I guess I’m going to drive up to Madison later this morning and check out the course for the races this weekend. I’m always much more tired 2 days after a race than the first day. I’ve never really figured that out. I didn’t race the Madison races last year, but I’ve raced there in the past. Lots of turns and kind of dusty.

Lots of stuff is going on in the news that is pretty interesting all the way up to super interesting.

The super interesting stuff, at least to me is the discovery at CERN that something can move faster than the speed of light. They measured neutrinos moving significantly faster that the 186,000 miles/per second of light. If proven true, that throws a gigantic wrench into Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. I don’t know how long it is going to take Fermilab or the Japanese to prove or disprove this discovery, but if true, physics might be back at square one.

Lance and a few others seem to be in more trouble with money laudering. Denis Menchov and Michele Scarponi are in the same boat. Here is the link at Cyclingnews for the article.

Chequamegon Area Trails got grant to improve the trails and maybe add some single track at the end of the race? This article at Cyclingnews says they are putting a little single track in on the North End that is going to be used in the race. I’ve been an advocate for adding singletrack for sometime. Hopefully it is going to happen now.

And finally, today is officially the first day of fall. It is the autumnal equinox today, the day when night are equal times. It is only the first day of fall in the Northern Hemisphere BTW. Fall is for cyclo-x. Actually, this year, with Nationals being in Madison, winter is for cyclo-x.

On the way up from St. Louis, we stopped in Bloomington, Illinois, at a great coffeeshop, the Coffee Hound. Super good coffee and a great atmospher.

The floor at the Coffee Hound was awesome.

And nothing beats the smell of fresh roasted coffee.

Most the suburbs in Northwest Chicago plant trees on the city easements. I think it is a great idea. It makes the neighborhoods seems so much more like neighborhoods.

Here is a great photo of Lucy Garner, Great Britain, winning the Junior Worlds today. Congratulations! More photos and article.

Here’s how not to dismount quickly.

Yesterday we drove up to Delavan, Wi, about 15 miles Northwest of Lake Geneva, Wi. I decided it would be better not to go over to the course and get all worn out before the race. It is just a mile around. How long can it take to get a course that long down? Anyway, I went out for a couple hour ride that turned out to be longer. I had arranged to get some antibiotic ointment for my eyes sent to the Walgreen’s in Lake Geneva. It was a total screwup. I waited there over 30 minutes, just to be told that they didn’t have it. So, I then rode to Fontana, a town on the Southwest end of Lake Geneva, to go to an antique boat show.

It was incredible. Each and every boat was a work of art. I could have spent days looking at each and everyone of the boats. I’m going to post just a few pictures below, but am going to make a slideshow later to show all the photos.

So, I’m off to Madison now. It’s an hour drive. I don’t have enough time to get over to Lake Geneva before the race to get the prescription, so am going to try to get back here before the pharmacy closes. It is supposed to be raining on and off all afternoon. I can’t decide it that is a good thing or bad thing for my results. Probably good. Plus, I think that you have to race in muddy conditions to get better/or reacquainted with the bike handling in muddy conditions. I’m not feeling that great, but there is no downside to be at the biggest cyclocross race in the nation.

These are just a few of the boats. There were 10 X as many. You can click twice to enlarge them.