Okay, I assume you’ve all heard that the Cyclocross Worlds are being moved up a day and are being run today, Saturday. Everyone is racing today because of the potential flooding of the venue on Sunday here in Louisville. How about that for planning? Anyway, that is how it is going to go.

I spent all day yesterday either looking at the ground or at a cassette or crankset, scrubbing icy mud off of bikes in the pits. It was an impossible task.

After that, I went out for dinner with a bunch of friends from Kansas that have been transplanted throughout the country and then met up with a bunch of other friends at the Holly Grale, an awesome establishment in a church here in Louisville.

I was fortunate to catch up with some friends that I’d never had the opportunity to really get their stories. It was a great evening. We closed down the place, which is going to hurt in a few hours.

What is so great about the sport of cycling is that we all talk the same talk. Once you get to a certain level in the sport, there is a language that is not decipherable by the average observer. We all understand the language, even if weren’t not exactly on the same page.

I loved listening to the stories of the riders that raced today. I missed all the races because I was cleaning bikes. I didn’t see anything. But, listening to the riders stories, I could picture the races as they happened. It was so easy and almost better than witnesses in person.

I’m not usually one to drink a bunch of beer, but it was nearly impossible to not drink beer on this occasion. The beer here was very strong, most over 10% alcohol content and very tasty. The beer of choice tonight was “walk on water”, a danish beer. The story here was that Brian Jensen, my team mate, that I was pitting for, is the best friend of the owners of the company from Denmark. How small is this world.

The owner of the establishment came up and “bought” us all a shot of walk on water, and then it flowed the rest of the night.

So, here it is about 5 hours before the juniors are going to race. I plan on being there from the first gun to the finish. I’m gonna ride my bike over and lock it up to something and then watch all the races. There isn’t a race I’m not interested in.

I haven’t had a chance to actually go across the street and check out the course. I’m sure it’s going to be pretty good. I raced at the venue last year and there is enough terrain to make a good cyclocross course. I’d be surprised if they don’t get a good flow. You all know where the links are. If you don’t, go you Cyclingfans.com and they have the links for the race. I’m sure Velonews has the race streaming live too.

Okay, I need to get a little sleep before standing all day. It should be an exciting day. Lots to write about the next week. I’m sure there will be a lot more after the rest of today. I’m picking Sven for the win. And Marinanne Vos for the women.

This is the upstairs of the Holy Grale. Not a bad place to hang with friends.

We kept running into our buddies from Kansas. Lazy asses, didn’t even take their bikes off the racks to power spray them at the care wash.

Trudi was a trooper in the pit.

They give a very generous pour of wine here in Louisville.

Question of the day -Who’s ankle is this and who is exposing this art work?

Bill Elliston seemed to have lost his Worlds jacket, but ended up going home with this.