So, it’s nearly been a month since my last blog, and it will have been a month between my last blog and when I next race, time for an update! What’s been happening with the crew?
Spent a lot of time on the wind trainer
Sat my first actual university exam
Got back on the road on the 12th June
Got sick again
Christian went home
Finished Breaking Bad
Tried to race and had to pull out after 12km
We started Game of Thrones
Raced, placed 6th, won four primes and came away with €85 - $140 NZ
Raced and got my first podium of the year
So, after sweating it out on the wind trainer for two sessions a day of an hour each when the weather was good and I’d much rather have been on the road, I finally thought my arm could probably hold up under the pressures of the road. I thought I’d better take it steady at first, and sure, the first ride was sore, but the arm seemed to only get better in leaps and bounds from then. After seeing the doc at the hospital, listening attentively to what he had to say and being told I can do everything normally again my arm seems to have improved in leaps and bounds, and now, one month post incident I feel pretty much back to normal. Now I can race without discomfort, extreme movements are a bit sore but I’m going to pull through, don’t worry. Whilst I was off I sat my uni paper which I’d been studying before I left and while I was here. Leaving home at 5:30 in the morning to beat the traffic and get a parking spot in Brussels to then wait three hours before a three hour exam wasn’t as fun as it could’ve been, but better safe than sorry and I’m just grateful I didn’t have to catch the train and risk taking the wrong one, like Cory and I did on one of our adventures. With my bone healing and things looking up, I managed to get sick again, this time with some sort of sinus infection. I never bothered with going to the doctors this time and just waited it out with some sinus tablets and tissues. As I was slowly getting better, I decided to make my comeback, a race in Liege on the 20th, just a kermesse with nothing big at stake, I just wanted to see where I was at. The legs were there, but with a burning sensation in my throat, I decided it was probably a smart idea to pull the plug before I made myself worse. Sure, I probably could’ve ridden through it and survived, but I wanted to get better quickly, and this race wasn’t going to do that, so I decided to pull the plug. By the Wednesday I was feeling much better, so Cory and I decided to go and race in Ravels, a town right on the border of Belgium and Holland. This was the first race I did last year when I came over and I was looking to improve on my 8th place. We caught the train most of the way there, rode 8km from the station to the race and got ourselves ready to rumble. The race is 20 laps of a 4km-ish circuit, with 10 euro up for grabs for the first rider over the line each lap. Within about 2km there was a break up the road, and it eventually ended up with 3 off the front. At the halfway mark I’d decided that if I was going to do any good, I’d need to be out the front so left the peloton behind with a group of four others and we rode across to the break. Once we’d caught them and formed our final eight, I probably should’ve got two primes to cover my train and registration costs, then rested up for the finish, but I was having too much fun and lost myself the race because of it. I ended up getting four primes and tried for another two with about an 80% effort. After the finish when I was handing my number in I was told that there was a classification for the rider who won the most primes, an extra 40 euro and because there’d been four of us tied for it, they split the money between the four of us. If I’d had known that before I probably would’ve tried harder, but my Dutch isn’t that good yet unfortunately. With four primes under my belt, I was a bit cooked coming into the finish and only ended up sixth. Sure, it’s an okay result but I’ve learnt that I probably should’ve prioritised a decent result over ending up like this when I handed my number in. I’ll learn. The funniest part of the day however came post-race, we knew that we wouldn’t be able to catch the train home because the race finished at half eight and the last train left at 9, we wouldn’t have made it. After picking up our prize money and getting warm jackets on, it was back on the bike for 50km home, getting back at 11 with a totally cracked Cory and no door key. Due to a mis understanding we thought there’d be one left out for us, turns out this wasn’t the case and we had to call out to 14 year old daughter of the woman that runs the place, scaring her in the process. But hey, we got in ate cereal and slept like babies, a pretty good night out by our standards. Our next race was Sunday, a race I missed last year due to sickness where Sean Bird had placed fourth and I’d been gutted that I’d missed out. A big break went early with about 20 guys in it, Cory tried to bridge at one point to no avail while I just slowly worked my way round the bunch doing a pull every so often and making sure the gap didn’t get too big. With just over half the race done, the big break was pulled back and immediately after two guys were up the road. With two more friends, I decided that we’d go join them and ruin the party. We got across to them and the five of us were working reasonably ok together and were going to stay away. On the last lap however I saw two riders coming across to us and the other four seemed to ease up for them, I have no clue why. I kept rolling through and when I pulled off and started to go backwards one of our new friends rolled through, I was minding my own till I realised who it was, CORY! He looked at me and gave me ‘the look’. The look that shouts “I’m cooked to perfection but I’m gonna burn this chicken to help you!”. So he smashed it hard and with one rider getting away slightly before the finish and it coming down to a sprint to catch him, I was sitting in a potential fifth place. I wasn’t having any of that, so coming up to the line I passed the fellow in front, upping me to a virtual fourth, then, upon noticing the guy in front had sat up, I put the power down and started to come around him. He looked sideways, saw me coming and tried to sprint but I was going too fast, I’d rolled him. Remember, what do we say to people who think they can sit up before the line? That’s the first podium of the year and hopefully more will follow, but for now it’s rest ahead of the big tour next weekend (four days, five stages) and the arrival of my parents, which I need plenty of time to prepare for because there’s cleaning to be done! I’ll try and keep the blogs regular now that I’m back racing. Thanks for everyone’s support, it’s been a rollercoaster of the past two months but what goes down must come up, or something like that. T.W.C