April Belgium Updates

Kermesse - Wortegem-Petegem. Arrived in time to change, and get to the start - Got the ol 40km/h and up the climb warm-up! Had a great race - Stayed to the front, did some strong attacks on the hill and into the following cross-wind. We had a major split in the pack on the first of 12 laps. The winning move of three got off really early. I ended up with the first chase group of 8 - until I got dropped from that with about 3 laps to go. Felt like one of the stronger guys, but I don't think they really wanted me there - one in particular - Kept calling me a stupid American and an asshole because I don't have a job at the moment. Even hit my helmet and wanted to fight! How do you say "chill-out" in Dutch? I think he was some old fart who was bumming that he was not up front in the good money. Probably pissed because this old fart out-climbed his fat-ass on several attacks and he was nervous. They attacked me after they had rotated enough to recover. Anyway - came out of the pedal, got gapped and dropped on on the climb on one of the laps. Ended up 12th on the day - Think there were 107 starters and 13 Americans. Was the first American, anyway... Next kermesse - Wednesday.

Made some changes to the page caching - try hitting "shift-reload". "reload" is the refresh button on your web browser! Top frame with my name in it should at least change... Also trying out this crap called "style-sheets" - Hope that doesn't mess up anybody's browser - This is supposed to be the latest and greatest way to do web pages - let me know! thanks...

Good legs, bad luck - Felt good yesterday - heartrate was crankin - Flatted out after 50km of the kermesse in Laarne. Shit happens, I suppose - rode 100km home and arrived around 9pm. Just in time for the sun to go down. Laarne is out East of Gent, so I got to check out the roads around that town. Avoided to interior as I didn't have too much time to get lost - Managed to do that a couple of times anyway. When you're cruising along the canals, you pass alot of older guys out doing their training rides - They like to jump on your wheel for the tow. I had two on my wheel for a while yesterday - didn't even know they were there until I happened to look back! I think they were disappointed when I took the other canal to Brugge...

New photos! Posted the new photos - mostly crappy race photos - We didn't have Graham Watson with us on this trip. At least you can get an idea of the scenery. We stayed in a damn-small room in France. Check out the photo of the Paris Roubaix motos - The marshals were "prepping" for the next day in the lounge. Posted a couple of Atlantic Wall photos and my personal favorite Belgian billboard... Gotta kermesse tomorrow, so its off to bed for this one...

Restday - Two kermesses this weekend - Brought home 35 euro from the Saturday race - Pissed off some Belgians by stealing the primes - Bridged up and jumped a solo guy right at the line twice! One guy was yelling some choice Dutch at me... If they won't let me play for the finish, I'm gonna steal what I can! Ended up 25th at the finish and got another 15 euro. Yesterday, I rode 2:15 into a headwind to a hilly kermesse - Got smoked... One of the top-5 guys rode for Johan at Domo last year - his teammate won. Was trying to watch those guys, but couldn't hang with'em... Turned out to be a nice ride - found some new training routes. It was almost hot yesterday - I think we were pushing 70!

Just finished the old batch of pancakes - Time to rest up a little before lunch and the race - Going to ride over to the start at around 12:30. Its a kermesse - those are 120km circuit races - so far in populated areas. There is money involved - They have odds on the riders, and these old guys place bets. Apparently there is money changing hands amongst the racers as well - That's why they don't like foreigners at first - We aren't a part of the deal and don't know what is going on. I guess it gets better after they get to know you.

Advertising in Belgium - OK, if you make advertisements, you might think about trying it over here - Its a little more "free". One ad features a bunch of talking asses driving around town asking where to buy Lee jeans. Yes, the cheeks flex to the dialogue... Another one has a little giggling pile of shit jumping around the sidewalk and getting stepped on - Until the advertised brand comes by - it shies away from that on, and is uncermoniously squashed by some old Vans-looking shoes. Almost brings a tear to your eye...

5 euros - won that last night in the local kermesse. Damn that was a tough race. Everything hurts today. We had constant attacks, a little bit of wind and a 100 meter big-ring climb over 19 laps. They sent us over these damn train tracks that were basically 3 inch stacks of pavement! Dudes lost water bottles every lap. I tried to go for the front in the grass the last time up the climb, but only made it to around 16th or so. Not bad - we started with 81. 44.4km/h average for 120km... That's 27.5 mph for you non-euros. Pretty darn quick. The crowd at the finish and on the hill was great - I guess they bet on the kermesses. Next kermesse on Saturday.

We got 4 more guys in the past week... Hard to find peace and quiet anymore - Back in college. Better buy some beer...

ADVENTURE! Wow - riding for about an hour around some farm roads down South - Ended up on some tractor paths. Felt good was having fun, and then the inevitable - 1st clincher flat. Get ready to take the tire off and remember that we took the saddle bag off for the race on Sunday. Shit - no tube, tire iron or co2... I was pretty close to some town (saw a church in the distance) so I started walking. Got tired of that, so I tried an old mountain bike trick - grass... Road tires don't work too great with grass, and people kind of look at you funny when it is coming out of your tire, but what the hell - I was riding. Guess I went about 10km before I found a bikeshop in the second town I came to - Diksmuide. Alot of green shit in my tire, but it has a tube and some air now - Better learning through error...

Another Monday - cashed today - really used up everything in the last part of the race yesterday. Ended up in about the second group and with 28th place. We did 4 38.something km laps and then 3 2.8km laps around a finishing circuit. Did some attacks on one of the climbs, but our breaks never really jelled (how the hell do you spell that???) Anyway, did as many attacks as I could on the finishing circuits and could hardly stand up across the line - Got last in the group I was in! Average speed 42km/h - distance around 160k - winning time 3:41:something... We stayed in this little road hotel in France - I mean LITTLE! You could shit, shower, and shave all at once. I took some pictures - We'll see if I can get those online this week. This week - kermesse on Wednesday and another on Saturday. We've got another 3 guys coming in this week - Jet lag and tired racers - This could be a rough spell!

5.25 hours today - Strongest I have felt yet in Belgium - Rode 2 hours with the wind into France. 3 hours back to the house into a 20mph headwind. Rode through some walled city called Burges in France - Very nice. I will have to take some photos of that place. Here's something you won't see on the left side of the Atlantic - a group of 10 OLD ladies riding 2x2 down the road - One even had her Festina/Richard Virenque jersey... Belgium also has families out riding around the canals on their city bikes - mom, dad, brother, and sister...

2nd flat in two weeks... Flatted out of the kermesse after about 50 minutes. Was just starting to warm up! Got one attack in a couple of laps into the race, and then sat in for a bit to recover - got a flat as I was moving back to the front. Saw the Gent-Wevelgem (Hent Wevel-hem for you Americans) pass by on the way to the race in Brugge (Bruh-huh). It also passed through the town I am staying in. How about that Cipo! Guess the Italians would say bravissimo or something like that... Oh yah - that rain didn't last too long, but it has been damn windy and pretty cold - I stocked up on warming oil for the ol' legs... Gonna be a baddass-looking Belgian wannabe with slippery legs now.

Next race - UCI 1.6 somewhere outside of Paris on Sunday... stay tuned...

Damn - dry streak has broken - It just started raining at the Cycling Center - 21:42 Tuesday... Today's ride was tough - Have a really nice three hour loop along some canals. Its tailwinds out and headwinds back for the last hour and half. Got some photos developed - going to try and get those scanned and posted here in the next day or two - First kermesse is tomorrow in Brugge - 19 6km laps - sort of a big crit in town, I suppose.

30th in my first ok - second race in Europe - This one was a tough UCI 1.6 race. Did 5 short loops and then 7 laps around the long course, taking in this brutal 10% or something climb with stiff headwinds at the top. Off the back a little at the top and you grovel to get a wheel for the downhill. We started by standing in line at the start to go up as a team for the sign in. It was freezing! My teeth were chattering on the line before we launched at up to mach 60km/h on some parts of the course. This race had riders and teams from USA, France, Belgium, Russia, Haiti, Japan, Germany, Norway...