My broken clavical is healing but i'm still not out on the road or doing any cyclocross training and that is really killing me. Today, i sat on the trainer for almost two hours while i watched old VHS tapes of the 1996 through 2000 World Cyclocross Championships. I believe it was 1999 in Poprad, Slovakia that the US bagged its first two medals in the 50 years of World Championship racing, when Matt Kelly took 1st place in the U19 and a young Tim Johnson bagged a silver medal in the U23 race. What was interesting in watching all these races was the severe cold weather in Munich, Poprad, and Middlefart. The Worlds take place in early February, so it should not be a surprise, but so far, we have been spoiled here in the Northeast this year when it comes to CX weather. Another observation of note was the course layouts in Europe. In Munich, the course was built around the Olympic stadium and its surrounding grounds that were the site of the infamous 1972 Olympics. The courses in Europe are hard. Steps or stairs are common. On one course i counted four separate places on the course with barriers. One location had three barriers together and two other locations with a single barrier just to force a dismount before a hill or a pit location. The announced attendance at the 2000 Worlds in Belgium was 50,000 people. Woensdrecht, Netherlands is the site of the 2009 World Championship Race... who's going?