Zwevezele - Kermis, 3/28/05

Race Report #2:

Zwevezele - Kermis, 3/28/05

Baby steps would be a good phrase for my first round of racing in Belgium. The second race I did, which was last week turned out not horrible, but less than spectacular after exploding all over the road. I spent the majority of the fallowing week trying to find all the pieces to my legs. So, after a UCI race and a kermis I did a little bit of learning. First rule of Belgian racing: any corner greater than or equal to 90 degrees will involve coming to an almost complete stop and then accelerating to 50-60 km per hour. Oh, yeah and if your are Belgian you have to do it in your 53-11. If the corner is greater than 90 degrees you ride at it like there is no turn whatsoever…same goes for roundabouts, which are of course entirely optional if you have the skills you can just bunny hop the whole damn thing. No, I’m not joking.
The basic course layout was flat with a long headwind section out of town with a slight cross/tailwind on the way back in. This was fallowed by and uphill to the finish and a couple of turns through the town and past the local bar. 20 laps that totaled 120k or so.
This weeks kermis went better than the last two, no incredible results, but a finished race. At least it shows I’ve learned a thing or two. Steve made the main split, so that was a good thing. Unfortunately, a group of seven guys had snuck off just before the main split that happened at about 1.5 hours into the race (slightly over halfway). Steve ended up 17th and made a few euros.
I ended up somewhere in the 30s. It was a solid race, most of the day was spent in a strung out single file line, with occasional bunching up on the farm road before the left hander to the uphill finish. Another option I had was to get in front of that line and mix it up a bit….hmmm after a couple of goes at that I quickly realized it wasn’t that great of an idea for me, at least at this point in time. I must say that it felt good to get into a little bit of a grove and get things opened up without exploding all over the road. Additionally I felt the exquisitely unique, bottom of the cassette thud as the chain slips into the good ol’ 11 tooth more than a couple of times. Feel the burn…
So, now the basic game plan was to stay near the front but not at the front and hope to make the split. Seemingly simple, but getting in that split is one confusing matter right now (more so than usual), mainly because tactically I feel like I have been turned completely upside down. I don’t know who is who. I had trouble differentiating between who is strong and who is really strong…at least I know they are all strong…even the chubby dude that was trying to chat with me before the race.
One other thing that is very different about the racing here is that when they try to announce “Bret Glembocki,” they actually pronounce it right…wow amazing no more “Bret Gldsaljfdslkhfhjlkh.”


Bret Glembocki

Bike Fit

Bike Fit

3/25/05

I had tried to get the new bike dialed in before I left, but there really just wasn’t the time to do things right. The old Colnago road like a dream and seemed very dialed in. So, I tried to set things up on the new Orbea (both, were curtasey of Novacyclsprort/ISCorp) with the measurements from the Colnago…hmmm things just didn’t feel right. I guess I would attribute some of this to the different frame geometries etc. I thought I had gotten things pretty close with the help of CarrieAnn, but then I had to go and mess with stuff some more. All this ment was that I would have to make sure I got a bike fit as soon as I could after arrival, and that is what I did. Unfortunately this was after my wonderful lactate test, and after Dr. Dag told me to get my fit straightened out…”was it that obvious??” I thought as I rode home from the test. Both him and Ann just shrugged their shoulders and said the bike just looks to small, and then went on to say that they were no experts on bike fit.
Down to the Bike Fit…It was definitely and interesting experience in itself. The old guru like gentleman seemed to know his stuff. Not to mention it took about three hours of poking, prodding and some dismantling of my bike. I got measurements taken from every angle. Some of the instruments he used were very homemade, but appeared to do their specific job very well, especially the one that measure your inseam, ha! After all, he supposedly had quite a repertoire of pros and those alike that he has fitted successfully.
I must say that I wish I could understand Dutch, seeing as that is all he spoke. Ann did a fair amount of translating, at least the important stuff. I must say, though, that I wish I could have understood the little stuff he was saying. He seemed very knowledgeable, especially when I asked a question. He would answer with about three pages worth of answer, and I would get about one translated. I’m not trying to say that the translation effort by Ann wasn’t good, just that I felt some of the small details were lost. The one thing I could understand was that whenever he dropped something etc. he said “damn it.” So, I figured out one more word/phrase…I think that makes my total about three know.
Right now it is about a week later, and things are starting to feel pretty comfy again, but it took a little getting used to. I must say that the during the race a day or so later I had some weird cramping etc. going on, but I have yet to see anymore. So, we’ll see how things go this weekend.

Gent-Iepers UCI 1.2

Race Report 1:

UCI 1.2 Gent-Iepers, 3/13/05

I have been here at the Cycling Center in Belgium for just under a week now and found out only the other day that my first race here would be a UCI 1.2. This was a bit unexpected. I had anticipated my first couple of races to be kermeses and then hopefully later on be selected for some UCI races, so as you can imagine I was stoked to be selected, but quite anxious as well.
For those of you who may not know, a kermese is race that is somewhat comparable to a local race, and a UCI race is sanctioned by the International Cycling Union. I am not by any means saying that a kermese is easier, especially seeing as I have not even done one yet.
Alright, back to the race. We arrived a little under two hours early and it was an impressive spectacle. There was more support here for an amateur race than I have ever seen for any race in the US.
The race layout was a flat jaunt (about 70 km) out of Gent to a loop near Iepers that was done twice. The section out of Gent included a couple of cobbled sections and for the most part was into a solid head wind. The loop included 3 short steep climbs and after doing it a second time it went up a cobbled climb called the Kemmelberg, and then 30 km into Iepers to the finish. 196 lined up to start, and a beautiful 35-38 degrees Fahrenheit.
So, right now you are probably asking; what about YOUR race Bret, come on lets hear the details! Out of Gent things started out pretty fast and intense, but nothing unmanageable. Things seemed to be staying together, especially since it was a head wind most of the way. I was working on just getting comfortable and moving about in the field, dealing with the five thousand roundabouts, dodging the millions of random objects/medians, and trying to get near the front for the cobbled sections. O.K. so open your eyes as wide as you can and then open them and inch or two wider…that’s how I felt at the beginning. “Bright eyed and bushy tailed,” I think is how the saying goes, then mix in a bit of adrenaline. Aside from the course itself, the riders showed a level of aggression that was entirely new to me, and having the stars and stripes all over your back didn’t help much, either.
By the time we got 50 km or so into the race, I noticeably started to relax a bit and have to say that I liked the level of aggression, when people were making a move or doing something they did it, they didn’t hesitate, balk, or any of that stuff. The cobbled sections weren’t too bad. I made it out of most of them in alright, but not great, position.
Things are going alright, made it to the loop section and the first feed zone is coming up. Good I’m getting a bit low on water, the road is pretty wide right now, nothing too much going on at the front, so I slide up a bit more. The guys in front of me start slowing, and I’m thinking why are we breaking…were almost completely stopped now…oh, were turning onto a farm road with a cross wind, hmm this is going to sting a bit. Made it through that fairly unscathed, and here is the feed zone, awesome! Only problem, I had to drop back to the near tail end of the field to get a feed, no problem relax, and ease my way back up the field. I look ahead and all I can see is wide (2 + lanes) road in front of me. The outside of the field starts moving up pretty aggressively, hmm what’s going on? Oh, and guys in front of me are locking rear tires up, time for another farm road into a cross head wind. On a side note, these farm roads are one lane wide, and I mean one SMALL lane, your big SUV would probably have trouble with a good deal of them. This doesn’t look so good right now, I along with all the guys in front of me, have a foot down and are standing still (or attempting to ride through the farm field next to us). Yeah, race tactics and knowledge about the race seem to go a long way here. So, after closing about a million gaps that opened up in the single file line that formed on that tiny farm road, Bret’s huge and powerful legs cried out (ha!)!! So goes my first UCI race.
Afterward, I didn’t feel as bad as I did at first, seeing as this section cut the field in half. Unfortunately, none of the other Cycling Center guys finished either. Still. It would have been nice to see at least some of us do well, but supposedly this is a pretty tough race among races.
All the guys from the Cycling Center that did the race had all been here before and done UCI races in the past. They were ALL extremely kind in terms of offering advice before, and after the race. For example, taking the time to explain to me that if you have a bad moment or are dropping back to the car for a feed in the race, to take your time moving back up through the cars, and not try to plow through them all at once like I (stupidly) was trying to do. Other small bits of advice pertaining to things like reading the field etc. should prove to be priceless in the future.

Bret Glembocki

Crazy People, Crazy Travels

I'm safe and sound at the Cycling Center. It was an interesting trip to say the least....got stuck in Warsaw for 4 or 5 hours where it seemed like they were trying to find the plane(literally)...and when I finally got to Brussels the door to the airport entrance was jammed and the whole plane stood waiting for about 20-30 min inthe runway...then after getting in the airport I discovered I had missed the last train for the day...hmmm what fun! So, I eventually got a call through to Bernard, who is currently in the US. He helped coordinate things with Ann(his wife) and eventually I got to the Cycling Center after she drove to the airport and picked me up. After all that she then fed me at about 1:30 in the morning. Oh, and did I mention that I got stuck with a broken seat on my flight out of O'hare, thats a story in itself! hmmm...I think I understand why people make those polish jokes...LOT airlines was a perfect example. Anyway the bike seems to have made it in one piece...but it looked like they ripped through it about ten times at the airport. The wheels got knocked around a bit, but nothing I can't fix. The Cycling Center is quiet impressive so far, there are only about 8 of the 20 or so guys that will eventually be here for the spring season.

Early Start to a New Season

Alrighty, so I have just returned home, good old Wisconsin. It hasn't warmed up one bit since I left. I think the same snow that was on the ground when I left is still here...anyway I am glad to have a chance to stop at home for a week and a half, relax a bit and gather my thoughts before I head off to Belgium. Also, I owe many thanks to my uncle for putting up with me and letting me hang out for the winter and train...and putting up with the incessant Cartoon Network viewing.

I started the season off bright and early this year. Before I left AZ, I put in a couple of days of racing. The first race I did was just a local circuit race in McDowell Mtn. Park. I was quite anxious to just get out there and race. I hadn't actually raced my bike since Superweek of last year (July), when I ended my season early by getting a little too friendly with some of the steel barriers and breaking some bones in my right hand. Anyway, back to the race, it went alright. I definately felt like I hadn't raced in quite some time, but all in all I felt pretty good...maybe not good enough to go chasing down any breaks but it is still very early in the season for me.

The fallowing weekend I went on to do the Valley of the Sun stage race. This was a little higher profile than the local race I did earlier, and the field was for the most part full. It started off with a individual time trial...hmmm I got to the start line with my super duper aero mini clip-ons and the second I turn the cranks over once the sky starts to open up...yes an even better advantage than the clip-on and 32 hole wheels. I pegged my heart rate where I wanted it and got into a grove. I got to the turn around and realized that I had not been going hard enough...I wasn't hurting enough at the halfway point...grrr, so I said to myself I need to f@#!@# pick up the pace! So, I did. In the end I was about 50 seconds slower than I thought I was currently capable of...

The next day was a 90 mile road race, in which I saw more rain than sun. Hmmm, maybe we need to change the name of the race...a bit ironic, yeah I think so. I felt good for the race, it was plenty easy to get in some of the mix at the front, but I definately needed to be carful to not over do it. The little cimb to the finish (~500 ft.) took its toll by the 6th time up it. No, super results but it wasn't an easy race because there were only about 60 or so finishers. Note: you have to finish the previous stage to continue the next day.

Sunday, the day to the criterium. Finally there is some sun, and it almost feels hot to me. For the most part things went the same as yesterday, with the exception that I had a near miss with a crash with 2 laps to go...hmmm I gues I should be glad to not have crashed and not worry about the results, once again it is early for me...at least I tell myself.

At both of these races I got a chance to speak with Bernard, who runs the Cycling Center over in Belgium, and that was the main reason I came to these races. It was good to talk to him, it eased at least some of the anxiety I have over traveling to Belgium...hey all you world travelers give me a break I've never been overseas before!