Another big update. Last blog was after the Geetbets kermesse where I placed fourth, the top two photos are from that race, the finish photo showing how sandwiched I was. Since then I’ve had 5 races and podiumed in two of them, fifth in another, got a good training ride in another and froze my ass off in the fifth. Geetbets was on the Wednesday, my next race, Herentals was Saturday. I’d done this race last year and managed 4th place and was looking to improve on that, but it didn’t happen. The race started off fast and I was firing, felt really good and eventually formed a break of four about 25km in and we were joined by three others 5km later. These three came across to us and all of a sudden my legs fell to pieces. I sat on the back with my head down for the next 15km and suffered through it. According to Jozef who was standing on the sideline, as we rode by on one of the laps the guys were saying in Dutch to each other that I was probably sitting on the back and going to roll them at the end. With the way I was feeling I was hoping just to make it to the end. My legs were still feeling crap at the 45km mark but by 48km everything had flipped and I was pulling some solid pulls. What had happened to my legs I’m still not entirely sure. It came down to a sprint between the 7 of us at the finish, I was third wheel and sitting pretty. I went to launch my sprint on the left hand side, as I did the guy that was second wheel decided to also go on the left hand side and I had to quickly re-plan as there wasn’t enough room for both of us. I Eased off slightly and started up the right hand side, just as two riders came round me and with the other two in front and to the left of me, these new two in front and to the right, it was a wall in front of me with nowhere to go, so fifth it was. the following Thursday was a local crit, 50km comprised of 34 laps with two U-turns per lap and absolutely rubbish weather conditions. Prior to the race I’d said that I’d be stoked if I finished unscathed. Turns out everyone else was fairly sensible and managed not to cajole me into to pulling some sketchy manoeuvres. A break of two formed about 10km in, which I chased down over the course of a lap and partied along with. We stuck it for the rest of the race and came about 15 seconds shy of lapping the peloton, where each lap was roughly 2:15, we were cranking pretty well. With the three of us I think I’d be able to safely say that I was probably doing 50% of the work, and if I hadn’t we’d have been caught by the chase group that was only 10 seconds behind us by the time we finished. Coming around the last U-bend with 500 metres to the finish I was left on the front so I decided I wasn’t going to let them just take me easily, and started my sprint 250 metres out, dodging the slippery manhole cover on the slight bend into the finish and going hard, but one of my breakaway companions managed to come round me and steal the win. I was lucky enough to hold on for second and as the photo above shows, third place wasn’t too happy about that. I felt good all race, above the waist that is, felt calm and at ease with the peddling, but the legs were stinging a bit. To put it in comparison, I averaged the same power for the hour and a quarter that the race was with 68 U-bends that I did in a 40km TT at the back end of last year with one U-bend, so I was happy. Two days later and I was back racing in hot, sunny conditions. The race turned into a good training ride because it just didn’t go my way. I got in the early break which lasted for 30km, whilst I picked up two primes, but was then pulled back together. After that I missed the following breaks and no-one in the bunch was working as most of them had teammates up the road. So instead of just sitting in and wasting my time, I’d go on the front and do some long pulls, string everything out for a while, recover, then do it all over again. I’d let some riders attack half-heartedly, give them a gap and some hope that they’ll be able to sneak away, then sit on the front and pull it back before they got too far out. As we started our last lap and with no clue how many guys were up the road, I rolled off the front for a solo lap and came in 24th, not my best result but a good training day on a day that just didn’t work out. After that weekend I’d been resting up because I was meant to be racing in a mixed team for a race in the north of Holland, which was eventually canned because the team I was to be riding with had too many riders sick or injured, so instead I raced Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was nearby and once again the weather was less than desirable, it was raining and it was freezing. Whilst warming up I had a merino mesh base layer, arm warmers, my jersey, a long sleeved jacket, a gilet and leg warmers on and was still cold. This was another race that didn’t work out and a break of riders got away that are normally not the strongest, but managed to stay away. No-one in the bunch wanted to chase and whenever I made an attack it was shut down instantly. It eventually came down to a bunch sprint for seventh place and I was 12th, another day that things didn’t go overly well. However Sunday was a completely different story, arm warmers and a warm base layer were still needed but a hill mid-course kept the race heated. I can’t really go into how many of us were ahead of the peloton at any one time as I was always near the front and barely looked round. All I know is that I attacked with three others in the first kilometre, we were joined by eight others about a lap and a half later and things were a bit disjointed. At about halfway I looked over my shoulder and it seemed we had a lot more than 12 guys, but I’m not sure. With about 30km to go there was a solo attack and mad respect for the guy because he managed to stay out the front for the rest of the race to eventually win. On the last lap one rider attacked and got a decent gap to hold on for second and with one kilometre to go I snook off the front, pulled some Voecklers and managed to come in ahead of the chasing group(s) (not entirely sure) to get another podium with third place. Looking ahead, I have an interclub next Sunday which I did last year, all flat and gnarly cobbles so I won’t race Saturday. The following weekend I have two more kermesses then the following Thursday I start the journey home. Not long now and I’m looking forward to a change of scenery again! Will try and write the last blog in the week prior to leaving or on the plane, after all my races are done! T.W.C