Looks like I"m racing this weekend!! I thought for sure I'd be getting the big NO, considering I just flew in on Tuesday. Bernard evidentaly thinks I have enough rest to go for it. I'm looking forward to getting laid out that first day, just to get it over with. Who knows though, I may finish :) we'll see.
I finally got my taste of cobbles the last few days. We did 2 sections on the Kasteelenroute on Thursday, then I got to do a long ride yesterday with a cobbled climb. The long day was just shy of 4 hours (probably 110 km) with some hills. Nothing major, just some foothills, but enough to get the HR up and stretch the legs. I'm still on the loaner bike, very annoying to not have my own ride yet. Even if it showed up today, though, I wouldn't be able to ride it tomorrow. I need a few days to get used to it.
Right now we're watching E3 on Live TV. I don't need to say how cool it is to see cycling on the local networks just like any baseball or football game. Finally the respect our sport deserves!
Tomorrow I'll give you all the dirty details of Euro racing, at least as much as I get to see!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
First couple of days
Well, I got here fine on Tuesday. The flights were nothing to write about, long and boring. I slept most of the transcontinental flight, so I arrived not as tired as I could have been. When I arrived I thought there would be a ride waiting for me, no such luck for this kid. I ended up hooking up with a few guys from Navigators who are staying in the Cycling Center house with us. They had been here before so they weren't clueless as I was.
We all jumped on the train, which btw, is lots of fun with two bags, a bike, and a backpack. We got all kinds of looks when we loaded up the doorways with everything. As soon as the train left Brussels, it cleared out and we had enough room to move to a seat. Anne (the hostess for the house) was there to pick us up at the train station, but that would have been really bad if she hadn't. I would have had to learn the bus routes real quick!!
I got to the house, was given a room, and unpacked. After that it was time for a food run. The supermarkets are very different. Luckily I already drank soy milk because I couldn't find skim milk to save my life. It took me over an hour to get the bare essentials: past, oatmeal, rice, chicken, olive oil, red vinegar, oj, bread, etc... the list goes on. I was able to get out of there spending less than 50 Euros (a major feat btw) and got enought food to tide me over for at least a week.
I wasn't permitted to sleep until 2100 so I had to find other ways to bide my time. I would have passed out if I tried to read, so I hung out in the commons area, getting to know my teammates as well as I could. all the guys seem pretty cool, I think we'll mesh well. It seems the fact that I'm military preceeded me. I got all kinds of questions about it. I did get a couple about my opinion, and I tried to stear away from that kind of thing. "My opinion doesn't really matter when I have a job to do" was my answer. We stayed up watching American TV with Dutch subtitles. Friends was on, so it felt a bit like home!!
The next day I went out for my first ride. Beautiful weather, great roads albeit narrow, but at least the Belgians know how to drive. At one point we saw a whole group of kids on bikes, it looked like it was a P.E. class. The teachers were out stopping traffic and the kids were having a great time with it. Now why can't we have that in the U.S.?! On top of that everyone seems to ride a bike around here, not exactly race bike for the majority, but a bike nonetheless. I was cool to see that an entire culture embraces the bicycle.
No cobblestones yet, maybe in the next couple of days I'll go ride those just for the fun of it. I did see some of the "hills", nothing major like the 'burgs but at least there is something, not enirely flat. It feels a lot like the farm areas of N.C. Flat and strung out for miles, but when the winds kick up, it'll be nuts.
Well that's it for now, standby for another update in a few days.
We all jumped on the train, which btw, is lots of fun with two bags, a bike, and a backpack. We got all kinds of looks when we loaded up the doorways with everything. As soon as the train left Brussels, it cleared out and we had enough room to move to a seat. Anne (the hostess for the house) was there to pick us up at the train station, but that would have been really bad if she hadn't. I would have had to learn the bus routes real quick!!
I got to the house, was given a room, and unpacked. After that it was time for a food run. The supermarkets are very different. Luckily I already drank soy milk because I couldn't find skim milk to save my life. It took me over an hour to get the bare essentials: past, oatmeal, rice, chicken, olive oil, red vinegar, oj, bread, etc... the list goes on. I was able to get out of there spending less than 50 Euros (a major feat btw) and got enought food to tide me over for at least a week.
I wasn't permitted to sleep until 2100 so I had to find other ways to bide my time. I would have passed out if I tried to read, so I hung out in the commons area, getting to know my teammates as well as I could. all the guys seem pretty cool, I think we'll mesh well. It seems the fact that I'm military preceeded me. I got all kinds of questions about it. I did get a couple about my opinion, and I tried to stear away from that kind of thing. "My opinion doesn't really matter when I have a job to do" was my answer. We stayed up watching American TV with Dutch subtitles. Friends was on, so it felt a bit like home!!
The next day I went out for my first ride. Beautiful weather, great roads albeit narrow, but at least the Belgians know how to drive. At one point we saw a whole group of kids on bikes, it looked like it was a P.E. class. The teachers were out stopping traffic and the kids were having a great time with it. Now why can't we have that in the U.S.?! On top of that everyone seems to ride a bike around here, not exactly race bike for the majority, but a bike nonetheless. I was cool to see that an entire culture embraces the bicycle.
No cobblestones yet, maybe in the next couple of days I'll go ride those just for the fun of it. I did see some of the "hills", nothing major like the 'burgs but at least there is something, not enirely flat. It feels a lot like the farm areas of N.C. Flat and strung out for miles, but when the winds kick up, it'll be nuts.
Well that's it for now, standby for another update in a few days.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
So Tired.....
That drive I wouldn't wish on anyone!! I just arrived in SLC after 2 1/2 days driving from NC. At first it was ok, then it got longer and longer. I am excited to be back here, I know that my day to fly out is quickly approaching. I have a lot to do now that I'm here though. I need to get to a bike shop and get a wheel built, I need my new parts to arrive so I don't have to stress about that, and I need to train. I'm bouncing off the walls from lack of training the last few days.
Time to take a shower, I'm pretty bad right now, I'll update again soon.
Time to take a shower, I'm pretty bad right now, I'll update again soon.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
2 weekends in Greenville
Over the last month we had a few races here in the states. I figured I needed to get some racing in my legs before Europe, and what better way to do that than hit up some of the biggest races of the year.
As it turns out these races were either crash fests, sprinters dreams, or sometimes both. The last weekend was by far the best in terms of training.
A very fast course on Saturday kept everything together, for the most part. I know I tried to get away a few times. It came down to the last breakaway that stuck with half a lap left and a group sprint. Sadly our team would take a casualty of this 32mph dash for the last corner, he went down hard and broke a collarbone. All our wishes got to him to heal quickly.
Sunday was another day with me putting myself in the break that stuck. I went about halfway into the race and once it left I knew that was it. I had a teammate up there so I wasn't about to chase, but if someone was willing to give me a free ride.....that would be okay. Eventually someone did, and they killed themselves to close only half the distance, so I launched off him and closed it. Once up there we worked like dogs to establish a break. Once we did they attacks started coming. I covered as many as I could, but my fitness is not there yet and they broke me with a lap and a half remaining. In my defense there were 2 other guys to get popped at the same time, and we tried to catch back on, but the small group wasn't letting up and we had nothing left. So, we waited for the peloton to catch us. I was looking for our sprinter in the field after I was swallowed up but he wasn't in any shape to go for the sprint, plus all the money spots were gone from the break.
All in all the weekend was a great chance to test my breakaway strength. I feeling confident that soon I will be in that winning move and at that time I can seal the deal, I just need another month of hard training.
I leave next week for Utah with my dad. I'll be flying out of SLC to Europe on the 26th. I'll keep everyone posted.
As it turns out these races were either crash fests, sprinters dreams, or sometimes both. The last weekend was by far the best in terms of training.
A very fast course on Saturday kept everything together, for the most part. I know I tried to get away a few times. It came down to the last breakaway that stuck with half a lap left and a group sprint. Sadly our team would take a casualty of this 32mph dash for the last corner, he went down hard and broke a collarbone. All our wishes got to him to heal quickly.
Sunday was another day with me putting myself in the break that stuck. I went about halfway into the race and once it left I knew that was it. I had a teammate up there so I wasn't about to chase, but if someone was willing to give me a free ride.....that would be okay. Eventually someone did, and they killed themselves to close only half the distance, so I launched off him and closed it. Once up there we worked like dogs to establish a break. Once we did they attacks started coming. I covered as many as I could, but my fitness is not there yet and they broke me with a lap and a half remaining. In my defense there were 2 other guys to get popped at the same time, and we tried to catch back on, but the small group wasn't letting up and we had nothing left. So, we waited for the peloton to catch us. I was looking for our sprinter in the field after I was swallowed up but he wasn't in any shape to go for the sprint, plus all the money spots were gone from the break.
All in all the weekend was a great chance to test my breakaway strength. I feeling confident that soon I will be in that winning move and at that time I can seal the deal, I just need another month of hard training.
I leave next week for Utah with my dad. I'll be flying out of SLC to Europe on the 26th. I'll keep everyone posted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)