As many of my recent posts have stated the weather we have had her in belgium has been unusually perfect for the last 2 weeks, and yesterday was no exception. i headed out towards where we had raced on Sunday as we had stubled across this magnificent mansion on the way to the race.
"View From The Frount"

"Fancy Gates"

"Your Crib Aint The Shizz Without a Moat"

"And a Nice Little Bridge"


After stopping to take a pic of the mansion it was off to the canal running North from Dienze towards Gent.
"Trees Lining the Canal Road"

"Riding along"


I followed this canal North until it intersected the Brugge-Gent Canal, where i headed west back towards home.

"Belgium Weather Doesnt Get Much Better Than This"

And then past the local car dealer, which covers all the basics, Aston Martin, BMW, Audi, Maserati......
"Shiny"


and Home.

Finding My Belgian Legs

In my last post i said that i was racing on wednesday at the coastal town of De Haan, but with a few off the bike issues affecting my focus on the bike i chose not to race, and after along chat with the team manager, had found a solution, and focused my attention on the weekends U23 Kermese In Meigem.

With a clear head we headed out for the 32km ride to the kermese, before signing on and rolling a lap of the course (9.2km Flat Twisty And Exposed). There were pleanty of places where the field could be split as well as a cobbled "S-bend" about 3km from the start, so it was improtant to start at the front of the pack. And as it turned out it was VERY important to stay at the front, with a substancial break of about 15-20 riders getting clear in the first kilometer, with James Tennant (South African) returning for a second year at the team, Christoph one of the teams belgian riders, and myself in it.
"The three of us before the move went clear"

With 3 fuji riders in the break we were the best represented team and christoph took the 2nd intermediate sprint and the 25 euro + apricot pie prize, and i took the 3rd intermediate sprint getting some $ and a pie of my own
"Winning my Apricot Pie"

but afterwards I found myself in trouble after the break was put in the gutter the following lap. Dropping back to the similar sized chase group. Conveniently with 2 team mates in the lead group i took the oppertunity to sit on for a lap and when the chase caught back up with the lead group found myself with fresh legs meaning next time the group was put in the gutter i had the legs to hang onto the front group which had been reduced to about 12 riders. I was the only rider from our team in the front group and managend to hang in while 2 more riders found the crosswinds too tough, leaving 10 of us to fight out the finish. Determined not to finish last in my group I used what little i had left to hang in for 8th place, my first top 10 finish :)
"Some more pics of me in the break"



After collecting my winning and demolishing, with help from my team mates, my apricot pie it was time for the 32km ride back home.

All in all a solid 183km day

A Trundle to the Beach

Today I took advantage of the sunny weather to go for a trundle to the beach at De Haan
"Main Street of De Haan"

"View from the park bench"


P.S. this is where im racing tomorrow

Racing and Spectating

Being a tad cooked from the stage race last w/e it was decided that I would have an easy w/e and do a 120km u23 Kermese on the saturday, instead of the 170km Uci 1.12 Top comp race on the sunday. Which was nice for a change, as instead of working for others I would have a chance to race for myself. with 14 Laps of an 8.8km course with one fairly short but steep climb, several open sections and 3x 1 and 1/2 foot deep car sized holes in the road and perfect weather conditions 20+ degrees and minimal wind it was bound to be an agressive race.

Our team manager has the philosiphy that it is better to race agressively at the front and blow up than sit at the back of the bunch and survive but do nothing special, because all you can learn sitting in is how to survive survive, but if you are having a crack at the front you learn what it takes to win. so that is what i did. for the first of the three laps i was at the front but quickly realised that it could be done more efficiently and the rest was spent at the front but with my nose out of the wind conserving energy. when the pace lessened with 5 laps to go i took the chance to slip back in the pack and see how the other boys from my team were coping.

Addison the yank had been an early victom of the two massive holes being taken out by a falling rider on lap 2. But Jannes the Canadian was sitting comfotrably near the 2nd half of the field so we let each other know how we were travelling and then worked our way to the front togeather, where Jannes decided it was time to attack, so we were coming to the front with speed from moving up the bunch. I initialy hesitated with my instinct telling me it was too early but ignoring this i attacked off the front with my team mate on my wheel. we opened ap a gap quickly and picked up 2 groups of 2 riders which had been dangling off the front before hitting the climb atop which sat our team manager.

the group of 6 then settled into a nice rythm down the other side but it was short lived, as a lap later our lead was gone and so were my legs, meaning my race was over with 4 laps to go.

Id have to say i was happy with the race as I am improving both my skills at riding in the right position in the bunch as well as my form, id done everything i needed to but had fired my last bullet 2 laps too early, as the winning move went 2 laps later, but bear in mind this was only my 2nd kermese with all my other races being UCI races and a stage race.

Sunday was a chance to relax and it was decided that Jannes, Teemu (who is off the bike with a kee problem) and I would head out the the famous Muur to watch the team race the UCI race. Thankfully it was another perfect day and we got some great pics and even an ice cream at one of the feed zones.

"The Muur, Probably the most Famous Camera Angle/Photo spot in all of Cycling"


"A Beautiful Mansion atop the Muur"


"Team mates climbing the Muur"





"Some Trick Photography Of Jannes"



"My Vantage Point for The Finish"


"The Finnish" 2nd place was a Kiwi

UCI 2.12 Tweedaagse van de Gaverstreek Cont......

So with stage 1 done and dusted it was time for day 2, and with one of our two strong rider making the winning break finishing 7th and subsequently 7th on GC the plan was to make the race as ard as possible, so it would split to pieces and get rid of the sprinter who won the first stage. With the weather coming to the party and provinding some decent wind it was going to be a tough day. Which was music to my ears after pulling up sore, even after my awsome masage (jealous much ?)
"Sign on"


"Rollong The Soreness out of the Legs"



Then it was time to line up.

"Where's wally?"

"There he is"

Notice that i chose to line up next to the Belgian National Amateur Champ.

"waiting for the start"


"And we were Off"


Unfortunately Day 2 was short lived for me, still cooked from day one i was out the arse on the first climb but managed to chase for about 10 in the cars and then with a small group at 75km/h with a tailwin onto the back of the bunch, right before the cross wind that would blow the race to pieces.

At the end of the day the GC didnt change and our best placed rider was 7th, meaning that i pocket'd 7 euro's for my work. Or in more relevant terms about 5 400g blocks of Belgian chocolate :P Yum

UCI 2.12 Tweedaagse van de Gaverstreek

Well over the w/e I had my first stage race with the team comrising of 2 stages in 2 days, being the first stage race for the team i wanted to do well on day one and finish well, because at least if i finished day one i could help out day 2.
Anyway stage one comrised of 124 km of racing on a large loop incorperating the climbs Kanariberg, Old Kwaramont (cobbled), and Le Treu as well as some flat cobbled section and one cobbled decent plus 2 x 12km finishing circuits making it 158km for the day.
"One of the Cobbled Sections"

With 2 guys good enough to finish both highly on the stages as well as overall in the GC my job for day one was to shadow Paavo (Fin u23 Nat Champ) so that i would be there to help if he had a fall mechanical or needed to be taken to the front. Basically i was his Bitch for the day.
"Starting my job before the race even started"


Before the race we also had some interviews for a doccumentary being made about the team, so in between getting ready and a prerace team meeting we had a chat to the camera and tried not to make a fool of ourselves

"Our Trusty Steeds Ready for the Race"

"Getting our Shit Togeather"

"Ahh Nohing Like a Pre Race Massage"

"Pre Race Team Meeting"


"Pft who does this poser think he is"


The race started relatively cruisy and i followed paavo around the bunch, not an easy task because the little bugger can fit thorugh the most tiny of gaps, until it was time to take him to the front before climb number 1 the Kanariberg before settling into my own rythm up the climb which lead into the cobbled decent. Now you would think cobbled decents would be chaos, and generally they are, but apart from the odd stray biddon everyone kept it rubber side down until 15m after the cobbles ended and we were back on pavement and several riders forgot which way was up. fortunately my team mates and i all managed to avoid the spill, and the bunch all came back togeather leading into the kwaramont.

As the Kwaramont was a cobbled climb it was important to be at the front because if stuck behind a crash or stopped riders here is little to no chance of getting started again. So i searched the bunch for Paavo who as easy to spot out with a big target like cross on the back of his national championship jersey and proceeded to go full gass up the footpath separated from the road by a grass median to the front of the bunch right before the turn into the narrow road leading to th base of the climb. Once over the Kwaramont it was time to decend to the base of le Treu which is like a quarterpipe. It starts off gradual and then hits bout 13% near the top. Unfortunately i punctured on the decent and as there were several groups off the back the team cars were several minutes behind, meaning by the time i got a wheel and back on the road the race was long gone.
So i jumped in with one of the groups out the arse and made my way up the climb.
At the top was a feed zone so i though id show all you guys how to take on a biddon like a pro.

"Step 1, Dicard your Empty's"



"Step 2, Grab a Fresh Biddon"



"Step 3, Holster that Shit"


With my race over, i just cruzed the remaining 40 km into the finish one smashed crab.
"Nackerd Much?"



Ok so im getting a bit over typing now, having typed some, well ok all of my 2500 word essay today, so day 2 will have to wait for another time.

Sunshine and Study

With my last two posts being about shitty belgian weather and resulting colds, the weatherman decided to mix things up by throwing in the best 3 days of weather since we arived all in a row.
"Pilots Playing Naughts and Crosses in the sky"

Thankfully taking it easy on Sunday and Monday, had paid off and by tuesday i was fighting fit again, which was just as well because tuesday would be another Recon ride, where all the riders in the pre selection for the upcomming stage race UCI 2.12 2 days of Gaverstreek, would go and have a good hitout over the cobbled climbs appearing in the race. I felt and rode strongly all ride, up the cobbled climbs in particular, which are the main deciding factors in the race, and as a result gained selection for the race which is both a good and bad thing as it means I get to race the teams first stage race of the season and another 2 chances to prove my worth to the team, but also means that i will miss watching Paris-Roubaix live on the TV :(

After gaining selection, i decided to skip the Kermese i was scheduled to race on wedesday in favour of another long day at the cobbled climbs, and got a solid 5 hours in, in 20 degree sunshine with minimal wind, before settling down at the desk to make a start on the essay due next week and the back log of study i should have already done.

The Effects of True Belgian Weather

after spending 2 soggy days out in the rain, on saturday the inevitable happened. I coughed up kermit the frog :( Saturdays race was a Kermese in a town by the name of Torhout, with a course length of 4.8km and 24 laps to complete. After the usual hectic start i knew it wasnt going to be a good race, i was well positioned at the front but could feel that my chest/lungs were not right. After a few more laps i decided to pack and head back to the team car, where i proceeded to cough for 5 mins :( producing crap in all shades of green.
after riding home i let the team manager know i was not feeling right, but with the following day being a rest day the plan of attack was to see how it went before deciding what to do on monday.So we headed into brugge where we had a beer in a tea room overlooking the "Bootleg Beatles" concert which was taking place on the Ronde Van Vlanderen stage

"The local Beer of Brugge" (canadian team mate Jannes "cyclo-sportif" Wessels in background)


"The effects of my first beer in 1 and 1/4 years"



"Brugge town Squere on the eve of the Ronde Van Vlanderen"






It was just as well i went into brugge to see that atmosphere on the eve of the race, because i would be dissapointed the morning of the race when i waked to the bus stop only find that the bussed do not start until 10.30am on a sunday, with the race's start time being 9.45.

True Belgium Weather

Having been rediculously luck with the weather here since my arrival, with it only raining once for 5 mins and snowing twice since i arived, the last 3 days have shown us how bad belgian weather can really be.
Tuesday was a nice easy trundle along the canal to ghent then back to brugge in the rain, which usually would have been a nice ride, however there were several excavators cleaning out the banks of the canals from the canal path, meaning my ride was more of a cyclocross training sesion. So i decided to find a road which was just as wet as the canal path but covered with less mud. Whilst reflecting on how shitty the weather was and why the hell anyone would want to ride in this weather i came across a Canadian War Cemetary, which made me realise how lucky i am that i am able to ride in these horrendous conditions and how bad it would have been for these poor chaps.

The following day was originally intended to be a race day with a kermese near by, but after visiting the "radioshack doc" earlier in the week, our team manager had been advised that the weather on wednesday was going to be too bad for us to race and not get sick. Instead we would head out early riding south into the screaming headwind to the hills. normally it would take us about an hour and a half from base camp to the hills but due to the headwind out average was only 20km/h and 2 hours and 40 minutes after leaving we arrived at the hills, just intime for the cold change and hail.
The temperature dropped from a balmy 11 degrees c to a chilly 4 deg c and the heavens opend. After playing in the hills for a bid, testing out the slipperyness of cobbles in the wet, we headed back towards home. unfortunately the headwind on the way down had swung around meaning we would have a cross wind home and after stopping to fix a puncture we were all freezing, and looking forward to getting home. with 2 km remaining, i punctured, and decided to ride the flat home. NOT EASY on cobblestones and bricked bike lanes.