Anticipation
One week, actually less than a week and I leave for Manchester for the Worlds Masters Track Championships, 4th time to Manchester, 6th time total to this world-wide event. I am a bit apprehensive, I just saw the registration list for my age group and it is the largest field yet for any of the Worlds events I’ve done. 35 guys from all over the world in my age group but surprisingly few from the USA, just 3-4 of us.
This has been an awkward season at best. I didn’t really know if the NSC velodrome track would be open for 2015 until about two weeks before the season started in May. That made it tough for me to be motivated over the winter and train properly. I also interrupted my winter weight room training in January with a trip to Australia, which was the best trip ever, giving me a chance to put a lot of road miles in that I never do during the Minnesota winter but left me lacking in strength training.
I did get in a mini vacation to Boulder CO in April to visit Chris and Jen and had a great extended weekend with a chance to ride at the new BVV track, meet up with old friends, meet some new friends and do a bit of sight seeing. Thanks Jen and Chris and everyone else.
Fun to know that this year I will be staying at the same house with great friends from Boulder, transplants from MN, who are also racing Master Worlds. This will be their first time at these events but that doesn’t mean they are novices. We just need to make sure the fun part of the trip doesn’t overshadow the serious competitive part of the trip.
I feel ready, strong and trained but I think anyone who competes would agree that there is always some doubts and butterflies to over come. Once we are all there and start our regular track routines, the butterflies should mostly go away.
I have a car again this year and hope that Google maps works a little bit better than last year. It took me way too long to get from the airport to our lodging last year and was quite sketchy. Driving on the opposite side of the road in a right hand drive vehicle with unfamiliar road signs is a challenge.
My friend Jen Dorsey will also be blogging about her adventure at Worlds this week so we will have the battle of the blogs going, all in good fun. www.VaVaVelo.com