Rushed but I got to the velodrome in time as it’s only about a 10-minute drive from lodging to the velodrome using the vehicle nav system. I re met Manon and track Sebastion who helped me feel at home away from home, both speaking very fluent English. Americans are so entitled!
I get kitted up (dressed in cycling wear) top up the tire pressures and I ride for part of an hour, not very fresh or strong but was fun anyhow. Today was more about just getting on the track and refreshen my 250-meter velodrome skills. I brought spare wheels that I hope to sell before I leave, Zipp 808’s, and I am riding those. They are backups as well as “Sale” items. Today my gear choice is 51/15, not a great warm up choice but will have to do, no gear changes today just get on the track and do some laps.
The hour is up, and it’s time to revisit the mall and a huge grocery store. Only about 5–10-minute drive. An hour or so later and $100 poorer I am ready for a few days of breakfast, lunch and dinner with lots of variety. Luckily my CC is working, tap to pay has been a Euro thing for a long time. Shopping and paying is a process, remember to weigh the bananas before trying to check out!
I find my way back to the Airbnb using the car’s navigation although there must be a more direct route, next time. Time for some dinner courtesy of the grocery store deli, Asian noodles and chicken dinner that was tasty and filling, oh and a stale croissant from yesterday for dessert, stale is still good.
As I am relaxing, I get a text from my friend Larry W which says my name is not on the registrant or start lists and he was wondering if I decided to skip the event. I know Larry from previous World Champs and he, at Colorado Springs two months ago reconvinced me to attend Worlds. I hadn’t checked the registered riders list for a few days because it wasn’t being updated very often so I was clueless. Now I am stressed and frustrated, wondering what I need to do to prove I am registered, paid and am legal to race. This won’t make sleeping any easier.
I fell asleep while reading at about 7 or 8 pm France time. Another restless night, with some time awake reading midway through the night. It will be a few days before I get over the time change confusion. I have reset my watch to Euro time and set an alarm so things should be a bit clearer when I wake tomorrow.
Thursday alarm at 8 and I finally get up about 9. I have FOOD! Fried eggs, pain de baguette, peanut butter, jam, coffees, x 3. Sorting out the tiny “kitchen”. There is a Bosh Tassimo coffee machine that makes a decent tiny euro coffee so I ran it three times through 1 pod to get a full-size mug. There is the standard “Kettle” to boil hot water for tea and whatever else I can think of. A toaster, small microwave, a tiny sink and a handful of dishes most of which need to be washed before I plan to use them. A tiny bit of dish soap. Everything is “just enough” to get by, but I have had much worse accommodations.
A few hours of relaxation and time to drive off to the velo and try and sort out registration. I’ve prepped receipts, license data and all sorts of docs in case I need to prove I paid for a registration. One of the staff listens to me, checks his computer and says yes, I am registered. Not sure that was helpful. There is another French rider name Patrick and a last name starting with V on the reg list and with my poor French language skills an issue, I’m not sure the staff member looked me or him up. I’ll be back later today to ride a training session. I’m still worried about being here and not being allowed to race. It would be sad to only have 3 warm up sessions while I’m here.
I have one free day, Thursday, a week from today, and was hoping to rent a road bike and ride some of the area. I had an address of a place that does rental bikes and when I got there, no one had any idea what I was talking about. The one email request I sent got a response that said closed for the season. It is not looking good, might have to do a Plan B!
Off to find that great bakery again, bought another wonderful sandwich and croissant to eat back at the lodging, 5-minute drive away. The staff speaks no English, and my French is basically worthless, but we figure it out with hand signs and the French I can muster, smiling and laughing getting to know each other.
Back to velo about 2:15 for my 3:00 session only to find out my session started at 2 not 3. My brain is still figuring out what day and what time it is. They were nice enough to allow me to move to the 3:00 session which I appreciated. A 1-hour session, warm up on the spare 808-wheel set using that same 51/15 gear. Then, out come the real race wheels, Mavic Comet rear disc and a Mavic IO front with a 51/14 “race” gear set that felt a bit hard to turn but again, I’m mostly just getting used to riding this track. Most of the racers coming here have a home track to ride, train and race on. MN, no longer has a velodrome as NSC crushed the one in Blaine back in 2019. My hour is almost up so I did some cool down laps with a 51/16 gear set which felt good but won’t be good as a race gear. Decision time, I switched to 50 tooth chainring for Friday AM session, let’s see how that goes tomorrow. All these minor gear changes make a big difference in races, finding the one hard enough/fast enough, but not too hard is a challenge when I have no track to train on in MN.
Back to lodging and I find the best on street but free park spot ever next to the Airbnb entrance. It’s still early and weather wise very nice so time for a local walk. I’m in a what feels like a working-class area but still very scenic. I stopped at a quirky local pub for a short beer, and some awkward Google translate conversation with some of the patrons, awkward but ok. I found some good photo ops around the park roundabout. Found a Carrefour Express, convenience store, yeah! Easy, close food to go mini grocery store. Nice to have this close and I don’t have to drive or spend hours looking for stuff in that huge mall grocery store.
I am running out of energy, time to catch up on emails and this doc and SM and ride data and recheck the registered rider list, that I am still not on. More stress. Time for a shower in the awkward tub/shower that is in a corner on a platform with some “glass” spray walls that have no support, not very safe or to code I would think. At least the water is warm. 7:30 alarm for Friday again. Went to bed about 8 P.M. and woke at midnight, stressed over registration issues. Read a while, tried to sleep, didn’t really, read some more. My alarm is set at 7:30. Tried to sleep again and did sleep about 2 hours waking at 7 lying in bed waiting for the alarm. Friday, here we go.