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

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.
  

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.

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!

Man oh MAN! Things are going OFF over there in the Mother Land. Geoff P's got the boys amped and racing hard....even with all of the crazy logistics and skewed travel plans many faced with planes missed, bikes not showing up, etc. Catching up on their blog, it's great to see Danny, Brady and the rest of the local boys throwing down. I race against Brady's dad (trust me....you know exactly where the genes come from if you should race against Mr. K). It's great to see them there giving everything. It is especially rad to see Tim Johnson there with the stars and bars. I would LOVE To see Cannondale rush a skinsuit to him so he doesn't look so bush league with the podium jersey he got at Nats. C'mon! So un PRO!

Sager's team mate Mitchell Peterson is there as well. He has a great race report here. Some observations:

Observation No. 1: Mitchell Peterson is the 2nd coming of Charlie Hayes.
Have you ever seen these guys together? Have you? Mitchell could be the spawn of the legend and my hero Charlie Hayes.
Observation No. 2: Mitchel is spanking Kamiel Van den Berg
I love this shot. Go lay the smack down on Kamiel, Mitchell. If you've seen it, Kamiel is the guy who on the 1st lap of the 2006 World Championships from The Netherlands who gives that group of jeering Belgium spectators the finger. After taking the hole shot, Kamiel implodes like a dying star on the 2nd lap. Ouch. So this whole shipment of Americans over to the Mother Land (including myself in a week!) is sort of like the Endless Summer....of the Winter variety. We are on a quest to catch the biggest and the best waves all for the experience. To really understand what this sport is about come good or come bad.

Tick tock tick tock.

We got the Vito dialed in for pickup at the Brussels Airport. Pimp. They sent me a picture with my order confirmation:

Mmm. Eurotrash. Mmm.

My blogging home girl Rebecca Wellons is ALREADY IN BELGIUM. Jealous. She's got some great blog post action so read up on the invasion of Americans we are sending over to dethrone and neutralize the Belgian stronghold on our sport. OK, maybe our so called invasion is more like the "Balloon Bomb" invasion of the Pacific Coast of the US in Double-ya Double-ya Two and less a frontal assault. To have an effect, we need to be all Pagey-like and live there I guess and ultimately take 'em out guerrilla style.

Rebecca is staying in the same location as the one Brandon Kurt and I will be at in a few weeks time. I think Rebecca and crew's racing schedule will be done by the time we get there but send her some blog comments to bring it to the Belgies!

Where am I? That's right, Maple Laughs fans. Couple-a-days of bidness at our labs here in the Great White North. All day travel....mostly trapped in the aluminum tube on the tarmac after a toddler ralphed like Linda Blaire in the Exorcist. Awesome. Literally nails the people in the row in front some how. Chaos erupts and it is decided we must turn the aluminum tube around and return to the gate to dump off Linda, her parents and wait for them to extract their luggage and have the cleaning crew in white chemical suits come in and sterilize.

I love my job.

Yesterday though was some nice sweet suffering on za bike. I finally got out on the roadie after way too much inside and on the 'cross bike. I had some badness with my PowerSnap as well:

If you see this on the PowerTap's CPU unit: APIdr ....you are humped. The PowerTap was flickering and needed a battery change like I've done like 10 times since getting this thing last year (that;s another story). I swapped out the CPU's 2032 battery and literally that APIdr message pops up. Uh, oh. Sphincter pucker. I call Saris and I've got to admit, the support was decent to get this specific issue resolved. The guys says nonchalantly: Oh, yeah. Um it looks like your CPU crapped out and you need to reinstall the firmware. I had to:

• Install the USB drivers on my lap top
• Download the new version of the CPU's firmware
• Connect the USB doc to the PC
• Configure the right port for the USB
  
• Load the firmware.

Now I get to use the thing again, but I can't connect it to CyclingPeaks or PowerAgent. Awesome. And I'm a software guy....

So I took to the roads with the fixed PowerSnap yesterday and it was fun. For those of you in the Boulder Denver area, you are intimate....maybe bored....with the "Fruit Loops." It is the perfect training ground in normal conditions for coaches to dose specific plans to have flatland/rolling power bench marks set and monitored. Doing this in good weather is fun and fast. But do this on snow and with skinny 23c tires. Crazy. SO I just buried myself and the watts were flying though and being able to sustain them was a good thing as I am still working hard to focus on January. It is MONUMENTALLY hard to stay monk-ish but I am trying. Calories in must not exceed calories used...or so I try to hold on to. Super hard.

But at least I am not vomiting....

Holy EPIC today at Nationals! Tim is unbelievable. I'm getting the reports from the boys in KC as they happen. Bummer for Trebon but I heard he was never in contention. Beyond TJ though, the ride of today I heard was Andy Jasques-Mayne. Sick. He essentially erases himself this summer breaking 16 bones and comes back this season to take his stars and bars yesterday in the 30-34's and an awesome ride today. Sweet.

I am PUMPED FOR MOL! Holy crap.

Za plans du Belgique are rounding out and I've not just got my hands on my UCI license and the authorization papers required to race in a foreign country. So, if'n you, my faithful M & C readers, are interested in doing this at some point, don't forget to contact USA Cycling for these! They came in like a day and officials at these races are known to ask you for them at random times apparently from when you register to while pre-riding I hear. The folks there in the 'Springs are super helpful.

The toes are de-numbing but one week on still not 100%. Crazy. It's exactly like the sensation you have when you get your teeth worked on and the Novocaine is starting to wear off. More depth today to bake in what's needed in the legs so suffer fest up/down/up/down Poorman's is prescribed. I will likely be cross-eyed when done. I hope my toes don't re-freeze.

Belgium, baby. T-minus ~1 month and counting. Holy crap.

I am pumped to announce that my partners in crime for this epic adventure are Mr. Kurt Perham, fellow Master A racer and coach extraordinare...

Photo copyright to FASTshots.

This is going to be epic....and will be...

blogged.