Hoogerhide-World Championships Preview

World Championships. Wow, we're almost there. What a journey it has been.

Hoogerhide, Netherlands. Man, what can I say.

So we got here yesterday, Thursday and the course was already packed with people watching us pre-ride a few days before the show. Kids lining the street begging for autographs. Not just one or two, but I'm talking boat loads. I stopped to sign a couple today and they were ecstatic, they just kept on coming and coming, seriously it was almost overwhelming.

Natasha and I finally got our team Canada kits. It has been our shared dream for the last couple years to be able to wear our Nations color and represent. Let me just say I made sure to take a quick picture of Tasha. I put mine on and funny enough the skin suit is the best fitting skinsuit I've ever had and as a change of events from this year, no one has worn this one!

So, the Canadian crew is pretty cool. Wendy and Norm had hoodies made for us, that say Team Canada, and are last names are written on the back with a huge maple leaf and and a picture of a guy carrying a bike, thanks guys. So we're all looking pretty cool. Our manager here is Dan Proulx, he was involved with the Canuk effort in Bejing and we had a pretty rockin showing there so...

The U-23 guys are pretty cool, Kyle Fry, Andrew Thomas and Brian Robinson, they are up tomorrow and we'll be following them closely, as our hotel is about 900 meters from the course, yah Norm reserved this hotel last year! Good call him. It's a perfect location, we even have a place for all our bikes and I got a free tour of a Chinese food kitchen in our hotel.

I could describe the course for you but you can get a guided tour.
http://www.wkhoogerheide2009.nl/en/parcours.aspx

It does it some justice...but the downhill is not as prominent in it and there are a few 180 degree turns off camber that are pretty tricky.

We've already ridden it a couple of times, it keeps on changing, its fast mostly dry, frozen in the morning and then thaws out later.

The venue is insane, the whole town is shut down as the course goes right through downtown, all the shops have jerseys and bikes in the windows, there are flags everywhere and the atmosphere is electric, it's gonna be MENTAL.

We've been getting lots of encouraging mails and facebook comments, keep em coming, it helps, the energy and the enthusiasm are greatly appreciated.

Oh yah, I was able to order our coffees this morning in dutch and we actually got what I ordered, so I'm pretty stoked about that. It's amazing that coffee in most languages is pretty much either "koffee" or "cafe". Did I ever pick a great beverage to enjoy.

The only thing better than that is Natasha is 100% and I haven't seen her ride like this since Nommay, it was like a switch flipped. We fixed a couple little things on her bike, that were causing her some grief and bang she is on fire, it is so nice to see, oh my GOD, did she ever pick a great time to find the fire again....

Booyakatcha!(Snap)