Masters World Cyclocross Championships Week Diary

My journey to the 2012 Masters World Cyclocross Championships started with excitement when I first learned over a year ago that they would be held in Louisville, KY, one of my favorite race venues. I've participated in 2 editions of Masters Road Nats here as well as the USGP Derby Cross, so I was familiar with the area and the course. At the time I didn't bargain for how bumpy of a road I would take on the way.

Over two and a half years ago, my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 fallopian tube cancer; a variation of ovarian cancer. It has been an up and down battle since then, and my mother finally succumbed, after a hard-fought battle, on December 11th. In the Spring my wife and I learned that she was pregnant with our second child, and one of my first questions was "should I still go to Worlds?". She assured me that it was still a good choice as long as she didn't have to go (3 weeks after our son was born on December 18th). Combine this, with my mother's funeral 4 days before I had to leave for Louisville, taking care of our toddler son, and the general stresses of a life lived on call half of the time during a 50-60hr work week, and what you got was a lot of 5AM mornings trying to squeeze in some workouts inside on the trainer before I headed out the door around 7AM.

To help combat all of these challenges, I hired a coach with the specific goal of accountability during this tumultuous time. He told me that I needed more than my available 5-7hrs a week to compete on a world-scale, but we worked together to formulate a plan to keep me sane and get me to Louisville in the best possible form given my unique set of circumstances.

Saturday/Sunday: Last week began with my mother's funeral and a trip to MD with my son on a plane to be with my family. We hit the road at 4:45AM to catch a 7AM flight before the funeral on Saturday. I got a quick run in Friday and a nice ride in Saturday after the service. While my head was elsewhere, it was nice to have some workouts to stay focused. Sunday was a lot of time with the family before having to return home on Monday.

Monday: Ethan and I flew home first thing, and I dropped him off at daycare, hit the trainer for a quick set of intervals, and then headed to the hospital until about 10PM. A late night for sure, following a long day.

Tuesday: Up early to get back to work, before washing the bikes, packing the Element for 3 days of cold and mud, and this meant 2 bikes, 4 sets of wheels, and practically every piece of cycling clothing I owned. Add to the mix food, drinks, and street clothes, and it was a packed car! I also learned that there wouldn't be a seeding heat for our field on Thursday, so I decided to get in another set of intervals before dinner.

Wednesday: Up early and a hot cup of coffee along with more clothes packing to combat the sub-freezing temperatures predicted for the next 3 days. I hit the road to pick up my stepfather from Louisville airport, before checking in and pre-riding the course. He was surprised to see how muddy it was after a full day of rain! He'd never seen a "real" cyclocross race before so he was in for a treat! The course was so muddy that they limited the pre-ride to 2 hours, and I was only able to get in about 2 laps, and that was after power washing the bike in between! We found a car wash to spray everything down since I didn't feel like waiting for the hose for 30 minutes in the cold. After that it was on to registration before our first of 3 gourmet meals that I lined up for our 3 night stay. Night one was at The Marketplace.

Thursday: The day I was supposed to riding in a seeding heat, turned into another pre-ride of the course as my "pit boss", Marty, practiced power washing and bike exchanges for what could be a very muddy course on Friday. The plan was bike changes every lap with the possibility of every half lap! After 2 laps, my dad power washed and lubed my bike, and then power washed me, while it was snowing! Then it was back to the hotel for a luke warm shower (since our hot water wasn't working so well), and off to dinner at our best dinner of the evening at Limestone. No beer or wine for me though since Friday was the big day . . .