Luckily (and based on years of experience) we flew to California a week before the race. A bad cold that I caught somewhere on the flights to US, did subside a lot in those few days. So, I am feeling a lot better and I think I should be OK for the race.

My preparation was excellent and this cold had made me rest a bit more than usually , which is not necessarily a bad thing. This is my fifth World Champs (2002, 2012, 2015, 2016) and every time until now I won the category and at least the podium overall. So, even if I am in Masters Category (50+) now, my plan is to race with the young guys for the overall Championships. In fact I will try not to think about the others, but race my own race according to plan. Which is to go over the magic number of 500 miles, which I have done in every 24h race since the WCTT in Borrego 2015, where I won with 496 miles.

Still, just for you a little something about the competition. Here is the list of guys who I believe in perfect race can achieve more than 500 miles:

102 Jamahed Jehangir

107 Fabio Silvestri 

108 Evens Stievenart

115 Julian Sanz

121 Dan Nielsen

188 Jason Perez

134 Jean Luc Perez

116 Andy Funk

145 Chris Hopkinson

Fingers crossed!