Well im sitting here pretty bored and realised I hadnt had an update for a seriously long time so here goes. This week has not been so great. Getting back from a wee break in paris to catch the last stage of the tour de france I arrived to no bike. It seems it was stolen from our garage while I was away so to be honest im pretty pissed. I've now gotta wait for a few days for some peices to arrive so i can rebuild my trek so i have a bike I can ride for the rest of the season. So a few more days off which im not so pleased about with only 8 weeks left in Belgian I'd like to make the most of the time.
On a positive note it has given me abit of time to get a couple of massey assignments completed so i guess its not all bad.
I've done afew races since I last posted but its quite a stretch for my memory to think back so i'll just put a report for the races I can remeber. The most recent race I can remember is the Tour De Province Luxembourg. This is a 4 stage tour with each stage around 150k on a fairly hilly terrain. This was my first tour so I was interested to see how I would go. The first stage started with a tempreture of 30 odd degrees so we were all expecting a hot hard day, the stage started with 5k flat before hitting a 15k climb. Ths climb wasnt super steep but as we hit the top we were hit by heavy rain and hail. I was struggling a wee bit due to allergies restricting my ability to breathe and got dropped with a biggish group 1k from the top but luckly we got back on, on the descent. I just settled in the bunch not feeling the greatest then at 100k the grupetto formed of around 40 riders and I was happy to get in this group and get to the finish. It had been hailing all day since 15k so we were all cold and happy to finish.
The 2nd stage was another hilly circut with 3 finishing circuts with a 1k climb to the finish. This stage was constant rain all day and for most of the stage I sat in the bunch fairly comfortable. We then hit the first time up the finish climb after 110k I ended up in the 2nd group and it stayed like this to the finish. I was feeling really good on this stage and I think had I had better positioning I would have been in the front group but thats just life I guess.
The 3rd stage is where it went pear shaped, It was all up or down for the first 40k and my gears wernt working so all i could ride was my biggest gear. This wasnt so great on the climbs and I ended up dropped and out of the race so not a great end to the tour.
Thats really the only race I can rember despite racing a few others. I will try update more often now. My excuse is that my computer blew up so I couldnt.
Josh
Friday, August 1, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Karma eh
Well its about time I had an update.
It has been a busy couple of weeks, and its raining outside with flooded roads so a good time for an update, so i will try and cover whats been happening and the couple of races ive done.
Since I last posted James came down for a week or so. I rode to Aachen to pick him up. Unfortuantly for him he had 2 crashes on the way home which was more funny than anything I think, and I will admite to laughing at his misfortune. Luckily he escaped with no injurys. I think this is when Karma decided to get me back and the next day I had my first crash in a while. It was a stupid crash really but it left me with abit less skin than i started the day with, and a very sore head. I guess I might have to start wearing a helmet from now on, but really it takes a couple of head injurys for me to learn a lesson, and we just got team cycling caps the other day, perfect for training in so i'll give myself one more chance before donning a helmet while training.
I then had a race which I cant remeber the name of but was a UCI 1.2 race so the biggest race I have done to date. The race was abit hilly for the first 60k before a flat section for 60k and then cobbles in the last 50k. The race didnt go great. I was feeling good for the first 60k and I was getting over the climbs with little difficulty and was feeling good. Then 5k before the first cobble section of 1.5k about 70k in there was a crash on a descent. I got held up by the crash and by the time we got round it we had to put a serious chase on to get back to the Peloton. We finally caught back on right at the start of the cobble section. I was already deep in the hurt from chasing on, and my lack of ability at riding the cobbles left me going straight out the ass. I was abit dissapointed because I think had I not been hurting so bad going into the cobbles I could have got through with the bunch and possibly gone ok for the rest of the race, but that racing and it just ended up being a 50k cruise to the finish line. So not the greatest race but things should improve.
The next race I did was last night. The race was 50k away and our new visitor for the next 3 weeks Matt Sillars and I decided to catch the train to the race. We managed to get to the 6.30pm start easily and the race was good. It was a 5.2km circut to be done 20 times. 3k of the circut was on narrow 2m wide farm rodes which were dusty as. The narrow roads meant holding postion in the 110 rider feild was easy enough but moving up was made difficult. For most of the race I just rode 30-50th wheel and just followed the feild around. With 6 laps to go a group of 20 got up the road so i moved to the front to try and bridge up. After attacking a few times I soon realised my legs were average, and I wasnt going to be bridging solo so just rode the last 30k in the bunch. I started to crack abit with 20k to go but not wanting to waste a gel if I wasnt going to win I just battled through and finished 50th odd.
It was post race that our troubles started. I had it all planned that we would ride the 15k to the train station, catch the train to Trooz and ride the last 5k home at around 10.30pm. (It is still light to around 10.30). But again Karma got us and Matt had a random doping control. We ended up having to wait around an hour for this and instead of leaving the race at 9pm we left at 10.15pm. We managed to make it to the train station at 10.45 and just our luck a train to Leige was just leaving. We jumped on and arrived at Leige in the pitch darkness at 11.15pm. The problem was we had missed our connecting train to Trooz and there were no more trains there till 6am. We thought about riding the 30k home but at 11.30pm with no lights decided we didnt want to die. We made the choice to have a sleep in the train station till it got light then ride home. This was going swell until they shut the station at 1.30am and it was freezing cold outside. Thankfully the very last train of the night, leaving at 1.45am was going to Pepinster only 10k from home. So with few options we jumped on the train and arrived in Pepinster at 2am. We managed to ride home in the Darkness, and thankfully saw no cars and finally arrived home at 2.30am quite tired and cold.
It was an epic night but at least makes a story for the Grand kids one day, and something to write on the blog so not all bad.
Thats about all really Hope all is well
Sorry if its not a good read but I am still tired.
Peace out
Josh
It has been a busy couple of weeks, and its raining outside with flooded roads so a good time for an update, so i will try and cover whats been happening and the couple of races ive done.
Since I last posted James came down for a week or so. I rode to Aachen to pick him up. Unfortuantly for him he had 2 crashes on the way home which was more funny than anything I think, and I will admite to laughing at his misfortune. Luckily he escaped with no injurys. I think this is when Karma decided to get me back and the next day I had my first crash in a while. It was a stupid crash really but it left me with abit less skin than i started the day with, and a very sore head. I guess I might have to start wearing a helmet from now on, but really it takes a couple of head injurys for me to learn a lesson, and we just got team cycling caps the other day, perfect for training in so i'll give myself one more chance before donning a helmet while training.
I then had a race which I cant remeber the name of but was a UCI 1.2 race so the biggest race I have done to date. The race was abit hilly for the first 60k before a flat section for 60k and then cobbles in the last 50k. The race didnt go great. I was feeling good for the first 60k and I was getting over the climbs with little difficulty and was feeling good. Then 5k before the first cobble section of 1.5k about 70k in there was a crash on a descent. I got held up by the crash and by the time we got round it we had to put a serious chase on to get back to the Peloton. We finally caught back on right at the start of the cobble section. I was already deep in the hurt from chasing on, and my lack of ability at riding the cobbles left me going straight out the ass. I was abit dissapointed because I think had I not been hurting so bad going into the cobbles I could have got through with the bunch and possibly gone ok for the rest of the race, but that racing and it just ended up being a 50k cruise to the finish line. So not the greatest race but things should improve.
The next race I did was last night. The race was 50k away and our new visitor for the next 3 weeks Matt Sillars and I decided to catch the train to the race. We managed to get to the 6.30pm start easily and the race was good. It was a 5.2km circut to be done 20 times. 3k of the circut was on narrow 2m wide farm rodes which were dusty as. The narrow roads meant holding postion in the 110 rider feild was easy enough but moving up was made difficult. For most of the race I just rode 30-50th wheel and just followed the feild around. With 6 laps to go a group of 20 got up the road so i moved to the front to try and bridge up. After attacking a few times I soon realised my legs were average, and I wasnt going to be bridging solo so just rode the last 30k in the bunch. I started to crack abit with 20k to go but not wanting to waste a gel if I wasnt going to win I just battled through and finished 50th odd.
It was post race that our troubles started. I had it all planned that we would ride the 15k to the train station, catch the train to Trooz and ride the last 5k home at around 10.30pm. (It is still light to around 10.30). But again Karma got us and Matt had a random doping control. We ended up having to wait around an hour for this and instead of leaving the race at 9pm we left at 10.15pm. We managed to make it to the train station at 10.45 and just our luck a train to Leige was just leaving. We jumped on and arrived at Leige in the pitch darkness at 11.15pm. The problem was we had missed our connecting train to Trooz and there were no more trains there till 6am. We thought about riding the 30k home but at 11.30pm with no lights decided we didnt want to die. We made the choice to have a sleep in the train station till it got light then ride home. This was going swell until they shut the station at 1.30am and it was freezing cold outside. Thankfully the very last train of the night, leaving at 1.45am was going to Pepinster only 10k from home. So with few options we jumped on the train and arrived in Pepinster at 2am. We managed to ride home in the Darkness, and thankfully saw no cars and finally arrived home at 2.30am quite tired and cold.
It was an epic night but at least makes a story for the Grand kids one day, and something to write on the blog so not all bad.
Thats about all really Hope all is well
Sorry if its not a good read but I am still tired.
Peace out
Josh
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Well it will just be a short post this week
On saturday we lined up in a pro Kermesse, so there was the odd protour rider and a few pro contis. The race was 157km with 200 starters so was looking like it was going to be a good race.
Lining up, I noticed something was feeling loose so I jumped off and found my cranks were wobbly. I figured not alot I could do so planned on racing for abit then once the race slowed I was going to try and get a spare bike off the Mavic guys.
So we set off on our way, and during the first lap the only real thing of note was a big crash right behind me, and my one attempted attack which didnt come to much. Coming into the 2nd lap the pace slowed down so i figured now was my chance to get a spare bike. I drifted my way back through the team cars and finally, now 40sec behind the bunch I came across the mavic spares. I stopped and they pulled up to me, so I told them my cranks were loose and if I could have a spare bike. This was when I was told that sorry, we only give out wheels the Bikes are for show. I was abit ripped and by now being a good 2 minutes down it was race over.
I was a little disapointed because I was feeling good. But thats racing, hopefully my run of bad luck with stuff breaking on the bike is over. I now have 2 broken wheels, 2 broken seat collars, a loose crank and a broken chain, so whats next who knows. Ryan manged to roll in with the bunch and due to a good ride is now lining up in the Tour of Belgium starting on wednesday. Also fellow new Zealander Sam Eadie manged 8th in the race, and considering the calibre of riders this was an immpressive result, so good to see.
Thats about all really, hopefully can get a few more races in over the next month or so.
Peace
On saturday we lined up in a pro Kermesse, so there was the odd protour rider and a few pro contis. The race was 157km with 200 starters so was looking like it was going to be a good race.
Lining up, I noticed something was feeling loose so I jumped off and found my cranks were wobbly. I figured not alot I could do so planned on racing for abit then once the race slowed I was going to try and get a spare bike off the Mavic guys.
So we set off on our way, and during the first lap the only real thing of note was a big crash right behind me, and my one attempted attack which didnt come to much. Coming into the 2nd lap the pace slowed down so i figured now was my chance to get a spare bike. I drifted my way back through the team cars and finally, now 40sec behind the bunch I came across the mavic spares. I stopped and they pulled up to me, so I told them my cranks were loose and if I could have a spare bike. This was when I was told that sorry, we only give out wheels the Bikes are for show. I was abit ripped and by now being a good 2 minutes down it was race over.
I was a little disapointed because I was feeling good. But thats racing, hopefully my run of bad luck with stuff breaking on the bike is over. I now have 2 broken wheels, 2 broken seat collars, a loose crank and a broken chain, so whats next who knows. Ryan manged to roll in with the bunch and due to a good ride is now lining up in the Tour of Belgium starting on wednesday. Also fellow new Zealander Sam Eadie manged 8th in the race, and considering the calibre of riders this was an immpressive result, so good to see.
Thats about all really, hopefully can get a few more races in over the next month or so.
Peace
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Germany Races
Well I'm sitting here at 11.15pm and cant sleep and find myself with a sudden motivation to update my blog. Which I have been meaning to do for a few days now.
The Races in Germany were 2 criteriums, 1 Saturday and 1 Sunday. Saturdays race was a 1.2km circut to be done 60 times for a total of 72ks or there abouts. The circut was an extremly difficult circut with a very steep 300m climb every lap, then downhill around a few corners then a 400m false flat to the finish line. Everytime up the climb I was sprinting at full capacity just to hold position and to make up any ground or follow the attacks I was ocasionally having to go into super sayan mode.
The race started with a neutral lap then coming across the line for the first time the 80 odd starters were off. The first time up the climb James attacked and went solo for the first 3-5 laps before being caught. I will admit to being in the box for those laps so kudos to James, but once he was brought back it settled down a wee bit. I was following a Sparkasse rider the only pro in the feild and figured if he moved it would be the one to go with. Well this seemed like a good idea but seems like the entire peleton knew he was the man to watch also, so every attack he attempted was covered, and he attacked alot in the first 30 laps. This constant chasing left a shattered peleton at halfway and there was probably only 40 guys left.
Halfway was when I decided it was time to stake my claim in the race. One guy was up the rode and had a good minute so was pretty much gona win but the race was still on for the minor placings. I attacked a few times and at one point was in a really good break of 6 riders and we were really smashing along but due to the nature of the course the peleton was able to bring us back. It was when we were brought back that some idiot tried to come under me on one of the corners. He came in way to hot and completly slid out, his bike sliding precariously close to me which was abit of a fright but funny seeing some guy slid across the road infront of you.
Coming into 5 laps to go I was feeling really good and was covering any dangerous looking attacks. With 1 lap to go the rider who had lapped the feild sprinted for the win and I used his draft to attack the bunch. I was going well but was abit cooked from a few to many attacks and got caught 500m to go and rolled in top 20. I was pretty stoked with my ride and James team manager was fizzing on our ride so its definitly been a boost to the confidence.
Sunday was abit of a differnt story. It was the same sort of course. 1,2km long with a tough climb up to the finish. It was 70 laps so 80 odd k. With a full comtingent of Pro team Sparkasse it was going to be a tough race. This showed after half of the 80 rider feild were dropped in the first 10k. I was feeling ok and just riding mid pack. After 35 laps I moved to the front and this is when things went bad. Sprinting up the hill my knee decided to poo itself and I was in considerable pain. I got to the top of the climb and decided it was best to stop than do anymore damage to my knee. So that was the end of my race. James had a goodie though and finished top 30 in a very difficult race.
My knee is algud now, its just muscle tightness so a good stretch has sorted it out but still a little dissapointing way to finish a race. But all in all a good weekend so I am happy with the form and with more improvements to still be made I am looking forward to the rest of the season.
My next race is a Kermess this weekend I think but not 100% sure. We will see.
Till next time.
The Races in Germany were 2 criteriums, 1 Saturday and 1 Sunday. Saturdays race was a 1.2km circut to be done 60 times for a total of 72ks or there abouts. The circut was an extremly difficult circut with a very steep 300m climb every lap, then downhill around a few corners then a 400m false flat to the finish line. Everytime up the climb I was sprinting at full capacity just to hold position and to make up any ground or follow the attacks I was ocasionally having to go into super sayan mode.
The race started with a neutral lap then coming across the line for the first time the 80 odd starters were off. The first time up the climb James attacked and went solo for the first 3-5 laps before being caught. I will admit to being in the box for those laps so kudos to James, but once he was brought back it settled down a wee bit. I was following a Sparkasse rider the only pro in the feild and figured if he moved it would be the one to go with. Well this seemed like a good idea but seems like the entire peleton knew he was the man to watch also, so every attack he attempted was covered, and he attacked alot in the first 30 laps. This constant chasing left a shattered peleton at halfway and there was probably only 40 guys left.
Halfway was when I decided it was time to stake my claim in the race. One guy was up the rode and had a good minute so was pretty much gona win but the race was still on for the minor placings. I attacked a few times and at one point was in a really good break of 6 riders and we were really smashing along but due to the nature of the course the peleton was able to bring us back. It was when we were brought back that some idiot tried to come under me on one of the corners. He came in way to hot and completly slid out, his bike sliding precariously close to me which was abit of a fright but funny seeing some guy slid across the road infront of you.
Coming into 5 laps to go I was feeling really good and was covering any dangerous looking attacks. With 1 lap to go the rider who had lapped the feild sprinted for the win and I used his draft to attack the bunch. I was going well but was abit cooked from a few to many attacks and got caught 500m to go and rolled in top 20. I was pretty stoked with my ride and James team manager was fizzing on our ride so its definitly been a boost to the confidence.
Sunday was abit of a differnt story. It was the same sort of course. 1,2km long with a tough climb up to the finish. It was 70 laps so 80 odd k. With a full comtingent of Pro team Sparkasse it was going to be a tough race. This showed after half of the 80 rider feild were dropped in the first 10k. I was feeling ok and just riding mid pack. After 35 laps I moved to the front and this is when things went bad. Sprinting up the hill my knee decided to poo itself and I was in considerable pain. I got to the top of the climb and decided it was best to stop than do anymore damage to my knee. So that was the end of my race. James had a goodie though and finished top 30 in a very difficult race.
My knee is algud now, its just muscle tightness so a good stretch has sorted it out but still a little dissapointing way to finish a race. But all in all a good weekend so I am happy with the form and with more improvements to still be made I am looking forward to the rest of the season.
My next race is a Kermess this weekend I think but not 100% sure. We will see.
Till next time.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Germany
Well this week I ventured to the country some call Germany, and others Deutchland. It was quite an epic journey and I will start from the begining. I had decided to ride to James' which according to a reliable source (google maps) was 125km away. I was giving myself 4.5 hours to get there and since James had a race and wasnt home till 6, I decided to leave a 2.30pm so he would be able to meet me somewhere.
The journey started off badly as I headed in the complete wrong direction as I left home and realised 5k later, and by the time I had turned around and had to travel back past home I had already done 10k for no gain. This was kinda depressing and I contemplated just going home but I journeyed on and decided maybe I would give myself 5 hours to get there. Little did I know that was only the begining of my problems.
I got to my first planned destination, Aachen which is right on the German-Belgium border. I got there with no major problems as we had ridden there a few times for training. But this is where all my problems began. Aachen is a big city and it took me a good 30 mins to find my way through it. I then began riding into small towns zigzagging my way north. After 4 hours I was still 80k away from Krefeld the fastest route and was getting a wee bit worried. Germany has no signs to places which is annoying so I had James texting me a list of towns to get to. This worked for a while and after 7 hours in the saddle i was only 40k away. Only problem was it was 9.30pm and getting quite dark. It was at this point I seriously considered having a kip on the side of the road since it was a warm night and starting afresh the next day. But with the thought of Krefeld on my mind I soldiered on and finally found a train station. I ended up jumping on the train the last 30k and arrived at 11pm abit tired.
Apart from the ride to Krefeld my week in Germany was good, I went and visited Julia our old exchange student who lived 50k away then on the way home we came across a WW2 Allied Cemetry. It was quite a somber place and you could feel the silence as we looked around. Of the 3000 odd graves 104 NZers where buried here so its quite a small world really.
We ventured around Krefeld city and its hundreds of shops which was a nice change from our bakery, marche, fritire, and pub in Belgium, and saw a few drug fried homeless people which is always abit funny/sad at the same time. But really we didnt do alot just relaxed and did abit of training so was a nice trip and broke the boredom of Belgium, so a few more trips are defenitly on the cards in the coming months.
I also had a couple of races up there but they will be included in my next post
Hope all is well
Chur
The journey started off badly as I headed in the complete wrong direction as I left home and realised 5k later, and by the time I had turned around and had to travel back past home I had already done 10k for no gain. This was kinda depressing and I contemplated just going home but I journeyed on and decided maybe I would give myself 5 hours to get there. Little did I know that was only the begining of my problems.
I got to my first planned destination, Aachen which is right on the German-Belgium border. I got there with no major problems as we had ridden there a few times for training. But this is where all my problems began. Aachen is a big city and it took me a good 30 mins to find my way through it. I then began riding into small towns zigzagging my way north. After 4 hours I was still 80k away from Krefeld the fastest route and was getting a wee bit worried. Germany has no signs to places which is annoying so I had James texting me a list of towns to get to. This worked for a while and after 7 hours in the saddle i was only 40k away. Only problem was it was 9.30pm and getting quite dark. It was at this point I seriously considered having a kip on the side of the road since it was a warm night and starting afresh the next day. But with the thought of Krefeld on my mind I soldiered on and finally found a train station. I ended up jumping on the train the last 30k and arrived at 11pm abit tired.
Apart from the ride to Krefeld my week in Germany was good, I went and visited Julia our old exchange student who lived 50k away then on the way home we came across a WW2 Allied Cemetry. It was quite a somber place and you could feel the silence as we looked around. Of the 3000 odd graves 104 NZers where buried here so its quite a small world really.
We ventured around Krefeld city and its hundreds of shops which was a nice change from our bakery, marche, fritire, and pub in Belgium, and saw a few drug fried homeless people which is always abit funny/sad at the same time. But really we didnt do alot just relaxed and did abit of training so was a nice trip and broke the boredom of Belgium, so a few more trips are defenitly on the cards in the coming months.
I also had a couple of races up there but they will be included in my next post
Hope all is well
Chur
Saturday, May 10, 2008
GP Marteen Wynants
Hi All
Well today I raced GP Marteen Wynants. It was a kermesse in a place called Helchteren, about 1 hours drive from home. The race was to be 118k or 18 laps of a 6.5?k circut. The circut was a tight quite dodgy circut with a few well placed roundabouts to help lift the heart rate, and some quite narrow roads.
I started the race pretty much in the last 10 wheels and with 120 starters on a tight technical circut it was going to be tough to move up. During the first few laps I managed to move my way up to the front half of the feild and with Ryan trying to make the early move and my legs feeling like a sack of shit I was content to stay there, for the time being anyway. The pace was kept fairly high for the next few laps and even after countless attempts no breaks were sticking. I was quite pleased with this as my legs had finally come to life and I was actually on a quite good day. After making possibily the greatest passing manouvere of my cycling career, by hitting it up the inside of the pelo as we came into a 180 degree corner and just hoping like hell I wasnt about to get chopped I managed to make up 50 odd wheels in the space of 100 metres and finally found myself at the front after 6 laps. For the next few laps I had a few digs and followed anything that looked promising but nothing could break the hold of the peleton and after 2 laps of continuisly attacking I was in need of a rest and within 1km had drifted back to the last 1/3rd of the bunch.
It was now that I saw what sort of toll the pace had taken on the bunch and a good 20-30 guys had already been dropped so I was glad to see that all the attacking had at least come to something. I just cruised along for the next 4 laps going about the normal things you do in a Bike race; Day dream, have a snack and abuse the odd guy. It was during my daydreaming phase that quite a funny thing happened really. We were going through the feed and some guy had dropped his bottle. Not paying to much attention I hit the bottle at 50km/h and the top flew off and smacked some guy in the head, This brought me a wee chuckle as I carried on, on my way.
After 12 laps had been done, and still no breakaway I decided to have a few more digs. My legs were feeling really good so I was pretty motivated to try and get something away. I managed to make a few small breaks and some of them seemed promising but we always seemed to get brought back. I managed to stay at the front and follow a few more attacks for the next 3 laps but still nothing was getting away so figured I'd save my energy till the last lap and try and have a dig then.
Coming into 1 lap to go I was up to about 20th wheel and was sitting good, unfortunatly coming into the first corner we got swamped and I ended up mid pack. I tried to move up during the lap but as it was probably the fastest lap of the race and with everyone else trying to move up it was difficult. Coming into 1k to go I was about 50th wheel and with an uphill head wind drag for the final kilometre and the road narrowing from 3 lanes to 1 with 400m to go it was always going to be dodgy. I decided to play it safe and just cruised in at the back of the bunch finishing with some insignificant placing. The winner managed to sneak away with 2ks to go and won by a few seconds with the bunch sprinting for 2nd.
All in all it was a good race and I had really good legs which was nice and means I am only getting stronger. I have another race on Monday which is a public holiday in Belgium for some reason, then I may be racing a 3 day tour Triptye Ardennes next weekend but am not sure of the selections yet, but if not I will ride to Germany and stay with James for a few days and eat all his food.
Hope all is well
Just keeping it real.
Well today I raced GP Marteen Wynants. It was a kermesse in a place called Helchteren, about 1 hours drive from home. The race was to be 118k or 18 laps of a 6.5?k circut. The circut was a tight quite dodgy circut with a few well placed roundabouts to help lift the heart rate, and some quite narrow roads.
I started the race pretty much in the last 10 wheels and with 120 starters on a tight technical circut it was going to be tough to move up. During the first few laps I managed to move my way up to the front half of the feild and with Ryan trying to make the early move and my legs feeling like a sack of shit I was content to stay there, for the time being anyway. The pace was kept fairly high for the next few laps and even after countless attempts no breaks were sticking. I was quite pleased with this as my legs had finally come to life and I was actually on a quite good day. After making possibily the greatest passing manouvere of my cycling career, by hitting it up the inside of the pelo as we came into a 180 degree corner and just hoping like hell I wasnt about to get chopped I managed to make up 50 odd wheels in the space of 100 metres and finally found myself at the front after 6 laps. For the next few laps I had a few digs and followed anything that looked promising but nothing could break the hold of the peleton and after 2 laps of continuisly attacking I was in need of a rest and within 1km had drifted back to the last 1/3rd of the bunch.
It was now that I saw what sort of toll the pace had taken on the bunch and a good 20-30 guys had already been dropped so I was glad to see that all the attacking had at least come to something. I just cruised along for the next 4 laps going about the normal things you do in a Bike race; Day dream, have a snack and abuse the odd guy. It was during my daydreaming phase that quite a funny thing happened really. We were going through the feed and some guy had dropped his bottle. Not paying to much attention I hit the bottle at 50km/h and the top flew off and smacked some guy in the head, This brought me a wee chuckle as I carried on, on my way.
After 12 laps had been done, and still no breakaway I decided to have a few more digs. My legs were feeling really good so I was pretty motivated to try and get something away. I managed to make a few small breaks and some of them seemed promising but we always seemed to get brought back. I managed to stay at the front and follow a few more attacks for the next 3 laps but still nothing was getting away so figured I'd save my energy till the last lap and try and have a dig then.
Coming into 1 lap to go I was up to about 20th wheel and was sitting good, unfortunatly coming into the first corner we got swamped and I ended up mid pack. I tried to move up during the lap but as it was probably the fastest lap of the race and with everyone else trying to move up it was difficult. Coming into 1k to go I was about 50th wheel and with an uphill head wind drag for the final kilometre and the road narrowing from 3 lanes to 1 with 400m to go it was always going to be dodgy. I decided to play it safe and just cruised in at the back of the bunch finishing with some insignificant placing. The winner managed to sneak away with 2ks to go and won by a few seconds with the bunch sprinting for 2nd.
All in all it was a good race and I had really good legs which was nice and means I am only getting stronger. I have another race on Monday which is a public holiday in Belgium for some reason, then I may be racing a 3 day tour Triptye Ardennes next weekend but am not sure of the selections yet, but if not I will ride to Germany and stay with James for a few days and eat all his food.
Hope all is well
Just keeping it real.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Lesson learned
Well today I learnt an important Life lesson. Pity this lesson had to be learned in french and due to my lack lustre ability to master the french language I didnt learn alot. Well the its abit of a story actually and all good storys start with Once upon a time so here goes.....
Once upon a time me and Ryan or for you english buffs Ryan and I decided we had, had enough of living on a chicken farm and we wanted bigger and better things. After 2 months on this chicken farm we finally had found a new apartment and today was the day for the big move. It started like any other. Up at 10 milling around on the internet for a couple of hours knocked out a Tour of Flanders and a Criterium International before lunch, a productive day really then before we know it is ticking over 3 o'clock leaving us a precious few hours to clean up the house and get the hell outta there. After 3 hours solid packing and cleaning and peeling dust off everything (probably the reason i've been sick for the past 2 months) we finally had the place tidy to a solid standard i must say. Standing there looking around I felt a sense of satisfaction that we had actually tidied the place up, the urge to leave the mess for the owner was tempting but we got there in the end. This is where my Lesson was learned....
Our team director Mathieu was picking us up to take us to our new home, it was going to be to trips so we packed up his car as full as we could, then jumped on our bikes for him to drag us to our new apartment. Our new Home is 10k from Pepinster, a nice wee town called Louvgnie. For the trip to Louvinge we held onto the car as he proceded to drive sometimes up to 100km/h. Some scary shit. It doesnt help i was holding onto the drivers side window having to dodge oncoming traffic and make sure I didnt get stuck in any of the rivets down the centre of most Belgium roads. Ryan had his own problems being on the passenger side with most of the potholes being on that side of the road so he had a bumby ride plus he tells me a few dodgy moments almost being put into the ditch at 100km/h. So that was our first lesson for the day learned. At all costs dont hold onto a car at 100km/h. There were positives though, we probably now hold the record for the fastest Pepinster to Louvigne trip by Bike. After unpacking the car it was time for me to return to the farm and learn my second lesson for the day.
On returning to the farm we were greeted by the owner not looking to happy. She begins to nut at me in french saying we havnt paid rent or given her key back. I politely told her to check her table and low and behold there was the rent and key, what a surprise. This knocked her off her guard abit and her next nut just didnt have the same affect if I hadnt just bummed her out 2 minutes ago. She takes me up to the apartment and starts nutting about the couch. We had removed the legs of the couch after one of them broke off and it was now abit of a lowrider. After explaining to her that it broke, not surprising for a 20 year old couch she went of the topic and proceeded to the next thing. It apeared that 2 towels were missing, By this point i was over her nut and pretty much told her to settle down no point nutting of towels. I think this might have put her abit on edge as she started counting the Knives and forks to see if any were missing. I think abit dissapointingly for her they were all there and she had to quickly think of something else to nut about before I took the upper hand. She had the nerve to try and tell me that the apartment was dirty and we had to pay her 50euro for it to be cleaned. I am not kidding the place was spotless and considering her house could be on one of T.v shows for messy house I thought she was being a wee bit hipocritcal. Our quarters were 10 times cleaner than any other part of the house and by this point I was thinking to myself get f**ked. We finally left and I am glad it will be the last time at the farm house. Now the lesson learned was landlords are F**ks and no matter how tidy a place is there always gona try find something wrong. Pity this lesson was learned in french and dosent translate over to english so really it was just funny instead of a real learning experiance.
But sitting here in our new CLEAN apartment it feels good knowing that the chicken farm part of my life is over and I can now move on. I think life is going to be a whole lot better now. Moral is on the up and hopefully i'll start racing abit more now that i'm getting strong. Thats enough of my ranting for now. Hope everyones well. I'll try put some pics of our new home up.
Peace Out
Once upon a time me and Ryan or for you english buffs Ryan and I decided we had, had enough of living on a chicken farm and we wanted bigger and better things. After 2 months on this chicken farm we finally had found a new apartment and today was the day for the big move. It started like any other. Up at 10 milling around on the internet for a couple of hours knocked out a Tour of Flanders and a Criterium International before lunch, a productive day really then before we know it is ticking over 3 o'clock leaving us a precious few hours to clean up the house and get the hell outta there. After 3 hours solid packing and cleaning and peeling dust off everything (probably the reason i've been sick for the past 2 months) we finally had the place tidy to a solid standard i must say. Standing there looking around I felt a sense of satisfaction that we had actually tidied the place up, the urge to leave the mess for the owner was tempting but we got there in the end. This is where my Lesson was learned....
Our team director Mathieu was picking us up to take us to our new home, it was going to be to trips so we packed up his car as full as we could, then jumped on our bikes for him to drag us to our new apartment. Our new Home is 10k from Pepinster, a nice wee town called Louvgnie. For the trip to Louvinge we held onto the car as he proceded to drive sometimes up to 100km/h. Some scary shit. It doesnt help i was holding onto the drivers side window having to dodge oncoming traffic and make sure I didnt get stuck in any of the rivets down the centre of most Belgium roads. Ryan had his own problems being on the passenger side with most of the potholes being on that side of the road so he had a bumby ride plus he tells me a few dodgy moments almost being put into the ditch at 100km/h. So that was our first lesson for the day learned. At all costs dont hold onto a car at 100km/h. There were positives though, we probably now hold the record for the fastest Pepinster to Louvigne trip by Bike. After unpacking the car it was time for me to return to the farm and learn my second lesson for the day.
On returning to the farm we were greeted by the owner not looking to happy. She begins to nut at me in french saying we havnt paid rent or given her key back. I politely told her to check her table and low and behold there was the rent and key, what a surprise. This knocked her off her guard abit and her next nut just didnt have the same affect if I hadnt just bummed her out 2 minutes ago. She takes me up to the apartment and starts nutting about the couch. We had removed the legs of the couch after one of them broke off and it was now abit of a lowrider. After explaining to her that it broke, not surprising for a 20 year old couch she went of the topic and proceeded to the next thing. It apeared that 2 towels were missing, By this point i was over her nut and pretty much told her to settle down no point nutting of towels. I think this might have put her abit on edge as she started counting the Knives and forks to see if any were missing. I think abit dissapointingly for her they were all there and she had to quickly think of something else to nut about before I took the upper hand. She had the nerve to try and tell me that the apartment was dirty and we had to pay her 50euro for it to be cleaned. I am not kidding the place was spotless and considering her house could be on one of T.v shows for messy house I thought she was being a wee bit hipocritcal. Our quarters were 10 times cleaner than any other part of the house and by this point I was thinking to myself get f**ked. We finally left and I am glad it will be the last time at the farm house. Now the lesson learned was landlords are F**ks and no matter how tidy a place is there always gona try find something wrong. Pity this lesson was learned in french and dosent translate over to english so really it was just funny instead of a real learning experiance.
But sitting here in our new CLEAN apartment it feels good knowing that the chicken farm part of my life is over and I can now move on. I think life is going to be a whole lot better now. Moral is on the up and hopefully i'll start racing abit more now that i'm getting strong. Thats enough of my ranting for now. Hope everyones well. I'll try put some pics of our new home up.
Peace Out
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Rant
Hi all, Hope everyones well.
Well this week I had no race due to it being regional champs throughout Belgium and not being from Belgium I was ineligable to compete. This was a wee bit dissapointing because after 2 months of sitting on a plateau of form I am finally getting stronger and was looking forward to riding myself into the ground for a few hours. Instead this has had to be done in training and after riding up tempo for a good 4 hours today I can tell you I am seriously smashed. But after a good old feed of frites, I have been able to lift myself out of this comatosed state.
The rest of the week has been pretty standard really. Get up at 10 practise at 11 home whenever and chilling out watching abit of cycling on the tube for the avo. Its a good life really. The only bad thing is being stuck in this chicken coup for another few days while we wait for some beds to arrive in the new apartment. I think the owner will be glad to see the back of us, we havnt exactly been tidy kiwis since we got internet. The internet is a thousand times better than doing the dishes so they dont get done until we have completley run out of all plates and cutlery. It is amazing how well a Knife can be used as a fork. I wont be complaining never having to ride back up to farm again either though. It is a depressing site.
Not alot else has happened really. I am hopefully racing a Kermesse on Tuesday and if all goes well I wil hopefully get a start in a few tours in the next month. Will just have to see how the form comes along, but if I've been going OK on bad form there is some hope once my legs decide to stop being weak. Just the task of convincing my brain to keep this hard training up. Ryans SRM has definetly made us step up a level in training though, now we have a number to hold so trainings become abit like math. Its hold this number or your weak and we definelty dont want to be weak. Hopefully I will have invested in my own SRM in the coming months but will just have to see how the budget is.
Thats enough rambling from me I'm not even sure the paragraphs make sense and I apoligise for all the spelling mistakes but Typos are important to all written form. It gives the reader something to look for so they arnt distracted by the total lack of content in my writing. haha Now thats a next level quote for you. Ryans gona now teach me the art of drinking red wine. We have a bottle to down before we move tomorrow so...
Hope everyones well
I'm all jacked up on Mountain Dew.
Well this week I had no race due to it being regional champs throughout Belgium and not being from Belgium I was ineligable to compete. This was a wee bit dissapointing because after 2 months of sitting on a plateau of form I am finally getting stronger and was looking forward to riding myself into the ground for a few hours. Instead this has had to be done in training and after riding up tempo for a good 4 hours today I can tell you I am seriously smashed. But after a good old feed of frites, I have been able to lift myself out of this comatosed state.
The rest of the week has been pretty standard really. Get up at 10 practise at 11 home whenever and chilling out watching abit of cycling on the tube for the avo. Its a good life really. The only bad thing is being stuck in this chicken coup for another few days while we wait for some beds to arrive in the new apartment. I think the owner will be glad to see the back of us, we havnt exactly been tidy kiwis since we got internet. The internet is a thousand times better than doing the dishes so they dont get done until we have completley run out of all plates and cutlery. It is amazing how well a Knife can be used as a fork. I wont be complaining never having to ride back up to farm again either though. It is a depressing site.
Not alot else has happened really. I am hopefully racing a Kermesse on Tuesday and if all goes well I wil hopefully get a start in a few tours in the next month. Will just have to see how the form comes along, but if I've been going OK on bad form there is some hope once my legs decide to stop being weak. Just the task of convincing my brain to keep this hard training up. Ryans SRM has definetly made us step up a level in training though, now we have a number to hold so trainings become abit like math. Its hold this number or your weak and we definelty dont want to be weak. Hopefully I will have invested in my own SRM in the coming months but will just have to see how the budget is.
Thats enough rambling from me I'm not even sure the paragraphs make sense and I apoligise for all the spelling mistakes but Typos are important to all written form. It gives the reader something to look for so they arnt distracted by the total lack of content in my writing. haha Now thats a next level quote for you. Ryans gona now teach me the art of drinking red wine. We have a bottle to down before we move tomorrow so...
Hope everyones well
I'm all jacked up on Mountain Dew.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Well its time for my weekly update and an exciting week it has been. Its involved road tripping racing and a real life game of mousetrap but I will get to that. We have finally found a new apartment and will be moving on friday which will be nice. As much fun as it has been living on a chicken farm I think a nice clean apartment will improve moral significantly. I might even be able to shake of this nagging cold I've had for the last 2 months. Hopefully anyway.
I'll start with a race report since it is fresh in my mind. The race was a 135km Kermesse in Kotersem. The course was a flat circut of 8ks to be done 16 times. The race started like any other. With the sound of a gun. And after 2ks I was dissapointed to see no first attack so I decided somebody had to do it so off I went. I managed to go solo for about 3k before turning a corner and surprisingly hitting 300m of the roughest cobbles in belgium. I hit them at about 50km/h and imediatlly my back wheel decides to go for a dance and is skiping back and forth across the road. Thankfully I was first to hit these cobbles because a surprise like that in the middle of the bunch wouldnt have been to much fun. Thankfully after the cobbles I looked back and 6 riders had attacked the peleton and had ridden across to me. We got into a rythem and for the next 5k we drilled it as hard as we could but we couldnt hold the peleton off and were caught after 10k. The next 2 laps went by and nothing really significant happened, then on lap 4 a break of 15 or so went up the road. It quickly got out to 20 secs and held there. Thankfully Ryan had made the break so I need not worry about it. After 20k of holding at 20 secs the peleton finally cracked and the break went away.
I then pretty much went to the front and slowed the bunch down as much as I could and followed and dangerous looking attacks. A few of the riders wernt to pleased with me slowing it down and I took a few headbutts and if you can believe it some guy tried to knee me. So if I ever see number 75 again hes gona be sorry. Anyway the race pretty much progressed like this for the next 10 laps with the occasional attack and the bumpy as cobbles for excitment, and the peleton just finished in a bunch kick which I was'nt really interested in and just rolled in at the back of the peleton. Ryan managed to finish 12th which is a good result considering the calibre of these races. I think we were 3 or so minutes down but not really to sure. But it was a good race and the form is definitly coming along nicely, plus I was finally able to ride the front the entire race so my bunch positioning has definitly improved which is a very important aspect of racing 200 guys.
Now onto the rest of the week... On Tuesday while out training with my teammate Jeon we decided to go for a trip to Maastricht. Maastricht is in the Nederlands but is only 50k away from home and was meant to be a really nice, and nice it was. It is crazy how different the Nederlands is even in 50k. It is so much cleaner and seems to have such a positive vibe. In Maastricht we did a spot of shopping and checked out the about 1000 shoe shops for some sweet pumas but still cant find the ones I want. I also ate raw fish which is something I plan to never do again. It is not the nicest thing ever and the taste of fish in your mouth for the next hour is kinda yuck. After the trip to Maastricht we did what everyone in europe has to do and that is check out the Red light District. It is pretty sick really, a whole lot seedy as guys in an alley way and some drugged fried prostitutes but youve gotta see it at least once. It was a good day though and were currently in the planning stages of our next road trip sometime next week so should be fun.
The one other thing this week worth mentioning is we have a mouse and he is a sly wee thing. We have tried a few homemade traps, we made homemade hooks outa pins and put cheese on them hooping to hook a mouse but he just ate around the hook. I then made a we trap with a cardboard box and a stick so when he pulled the stick he would get trapped in the box but this trap is yet to work. All those years of playing mouse trap didnt seen to help me at all but im gona catch him soon, just gotta outsmart a mouse first.
Anyhow thats about all thats happened really. Didnt get the chance to watch leige Bastonge leige which was abit dissapointing but had to race so what can you do. I'll try keep these updates weekly.
peace out homies
I'll start with a race report since it is fresh in my mind. The race was a 135km Kermesse in Kotersem. The course was a flat circut of 8ks to be done 16 times. The race started like any other. With the sound of a gun. And after 2ks I was dissapointed to see no first attack so I decided somebody had to do it so off I went. I managed to go solo for about 3k before turning a corner and surprisingly hitting 300m of the roughest cobbles in belgium. I hit them at about 50km/h and imediatlly my back wheel decides to go for a dance and is skiping back and forth across the road. Thankfully I was first to hit these cobbles because a surprise like that in the middle of the bunch wouldnt have been to much fun. Thankfully after the cobbles I looked back and 6 riders had attacked the peleton and had ridden across to me. We got into a rythem and for the next 5k we drilled it as hard as we could but we couldnt hold the peleton off and were caught after 10k. The next 2 laps went by and nothing really significant happened, then on lap 4 a break of 15 or so went up the road. It quickly got out to 20 secs and held there. Thankfully Ryan had made the break so I need not worry about it. After 20k of holding at 20 secs the peleton finally cracked and the break went away.
I then pretty much went to the front and slowed the bunch down as much as I could and followed and dangerous looking attacks. A few of the riders wernt to pleased with me slowing it down and I took a few headbutts and if you can believe it some guy tried to knee me. So if I ever see number 75 again hes gona be sorry. Anyway the race pretty much progressed like this for the next 10 laps with the occasional attack and the bumpy as cobbles for excitment, and the peleton just finished in a bunch kick which I was'nt really interested in and just rolled in at the back of the peleton. Ryan managed to finish 12th which is a good result considering the calibre of these races. I think we were 3 or so minutes down but not really to sure. But it was a good race and the form is definitly coming along nicely, plus I was finally able to ride the front the entire race so my bunch positioning has definitly improved which is a very important aspect of racing 200 guys.
Now onto the rest of the week... On Tuesday while out training with my teammate Jeon we decided to go for a trip to Maastricht. Maastricht is in the Nederlands but is only 50k away from home and was meant to be a really nice, and nice it was. It is crazy how different the Nederlands is even in 50k. It is so much cleaner and seems to have such a positive vibe. In Maastricht we did a spot of shopping and checked out the about 1000 shoe shops for some sweet pumas but still cant find the ones I want. I also ate raw fish which is something I plan to never do again. It is not the nicest thing ever and the taste of fish in your mouth for the next hour is kinda yuck. After the trip to Maastricht we did what everyone in europe has to do and that is check out the Red light District. It is pretty sick really, a whole lot seedy as guys in an alley way and some drugged fried prostitutes but youve gotta see it at least once. It was a good day though and were currently in the planning stages of our next road trip sometime next week so should be fun.
The one other thing this week worth mentioning is we have a mouse and he is a sly wee thing. We have tried a few homemade traps, we made homemade hooks outa pins and put cheese on them hooping to hook a mouse but he just ate around the hook. I then made a we trap with a cardboard box and a stick so when he pulled the stick he would get trapped in the box but this trap is yet to work. All those years of playing mouse trap didnt seen to help me at all but im gona catch him soon, just gotta outsmart a mouse first.
Anyhow thats about all thats happened really. Didnt get the chance to watch leige Bastonge leige which was abit dissapointing but had to race so what can you do. I'll try keep these updates weekly.
peace out homies
Monday, April 21, 2008
Well now that I have jumped on the blog bandwagon I thought I better keep the updates coming. That and the fact I now have internet which not having for 2 months has really sucked.
Today was an epic day. Monday always seems to be the most painful. It started as usual with a recovery ride of an hour after yesterdays race. We just had a nice ride to Spa and back. It was a balmy 18 degrees which is almost the warmest day we've had and I was able to ride in only a shirt and shorts which is a nice change from the winter jacket we normally have to wear. On the way home the Euskatel Pro tour team rode past in the opposite direction training for Leige. It was funny to see all those wee spanish climbers wrapped up it in there full winter kit and we received a few funny looks from them at the lack of clothing we were wearing. I guess going from the spanish winter of 25-30 degrees to our 0-20 degrees was abit of a shock to them.
Now I said today was the most painful day and this is due to it being marche day. Or supermarket shopping if you will. It is a 2k walk with 600m up a seriously steep hill. We each had 3 8kg bags to carry home. It was probably the deepest in the box I have been in during this entire trip, my arms were never designed to carry weight long distances. It required many stops on the way but im hoping by the time I come back to NZ I will be able to go no stops but will just have to wait and see. Im glad to be home though the grocerys are still sitting in there sacs waiting to be put away but that can wait. Ive got 2 months of internet to catch up on.
We'll thats my day not really that epic but im bored, and after watching the mighty ducks trilogy about 5 times already theres not alot to do. Anyway hope everybodys well, Trainings going well and hopefully with a few more big weeks my form will be on up.
Chur
Today was an epic day. Monday always seems to be the most painful. It started as usual with a recovery ride of an hour after yesterdays race. We just had a nice ride to Spa and back. It was a balmy 18 degrees which is almost the warmest day we've had and I was able to ride in only a shirt and shorts which is a nice change from the winter jacket we normally have to wear. On the way home the Euskatel Pro tour team rode past in the opposite direction training for Leige. It was funny to see all those wee spanish climbers wrapped up it in there full winter kit and we received a few funny looks from them at the lack of clothing we were wearing. I guess going from the spanish winter of 25-30 degrees to our 0-20 degrees was abit of a shock to them.
Now I said today was the most painful day and this is due to it being marche day. Or supermarket shopping if you will. It is a 2k walk with 600m up a seriously steep hill. We each had 3 8kg bags to carry home. It was probably the deepest in the box I have been in during this entire trip, my arms were never designed to carry weight long distances. It required many stops on the way but im hoping by the time I come back to NZ I will be able to go no stops but will just have to wait and see. Im glad to be home though the grocerys are still sitting in there sacs waiting to be put away but that can wait. Ive got 2 months of internet to catch up on.
We'll thats my day not really that epic but im bored, and after watching the mighty ducks trilogy about 5 times already theres not alot to do. Anyway hope everybodys well, Trainings going well and hopefully with a few more big weeks my form will be on up.
Chur
Finally an Update
Hi all
Sorry for the lack of posts but a serious lack of internet and a strong case of CBF has resulted in no recent postings so im going to try make up for it with this one. I should really be doing some massey but to lets be realistic im one to leave things to the last minute so im sure it can wait. I'll try to cover all the races ive done but to be honest I cant really remember the details of some of them so I might just have to make up some details so they sound abit more exciting.
I'll start with my latest race so at least the first couple of paragraphs are interesting because I can remember what happened and then by the time im making stuff up you will have gone to far and will read on. My latest race was Zelik-Galmarden. A UCI 1.12 170km Top comp. This is disputibly the toughest amatuer race of the season and with 9 cobbled climbs and 7 sealed ones I was about to find out why. A quick history on this race, 7 of the last 10 winners have become profesional and past winners included Tom Boonen and Kevin Ista. The race started off as normal and after 7 weeks I am finally able to ride the front of a 200 rider field. For the first 30k I was trying to make the early break but I was never able to break the grasp of the peleton and after a few attempts decided it was better to save my energy for the major difficulty of the day the Cote de Muur a cobbled climb about 2km in lenth 55km into the race.
5Km before the climb it became a shit fight for the front and I found myself continuosly moving backwards before the climb. Coming into the climb I was mid pack before things went from bad to worse 500m before the climb we had to make a 180 degree turn and due to 200 guys all trying to make there way round as fast as possible the inevitable happened and there was a crash holding up the back half of the field. I managed to make my way round but hit the climb in the last 10 wheels, not really the best place to be. I powered my way up the climb and made up a few wheels before rounding the steepest corner of the climb where it narrows to about 2m wide and being stopped in my tracks by a wall of riders, seems there had been another crash. There were guys falling off everywhere and most of us had dismounted and proceded to run up the climb, pity I hadnt put my running shoes on because cleats dont really create that much grip on slippery cobbles/pave. I ended up running for about 100m before remounting my bike and completing the climb.
I went over the top with a group of 30 or so and we preceded to chase the peleton, we had been chasing for about 1k when we hit another climb, we could see the peleton about 20secs ahead of us so I attacked the group and attempted to bridge up, I got to within 5secs before my legs decided to stop listening to my brain and as I crested the top I was about 15 secs down with the group of 30 10 secs behind me. On the descent they caught me and we chased for another 2k before hitting the Bosberg another cobbled climb. By this point we were about 40secs down and I had given up hope of catching the peleton, our group rode up the climb and we ended up riding to the finish where it was race over.
The previous race was a kermesse near Tienen. This race was 120k and is a step down from the interclub races I have been doing. Not to say this race was easy we still averged 44km/h and on some pretty average roads filled with rivets just wide enough for a wheel and a whole lot of potholes. The race was abit weird in the fact the break didnt go until 90ks due to one team bringing everything back regardless of whether they had team mates in the attacks or not. I tried a few times to get away but was un succesfull and pretty much rode the entire race mid pack just practising moving up the group as this is my major weakness. Apart from riding into a few rivets which scared the shit outta me and hitting a few potholes making me think my Velo will be lucky to survive a season in Belgium it was a pretty uneventful race and I finished mid pack not wanting to risk anything sprinting for 10th place. It is crazy to see some guys sprint for 80th place and the risks they take just to make up a few places .
The race before this was a criterium in germany. I manged to catch up with james which was cool and it was cool to be racing each other again after 7 weeks. The race was a good one for me it was 80k I think 40 or 50 laps of a circuit. I felt good but unluckly missed the break of about 10 guys and being the only VC Ardennes rider in the race there was no chance of bringing it back. I sat back for the middle part of the race and decided to see what I could do with 5 laps to go. I proceded to make my way to the front and put in a few digs. With 3 laps to go we could actually see the early break and there was a real chance of it coming back. I made a promising break of 7 riders but 3 of them had team mates already up the road and wouldnt lap so we were brought back 1k later. I had a few more digs but coming into a lap to go I was spent and just sat back and rolled in at the back of the pack abit dissapointed but satisfyed with my day.
I've now come to the point where I cant really remember any of the other races ive done. My memory is seriously bad thanks to a whole load of concussions. So I think ill just flag talking about them. I could make stuff up all day but ive been writing for 30mins and cant really be bothered writing more.
So instead I will try to update my blog more often, now that I have finally invested in some internet.
My next race is a kermesse on Saturday and possibly another on Sunday. The only problem is the professionals are racing Leige Bastonge Leige this sunday and the parcours are right on our doorstep so im thinking I would rather watch that up the famous Cote de La Redoute (a seriously steep climb 20k away) so ill see what happens. But come sunday I will most likely have a race update from saturday and a report on what its like watching the pros live. I will try put some pics of the pros up on sunday. We might even go as far as spray painting the road but we just have to find out how illegal it is first.
Anyway thats enough of me ranting.
Peace out
Friday, February 29, 2008
Made it
Hello
Well I finally made it to the cold and wet of belgium. I have met some of my team and they seem like a good bunch. We started our training with a 205km ride with some of my team mates and some of the Bodysol team. This ride was a shock to the system and with jetlag and a slight cold it was a long day in the saddle. I am currently staying in Nederlands where it is slightly nicer and am in training mode for my upcoming race this sunday Brussels-opwirk. Other things to note were going out training with Rabobank professional Robert Gesink which was quite an experience seeing what it is like being a professional.
Cheers
Josh
Well I finally made it to the cold and wet of belgium. I have met some of my team and they seem like a good bunch. We started our training with a 205km ride with some of my team mates and some of the Bodysol team. This ride was a shock to the system and with jetlag and a slight cold it was a long day in the saddle. I am currently staying in Nederlands where it is slightly nicer and am in training mode for my upcoming race this sunday Brussels-opwirk. Other things to note were going out training with Rabobank professional Robert Gesink which was quite an experience seeing what it is like being a professional.
Cheers
Josh
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Welcome
Welcome all to my Blog.
I am going to be racing in Belgium in the 2008 Season for VCArdennes, leaving on the 20th of Feb
I will try to keep you updated with race reports as the season progresses.
Thanks
Josh
I am going to be racing in Belgium in the 2008 Season for VCArdennes, leaving on the 20th of Feb
I will try to keep you updated with race reports as the season progresses.
Thanks
Josh
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