Jim on a Bike: 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"