BELGIAN
ODYSSEY’S 2008
DAY 12
Nice easy start to the
day, I’ve decided to go and race in another association today and the race isn’t until 5.30pm.
First some shopping and I
discovered the lady in the greengrocers spent 3 weeks in Perth last year
ostensibly going for a wedding and then staying for a holiday, she was very
nice and wanted to reminisce the trip despite a line of other customers. Then onto one of the local bike shops, just
to look of course, and the lady there professed a life long ambition to visit
Cleaned my bike, I have
actually been doing it most days, working on the basis that its easier to do
before it gets too dirty rather than allow it to get really dirty.
The race today is in the
North of Belgium and (still only 1 hour 15 minutes away) is on a 3.5km circuit
so almost a Criterium rather that the more typical kermesse.
Vets (and others) Racing
is organized on a regional basis, pretty much like a shire level if it was
Australia, each association seems to be independent but affiliated to both a
Belgian and a world body (ICF) and I had absolutely no problem turning up with
my AVCC licence,
with photo of course.
It’s been another hot
day, indeed driving to the race I put the A/C on in the car for awhile, it was
otherwise quite uncomfortable. Arriving
at the race there was actually a car park and four portaloos
(sounds like Northern?), as opposed to the normal ‘park where you can and pee
in a hedge somewhere’ approach. Although I’m not sure whether these were
specifically for the race or part of a larger village occasion. (The rulebooks at Southern would have a field
day!!!)
There were two races for
5 grades, the ‘young blokes’ were on second so we were up first for 17 laps of
the 3.5km circuit which turned out to be quite narrow in places but with only 5
corners. The corners were all pretty
reasonable if a bit narrow, with only one being a really ‘slow’ corner given
its 120 degree turn.
Temperature was 32c but
not quite as humid as earlier in the week but I still put away two large
bottles while I was riding warm up laps.
The field was about 80 riders spread over 3 divisions, 45 -54, 54 -59
and over 60 (I think). The kind ladies
at the sign in desk where very helpful and explained all the numbers for each
division, unfortunately they weren’t consecutive or indeed contiguous so by the
time the ladies had finished I was more than a little confused. So thanking them I took my place on the start
line and resolved that I would just ride the race for training, get the best
result I could and not start worrying who I was racing and who I wasn’t, these
races are difficult enough without getting your brain too involved as well.
As usual the pre race
briefing went straight over my head (Mr. Tams would probably say nothing new
there then) so I had a final drink and we were off. Despite getting a good spot near the front,
somebody in front of me missed clipping in, probably more than once and the
whole right side was delayed
and there was a huge surge up the left, so I hit the first right
hander near the back instead of the front where I wanted to be for some
alleviation of the inevitable attack by the front runners.
I spent the first lap
getting into a better position and was much better placed in the first 20 at
the completion of the first lap and as long as you keep moving up, you can
generally hold position reasonably well, I had no intentions of being right at
the front. At the 120 degree last corner a rider inside of me got it completely
wrong and in avoiding him I was heading for the grass until I braked almost to
a dead stop before I got going again, this really put me at the back with the
guys who were barely hanging on, gaps everywhere, I had to sprint very hard to
get back into the main bunch and burnt more energy moving away from the back. Having got almost back to where I wanted to
be, b***** me the same thing happened at the same place on the very next lap,
different rider, same result. I can
swear very effectively in Flemish and did! After that I
tended to be a bit more forceful on the corners, it does assist in holding
position.
I was struggling a bit at
this stage and by the time I was back in a ‘safe; position I realized that a
group of about 10 were up the road, the chasing seemed a little half hearted
and I assume that there was some team riding going on which didn’t bother me
too much at that particular point since I was still trying to push my lungs
back into my chest! I just seem to be
really susceptible to hard and fast starts no matter how I warm up!
Eventually the attacks
came and there was one particular lap where we were in a line for just about
the whole lap and I was thinking that I wasn’t really enjoying the sustained
pace when we eased momentarily and I took the opportunity to grab my bottle and
glance over my shoulder. I was really quite
amazed to see only one rider behind me and the rest of the field was about 200m
back, this was the only time I actually went to the front and put in one long
hard turn, I wanted to maintain the gap and not let them back, then we were off
again.
We sort of kept the front
group in sight but I think there were too many team mates involved to really
get a concerted chase going, but we did progressively pull away from the
bunch. So we had the situation about half
way through the race of 10 in front, the group I was in was about 20, the bunch
of 50 behind and going nowhere. I can
happily report that the rest of the race went very quickly, they seemed to be
rolling the lap counter board over 2/3 at a time which was nice.
I was getting quite
comfortable, I was fast through the corners, fast out of them and of course
doing no work! I still can’t get over
this no gear change approach to corners, I was changing down to 53 x 18/19 and
just buzzing out of the corners, changing up as I picked up speed again, just
about everybody else was sticking with a 13/14 cog and grinding their way back
up to speed consequently and as the race went on it I felt it actually got
easier away from the corners. Inevitably
there were some attacks in the closing laps and we did lose some guys off the
back but to be honest I didn’t ever feel that we were going to see the front
again.
We were still together
coming into the last 120 degree corner and some guys were kamikaze into it and
launching their big gears out of it in an attempt to get clear, it was still
about a kilometer to go, far too early for me.
Although the line did stretch and split in half I stayed with the front
half and just followed wheels and tried to come at the leaders in the last
150m, I did pass quite a few guys but didn’t quite get on terms with the front
4/5, still I was in the top 20 so was happy with that as a training ride.
Back into the car park
and loads more to drink and then try to stop sweating, I washed down twice and was
still sweating like a good ‘un, I thought about jumping in the car and turning
on the A/C. I was parked next to a
couple of Dutch guys who had earlier assumed that I was Dutch due to the plates
on my car, I guess when I hadn’t responded to them earlier they assumed that I
was an ignorant Dutchman! However after
the race we did speak and they realized that English was my language so we
chatted about the race on Sunday in Aachtamaal (the
world champs) and so on, they also made some comments about speedy etc which at
the time went over my head.
Anyway I wandered back to
my ladies at the sign on desk to return my number, they asked me whether I had
any money coming and I thought, Yeh I probably did
get a place, so they rummaged through box and came out with a bouquet and then
proceeded to tell me off for not being at the presentation, I had won my
division!
After the fact I can see
now I should have realized I was going to be there or thereabouts but since all
the number ranges I had to remember were so confusing I had just put it out of
my mind to just ride the race, duh!
So I guess it was a win
but it didn’t really feel like a win, a race within a race isn’t really
satisfactory, it’s not like you get to cross the line first or anything, I was
just better at hanging wheels and of course by being oblivious I had also
missed the obvious pleasure of the presentation! I gave the bouquet to the ladies cos they really had try to help me earlier and both said
that they would look out for me at the championships on Sunday, nice people
really.
There was one funny story
from the race, well funny as it turned out that nobody got hurt, but not so
funny at the time. Remember it’s very warm
for the race; on the short narrow, winding second straight there was a rather
attractive lady, brown as a berry, displaying herself on the side of the road
just as the road kinked to the left. Twice in the early laps riders were
cannoning into each other at that point, I assume that they were distracted by
the ‘view’ and one or more of them was missing the
change in direction. On the second
occasion one rider opted to take to the field rather than fall which those of
us behind were convinced was going to happen, and we all had nowhere to
go! Hilda my concentration on the race
was so total I don’t even know whether she was there towards the end of the
race, honest!
There were also two ‘lookalikes’ in the race, there was a guy that really did
look like Pippo Pozzato and
he played up to it as well, long curly locks, same team strip, same team bike,
same tan and the same distinctive! shoes. The other one was Noel Austerberry!!! There was a guy that looked so like Noel,
even down to the cool, classy style on the bike, that every time we crossed in
the bunch I nearly said hello!! Spooky.
I watched a little bit of
the next race but declined the invitation from my Dutch friends to go for a
couple of beers, I still had a reasonable drive to get home and I’ve had bad
experiences with Belgian beer in the past, some of it can be lethally strong.
In the later race there
were riders getting shot out the back by the end of the first lap, so although
age group racing is a reasonable starting point it’s a big ask for everybody to
be of a certain level, I think graded racing makes more sense but I suspect
difficult here because there are so many riders and although they ride on their
‘own’ patch most of the time they will on occasion, race out of their territory
so keeping people in the appropriate grade would difficult I guess.
DAY 13
Boy its flying by, but so
far its been great, I think the weather being so warm and consistent has helped
a lot, you can get just about anything in Belgium at anytime of the year.
Because it’s been so hot most of my clothes are still clean and unworn, it’s
been shorts and T shirts everyday apart from a couple and I’m not complaining.
Nice easy ride today,
back along the canal, just cruising, keeping the power low and the cadence
high, it was pretty quiet along the ride, not so many riders out today or maybe
they were out earlier because of the heat, 30c+ again today.
Been to the bank to get a
little more cash for the weekend just in case and this evening I’m going to
treat myself top a nice meal and maybe a couple of glasses of wine! I did miss my dinner last night after all
having got back from the race too late and not really feeling like a meal at
that stage.
Jurgen tells me he has the Euskatel team coming in later this evening he doesn’t know
what race they are doing but thinks they are going on top
On Saturday there are
races for junior women and elite women in my village, in cat passing the hotel
and since I will only be doing a short ride on Saturday I’m going to find a
nice shady spot and watch somebody else race.
I think mein host, Jurgen, is prone to
exaggeration! The ‘Euskatel
team’ turned up and turned to be a bunch of elderly overweight Spanish bike
riders on a tour of the Northern classic courses, today they rode some sections
of the Paris – Roubaix, tomorrow it’s the ‘Ronde’, the Tour of Flanders and the weekend they are off
to some sections of the Liege – Bastogne – Liege, so
much for the Euskatel team, they are Spanish not
Basque but they are bike riders. I
suppose the protour team sounded more exciting.
DAY 14
Plan for the day is 2
hours at endurance pace with some level 6 hours which I know is boring, but
then I’m going to Oudenaarde to the ‘Ronde museum’, The Tour of Flanders museum to see the
curator, Freddy Maertens. I’m told that it is worth a visit and in any
case has a good restaurant so lunch is assured in any case.
Overnight we had a really
impressive thunder and lightening storm which was spectacular for about 30
minutes, then some heavy rain which was wonderful, it cleared the air
enormously the heat and humidity had been so high it was proving difficult to
sleep, so no worries after the storm the air was clear and much fresher. By the time I rode this morning the storm had
long gone so I was able to do just over 2 hours in really nice conditions, 22c
with a cooling fresh breeze. I think I
made the right decision not to race today, I did have an option, but my ride
was good and I did mostly level 2 with some bursts of levels 4, 5, 6 and a
really short level 7, not exactly structured but just to remind my body what
was expected on Sunday.
On the way back to the
hotel I saw Lucien van Impe getting into his car and
waved to him, nice chap waved back, I guess he gets it all the time, I’m not
sure if I mentioned he actually lives in Impe (Impa) so is literally Lucien of Impe. Coming around the back of the hotel a slightly
different way in I spotted the most amazing topiary work in a garden, I’ve
never seen anything like it, they do take their
gardens very seriously here.
Sunday will be
interesting and I have a plan, well more of a strategy than an actual plan. The field is going to be 80 – 100 strong
which will be challenge one, although on experience to date less than half will
be ‘racing’ but may clutter up the front of the bunch in the first lap. The majority of the riders will be Belgian,
Holland will be well represented, any other nations will I think just be
tokens, a few Germans, a few Brit s maybe a Frenchman and me, I’ve no plan to
identify myself since there will be lots of collusion in the race, early on it
will be between clubmates later on probably between
Federations and finally between the nationalities. The Belgians would rather see another Belgian
win rather than a Dutchman etc. So I will ride in plain strip so nobody is
sure, might help it might not.
I’m going to keep a low
profile on lap one, I don’t seem to start well so I don’t want to put myself in
trouble early, although the race is only 50k, I think I would prefer at least
70k. However once the first lap is over
I’m going to ‘race’ it as it should be
raced, based on experience to date I don’t think I am strong enough to force
the breaks myself but I have the speed to cross gaps on my own, quickly. If I can get in a split all well and good and
either way if it comes to a sprint they seem to do it just how I would like
them too, they hit out early in the 11/12 cog and try to muscle it, I can’t do
that but if I follow wheels I can be fast over the last 150m on my leg speed
just as they seem to die, its been working for me this year and I will be
trying to get into position to do it on Sunday.
Ideally from a group off the front rather than an 80 up sprint but the
aim is the same either way.
Now all I have to do is
execute.
Just come back from ‘De Ronde’ museum and to be honest I think I was generally
disappointed. The museum lacked
exhibits, historical items seem to be bikes we raced on 40 years ago and not
much else topped up by somewhat irrelevant stuff like Lance Armstrong’s and Jan
Ulrich’s TDF time trial bikes, OK interesting but not in the Ronde museum. It
really about interactive gimmickry and a lot of that wasn’t working on the day,
ride a bike that simulates riding over cobbles, another that wasn’t working was
a bike programmed to simulate the effort of riding the Geraardsbergen. OK but real bike riders will have gone and
done that already. So interesting but
not a real ‘must do’ in my book, saving grace was it was cheap, 6 Euros. The vaunted café bar for the food I was
looking for was closed, only open 12 – 2? In a museum that’s open 10 -6,
doesn’t seem very commercial to me. It
did however have as much photographic memorabilia as the rest of the building
combined so that was interesting even though I couldn’t east and drink while I
was browsing the 100’s of photos and clippings.
Finally the shop was more of a jumble sale but did have some interesting
stuff but nothing unique and most of the good bike shops would offer you a
similar selection possibly cheaper. All
that is except some of the retro stuff, but I have retro in the cupboard, I did
however buy a ‘de Ronde’ cap just to prove willing.