. Then "No. 34, Gregory Keller, U-S-A." Holy shit. I GOT IT! I got the front row call up. I shit you not I had dreamed it two nights ago and today it materialized! I let out a gutteral sort of shout and Dubba gets me back in the game. Focus grasshoppah! It gets better. "No. 35, Kurt Perham U-S-A." What the??? YES! KP got called up next. This was TOTALLY odd as they were calling TOTALLY random numbers a la Bingo. 1, 22, 46, 51, 7, 17....you get the picture. The fact they had two numerically sequenced numbers was mad.

I must be in the front row...

KP, gets called up RIGHT after me. Yeah beeatches! See what 10 Euros will get you??

The eventual winner finishing his pre-race 'relief'. Watch those white Sidi's Ludovic!

In our midst today were ALL the big big guns. German master's national champ. 2 or 3 previous multi-time world master champions...the list as we were told by a local was fairly mad. I will do some research and maybe do a post on some of these guys. Lined up directly behind KP was the winner of our Schriek Grootlo race last week, Bert Vervecken. Sicko...but cool guy.

"1 minute gentlemen!"...then the 30 second count down. I am gonna f-ing drill this mo fo. Taro is in my head saying: "GK, don't win the hole shot. Save it hombre." but there are exactly 52 other dudes back there who want to tear my legs off. I can feel my tire being bumped in that empty silent space between the 15 seconds and 5 seconds to go eternity. Then I remember: Look Up, man. I looked up at the sky and smiled. Smiled and closed my eyes once I knew I realized where I was and where I'd been and what sacrifices have been made by more, WAY more, than just me to be here.

TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!" 'Cross fans, we are OFF!! Check this sheeit out caught by Dubba "Graham Watson you've got nothing on me" Dwight.



Your fearless blogger won himself the hole shot to the beach with Bert and I plowing through the sand. I followed his wheel through the wooded section past the pits and on through the woods itself. 5 guys came past and I hung on to that group until I was absolutely cross eyed. I was drilling the lines, nailing the run ups all PRO like but the BPM's were in the 180's.

Braaaap!

We get to the pavement and the last guy on the train LITERALLY waves me in. Sort of like a "hang in here in this group" gesture. I put my wheel like 2 cm's from his and these guys get it in the 46 x 11's...click click click click....down their chains go to the 11. Almost like the sound of a hammer on a revolver being cocked back before it is released to hit the primer on the bullet that will launch into my head.


I follow this group of 5 about 10 seconds back from Bert onto the beach again. One guy bobbles and forces me to and dismount. "whoosh whoosh whoosh". Belgies flying past. Like 3, maybe 5. Frieght trains. Back in the woods and we're rolling. I am so loaded but doing everything I can to dig ever deeper and spin fast. More dudes bridge, drop me. I stay on for dear life. My eyes are crossed and I am starting to lose composure. Lines are taken not the way I want, power is lost on the flats. I need to collect myself.

I sat on this guys wheel for a 1/2 lap. German national champion. Holy crap. Smooth, powerful. He floated. I learned some things I want to try out next season based upon riding at the front for the time I could.

KP bridges up after a great effort from a first lap crash. He works with me and we trap a British guy. We work our way through the pavement and KP uses some savvy and launches an attack. I literally soft pedal and block. My British homie knows he's got to work so he comes to the front and drills it. I am starting to feel better and comfortably stay in his wake.

KP on the way to his 24th.

The race then is attrition. I swear to you I am drilling it as deeply as I ever have in my life. I am saying to myself: "Dude this is the master's f-ing worlds. Go f-ing faster". On the pavement I literally ran out of gears in my 42 x 12. The whole bike was a mess of sand. All the gears worked miraculously but I did consider changing bikes, The problem was that the racing was SO TIGHT with dudes around, I did not want to risk losing spots. No one was changing. It was just WAY too fast.

2 laps to go. I know I am in the 20's. And I STILL can not believe I am in a cluster of dudes. People are shouting at them in every language. I am being yelled at by every language. F-ing crazy.

Ouch.

Klang klang klang klang! Laatste Ronde. I'm in the woods and I can here it. a 1/2 lap down on the leaders. I guess I can't complain. I am literally closing my eyes in the woods to eek out more power. I am drilling sections and am so inexplicably loaded in the legs...but I am still rolling. I am way smoother now and decide to attack in the woods. I drop one guys and another follows. He comes past me, I wait, then attack him past the pits on to the pavement. This is exactly when that happened:

Attack!

On my tail...

We come out to the pavement and I am looking over my shoulder. He's on me. We go on a full bore drag strip sprint for our places! It is mad! No concessions!! We come across the line in a throw and apparently I took it (I thought I did not) in 28th place. 28th fricken place earned in a full on I'm gonna gouge your eyes out sprint!

Post race. Ludovic's white sex. I TOLD You it's the shoes, Money.

Ludovic Dubau, 1st, Edwin Raats, 2nd and Bert Vervecken 3rd.

And of course, our 'certificate of participation'. They take this sheeit seriously!

Folks: It's in the books. AM I stoked? Absolutely. Could I have ridden any harder. Absolutely not. Taro had me at the absolute fittest I could be. I rode my heart out and left nothing in reserve. I raced as smartly as I possibly could have. Could I have ridden smoother? Absolutely. You have NO IDEA how gifted and experienced my competition was today.....and frankly during my experience here.

I am so tired as I write this. We made a dinner at home and I downed some Leffe Browns. Dubba handed me chocolate with a smile. Hard earned.

Living the dream folks. One more to go tomorrow. Wish us luck.

GK

Za WK for old men, in the books!

Obviously a big report coming, but it's in the books! I'm clearly not the guy on the podium, but I'll say that I am satisfied with my placing as 2nd North American, right behind my boy, KP.

Details at 11....

Living the dream.

Za Trip: Friday January 18th - Tick tick tick tick tick....

Place: Zilvermeer (near Mol) Belgium

Zaterdag! Zaterdag Zaterdag! T-minus 24 hours until go time, monster truck, er ah, 'cross fans! We pre-rode the course op het strand (on the beach) today. Yum. Another AWESOME course, if not super short. All the details coming up below.

We packed up the Vito with all the bikes, tires, etc and got to Zilvermeer in about 45 minutes on an overcast morning. There were tons of people out from ALL sorts of places: France, Great Britain, Slovakia, Canada, The Netherlands, Belgium....and of course the good 'ol U.S. of A. Great to meet you, our Kansas City and Idaho brethren!

We parked, suited up and made our way from the parking lot to the beach. We dropped off our extra stuff at the Materiaal Post (the pits) and I dialed in the FMB's to try out. I documented the course fairly well below but I'll give you a couple of sound bytes about it:

• Sandy: Duh, but it is ever present not only on the beach but features itself in the woods, in the corners and ultimately presents its own challenges outside of just riding through it, running over it. Tire pressure ,tire pressure, tire pressure. Find the balance grasshopper.
  
• Technical: This course reminds be a lot of Schriek Grootlo in that is is well suited for riders who like to power out of the corners on very tight turns. Out side of the sand features, it has plenty of run ups (2) that are technical in nature in themselves and S turns and 180s everywhere. No barriers on the course but plenty of other features make it challenging and fun.
  
• Short: This mo fo is very short. In 85-90% effort trials, the lap times where between 6:40 and 6:50 minutes. This means one of two things: The course designers messed up (nope) or the course designers have it dialed and know that the sand will be the attrition spot that will likely accordion the group lap after lap (yup).
• Start position will be EVERYTHING: When is it not in 'cross but seriously, this course will demand it as the recovery sections will be reserved for just that. In no way am I setting myself up here 'just in case' but ANYONE will say (including all the various nationalities I spoke to today) that start position will be everything tomorrow. If you're on the back, well, it'll be a tour of the beach.
  

To be more precise, the course lays out like this:

1. Start on pavement for 300 meters
2. Bang SHARP left into a 50 meter slightly down hill sand slog
3. Hard left turn on sand for along-the-beach (harder packed sand) for 175 meters
4. Into the woods for tight S turns
5. Past the pits...
6. Up and over the first log run up...
7. More wooded S turns
8. Around an S an apex into a small bump of a hill and there is a sheer drop off directly into sand. IMHO, it's gonna be WAY faster to run...
9. More wooded S turns into 2nd log run up
10. More woods, S turns and past the pits again, onto pavement
11. Past start finish.
    

Total time should be about 6:40 per lap for those on top of it.

So, let me 'show' you the beginning of the course at least with the magic of YouTube. Sorry I only got the beginning of the course because I crashed filming this mid way through and gunked up my camera! HA! I need a film crew....

The start...

Into the sand....

The 50 meter initial slog...

Some choose to ride...some run...

From the sand, into the woods...

Some action through the S's....




OK, now that you get a sense for what the course is like in video, here are some stills for you in sequential order of the course...

On your marks, get set...BANG!

Off the long beach from section there is another deeper bog. This one hurts.

The first entry side of the pits.

The first run up...

...and decent down.

The peat is present here as well. It's all about the tire pressure.
Awesome view from above of entry (on the left side) of the sand trap in the woods...
The sand trap from the racer's view...

The second run up with an arguably better decent on the other side.
Typical example of the course profile when in the woods.

The second entry side to the pits before the pavement again

The finish line and grand stands.

Could you imagine...

And there you have it folks! The course. We've already got the bikes clean and dialed for tomorrow. I am sticking with my Dugasts tomorrow as the course is perfect for them and they are exactly what I want and frankly am used to. The FMB's were great (I like the 34's and the traditional pattern was almost as good as the Rhinos) but I want to go super light weight with my FSA 488's tomorrow.

Oh, one last thing: Our house owner is tight with the Doping Control leader and I've put in a petition to get tested so I can blog that sheeit! HA! I hope the Nutella doesn't trigger anything. Stay tuned...

Wish us luck! Tick tick tick tick....

Living the dream. You will too in exactly 364 days. Write it down....

GK

Photo credits: Brandon "Are you za Dubba?" Dwight

Za Trip: Thursday January 17th - The calm before the storm

Place: Leuven and Brussels Belgium

I am over the hump of the racing trip. Exactly 3.5 more days remains including 1-2 more races and I will be on the big bird back home to see my beautiful wife and children. I am not going to take up pixels and bytes here to discuss this side of the trip, but it a very real side of the trip...in fact holding UP the trip and making it possible. It should be obvious to you, my loyal reader, that I am a husband, father, worker and racer....in that order....and truthfully this is the longest I will have been away from my family and my growing boys ever since their birth nearly 6 years ago. 11 days is tough with young boys who need their father more than the father needs the racing but I thank my wife for every second she is manning the home front while I live this out and taste the earth that I have dreamed about for so long.

OK, I will move on now but if any of you have children and a wife you respect as much as I do and try and ride the razor's edge of life balance with your passions (especially those that are by their very nature very self centered) you will know what is going on in my head. I am the single luckiest man in the world (broken rental car tail lights and all).

So, what went on today? Dubba, KP and I went on a light one hour spin to keep the legs open before our training day on the Mol course tomorrow. Riding that sand and the course dialing in bikes and tire pressures will be quite a lot of effort, so we went super chill today on a route that was magical. It was super twisty and back road-y that I tried to get it down on Map My Ride buy it was just a bit too hard to remember. We were literally on big roads, one lane roads, single track....you name it. Again, the weather totally cooperated and it was down right beautiful out, if not a wee bit cold.....

KP and Dubba rolling and chatting..

The reverse...Single track...

We randomly hooked up and rolled with Rachel for a bit today.
Good luck this weekend, girl!

After the ride, we scrambled and threw some clothes on to do a sortie out to the cities of Leuven and Brussels. We drive to Leuven first, parked then immediately grabbed a train to Brussels which is pretty close. Brussels as you can imagine is a major city with all walks of life, French is the predominant language but everyone and their brothers speak perfect English. We tooled around and took in the City walking up and down the narrow streets, grabbing some schwag for the fam and shooting pictures of the City....

That's right, cross fans. Dee-hem from my train window. Dubba absorbing the scenery
Students posing or za Americans
Belgium, baby
This one was Dubbas from his favorite place. We all had the banana and chocolate. I will be fatter leaving here than when I came...
Way too cool for Belgium
Tin Tin...the patron saint of Belgium
The famous Manneken Pis
I'm big here in Belgie
Seamus! Look! Like-A-Bikes!!
Literally in the middle of this cobble stone street was a table set up with this. I suspected like a large rat trap so I only gingerly went around it without touching.
And then, we found it....

The "Wall" of beer.

We found AND purchases exactly 3 Westvleteren Yellow Caps (e.g. their dark Trappist). This beer is INCREDIBLY hard to get and voted the BEST Trappist beer in the world. Yes, 7 Euros a piece....

We finished up our biz in Brussels then jetted back to Leuven. Home to Stella Artois brewery. We could NOT believe how beautiful this city is. 500+ years and everywhere the eye could see, the streets were lined with the most immaculately old buildings. Leuven is a university town so it seemed alive with kids and BIKES. 1000's and 1000's of bikes. Amazing. We did our tourist thing again, grabbed pios and a beer then high tailed it back to Blauberg for some rest before tomorrow.

Tommeke is everywhere....even Leuven.

The architecture in Leuven is stunning....

...as is its art.

So tomorrow is Mol training. I'm hearing the course is super fun even with its sand. It will ALL be about the start positioning....which means luck as it is a lottery start.

I miss you my beautiful family and every day when I hear this kids playing at the school directly next door to our house in Blauberg, I smile an intense smile to myself.

Living the dream. You will too in exactly 365 days from this post.

GK

The Wed Morning Cross World Championships...No 12 BELGIUM EDITION!

Place: Tongerlo, Belgium

That's right Boulder 'cross fans! Dubba and I dragged the crew out for a TRUE international edition of the Wednesday Morning World Cross Championships - Belgium Edition. Today in our ranks we had Two US National Champions (Dubba and Kathy Sarvary (50 to 54), a few Masters hard men (Me, KP, and our new friend Dave) a master US 'cross course builder, frame builder and race promoter (Tom Stevens) and one of the 3 Canadian representatives to the Trevisio 'Cross Worlds and our house mate, (Osmond Bakker). Truly and international crowd.

We started our day in Blauberg and pedaled the 10 or 12 k to the sporting complex in Tongerlo where a cross was held a few weeks ago. Weather dot com indicated rain (as always but we hhevn't seen a drop. In fact it's the perfect temp and tackiness out today.

We show up and with Os' help, reconn our course. This is not your average Elk's club, Boulder-ites. This is tight, twisty, wooded, bermed and slick single track with laid down trees for double speed barriers, open speed grass sections. Absolutely fun.

After the reconn and course set up, we shed the big coats and get our race faces on. JUST like home, Dubba calls out... "New England start, folks. Could happen anyti...GO!" We're off. I uncharacteristically blow a chain off the cassette at the start and have to literally stop and put the mo fo back on! I bite the handlebars to motor and bridge up to KP and Dubba. The Os has clearly been racing in the Super Prestiges and World Cups during his time here (he's got Hoogerheide coming up this weekend so he can thank is for chasing him today) and was off to the races. Brandon dispatched KP and I mid way through and attempted to bridge with KP and I doing our groove thing through wooded single track. Epically fun. We can OFFICIALLY say the Wednesday Worlds has gone international.

So, just to ensure things felt EXACTLY like Boulder, as we are kitting back up with jackets, an official looking lady comes trudging across the field and starts talking to us, indicating..."You know, this is private property and you need a reservation to use the sporting facilities here." Just like home indeed. Classic.

We then did some tempo work for a bit through this insanely muddy/forested trail network, then back out on the roads for our ride back to Blauberg.

Some digies of the people from the Wed Am Worlds ride. No vids today folks, SORRY!

Kathy, Dave, Tom, Dubba, Osmond, KP

Mmm. Tongerlo Brewery.

Os getting off the goo

Look ma. I'm in Belgie.

And it wouldn't be a Wednesday Worlds without a solid review of the "Bikes of the Wednesday Worlds - Tongerlo Edition":Dave's Colnago C 50 bling back in ints native habitat.

KP's Scott Team with Dugast Typhoon 32's

Dubba's Time machine

Rock Lobster B in za haus

Os' Stevens Team Carbon readied for the Hoogerheide WC this weekend. He'll probably opt for team issued Easton Carbon wheels with Challenge Griffos glued on.

Continuing on the carbon theme, Os uses Harrie's beautiful Spooky Carbon brakes with BBB holders and SwissStop yellow compund brakes.

Unbreakable Dura Ace with 46 x 39 with a 12 x 27 in the rear. Everyone runs double rings here as you would expect to ensure that low end gearing is available in deep mud while the big 46 serves like a road big ring as most of these courses are grass crits.

And of course Dura Ace with Easton bits rounding out the cockpit.

My experience with the TRP EuroX Carbons has been FANTASTIC. The coupund of the brake pads is different than the SwissStop yellows I use. Not as gummy as I thought but they modulate well when heated and make a sort of nylon on nylon sounds when hard braking occurs. They can stop my big carcass just fine.

The Rock Lobster A ready for war this weekend.

We showered up and had a destination in mind: 4 Bikes in Westerlo. This shop apparently is the bizomb but we wanted to go in and see for ourselves. It definitely had all the bling with one of the most immaculate service bays I've ever seen. KP and Dubba are hooking up the free cappuccinos from the Saeco machine when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye like a shiny Gnome all dressed in white:
The limited edition Selle Italia Flight saddle. Hmm. Looks like I'll be back on Selle's next year as I gave up hope in the US trying to find any of the white goodness. Oh, and check out the ka-bling shoe covers I scored. White sex to cover the white sex.

Lastly, house owner Jocelyn and our old friend Rachel Lloyd showed up to say hello and wish us luck. Rachel is prepping for Hoogerheide this weekend and the Worlds in a few weeks time. Go Rach!

That's it for Wednesday folks. Living the dream here in Belgie. Mol this weekend and it is going to RIP!

GK

Za Trip: Tuesday January 15th - A wet rest day in Amsterdam

Place: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Super brief report for today as we are on a total rest day. Back on it tomorrow but the boys became zupa-tourists today.

We got on the road from Blauberg to Amsterdam about 10 bells in utterly classic Northern European weather. Tree-bending wind and rain. No wonder why the folks who live and train here are some of the best cyclists.

We arrived in Amsterdam, found parking fairly close to the center (a rarity...) and donned our rain coats. By 50 meters were were getting damp but the spirits were high. KP and Dubba have never seen the city before so we had smiles as we navigated around all the tight canals, ancient crooked buildings settling after 100's of years, the Red Light District's sad state of affairs for sale in its windows, and so on.

The weather was atrocious but we found are way around, hitched rides on the tram like vagrants and finally found our way to a pub and had some food to warm us up and some dark beer to fill the gullet.

Here's some digital celluloid to give you a bit of a view on the day.

All bundled up against the sideways blowing rain

We came across this RAD custom townie bike builder who had frames for about everything....

...including first class transport for your kids.

Amsterdam, mon. No. we are no longer in college so cafes were reserved for coffee today, not cannabis.

Raindrops wailing as we traversed the canal networks to get a taste for the city.

Up tomorrow, the Wednesday AM Worlds, International Edition. We're going to have a little bit of a throw down at a nearby park in Tangerlo, home to a recent cross race as well as Dave Hixon's (and my) favorite brews.

Lastly, GET WELL MOM!! Proud Mom just had knee surgery so put a thought out to the strongest woman on earth as she gets herself some pain relief from some over used knees.

Living the dream.

GK.

I'm going international....

I'm going to have to hire a bunch of UC Boulder interns to translate my crappy blog into native languages...This is a typical snapshot of today of the distribution by country of those who love cross like me visiting my daily diatribes. Sincerely, welcome new readers. I am trying not to bore you....

'Cross on.

Za Trip: Photos from Bakel

Results from Rabocross Bakel can be found here and photos can be found here.

Za Trip: Monday January 14th - A Walloonian Day

Place: Braine-Le-Comte, Waloonia Belgium

Dubba, KP and I made our way to Walloon, home to the French speaking part of Belgium, and home to Eddy Merckx (although the Flandrians would probably brawl me on this topic). Today's plan was to ride before the rains came on a medium paced ride to keep the legs turning and enjoy the stunning country side. Our tour guide having been born and raised in this region: Michel Bajorek, long time friend of Dubba, master mechanic, movie star, and bike racer but most importantly like an insta-brother to us. As you'll hear about in a moment, this is a guy who's been raised right by a mom whom we spent time with today whom I feel is the re-incarnation of my own mom, Elizabeth.

We got on the road for our hour trip from East Flanders to the Walloon region about noon for a 1:30 ride. The countryside is as you see it in pictures: rolling, vast, church strewn and beautiful. The wind was howling Belgie style on this beautifully sunny morning. Destination: Michel’s beautiful house. We BOMBED through little villages that had one-laned roads. We knew we were in Walloon when the signs become French….so you see less of ‘Duisbergstraat’ and more ‘Rue du Fromage’.

Pulling in to Michel’s house, the garage door is open and a man is feverishly working on bikes. It’s Stu Thorne from CyclocrossWorld Dot Com dialing in a gaggle of Ridley’s, Cannondale’s, Mavic wheels, et al. Michel is the wrench for Lyne, Tim and Jeremy whom are all staying at Chez Elizabeth et Michel. We come in and say our hellos and all are having some lunch lovingly prepared by Elizabeth. We chat with Stu, Lyne, Tim and Jeremy for a bit as they are taking a WELL needed rest day after yesterday. If you haven’t met Tim Johnson, you need to. He less interested in us asking him about his time over here but more of him and his wide open eyes asking us how OUR time has been. “How were the races??” “How are you guys going??” “What was the Holland race like??”. Tim, you are a human Labrador retriever with your tail always waggin’. Props.

So we say adios to the folks and wish them the best on their trip to Brussels for the day. For us: the Eddy Merckx tour of Walloon. Holy crap on a stick. I am a cyclist reborn. Michel takes us on one of his favorite loops that took us on a 2 hour tour of the region that was the ‘fo shizzel. Belgie to the core. Envision all your World Cycling DVD’s and put it on steroids. Rolling hills, narrowed cobbled streets, 12^th century castles and churches. Like buttah. Michel and I got our tempo on in the wind all the while talking of FMB’s, his pit and mechanic antics, racing, family….you name it. As I said: Insta-brother and I am indebted to your hospitality today, Michel.

I’ll show you what the ride was like below in film and video, but here’s the talk of the day: Michel’s Mom. Mom, I know you read this crappy blog of mine, but I met you today. Born in Poland and fluent in French, Dutch and her native Polish, she is CRUSHING her English skills which have gone from zero to better than most NATIVE English speakers in 2.0 years. After our ride, Elizabeth had:

· Towels and shower stuff prepared for us

· Hot and delicious tea

· Delicious home made soup and crepes with NUTELLA (my first time having that devil’s food)

· The warmth that only a mother can provide to her boys that have been out training.

“What do you think of the cyclocross here in Europe, Greg? Hard? The Americans need to train some more, no? 2 hours training today? I think you do 4.Now have this soup and get warm.”

You are the best Elizabeth and I know my own mom 2000 miles away when she reads this will know that at angel was met today. You will never be forgotten. Ever.

So the adventure continues, my peeps. Today, the biking was epic, but the bonding with family was exponentially more present in all of us.

And now the digital video and celluloid:

Elizabeth: The Belgian version of my mom.

EVERY house it seemed had this Sankt Niklaas prop...
Yo, I knows where a buncha like cool bikes are. You want one?

Interesting chain guide on Jeremy's bike.

Tim, sorry kid, Had to shoot the shoes. So money. OK Sports fans: KP and I will be testing a setr of Michel built FMB 34 Tubulars built up on old (but brand new) Mavic R26 rims for Mol this Saturday. We are HONORED. Reports coming....

A look at the FMP tread patterns we'll be using: Mimo (a yet unreleased Maxxis tread pattern) on the left and their traditional pattern on the right.

The war is ever present here with monuments peppered across the landscape.

One of the countless churches we saw but stopped at this one for a Gu.

The obligatory shot of the Rock Lobster B bike with the Walloonian backdrop.

Dubba and Michel and a 12the century castle.

KP and Michel and the countryside

Za boys on za trip

Michel

Lastly, as a side note, if you have time, read the Pez article on British Cycling Tim Harris. It is his house we are staying at here in Blauberg. Cool read.

Living the dream here in Belgie, my friends.

You WILL be here next year. Write that down, pin it up and see it once a day through next year. You, me, all our buds. We've seen the 'pro' movies about the pro lifestyle. You, me...we are the ones who need to experience this as well. It is not a PRO thing. It is special if you consider yourself a cyclist. It must be experienced. Start planning now....

GK

Za Trip: Sunday January 13th - Orange has always been my favorite color

Place: Bakel, The Netherlands

It has occurred to me today that, if the entire world were composed of people with the sensibilities, personalities and friendliness of the Dutch, we’d probably not be flying airplanes into each other’s buildings. Yeah we’d have to say our G’s like static through a large microphone, but we’d be happier as a race.

Life in Orange just seems….happy.

Today my friends, Cyclocross Bakel, sponsored by Rabobank (of course).

Let me say this:

This was, bar none, the most beautiful course I have EVER blessed a set of tires on in a decade or more of crossing. I’ll get to that in a second and all the day’s events in a moment.

The trip from Blauberg, Belgium to Bakel, The Netherlands is about an hour and 20 minutes. It was epically scenic (tres European)….and yes, we spotted windmills…

On a beautifully partly cloudy to clear day (about 50 degrees) we bombed through these tiny cities to get to Bakel. You literally string a trip in Europe by going through the meticulously marked signs…from City to City all the way from one country to another…Blauberg, Herselt, Geel, Meijer, Bakel…it all links together in such a simple and clearly marked way, it’s mad. The US will NEVER get this. I digress.

So, we get to Bakel and drive into the tiny and beautiful village. We hear the sound of the race on the speakers careening off buildings and in the trees, but can’t find the race! We see a group of kids bombing down the street on ‘cross bikes and flag one down.

Me: “Do you speak English?”

Boy: “Nee.”

Me: “Uh, Veldrijden parcours?”

Boy: “Ah! “(points down the cobbled street).

So we find it 100 meters away and pull in and it is a FESTIVAL. From the first look-see, like 2 x times the size of the race yesterday. We park literally ON the course tape on the grass and look up and see:

A Euro disco flyover, beeatches!

This course is gonna be sick. Right near the flyover is a set of speed barriers as well….all on manicured grass.

The registration was similar to yesterday but infinitely more friendly (not that yesterday was unfriendly….so maybe ‘warm’ is the right word.) I hand over my UCI license and 5 Euro and they keep the license, register me (I see 40+ registrations and get No. 42!...d’oh!) and get my number plate. Today the Masters class are are only aged 40+ so KP and I race as “Amateur”. This not like the B’s in the US. It’s stacked. An ‘age group’ Master’s World Champ is there (probably about my age or maybe a bit younger) as is the Dutch Amateur National Champion:

Yes, note the white sex shoes and gloves on Masters Champ

The Dutch champ is a clearly young fast kid looking for glory and contracts in his future. Oh and a BUNCH of juniors just like said Dutch National Champ who are SO PRO it is mind boggling. Oh, and they’re all 6’2 Lars Boom types with 42” femurs.

We wait for the juniors to finish and bomb the course to warm up.

IT HAD EVERYTHING.

• Long paved start/finish with mad bus for race officiating (the ‘Jury Bus’)

• Tight, twisty, tacky densely forested single-track

• Long grass straightways with a double sided pit (see my pic below)
  

• The aforementioned features like the flyover and the barriers

• Mad sand run up:

We line up and they call up the first 10 people, then 20 people, then 30 people….all ‘in the points' in this Dutch Series, and at the very end he says “Und dee reste!” and a remaining 15 or so flood in, US style. I weasel a wheel as far up as I can but KP and are back of the bus today.

Whistle blows and it is a HARD start. Like a sprint at the end of a race. I finagle my way up to the 20’s in the straightaway with a hard punch and then we are into a grass field where we do a 180 and com back towards the start finish before a hard left apex diving us into the woods.

We twist and turn and comb the single-track until it opens up into a large decent downhill towards a full-on beach sand hill. We have to navigate that downhill at speed and it apexes to the right directly back up the sand (seated POWER needed). Then, more single-track occurs once out of the sand eventually flipping and bringing you BACK towards the beach where they send you UP it on an epic, leg sapping run up! You crest the run up (see Brandon's video below) and remount and dive back into single track eventually spilling you out of the woods, up and over the fly-over, the speed barriers and finally back up the start finish straightaway.

On the second lap, Kurt is on a good day...

...and bridges to me again. He drops it into the 11t and says c’mon! On my wheel! and leverages his time trialing to bring us back to the top guys…but that sapped a LOT from me.

The Dutch announcer was great…LITERALLY in the woods with a wireless mic announcing the leaders (e.g. top 20) and says Kurt’s name and then mine at the end. I’m like, crap! We’re in the top 20! So we continue to punch it and battle. KP gets a good turn and is off alone at about 10 seconds. I am battling with these 2 dudes who won’t get off my wheel (also know as smart bike racers). I attack and one comes with and the other pops. The guy who follows sits on me and tries on the laatste ronde to attack through a corner and f’s up by bobbling. He bridges back and sits on me again. I can’t shake him and he beats me on the run up (which is usually my strength) and was enough to stay away from me.

Kurt: 16^th, Wheel Sucker Dutchman 17^th, Me: 18^th.

And for the second day in the row, we’re in the money! HA! KP and I scored 5 Euros! HA! Oh, AND got our 5 Euros back for returning the number plate. FREE RACE!

I met up with the Black Market crew as well as some other San Franciscans from the Roaring Mouse team….RIGHT by my old house. They are sitting with Harrie and his bud and I come to find out Harrie is the proprietor of Spooky Carbon brakes:

Coolest guy and pleaded for us to come to the World Cup next weekend to meet Richard Groenendaal…my man!

Dubba was up next in a stacked Elite’s field with a Sun Web Projob guy Kenny (see his own website here) with the greatest top tube sticker:

…and the friendliest pit crew we worked next to the whole race. The coolest guys who speak perfect English and core ‘crossers....

Kenny had a great race starting from DFL due to a mechanical to take 9th. Crazy power:

Dubba turned himself inside out but rode way more ‘heads up’ and straight faced today. Clearly on a better day…but in an extremely tougher and larger field.

Lap after lap he battled with local hard men and pulled in a beautifully earned 18^th.

The Japanese National Champion Keiichi Tsujiura took second.

We packed up and drive back and came across a great restaurant were we piled in Tapas and had some Leffe Buin. Yum. Well earned. Now home, we are winding down and I am about to call home (for the 2^nd time today to hear the voices of my beautiful family).

So that is it folks! Race No. 2 in the books and I am completely satisfied. Great course, I did my best and battled back through more than half the field of fast guys.

Coming up this week:

-A visit to Amsterdam

-A ride to local Abby breweries

-The Vermarc Clothing 2008 sponsor party….including Quick Step, Sun Job….and more.

More photos from today can be found here on my PhotoBucket site.

Living the dream folks. You will DO THIS next year….

GK

Za Trip: Saturday January 12th - The low down on the smackdown

Place: Schriek, Belgium.

Folks: We entered the lions den. Today was our first taste of European racing (and European race events in general) and it was UNBELIEVABLE! More in a minute. Hold on to your jockey shorts.

Last night the sleep came...then left me for 4 hours...then finally came back mercifully. The range of emotions when you are struggling to sleep are off the charts. "Please God. Just a few more Z's." Sheep counting...whatever it takes. During my 'wake time', the rain was coming down in sheets like only Belgium can produce. So, I listened. It came down to the extent that it was just a solid 'wall of sound'. Hard to explain but you've all been in a good rainstorm. But Belgium rain 'goes to 11.' It lulled me back to sleep.

After FINALLY getting some z's, I woke to scramble. We all rallied in the AM to get out the door with the caravan. Oatmeal, yogurt, granola and killer coffee was all consumed in record time. We piled in all 6 bikes into the van and followed Mark and Rob to Shriek. They had the money GPS in their car and literally 1600 turns later, we found this absolute tiny tree lined 'ally' and we banged the turn into it. I don not think we EVER would have found it! This road T-boned into the race reg and it was already a scene. We parked in front of someone's house and about the same tile Geert Wellens (Bart's little bro) caravan pulls up. It's gonna be a fun day (mainly for Brandon) I thought...

The Shriek-Grootlo race is a 'local' East Flandrian race. This is just like the US where you have your various regional race series....e.g. Cross Crusade, Boulder Racing, Surf City...etc). But holy crap, even this 'small race' is totally PRO. Huge tents, nice sized fields, beautifully marked and WELL thought out courses, PRO double decker start/finish area with cameras, local TV crews....the works. Basically, it was set up and organized like a USGP with a few less people. Oh, and ALL these folks actually paid Euros to get in!

By the team we got to pre-riding, the rain had miraculously stopped. We suited up and began our pre ride. The course was FUN! It was apparently a non-typical course from what I was told as it took place almost exclusively on densely forested single track which featured berms, many many u-turns to power out of but no barriers or run ups. This beeatch was flat. Interestingly, the rain almost immediately sucks into the ground as it stopped raining .....as the soil here is like peat moss. Soil that is dark and super rick looking. It is SO DAMP, the trees all had this perennial layer of moss on them!

The pre-ride was great and even with sleep I did not feel bad at all. As a mountain biker, the course was dialed for me. After the warm up, I made my way to the registration/beer tent and showed them my UCI license and they automatically know given age what group to assign me (which everything is driven my here except elite' men). Master A ('Form D').

So let me take you through the reg process...

a) Go into large beer tent
b) Find old but 'official' looking man smoking a cigarette
c) Learn that it's too early through arm and facial gestures...
d) Come back a few minutes later when they've got things assembled in very typical Euro-ficiency (6 people behind a desk preforming different jobs, laptops...order!).
e) I need to purchase a Belgium Cycling Federation License ( 5) and hold up all the Masters men grumbling.
f) Proceed down the line to the next computer to get signed in and pay (8)
g) Proceed to next person and get my number (No. 18 I think?)

A few minutes before the start, we queue for the call ups. They call EVERYONE up. There is no concept of the 'top 10' then everyone DIVES in to the area to grab spots. They do it based upon race series points and then registration order. I got a 2nd row call up in a field of 30-35. Kurt and our house mates also got in there in 2nd and 3rd row as as well which was good. Behind us, staged in groups that will launch after us in 2 minute interval are the other Master's groups and amateurs. Including amongst us are various Masters World Champions....all prepping for Mol.

The gun goes off and like the parting of the seas, I pop through this hole that miraculously formed and I get on the wheel of the top 5 or 6 front row guys. We bomb into the single track and we are gone! Like 'that' a group of 7 to 10 have detached from the field and we are creating a separation quickly. We drill it continually for 2-3 laps in and out through the singletrack in a train. By lap 2, the top three guys get a gap. I see them through the trees but in no way, can I get the muscle to bridge to those guys. The winner, Bert Vervecken, with some pedigree, is an apparent hard man and would go on to win solo by 1 minute, then my group another minute back after that). I continue to dice with these Belgians. There's no real 'contact' (e.g. pushes and shoves) as I heard about with th exception of a couple of pushes I threw...HA! The younger Master B World Champ from the 30-35 age group came by in the closing 2 laps after I led him for a 1/2 lap and said "Thanks Man" on his way by. Cool. I'm also clearly American....

Moment of Belgie fame: The 'Davle Towle of Shriek (e.g. announcer) on top of the double decker is shouting off the names of the leaders and every lap says my name! SWEET! "Und, nummer achtzehn, Gregory Keller von za Roccky Mountains." HA!

At the 2nd to last lap, Kurt muscles his way up with a strong effort and pulls another Belgie with sitting on him (in an incredibly bad neon green kit...SO un PRO). We settle in as the bell is ringing loud through the speakers and neon Man attacks nicely through the absolute perfect section of trail before single track and dispatches us. Kurt and I groove and has a final good turn coming into the finishing stretch for 7th! I sprint against a Belgie closing in on us for 8th!

Here's the best part: I won some money! 6! Plus, when I returned my number, the gave me 5 back! HA! Cash money. I spent it on a beer in that beer tent, folks. Of course I did.

But wait, there's more!: In his age group in a group behind us, Henry Kramer goes on to WIN and in the womans Masters, 'Trina Baumsteiger rider her Rock Lobster goes in to win HER group!

So now it's time for Brandon Dubba Dwight. He lines up with quite a few known hard men; Wim Jacobs (now on Morgan Blue after his stint with Fidea), Arne Daelmans (former Belgian National Champion) and Geert Wellens...Bart's Younger bro. Oh and a SLEW of super hungry Belgian neo pros without contract wanting points and victories to move up the ladder. Dubba drilled it hard! He floated today with some groups and finished on the lead lap even with a crash and nailed an 18th! Arne Daelmans won in an awesome print finish in a group of three. Geert and Wim were back in the top 10 but were never in contention. Those hungry young'ngs wanted it! You can read all about Brandon's exciting adventures in parallel with my reports and his beer reviews on upcoming Velonews Chocolate, waffles and 'cross diary updates.

So with that said, let me give you some examples of today in my best digital celluloid:

I am now a card carrying member of the Belgian Racing Federation

Kärcher power washer

Railing it in the peat

The ugly kit Belgie who nipped us

More railing
The Belgie in the ugly kit who nipped us.
Rob from our house
Me an KP apres race
On our cool down ride...that's RIGHT! We were 2 minutes from the home of Sven Nijs and Niels Albert! Yeah baby!
My quasi artistic approach at sport photography...
Cash MONEY!
Henry and 'Trina on the podium.
The THICK moss on the trees
Za Singletrack

I will post more pics when I have better bandwidth.

Tomorrow is Bakel Cross in the Netherlands. About 1.5 hours away. Not sure of the course but I hope legs respond. We shall see, huh? Kisses from the road, and I miss you my beautiful wife and boys.

GK

Za Trip: Friday January 11th - The Americans have landed

Place: Blauberg, Belgium

The Eagle has landed. Even after all of the drama from United the day before, we are here, safe and ready for action.

BELGIUM, BABY!

So, after after the cancellation and ticketing drama previously reported about, Brandon and his beautiful fiance' Heather picked me up Thursday AM in the Boulder Cycle Sport war wagon and we rolled and chatted all the way to DIA.We get to the United Check In and start the whole process. I am prepared to be REAMED for all the bike stuff. The lady says: "Oh you guys are Premier Execs so you get 7o pounds for the bike bike and three pieces. Brandon, like the gangasta street wise Masshole, he is, props his foot under my 70+ pound box to ensure it reads 65 pounds. Genius. All free. We get our tix and we're rolling.

The flight was the best kind: Uneventful and we slept like babies. The big bird landed in Brussels ahead of schedule and Brandon and I got in almost exactly the same time as Kurt via Munich. We all convened at the baggage carousel and waited for or stuff. Everything comes 'cept the bikes. Sweat. Nether regions start to pucker. I go on a hunt and actually see the bike boxes. I make contact with a 'native' and after confirming he speaks (perfect) English, he says "Come vit me, guys." We go into a back room (I think he's going to mug me) and there they are. Our bikes in a TOTALLY different place. All safe and sound. The other boxes I saw, identical to ours...down to the USA Cycling stickers... were of course weren't ours, just the other 7000 people coming to Belgium to ride. In the rain. In January. Chrissakes, we are sickos for this sport.

So the guys says, "Bikes, eh? You mountain bikeeers?"

"No actually, cyclo-cross" I say.

Let the talking begin....

"What?! Veldrijden? I am a HUGE Nijs supporter!" The guy is visibly excited. A bead of foam materializes around his lips along with that spittle in the corner of his mouth....you know the kind when people get excited and start talking incessantly. We chat, and he sends us on our way saying...

"Don't let the Belgians treat you zat bad, OK? You just race hard, OK?"

The AIRPORT BAGGAGE guy is like the proverbial grim reaper. And a sick 'cross fan.

So with our stuff KP, Dubba and I meandered our gypsy-like caravan of double-bike cases, bags, duffels , etc and we went looking for the van. I separate from the guys, find it, the guy anonymously hands me the keys and I go BACK in search of the boys.

"SON OF A!" Driving to find them, I am spat out of the car rental garage on to the motorway! I loop back (twice) and finally say "F-it". I am parking HERE! I stop the mighty Mercedes Van in the middle of now where and YELL to Dubba an Kurt: "Let's go, let's go!" Within what seems 60 seconds, they run with everything, we chuck it all in the van and with people honking behind, we get the beast moving and we are on our way.

We make it to Blauberg basically uneventfully and find Za House no problems. We come in and are greeted by our hosts, Vicki and Mark who give us a brief tour and introduce us to the other 6 sicklo-crossers here staying for the racing. We go back outside to extract our bikes from the beast, and we see some damage.

SON OF A BEEATCH! Damage to the tail light that either occurred BEFORE we had the car or sometime when we parked to load at the airport. We'll deal with it, but BUMMER.

So we get into the house and make introductions. There are a FEW people here. Oh, we found 'them': The North American 'cross junkie. They are here. 6 of them other than the three of us. All in this house. They come to Belgium. They learn Dutch. The drink good beer. They know how to glue tubulars with precision. Obsessive 'cross fans and racers.

A bit about the house we are at:

It is owned by former Festina rider (yes, pre, '97), Tour de France, Paris Roubaix and Classics rider...oh and British National Champion Tim Harris. The first thing we see:

Podium flowers and trophies from Mark Cavendish, Robbie McEwen and others. PRO. We get the bikes unpacked and all is OK. YEAH! Our new friend Rob suits up with us and we get on our first ride.

In Belgium.

If I could have slowly humped the muddy earth, I would have. Za Mutherland. Bike paths. Rain. 48 degrees. Cross bike parts. Dugasts.

Perfect.

So we finally were so excited to get out...some from being in Belgium, but frankly lots because we were bound of from planes and needed to release. We rolled for an hour to get the legs loose and smiled as the spit from the other guys bikes and rain splattered my face. Perfect. Some digital celluloid.






Form a very tired Blauberg, I'm signing off. Our first race is tomorrow in Schriek Groot Lo. Wish us luck!

GK

Za Trip: Thursday January 10th - What the?

Brief report. I awoke to the alarming blare of cell phone ringing obscenely early. I pick it up. An snippy automated voice says: "Hello. Your flight is canceled. Goodbye. Click." Or something like that. At that moment, if you took this:

And placed it in a certain body cavity, the stress at that moment would have baked this in 2.5. seconds:


Quickly getting on the United 1K Bat Phone, I spoke to a great lady who got Dubba and I all squared away.

Folks, it's on. It's moments of happiness like this that I like to sing my favorite song in situations like this.



Kisses from the road.

Well, I guess I have to win now...

...or they'll never know just exactly how much of a chump this guy really is! I am sitting here FLOORED by what my co-workers assembled for me and I'll never forget it. This week is our company's annual kick off. It's the first one in 10 years I have not attended to help rally the troops. To set the stage for you when you watch the YouTube, in all honestly, I've got me some big ass hair. OK, I admit it. The entire company got their hair on for me in support of this whole crazy adventure I'm on. Beeatches.

My Embarcadero people (and Shana and Greg D, I know you were behind this!!): I love you and thank you. Now seriously realize, I am a hack....HA! But I'll take down a Belgie or two for ya while throwing down hard! They'll never take me alive!

I truly am the luckiest man in the world.

Za Trip: Wednesday January 9th - Packing Day

Place: Za Reepoobleek, Coloradee

My friends: It is on. I can't wipe the smile off my face.

So I roll out of bed, get the kids squared away for school and finally sit down in front of the PC to get some morning work done. I get through my work mail and fire up weather dot com. Ah. So it's January in Belgium...
So, i got my sweats on, a pair of surgical gloves, and got to it: za packing. All said and done, 20 minutes with the Tr-All case!

Some tips with the Tri All:

• Buy some foam insulation for your frame tubes and other key areas you are worried about like side impact near brake arms. Throw this on any and all places where you may think there is going to be contact against your frame and bits.
  
• Get some Gorilla Glue as you may need to break off and re-position the foam blocks which support the bottom bracket area.
  
• Keep a bit of air pressure in the tires to allow the lid to close tight and keep everything compact.
  
• Put all your supplies (tools, lubes, etc) in clear plastic bags. When the TSA rip through this, you can save them some time by allowing them to quickly scan. Also, make it accessible so they do not have to reach down.
  
• Have small hands: in all sincerity, it was a bitch to get in there and secure the fork skewer mounts at the very bottom of the box. I finally got it but it was probably the hardest part of the packing!

Here are some pics of how everything fits without the lid. I searched the 'web looking for pics from people who have packed their cases in a specific way to help me with my chore and didn't find any so I hope these help someone who is attempting pack a double-case some day:







So here we go folks. The epic hath begun. I'll report in daily if humanly possible and likely it will given our house has za wi-fi. Stay tuned!

It's all a bit too much for me...

It's late. I must not be seeing straight. Is Mini-Sven actually as PRO as he appears? Holy GOD check out the Joe Namath's! If you get your hands on one of the early season 07/08 DVD's (I forget which one...maybe Koksijde? I will have to re-watch) but they have some pre-race video of Mini-Sven with a circle of people surrounding him as he sports a replica of his dad's UCI leader's kit and he's performing the most fluid dismount/remounts...Sven Van-t style (southpaw). Sick.
I will clearly have to continue the 5AM daily 'cross drills with my boys. It's clear the competition is good. Damn good.

"But daddy, it's cold outside and there's no light"

"Shut up kid and drink your Chimay and get out there. Hup hup, now. Hup hup."

ON TEST!: The TRP EuroX Carbon Brake Set ..on the bike and first tries

So the TRP Carbons have been set up and ready to go. Due to the time constraints of working and trying to prep for the trip, Mike and Dwayne and Boulder Cycle Sport got these on and ready for me in a day. After the trip, I plan on disassembling then re-mounting to see how easy they are but there is truly NOTHING to the install. Just slide on the posts, set the tension spring pin win the guide hole and tighten down to the correct torque.

I did however personally swap out the aluminum pads for the carbon pads and got a chance to pre-ride them albeit briefly. They are nice and gummy, the way I like them with little to no chirp/chatter or squeal against the FSA 488's surface. The previous pads used (SwissStop yellow carbon compound) were similar albeit not as smooth as the cork pads the TRP's come with.

The brief pre-ride proved that the pads and the arms (along with the killer set up the BCS boys provided) allowed for really nice/gradual modulation the way I prefer it. I don't want grabbiness at teh beginning of the stroke...only when I really pull those levers to the bar. That's what they felt like. We'll see how they work when I get some holy mud and gunk on them!

The TRP EuroX Carbons

The steed ready for boxing-up then battle.

Decisions, decisions

In a bit of a dilemma. This is the problem space I am dealing with:
Oh, and I need to squeeze in my street clothes. D'oh! Now, I need to quit my over thinking, pare down, and take what I need. At this point I have two of everything:

• Two Rock Lobsters in a Tri All case
  
• Two sets of wheels in a Tri All wheel case
  
• Various small tools
• Helmet
• Two sets of Oakleys
  
• Two sets of shoes (OK, 3)
• Two sets of gloves (OK 4)
• Two sets of leg warmers
• Two sets of base layers
• Two different kinds of leg oils
• Two different kind of knit caps and cycling caps
• Three skin suits
• Two cold weather jackets
• Two light weather jackets
• Two rain jackets
• Over pants for the wet and muddy pre-rides
• A week's wort of street clothes
• Beauty aids including bubble bath and my rubber ducky
  
• Computer and camera for blogilicious reports from the motherland
  
• EU Power Adapter
• Maps and books

I should have chartered a GV. I am personally contributing to extending the war with all the extra fuel United is gonna need to make it to Brussels!

My new favorite 'cross super fan

IMG_3268
Originally uploaded by Smintjes

Hup hup (check out the sticker on the faux German 'safety' helmet. I'd love to share a Juniper with this cat.

ON TEST!: The TRP EuroX Carbon Brake Set

So last week I spoke of my lust for the new carbon braking goodness TRP is set to bring to us at effective price points and insanely low weights. My good friends at TRP want me to help prove what's in their pudding by racing these bad boys in the Belgium pudding (mud) on my upcoming trip and sent on a set of their Euro Carbon Pro's. I will baptize them accordingly....likely married to my set of FSA-488 Carbon rims. I'm scrambling to get things packed and organized but will report in upcoming days on installation, use, care, etc.

Thank you Lance and TRP!!

'cross on.

Here it comes!

8 feet in Tahoe. Holy crap. All that powder and none of mi compodres will be make it up the 80 or 50 to even enjoy it. A million people without power. D'oh!

I say this because THIS is the exact tip of that storm coming in over the Flat Irons:I got out today on one of my final prep rides to get some openers in. I am trying out that Freddy's XTra as well. Holy crap. As I type this my legs are on fire. Swung by the Boulder Res and got in some hot laps on the sand, to get all Mol'd and what not. Felt super good and powered through. I feel like I did in September. I got in just enough to open and feel confident that the fire is still burning and get that taste again of butt-in-seat power to drive through deep sand lap after lap.

On the way back, I got all Kerkove-style with the camera.

My best Jeff K impersonation.

Colorado pavement
Impersonation 2. Could be a Sager though.

Point and shoot

The sizzling is starting from the Freddy's but I can not feel it yet

Stoic. Or: How many k's back to the house? The coffee just presented it self to my chamois. Hello chamois.

Za Touch Ups

T-minus a couple-a days and we're on the aluminum tube over to the Motherland. THEN, I'll have some new stuff for you all to read. Sorry for the lead up dribble.

So at this point, I am doing some touch up. Whatever work I've put in is in and that is that. I've definitely put everything I could given the balance I have got to maintain into this trip in terms of body prep so all that is left is dodging this light cold I have (nothing big) and doing some tuning this week with prescribed intervals designed to keep the channels open in za muscles.

Changing subjects, I just want to say THANK YOU to all my homies. Honestly, the emails and shouts of encouragement are truly special. At the end of the day, I'm not deploying to Iraq. But it feels like it! If you lessen the degree of severity to the scale I am venturing on (a 'cross vacation), there is still a sense of 'man, give 'em hell' when I speak to true 'crossers. It is like going to battle, gladiator style. Here's where I am at with all this:

• We've chosen a sport (cycling) that is by its very nature hard and inherently self-weeding of non motivated people.
  
• The specific part of the sport we've poured our passion into ('cross) is probably most prohibitive...even for long time racers...given the extremity of it all: conditions, intensity, aestheticism/technique. The shit's hard, yo. I can't believe I've maintained fitness and motivation since August. I do NOT want to stop!
  
• We participate in this discipline and it gets us so close to PRO....more than any other sport. As an example, Fred, the local softball 3rd baseman from the East 53rd Street McSorley's Irish Pub team is likely not going to escalate his skills up the 'series' ladder to compete against the best on earth. Frankly he can't. The escalation doesn't exist. Cross can give us that. Look at our homies over there new throwing down in the Super Prestige and GVA's. Many of you race against them/with them weekend in and out in Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Boston....It is that exciting.
  

So in my head, it's basically those points and more which are are deeply embedded in your (the crossers) brains...possibly without you realizing it....and yet you know what's up with trips like this to Belgium and you take the time to say 'Give 'em hell'. That is so rad it makes my hair stand up. I will try to throw down as hard as I f-ing can.

I look at this picture Jon C sent to me to stoke me up. Open this bad boy up and look at it.
This is the face of a man saying "Holy shit. I just won the hole shot at the Master's World's." I love it. It's these sort of stoke ups from Jon, Mark Howland, Will Black, Brandon, Boups, Bobby Noyes....and boat loads of other folks....that again, make may hair stand up.

I will report. You will be stoked. You will come to the Motherland next year and get it on.

Start saying it. Write it down, print it out, and hang it up (or set an Outlook reminder, worker bees) and it will come true.

Ya-f-ing HOO.

Travel cases in za house

My team mate G-Pent's wife Cari TOTALLY dialed me with a Tri All double-wide travel case and wheel case for the journey over seas. THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU GUYS!

I've got to get these things trial-packed. Anyone ever use this set up? Any gotchas (besides what I am going to have to pay United??). They look bomber and are pretty straight forward with wheel mounts inside. It looks like merely seat , wheel and pedals need to come off but I am suspect on the bars being able to be left on.

Anywhoo:

ONE WEEK LEFT! YEE HAW!

Can't talk now. I'm blogging.

It's as if someone had cameras on me at work....

TRP EuroX Carbon's have arriveth in Boulder

Set the scene: I walk into BCS and Brandon has a big shit eating grin.

Greg: Hey Dubba, what up?
Brandon: (maniacally smiles)
Greg: Seriously, what's up man? Do you have gas or something?
Brandon: (whips out a bag from behind the counter to display the carbon lust bits).
Greg: (wet spot materializes)

Behold, the TRP EuroX Carbons from TRP. Oh, God.

I originally reported on the white magnesium jobbies back a few months ago and now this set has arrived at BCS...one of a handful here in the US being tested. I am not wearing stars-n-bars like a certain 35 Master is, so I'll have to live my improved braking experiences vicariously through Brandon and his Cheshire Cat grin.

The Aluminum Version on Dwayne's scale:

The EuroX Carbons:Just let me know if I can help test these any time, B, Seriously. No, seriously.

White Sex Beloften Style

This beloften has one upped me with the pimp monochromatic White Sex. Damn you junior. Damn you and your awe inspiring, national championship winning, genetics bringing you such good fortune from the Sidi rep. Damn you.