Glimmers of Hope

Ladies and Gentlemen, its time for another (albei brief) race report. EIGHT of us raced on Saturday in a town called Oostrozenbeke (I think I spelled that right but I'm never sure). Now, eight people is a huge team to bring to a Kermis and is way more people than any of the other Belgian teams show up with. I'm not sure if it really matters but I swear the few times we've shown up with huge teams like that all of us are more likely to get "The Belgian Treatment" from the other guys racing. Of course, having a cycling kit that is practically made out of the American Flag doesn't help either... talk about a walking target. The good thing is that if we can sruvive these races with everyone gunning for us then we're set when really racing.

Back to the race. The course was flat, with some corners, a really fast chicane, and some traffic furniture. Basically, a course that suited me very well. Bizare enough, the changing rooms were in some guy's garage... that was pretty cool. I almost missed my start again (it happened at the U23 race too, we were in the wrong town and had to big ring it to the start) but this time it worked out perfectly. I slid right in next to nate on the second row and we held our ground- which entaield slowly walking our bikes forward with one foot clipped in so that no one lining up in front of us stayed there for long.

The attacks began as soon as the start (still no whistle, guys just went!) and I ended up in the middle of the peleton pretty quickly. We exited a corner on the first lap to find a tractor trailer filled with hay sitting in the middle of the road. Remember, Belgian roads are not big to begin with. I clocked the hay filled offender with my shoulder and just about got gapped off right then and there but Nate gave me a good wheel to get back on with.

After that, things got better and better. I was able to fight my way near the front and find some good wheels. Wheel which I fought tooth and nail for to keep. At one point I had my shoulder up under a guy's armpit... that was interesting. About 45min in I did something I haven't done in a race in quite sometime. I looked around. I realized how freaking cool it was to be screaming through this town and fighting for wheels shoulder to shoulder at 50 kph. I also began to see the ebb and the flow of the peleton and it was gorgeous.

I lasted about an hour in the Kermis. That's my best yet by far but still not stellar. I WILL finish a Kermis before I leave. Only 3 more races, including one in France, and then I'm back home. I'm trying really hard not to count down the days till I leave. So, I wouldn't know that there's only 11 days left in my Belgian Odessey Part 1.

Yes, Part 1. I talked with Bernard today and it seems pretty optimistic that I'll get to come back next year. That is, considering I work really, really hard over the fall and winter. I need to be down 4 kilos, and up 50 watts... and I can make it happen.

Finally, I'm hopefully racing again tomorrow but we'll see. I woke up pretty congested this morning and Berard had me just ride for a little while on the trainer rather than outside. If I'm not perfect I'm not supposed to race... updates to come.

Thanks for reading!
Justin

P.S. Check out the new quote at the top of the page

P.P.S. The photo below is our team camp from the U23 provencial championships last weekend. Pretty nice if I do say so myself.