A (6) Day in the Life of Brian

8:00 AM

Wake up, roll out of bed

8:05 AM
Wander out in search of breakfast. Try to figure out where you are. Something about a rowing center...

8:06 AM
They look like they know where they're going. Follow them to food.

8:07 AM
Success. Breakfast is in here.

8:20 AM
Look out the window at this thing. Turns out this was the venue for the rowing portion of the 1972 Olympic Games. The summer games. Maybe that's why it's so damn cold in the dorms.

10:00 AM
Round up every warm piece of cycling clothing you own. Dawdle because you don't want to go ride in the cold.

10:15 AM
2 km of canal, with smooth, flat service roads on either side. Perfect to spin out on.

10:30 AM
Remember the cold? Well now it's raining too. Shouldn't have waited so long to ride, moron.

10:45 AM
It's still raining, and you're still riding.

11:00 AM
Lap after lap after lap.

11:10 AM

Back to the compound. Quite a step down from the Hilton in Dortmund, but at least they give us all our meals.

11:15 AM
Survived the ride. Take a shower, and go find lunch.

12:05 PM
Lunch. Didn't I say something about mystery meat before?

12:45 PM

Sit around. Get used to this, as you'll be doing a lot of it on race days.

3:30 PM
Arrive at the track

4:00 PM
Have a look at the track itself. Still not open. Consider the possibility of warming up in the metal sphere those motorcycle nutcases ride in.

5:00 PM
Hang out in the room they give the UIV Talent Cup racers before the riders' meeting. This meeting will mean almost nothing to you, as 75-80% of the speaking will be in German, with the English translation making up the remaining 20-25%. Spend these 30 minutes wondering what else you didn't hear. On thing you do pick up: They've decided to make the race U-26 rather than U-25. Someone who was too old must have wanted to race. Yeah, rules, whatever.

5:45 PM
Warm up on the track. Wear the TROY jersey so that Super-Rookie can't complain. Try to be enthusiatic about this. 240 laps of all out madison looms in your immediate future. It will hurt. Reconcile yourself with this fact.

8:15 PM
Eat in the Fahrraderkantina after the race. You don't have any say in what you get, but it's free, and you're hungry. Eat it anyways, burned soup or not.

9:15 PM
Load up the van for the trip back to the compound.

9:25 PM
Distract the person driving your van down the Autobahn with flash photography. Fall asleep shortly after.