McFatson Land

No more dreaming of upsets.  This is how it's gonna turn out... 

Elite Men: 1.Wellens 2.Nys 3.Vervecken 4.Dlask 5.Franzoi

Elite Women: 1.Kupfernagel 2.Vos 3.?? Possibly an American

I'll bet money on em.

...and I'm workin on some really f'd up muddy bikes.  I've been over here since Jan. 12th and I'm ready to come home, which I will do this Monday.  Yayah!

The house we're staying at has the most kick ass indoor mechanic set-up that I've ever seen.  Indoor pressure washer bike wash?  They got one.  Wheel racks for 100 wheels?  They got em.  Secure indoor bike storage?  No duh.  Basically it's like bike mechanic heaven over here complete w/ 2 chefs that make us three meals a day, and of course, delicious Belgian brews that keep me warm most every night - ok, every night.

I've gone out to the World's course each of the last two days.  Yesterday the course was covered with snow.  I took a bunch of pics but you're gonna have to go to cyclocrossworld.com to see them because I'm too lazy to post them here.  Today the snow on the course was all melted.  More rain and warmer temps are forecasted for the weekend.

Predicting the future, I foresee one f'd up course w/ bike changes twice per lap.  Each lap will take the elite winner about ten minutes to complete.  The winners will all have to be good runners as the course will not be too rideable.  Believe me, this course is f'd up!

I pick some hidden sleepers for the victories.  Laurance Leboucher, from France, for the women, and Enrico Franzoi, from Italy, for the men.  Both riders are technically dialed when it comes to bike handling.  Franzoi went through the elite field in the closing laps last weekend like a man possessed.  Call me crazy.

No more to say.  Really I just wanted to jot some stuff down before January slipped away.

Question: How do you crossers manage to get sick over there every year?

Tomorrow we're going snowboarding at Meadows.  First time this year.  Eighth time in my life.  Gonna be interesting.  Better get my board all waxed, and scraped, and aligned, and trued, or whatever the hell you do to a board before you go.

The weather here in Portland has been crap but the riding has been good.  Scratch that, the ride was good.  Went for a road ride two days ago in the rain and wind for a couple hours.  Two hours felt like eight and I limped the bike back home with lead legs.  Pretty sweet!  Skills... who needs em.

I'll be in the wet and muddy Belgium in a few weeks time.  Should be good.  A lot of work but fun in the end.  While over there I'm gonna jet over to London for few days to visit my oldest sister.  A US dollar is worth aproximately one-half of a British Pound.  That's pretty sweet too!  Nothing like spending a lot of money for nothing.

James Brown....  is dead.  Now that old techno song is correct.

I don't really have much to say here but I realized that December is almost over.  Don't want to entirely void a month from some meaningless blabber.

Returned last Monday night from Providence, RI.  Pretty good little trip we had back there.  I now feel foolish for complaing about my delayed flights coming back across the country.  We still have a sales rep stuck in Chicago trying to get home.  I wonder if all the cross camp kids made it out of Denver over to Belgium?  I suggest a large scale snowball fight at Denver International so everyone can get out their frustrations before lining up at the ticket counter.  A hot dog stand inside the terminal would also be good.

Commuters around Denver getting to ski to work instead of drive.  There's always a plus side.

New Year's plans for anyone in Portland.  Check out Dr. Theopolis at the Kennedy School in NE.  Should be a good funk dance-a-thon kind of time.

bomb?

I've made a point to mt bike the last couple weeks and needless to say I'm starting to remember what I've been missing.

Skills.

I ain't got none no mo. I mean my job is fun and all but I don't get to ride that often. Plus I had a little collarbone breakage earlier in the year, which helped turn me into a complete slow ass whimpy downhiller. Combine those two and you get a big, mean, sliding out of control, broke, slow, whimpy on the trail ass. What? And that's when it's dry. My dog kicks my ass every f'n time... it's pretty sweet.

As I finish this beer I rekindle my drive to become a lightweight, hillclimbin dominator. I'm guessing the next beer will change my mind.

 

Mark

Morning television is a horrible thing - worse than late night tv.  I wake up in a daze at 7:30 most mornings.  I sit and stair at a muted tv while listening to the radio, and petting Mr. B.  And now it's snowing, which means any small amount of motivation to ride my bike is now out the window.  I don't be carin'.  I'll keep sitting here, wearing out the couch cushions, waiting for tvfy post 100.  It's a long drawn out wait, much like tv shows.

I'm sitting here working on getting drunk enough to write another post. So far it's going pretty well. I've almost finished off all the beer that was left here last weekend by out-of-town bike racer house guests. Why is it that mechanics ALWAYS receive beer in lew of payment for anything from just showing up with a wrench, to overhauling a bike? I'm not complaining cause I love to drink. But free boose doesn't exactly help matters especially when it's cold and ten feet away from where I currently sit. I yearn for more as I drink more... not a good thing.   Waste not, want not.

Almost ready.

Michelle and I got a dog.

His name is Mr. B and he's vicious.

We thought he was a mute for the first few days because he didn't make a sound.

I have yet to beat him up a trail on my mt. bike.  Sometimes he beats me down the hill too.

After two hours of constant running he's still ready for more...  too bad I'm not.

 

There ya go Nasty.  See you and Little Red in a few days.

Bring your petting hands.

Remember this guy?

Fassbinder showed up to give'r solo at the Kona G24hr race in Winter Park.

What an animal and all around good guy.

I, Mark Matson, hereby separate myself from being part of The MTV Generation.

 

I thought I could pull it off through a full 28 years but it’s not worth the pain.

 

The ’06 MTV video music awards were too agonizing to watch tonight.

 

Music has taken a final turn for the worse.