Day 1 in Madison

After 11 hours of driving much of which was on icy, windswept roads often in white out conditions, we are now where we are suppose to be... at the race location of the 2011 Cyclocross National Championships. At 2:00 today we're going to go take our first look at the course. Before we do that... I thought I would provide you all with a few descriptive definitions to better help you "see" things through our eyes a bit. Based on our direction of travel, Wisconsin is closer to the polar ice cap than New Hampshire.. so as we expected the temps are running colder here. We typically don't race in winter wollies or snow suits.. our race kit boils down to the equivalent of a speedo bathing suit that covers our entire body. Not intended whatsoever for warmth, but more for areodynamics and crash abrasion protection.. so when you start to perspire in the cold in these uniforms, you turn into a human popsicle. So... right now, it's cold enough outside for the spit to freeze before it hits the ground. When you're racing hard on the bike at these temps, your nose starts to run and before you know it... you've got a frozen snot mustache dangling off your lip and guess what... YOU ARE TOO TIRED TO CARE! Even though your body temperature is running hot, your hands and feet are freezing (your body if fighting to keep it's core warm and the hands and feet don't qualify). By the time you are finished racing, your face is frozen and it's hard to even talk, because your face is locked in a paralyzed Elvis Presley type grimace. This is where your support crew is key... Once your race is over you have about 10 mins to get out of the cold and out of the wet race kit before dangerous hypothermia sets in... As a racer you are not thinking straight, so it's your crews job to do this critical thinking for you. Racing starts on Wed. but racing for us won't start until Thursday, with Karen and I the first to line up. Wisconsin is 1 hour behind NH... So I have adjusted our race times to NH times I race on Thursday at 10:30 - 11:30 (NH) Karen races on Thursday at 11:30 - 12:30 (NH) Jeff, Jerry & Paul C. races on Thursday at 2:30 - 3:30 (NH) Tom S. races on Friday at 9:00 - 10:00 (NH) Libby races on Friday at 10:45 - 11:45 (NH) Ok... I am making myself nervous, my nose is beginning to run and my hands are sweating to I'm going to sign off and I will get back to you all with my thoughts on the course once we've had a chance to check it out. Till later, Kath