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