Riding and Racing in Belge

Time is flying by here as i put the final touches on my world champs buildup, crazy to think i have been in belgium for nearly a month and will be heading to Copenhagen in only a matter of days! anyway just thought i would sum up how it has been going here with a little race report from yesterdays RETIE – GROTE PRIJS J.P. MONSERE race. It was one of my final buildup races in Belgium before the World Champs next week. The race was 140km classic consisting of a 80km circuit then 9 finishing circuts. It was a slightly bigger race than your average Belgy Kermese with a longer distance, bigger organisation, more prizemoney and more starters all adding up to make it a perfect hit out 9 days from my Road Race in Copenhagen. For previous two and abit weeks in Belgium i had a really heavy training load with lots of racing and intense workouts so this week was a time to rest up abit and have a final couple of touchup races. Therefore I went into this race after two very light days of riding in the legs so wasnt exactly expecting to feel great but still it was a good opportunity to get a decent race distance and speed in the legs. A short spin in the morning helped to get the legs going and kill some time before we departed at about 12.30pm, even though the race was only a mere 30km from our house we allowed a full hour to get there as that is just how long these things take on Belgiums road system. Anyway i got there and lined up to sign in, lucky number 101 out of 150 odd starters..this was going to be interesting.

The start was at 230pm and the weather really didnt know what it was doing so i decided to play it safe and run slightly more clothing as it could easily have cooled down alot in the afternoon, however it decided not to and we were treated to rather pleasant iif not abit windy racing conditions. The race started with the normal crazieness as everyone wanted to be at the front, however a break of about 10guys slipped away suprisingly early and were let to go and get established. As expected i was feeling abit flat and was happy enough just to stick in the bunch, although this was anything but relaxing with the zig-zagging nature of the course and with riders desperate to take 87th wheel of you in every corner, anyway we knocked out the first 80km in under 2hrs and soon enough we were on the finishing circuits. I was relieved to get to this point of the race as at least on the circuits you knew what was coming up and once everyone got abit tired it was much easier to stay at the front. The 7km finishing circuit was flat but had some exposed sections to the wind that really streched the field out when the pace was on. After a couple of hours of racing i was starting to feel better though still not amazing, i bascially just tried to stay near the front incase any move went once we caught the break with about 6 laps to go. However it seemed like nothing was going to stick and it would just come down to a bunch sprint. I knew the chaos of the final few km that lay ahead if this bunch of adrenaline pumped belgies was to come together for the finish and decided i was not up for risking such a high chance of getting involved in a crash this close to the most important race of the year therefore i only had one option, to attack before we got there. On the last lap i finally managed to get near the front on the tailwind section of the course, there was a very unorganised chase of a solo rider who had somehow gotten a 20sec gap. I followed a couple of moves before hitting out hard with 5km to go, a couple of guys came with me and we committed straight away. In the crosswind section along the back we drove it hard, only a couple more guys got across and then we were gone, the bunch had pretty much shut it down. The headwind straight back to the finish was abt messy, everyone was trying to do as little as possible and wheels were being let go left right and centre. I played it pretty consevatively and tried to make sure i was never on the wrong side of a split but in the end had to jump across a gap to two guys with about 1km to go, by the time i got there they started to sprint and i had nothing left to come round them. Of course our disorganisation in the final kms had let the solo rider take the win by 3sec meaning i finished up 4th yet again.

It was still a decent result, probably more than i had hoped for at the start with the way i was feeling but it was also a good test to see where i am at and what i need to do in the final week before the big one next friday.

I have enjoyed my time in Belgium, it has definately been a great experience and good to see what it could have been like had i chosen to follow the path of many kiwis and ride the amatuer scene over here. The racing is a worlds of its own and there is no doubt that it has made me a stronger, faster bike rider in the last couple of weeks. The training round here gets old pretty quick if you are doing big hours as its so hard to find good loops with a variety of terrain, however i have very much enjoyed exploring all the little back roads around, some are so small you can hardly believe a car would fit down them. Heres a collection of the photos i have managed to get so far of my time riding and racing in Belgium. hope you enjoy.

Jimmy

Riding the roads around Blauberg on a typical day – notice the amount of clothing – can never be too prepared for the very changeable weather conditions.