BELGIAN ODYSSEY’S 2008

 

DAY 18

Well I decided my penultimate day here was going to very easy, no racing today.  Having analysed my power numbers last night courtesy of my Powertap hub I decided whilst I had been feeling very good, it still wasn’t an easy race, nor would you expect it to be I guess.

 

Basically I was hitting all the power numbers I aim for in training which is great, I always know I can do a bit more in a race situation but even in training I very rarely put to big power output days back to back.  So my decision not to race today was made on the fact that no matter how good I felt yesterday, at my age I will still feel it today and probably wouldn’t race well and if I did race today then there would be no point in racing on Tuesday.  So I skipped today in the hope that I have good legs again on Tuesday!

 

Just under 2 hours this morning, back along the canal bank again, it really is a very pleasant ride it was sad to think I won’t be doing it again this trip.  (Did you note the possibility of another trip there?).  No pressure just spinning the legs helping to ease them from yesterdays efforts then back to the hotel.  When I got back there were people starting to set out the barriers for the next race in the village, this afternoon, it really is full on around here, there is another race tomorrow!

 

Today’s race was I’m pretty certain for elites; I didn’t bother to walk around to the start finish line which was on the other side of the village, but I did sit in the sun and watch the whole race, around 15 minutes for each lap and I expect race distance was 100km.  It wasn’t a huge field; I imagine that there were plenty of Elite races to choose from at this time of the year in Belgium so it’s always good to try and choose one were everybody else isn’t!  The field was effectively reduced to around 20 riders left standing with two laps to go, I think the biggest group was of 5 riders racing for 14th place, I think there was an Aussie boy wearing the white and grey colours of ‘prime estate’ or some such, I think he finished about 18th? but he disappeared quickly afterwards so I didn’t get to catch up with him.

 

So I’ve had an early dinner and I’m going to chill with my book tonight and the start of tomorrow won’t be rushed either my race is at 5.30pm, a 50km Criterium on a 1.5km circuit, I hope its not a kamikaze job, since it’s an over 55 race and if my legs still feel good I fancy myself for a good ride.  Probably the wrong thing to say!

 

After the race, which is a long way to travel for a race in Belgium, one hour, things will get pretty busy, since I have to strip my bike down and pack it away, then pack most of my clothes as well.  I need to be away from the hotel to get to Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, I could go a little bit later but really don’t want to get involved with the Amsterdam rush hour traffic.

 

DAY 19

Its fair time in Belgium which means that many villages, large and small, have the funfair in town for a few days, beer/entertainment tents erected, maybe a bike race or two plus all sorts of goings-on arranged.  Well at 11pm last night, long after all good bike riders are in bed, I thought it was world war III, in the little church square at the front of the hotel (my room is way at the back and up to this point proof against any street noises) there was a massive fire work display being conducted.  What a noise going on over my head, fortunately these displays never last very long and normal sleep was resumed very quickly.

 

Breakfast has been a leisurely affair and a sit in the early sunshine.  I’ve cleaned my bike and I’ve settled my bill since I need to be away so early tomorrow.  There’s not much I can do in the way of packing so I thought I would get this journal as up to date as possible, read my book and maybe look for a snack in a little while ready to drive to my race which starts at 5.30pm, its on the other side of Brussels but should only be an hour or so away.

 

Final race done and dusted, it was a 50km Criterium, 35 laps of a 1.5km circuit which I was very pleased to discover was fast and well surfaced with only four corners.  The first corner was a bit tricky because we were turning across one of those pedestrian precinct things that they do here, it has a bit of arise just where we turning, the second corner was fast and pedaled flat out, the third was more of a sweeping bend, taken flat out pedaling, the final corner into the home straight turned across some raised concrete edges.

 

We started sedately, by local standards until the last turn on the first lap and then we were off, I must admit that for the first 4/5 laps I was really wondering whether I could do this, I don’t know what it is with me and starting, I warmed up for 40 minutes. After 3 laps there were nine riders just off the front, maybe 100 metres (9 seems to be the magic number here) as we came round with 29 to go I suddenly realized that jumping out of corners was not quite so difficult anymore and I thought that the front group was edging away so I launched myself out of the second corner down the very fast back straight, more or less sprinted the whole way round to the last corner, just latching on as we came into the home straight.

 

As I joined up two guys went backwards another went a few laps later, I had a lap on the back checking out the rest of the bunch and then got to pulling a few turns and we seemed to move away from the bunch without too much pain, it seemed easier when we were out of sight.  There were 5 primes in the race and the boys didn’t want to share them and to be honest I wasn’t too bothered, I didn’t know what they were worth and typically I don’t do intermediate sprints I prefer to save myself for the final sprint.

 

As the laps were counting down there were as few half hearted attacks that came to nothing but as we got into the last 10 laps there was a lot of ‘talking’ going on so I pretty much knew what to expect, I just didn’t know when! As we came through for five laps to go I decided that attack was the best form of defence and went for it through the same fast corner onto the back street that had worked for me earlier.  I definitely caught them on the hop and it was only at the finish line that four of them got back to me, they didn’t seem to mind the other two being jettisoned and we settled down again for a couple of laps.  At two to go the attacks started, they seemed to have split themselves into two teams of two, taking it turns to attack me, I guess I could have succumbed to the inevitable but I thought what the hey and I found it works for me if I react very quickly to each attack but of course I had to give way at the end.  By this stage we were into the last lap and I just rode tempo for that lap with two ‘passengers’ on my wheel, they chose to attack me coming out of the last corner with about 400 meters to go gapped me initially but I managed to get on the last wheel.  I managed to get by them both on the line, I finished really fast over the last 100metres getting by with room to spare.

 

The average speed for the race was 43.2kph and remember this was 55 and up, there were some real ‘animals’ in the race, just so strong.

 

I also made a couple of new friends so its is disappointing to be going home just as I getting the hang of this and meeting people

 

The atmosphere at the race was terrific, there was the usual fun fair and beer tents with a live band cranking up as we got into the final laps, I think it would have been awesome for the ‘younger’ guys in the next race, more people and a lot of noise!  I even got a lot of coverage from the race commentator, who was giving me personal lap checks in English, mind you I could read the board fine.  The one thing that was unusual when I was getting the name checks from the commentator, he was getting my name right! Which was a major surprise, I always used to be Raymondo Rhodez!!!!  Sounds more European I guess.

 

Got all my packing done, why does it not go back into the same space when you are going home?  Having done the bike first I had to open the box three more times to take the overflow from my suitcase and I thought I was coming home with less than I brought, check in tomorrow will tell that I guess.

 

DAY 20

Well that’s it I’m sitting in the MSA lounge in Schiphol airport waiting for my flight to be called.  I thought I’d write a few words to sum up this trip.

 

Well I can actually say it in one word, FANTASTIC.

 

I know I’ve been very lucky with the weather, in Belgium at anytime of the year you can never be sure of what you are going to get, I’ve been blessed with good weather and indeed some very warm weather.  Consequently I’ve been living in shorts most of the time and T shirts that don’t need ironing so rinsing them out regularly with my racing gear has meant that I’ve not come close to using all my clothes, I’ll be coming home with half a suit case of clean clothes, how’s that for a novelty.

 

The racing has been brilliant, personally I prefer it when racing is challenging, and here it is always that, the speed, the aggression, the twisty circuits, you can’t afford to be inattentive for a second or it’s all over.  I can think of training drills that probably would have helped me and not missing two weeks riding just before I came away with a chest infection would have helped as well.

 

I’m seriously thinking about coming back next year for a similar jaunt, I would stay in the same place, the hotel has been brilliant, and the location is really good for a lot of the racing.  I think I would sample some of the other racing as well and not stick mainly to the one association; I would definitely get myself in the right races.  I was riding beyond my physical capabilities really or at least my capabilities to repeat them too often, an age thing I guess, racing every other day at that level was too much, two races in three days and I need four days off to recover properly but maybe that would be the case in whatever races I entered since if I felt I was competitive I became much more aggressive myself so maybe the result would have been the same.

 

Language has been a bit of an issue but not surmountable, indeed the challenge of communicating can be fun in its own right. Driving has been no problem, even being a ‘manual’ car on the wrong side and with the benefit of Satnav lady the navigating has been just so easy, we only conspired to confuse ourselves a couple of times, usually due to temporary road closures and I’ve certainly seen some countryside that I wouldn’t have seen without her ability to carve a ‘straight’ line through the meandering Belgian lanes and byways.

 

So I’m ‘up for it’ next year, maybe there are a few chaps that might like to join me, renting a small bus for bodies and bikes is just too easy and there are genuinely races for all ages, in this area there are two categories for over 70’s!.

 

Anyway thank you to everybody that has been reading this tortuous journal, I’ve enjoyed writing it and I hope yo