'Cross the Pond

So this week has been hectic. Very Hectic. Work has been super tiring, but as usual, there is very little that can be done about it. Luckily, we have truly been enjoying our weekends. This Saturday, Nate and I spent a great day cross country skiing. We were able to ski on some fresh powder through some really great trails. Although we spent our time switching who was in the lead to break track, it was still a ton of fun. Later in the day, we went to Liam's first birthday party at the Oradat's house. We had a great time, where luckily Jennifer and I share a love of scrabble, and were able to get our scrabble fix for a while. After three games and far too much food, Sam (one of my fellow ICTC LTs) gave us a ride home in his super ghetto, yet functional low rider, which he bought from a super sketchy South American, for far too much. After far too little sleep, Nate, Chris and I embarked on a great adventure.

With a 0530 wake up on a Sunday morning, the three of us piled into the VW with as much warm clothes as we could carry to head to Tabor, Czech Republic for Cyclocross Worlds. Upon arriving into one of the more sketchy cities in the country, we boarded a bus to be transported with many other cyclocross fans to the race course. First up was the women's race. Our American ladies did not do as well as we had hoped they would, but it was still a great time cheering them on. Katie Compton, who was in the running for the win, had to bow out in the first lap due to an ongoing injury. It was still exciting to see Marianne Vos power through to a great victory over the hometown favorite Katerina Nash. The men's race was even crazier! Tim Johnson, despite a poor start moved up into the top 20, along with Jamie Driscol (who we formerly raced with in the ECCC). Our other guys didn't do as well, with a truly poor performance from Ryan Trebon. Throughout it all, we enjoyed freezing our rear-ends off in the super cold weather while eating bratwurst and drinking Budvar Budweisser (which is about as nasty and tasteless as the American version). Chris enjoyed himself heckling and cheering. Nate took a ton of great photos, and I got to talk to a photographer from Cycling News. All in all it was a great time! We are looking forward to when World's is in Germany next year!