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Wednesday 30 March 2011

Reflection

Having lived in Belgium for eight weeks now, I feel I should have a moment of reflection on Belgium.  So here goes.  You can ride around Belgium effortlessly for hours on a decent day, its countryside is pleasant enough but to a Yorkshire man it is missing something.  The Belgians seem to have a national obsession with two animals…goats and chickens.  My team manager tells me Belgium has 220 different species of chicken, and as for the goats, these are apparently just Flandriens expressing their reluctance to spend money on lawnmowers.  The latest from spring watch Belgium is that I’ve seen a spring lamb…it was a mere 2 hour ride away!  It has also come to my attention that Belgium has a lot of on-going road works, this is perhaps a generous way of putting it.  Every ride I pass many cornered off sections of road, I appreciate Belgium has been without a government for 8 months now but the lack of progress is astounding. 

Moving onto cycling, I have had an interesting insight this week into shed engineering.  In true James May style, we visited a shed not far from my village to meet an old bloke who went by the name ‘Nest’.  This man is the secret weapon of Jurgen Van Den Broek and Phillipe Gilbert, two of Belgiums finest cyclists.  Before you jump to conclusions I am not about to say he is a chemist, doctor or anything to do with doping, ‘Nest’ is a wheel builder.  Wheel building is a true art form, you can teach it but these gurus will tell you they have a 6th sense for building a wheel.  I went there in search of a replacement rim to rebuild my wheel after my last tumble (into the daffodils if you remember).  After admiring the rims lined up with names like ‘Gilbert’ tagged to them, I left knowing my wheels were in good hands.  I have been limited to just training over the previous ten days, we have a group ride locally which consists of up to 150 riders on a given Tuesday or Thursday…maybe this is why there is no progress on the road works, the guys are riding their bikes? As I live in the heart of cyclo cross country, I have been privileged to ride with both Sven Nys and more Recently Neils Albert.  This would be the equivalent of Wayne Rooney turning up back home for your Jumpers for Goalposts football match… you see why it’s a privilege. 

As far as racing goes I have seen little competitive action recently due to being overlooked in my team for the last three big races.  A week ago I travelled to the Walloon region in search of a race.  Unfortunately my body seemed to still be recovering from a cold and I was distanced with 35km to go along with another 70 riders who failed to finish on what was a very challenging and selective course close to Roubaix.   

Finally my new word of the month…
Passup- Move (especially useful when on a bike path)

Sunday 13 March 2011

kermes- dont underestimate them

This week has been my first week of proper racing as a full time cyclist.  I always looked upon this lifestyle as an endless stream of café stops, podium girls and glamorous stage races in exotic destinations.  Down at the elite amateur level life is anything but this, café stops still exist but podium girls are reserved for the winners of races and my calendar is filled with hard and fast kermes racing as I can only watch races like ‘Paris-Nice’ on my television.  A quick mention before I continue for my new found ‘guide to Belgium’-Mr Gyles Wingate.  As well as knowing every bike path like the back of his hand, he also knows the best cafes and he seems to command celebrity service.  Having just ordered a Cappuccino, out trotted the café owner to give us some complementary chocolates and free croissants at the latest café in Diest!
Anyway down to racing.  Wednesday was a midweek kermes.  Kermes translates to ‘fair’- the celebratory type like a village gala.  There are often small rides for children, tepee style tents filled with the local brewery produce and the highlight of these outdoor parties is a bike race around the town.  I am particularly fond of this idea as it guarantees plenty of support (often 100’s of people at various stages of inebriation) and means the race starts at 3pm, very civilized then until the racing starts.   Wednesdays race kicked off with rain unfortunately, my legs felt reasonable for only my 4th race so I attacked early on lap 2 at the bottom of the finish climb…this was a brief bid for freedom and lasted only a matter of minutes.  Having been brought back I settled for what seemed an inevitable wearing down process of crosswinds and hills.  My race ended prematurely however as, with 25km left I wasn’t attentive and struck a traffic island, fortunately for me this particular island had been newly planted with this seasons daffodils so I had a soft but wet landing, I was fine, the front wheel had took the impact and was damaged beyond repair. Better look next time…quite literally!
Saturday was a similar idea to Wednesday, a kermes of 113km near Ghent.  There was probably no more than a speed hump in terms of a climb so fast and flat was the order of the day.  On the plus side though the sun was out and the mercury read a dizzying 15 degrees, for the 2nd week of March that’s not bad.  You know a race is going to be cramped when you line up next to number 234 so with that in mind I had to be attentive.  No sooner had I got started then the first break went.  A good group of 20 guys had slipped clear and I was angry at myself for missing the move.  I was sure that the race was over in terms of going for the win as the gap shot up to 2 minutes to the peloton within 20km.  After lap 4 of racing the bunch had slowed just a little too much, a touch of wheels close to me brought maybe 15 riders down.  When this happens in a race one of two things happen, either the race is unofficially neutralised to allow the riders a chance to get up, dust themselves off and regain the group.  Or more likely the proverbial waste is about the hit the fan.  The latter happened… a number of teams moved to the front and with the conditions blustery it became apparent that they would ride fast on the front with the aim of getting rid of the weaker riders from the rear of the group.  The next 50 kilometres went by in a painfull blur.  I was at one point in the third echelon however some canny riding (or as my scouse team mate would say ‘I reached into the suitcase of courage’) saw me ride across a couple of groups and back up to the front of the bunch.  Having almost given up at the halfway point we went through the bell lap at breakneck speed with the breakaway now insight.  It was always going to be a cat and mouse situation but with just 400 metres to go the bunch swallowed up the breakaway, paving the way for a big bunch sprint…tour de France style.  With a strong tailwind and 200 motivated riders all looking for a good result I decided to play it safe and stick near the front but not so close that I contested the sprint.  I rolled over the line in 50th, good speed work even if I wasn’t up there at the end going for the win.  To my surprise I handed my race number back in at the end and was handed an envelope…envelopes mean prize money at the end of a race and I was quietly amused when I had won 10 Euro for 50th.   




Just a quick picture, i'm 2nd in from the right.  This was Saturdays race.

Monday 7 March 2011

Crashes, crosswinds and carnage

Having dipped my toe in the water…metaphorically last week, this last weekend was to be more of a shove in at the deep end of Belgian bike racing.  Brussels-Zepperen, a 150km semi classic with crosswinds, cobbles and 198 riders all with something to prove.  A midweek foray into Leuven has been the highlight of the last week, a local British rider called Giles took us on a decent scenic ride into the heart of Belgian beer brewing country.  Leuven is very much a student town but has retained some beautiful architecture and is awash with cafes.  It was also pretty much the first time we had seen Girls our own age on masse, somewhat a treat for four boys who have lived like monks for a month in a small village.  I was also very impressed by the number of people on what Belgians call ‘town bikes’- basically a sit up and beg bike that can be in any condition that the owner uses instead of walking.

Shopping has become somewhat of a quest in Belgium.  As a bike rider living cheaply I try buy my food where ever is cheapest assuming it’s the same quality.  Unfortunately this means, twice a week me and my team mates visit two to three supermarkets to save probably 5 euros… but “it’s not what you spend…it’s what you save” as my mother would say.  Our favourite shop is a supermarket called ‘Colruyt’.  The reason for this is the freebies…Back in Britain its rare to get a tiny chunk of cheese or something from a deli counter.  Colruyt seems to go along with the idea that people need feeding whilst they shop, something I’d go along with.  There is free wine, beer, coffee (with the obligatory biscuits), crisps and if you’re lucky, there is even an oven with chicken nuggets.  Strangely there was also cat food available for tasting…’its Belgium eh’.   After massively abusing the ‘one per person’ rule we leave and hit the local Aldi and Lidl.

Sunday rolled along soon enough, we had been told to expect echelons after just half an hour of racing.  After a massage the night before and a breakfast that could feed a family of four, we headed to Brussels.  The race started under blue skies, sunny but cold was to be the order of the day.  My race started badly, a pile up after just 2km bent my front wheel and saw me back in the convoy to get a speedy wheel change from our mechanic ‘Gert’.  Pacing back on behind the car is a skill, I’m sure I will get better at it, basically you ride just inches off the rear bumper off your team car at speeds of 35-40 mph in an attempt to escape the wind and the resistance that slows you down normally.  After regaining the bunch it became apparent that everyone was nervous for the first big race of the year.  The stakes are high in race of such prestige, a win can help a rider secure a pro contract for the following year.  Unfortunately my legs were abit heavy during the early exchanges, after exiting the key section of the early part of the race, my front wheel was completely wiped out by another rider seeking shelter in the forming echelons.  The race was already split up badly behind meaning my team car was two minutes reaching me.  Race over.  I rolled to the finishing circuits in Zepperen and to my first DNF of the year.  A disappointment as I will only have a handful of opportunities to race at this level all year.