England has had a special place on my Calendar as well as in my mind for quite some time now. April 17th has become engraved in my mind as Rutland day… the day I get to return home…ish to flaunt my new found abilities as a bike rider on an international stage. Unfortunately my participation in the ‘East Midlands international Cicle Classic’ has been in question by my team manager. Fortunately my fears of being dropped from the squad were dismissed with a solid ride the previous Friday evening at Heist-op-de-Berg. In preparation for our 6 man team travelling to England, I had been told to attend a ‘press conference’ to give the club some good publicity and to get the squad together over a coffee. I had several pictures running through my mind at the prospect of a Dutch press conference. To some amusement, my main memory of such a situation was that of former England manager Steve McLaren being interviewed just weeks after moving to Holland. From memory he spoke like a caricature of himself and sounded like a Dutchman speaking English. Our press conference was not even similar. We gathered in a café in Aarschot and posed for photos in our jerseys, my Belgian team mates handled the one keen journalist, rendering my scrap of paper containing two Flemish phrases unnecessary and I was left with one of the biggest anti-climaxes since turning 11 and being presented with a huge box from my auntie, only to eventually find a computer game tucked away in a corner of the monstrosity.
Tuesday was to be my second new experience in as many days. We were told just two days before that myself and my room-mate Mike were to form half of the Hand-in-Hand Baal squad for the provincial team time trial. As far as surprises go, a team time trial was down there with a parking fine. This was to be a 20 kilometre thrash around a pan flat course near St Truiden. Having not competed in any sort of time trial since the tender age of 15, I thought ‘Try everything once’ so with youthful exuberance me and Mike set off on the 40 kilometre ride to the course. Two and a half hours later and with substantially more kilometres than I’d expected due to my expert navigation, we arrived, stripped down to our shorts and slotted in our race wheels. The wind was incredible with gusts of 50mph…perfect for a bunch of road riders thrown together at the eleventh hour and told to work as smoothly as a Swiss watch. The opening 400 metres kind of set the tone. Our first rider pulled his foot out just metres in and just about regained the back of the line in time to be promptly dropped again. With the time to be taken on the third man we now had to all stay together and work well. With myself, Mike and Ward Mommaers killing ourselves into the wind we settled into the rhythm. I had been told before by Mark McNally that team time trialling was like trapping a certain part of your anatomy in a door for half an hour and I’m inclined to agree. After the opening lap we were caught by the team of Van-Gothem which had set off a minute behind us. We held it together for the remaining 10 kilometres thanks to some awesome turns on the front by Ward, our very own Cancellara. We crossed the line spent, I don’t think I have ever suffered as much for so long. We finished 6th…out of yes, you guessed it… 6. Our team were the only team on road bikes and not fully equipped with the latest advancements in aerodynamics so as a race we were never really in it to win it. But to sum it up I would have to say it is one of the more acquired tastes in cycling, perhaps not for me but I’m definitely glad I had a go! For me the next race is the big one, Rutland international Cicle classic. I will be returning to the U.K. for a couple of days with my family after this so watch this space for a full rider report from England’s Paris-Roubaix!
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