The morning of the race!

Ive been awake since 6am, so I figured I might as well throw a quick post up with a run down of what I'm getting myself into.

We went out to the course yesterday and rode a few practice laps. I quickly learnt that carbon tubulars are sh*thouse in the wet, and Im sticking to the alloy tubs/clincher setup. The course is fast and untechnical by World Cup standards, but it does have two fairly steep rutted descents which are a little sketchy. There is also the most ridiculously steep run up Ive ever seen in my life, which should be fairly interesting to see it sorts out the field. We ride through a pretty forest, and cover everything from mud, grass, tarmac and sand. Its fair weather here for a Belgian winter, some drizzle and about 9 degrees, not bad at all.

Run up

Team Caravan

After cutting some laps, we had the team managers meeting and rider rego. Team Australia's official managers Roeland and Rose made sure we had a choice pit box, #15. We're sharing with Norway and most boxes accomodate ~8 riders so we'll have plenty of space between 2.

At the meeting we had a chat to the manager's from Great Britain, USA and Belgium, all of whom were very friendly and helpful and were pleased to see someone representing from Australia. Little Peppa was a perfect ice-breaker...

I'd like to thank everyone for being so supportive, all your well wishes are much appreciated. I'll channel my inner Steven Bradbury, and we'll see what I can do.