Now where did I leave my motivation?

Following on from my last race the previous Sunday, I had the joys of a trip home to look forward to the next day.  This was to be a hectic 3 days of haircuts, horticulture and home cooking.  But first my trip to the dentist, I will spare the details but I can now happily report that after nearly 3 years of teeth only a hill-billy would be proud of, my teeth are now fixed, courtesy of Mr Chan.  A quick trip to Hair at Higgins sorted me out with a tennis ball haircut in preparation for the upcoming summer.  I’m glad I didn’t attempt to ride whilst I was at home, the weather was decidedly dodgy which allowed me a welcome 4 days off the bike.  No sooner had I got home and it was time to leave again, I met up with my room mate back at Liverpool airport with Mike acting as a translator between me and the local patois.  A big thanks to Ben for putting himself out and collecting us from Brussels.  It took a couple of days of 3 hour rides to break myself back into the habit of riding again with the aim of racing on the third day back. 

Monday started badly, dark clouds and showers seemed set in for the day, but with no other races until the following weekend it really was all or nothing.  I reluctantly began packing my kit bag with a deepening sense of inevitability that I was going to come home either soaked or with my tail between my legs.  I searched all over for my motivation to race but to no avail.  Never the less I had committed so by 3:15pm and under a heavy shower  I was greeted by Ben on his doorstep, all three of us asking ‘what the hell are we doing’.   The three of us briefly became part of a school project as we were collectively filmed by a local girl who insisted we repeat things like putting on our shoes and helmets three and four times…who knows, maybe a you tube career awaits me! Anyway the girl would have no problems filming the race, 15 laps beckoned with the only incline of mention being a curb…yes a genuine curb stone that was to be jumped by the near 100 rider field every lap… have Health and safety discovered Belgium yet?  A couple of cobbled sections per lap threatened a crash each time around but the only incident of note was caused by my team mate who tested out a couple of Belgians bike handling skills… in doing so reducing the peloton by a handful of riders.  The race was an under 23 race, my first ever experience of this category.  As I looked around on the start line I was already judging the competition.  I call the back markers the ‘Jedwards’, these are normally the guys with the best bikes, the best kit and frankly the worst legs in the bunch…call them the ‘all the gear, no idea’ if you will.  These are the guys who will probably be shelled as the bunch begins to thin out.  The claxon sounded and the bunch tore off up the road under dry skies.  I chanced my hand with an attack twice in the opening skirmishes, but never did I have more than 50 yards over the bunch.  My team mate Mike had told me about the ‘one arm chicken dance’ before the race.  This is just something we invented to describe what happens when a rider is put under too much pressure in a race.  When the pace becomes too much they flick their elbow out as a sign to the guy behind that they have had enough, shot their bolt.  I made a big attack just 3 laps in, dragging a pretty average bunch of riders with me, I turned round asking for someone to share the pace, only to see the ‘one armed chicken’ back in fashion amongst my fellow break away companions.  The break slipped away on the flowing back roads but never gained more than 40 seconds, I gave a couple of long pulls on the front just to keep the spirits up in the bunch.  With just 5 laps to go, I began to feel as though I could give a last throw of the dice.  Unfortunately I was becoming a marked man so I had to be contented with dragging a stream of riders in my wake.  On the penultimate lap a Belgian rider ‘Tosh Van der Sande’ winner of the under 23 Liege-Bastogne-Liege made a last gasp bid for victory.  A rider like Tosh could easily have won had the race been hillier but ‘horses for courses’ and the flat run in was a great equaliser.  I stayed up the front and took 27^th across the cobbled finish line, around 10^th in the bunch sprint.  My fourth envelope of the year awaited me, 10 euros for my efforts…promptly paid to our chauffeur for the night Ben, its nice to break even for once!  Not much else to cover this week apart from to offer my congratulations to Scott Thwaites for his victory in last weeks Lincoln Grand Prix.  Finally I must also give my personal sentiments about Wouter Weylandt who died tragically this week following a fatal crash in the Giro d’ Italia.  It’s never nice to read about a cyclist killed, the news has been greeted with great sadness here in Belgium, Rest in Peace.