I decided not to race yesterday and it was a very good decision. I decided it before I actually got in the car to drive to Webberville because I was hobbling around. This hamstring tear/thing was worse than I had originally anticipated. It is weird because I didn’t thing I did much damage to it during the race on Saturday, but then I remembered that when I was running through the one of the sand pits early on, I felt the muscle pull again. I hate reading on the internet of injuries because of the duration it usually says for rest etc. I plan on not resting much, but we’ll see about that. My stomach hates me because I’ve been eating a bunch of Motrin.

Anyway, last night, my friend Ann had a holiday party. It was pretty amazing. It was catered and had live music. It was a fun mix of her friends, which are from all over.

Trudi had driven to Kansas City from Chicago, yesterday morning and got on a flight that got to Austin at 6 pm., so she made it before the party. Bromont was so crazy happy to see her that he couldn’t quit shaking. Made me wonder if he is just plain bored hanging with me alone. Catherine surprised us and drove down from Kansas to train for the week. She raced yesterday in Topeka and then left in the early afternoon, so she made it to Austin a little after 10 pm, just in time to catch the end of the party, which was nice.

I’m not sure how far I’m going to be riding today. Depends on the stair test. Yesterday the stair test was not good. I’m dreading it a little this morning. The weather here in Austin looks pretty okay all week. Maybe a little too much rain later in the week, but mid week looks like it will be in the 70’s. Can’t complain about that, after all, it’s December.

Ann welcoming friends to her house.

There was plenty of refreshments available. I'm just a tad hurt this morning.

A little holiday singing.

Bromont ran out of juice early.

There was a water main break around the corner. No water for the party for the first hour, but that didn't turn out to be a problem.

It is amazing to me the selection of cyclocross equipment now. The bicycle industry has really stepped up here, even though a lot of the stuff is never going to make them any money because the sales are always going to be relatively small.

Yesterday the package from TRP brakes arrived in the morning with the new CX 8.4’s. Then yesterday afternoon the box from Belgium showed with the handmade FMB tubulars with Michelin Mud 2 tread. Both of these items are really works of art. They look so nice and hopefully function just as good as they look.

Less than 10 years ago, the selection of equipment was nothing. Back in the 80’s, you had to nearly fabricate your own equipment.

I trained with the Czechoslovakian National Team in the winter of 1985 before the World Championships in Munich. They were the best cyclocross riders in the world, by far. A mechanic from their team made custom cleats that had threaded holes for spikes in them. The spikes were behind the cleats, since we were riding toe clips. The guy told me he would make me some cleats but couldn’t get any aluminum to fabricate them. I thought, what’s the big deal. So I took the train into Prague to get a couple aluminum blocks. I ended up spending two full days there going from business to business and never located enough aluminum to make the cleats. A week later, the mechanic came up to me and presented me with some cleats for Worlds. And they were very much needed in that race. When I think back upon it, that was probably the most memorable part, of nearly a month in Europe, going from shop to shop and meeting up with just regular Czech guys and seeing how commerce worked behind the Iron Curtain.

Anyway, it is always cool to see innovation in equipment. TRP is obviously innovative with their new brakes. FMB is really not innovative, they are making custom tires, which to me seems incredible, no matter what the price is. It is a super cool aspect of cycling.

The TRP brake box.

The tires from FMB.

I took the Michelin tread over to Europe. It is going to be interesting how well these ride. I've never ridden these casings, but the tread is 2nd to none in adverse conditions.

A photo from the Cyclocross World Championships in Munich. Dave Mac is the US rider behind me.