One Day to Go...

I'm trying to keep calm today. It's sort of working!

By this time tomorrow, I will be done with my first ever national cyclocross championship race.

At least I'm ready for the post-race: I bought some Scotch and some cigars to enjoy while cheering on the other Saturday racers.

I drove to Madison last night for a brief visit to the CX Magazine party to meet publisher Andrew Yee. He's been kind enough to publish my column this fall about how to stay focused and positive in recovering after  my bike-truck crash two years ago.  

It was cool to hear Andrew talk about the future of the magazine. Its arrival is always a treat, and I've been honored to write for them.

I didn't get a chance to meet Molly Hurford, an online editor, or Josh Liberles, the editor, but I hope to meet them during the rest of the weekend.

The Madison trip was also about getting my numbers and sign my registration. I didn't want to worry about it today.

I just want to leave school as early as I can today, drive to Badger Prairie, pre-ride the course after the fast masters' women finish, and do nothing but eat and rest for the rest of the evening.

It's been a bit of a challenge to remain focused here at school. I really should have taken a personal day, but I used it to travel to Cincinnati to race. Trade-offs.

I'm writing now like I feel: a lot of nervous energy. So I'll try to immerse myself in school work for the next 20 minutes until the kids show up for class.

Fergie said to expect the energy level of the race to be high, especially at the start. I want to line up behind Dave E. since a) he's a big guy with a big draft and b) he usually gets fast starts and moves to the front quickly. Dave, you ready?

I'm a six-cylinder diesel engine that for one day is going to pretend he's a 12-cylinder turbo-charged diesel that takes no prisoners.

Fire it up. We got to 11 tomorrow.