Belgium is Belgium

So, I go to Dr. Dag and I tell him all my symptoms. He replies, stop eating shit, hahaha. Yep, I spent the whole week training in the rain...and ya know all that spray from the road that gets on your bottles etc....ummmm yeah. All those cows in the farm fields are just laughing at me, I just know it. I guess half the Discovery team had the same issues last week during the Tour of Belgium. He just got back test results for them and they all had whatever bug it is. A few days of antibiotics and he says I should be ready to race. We'll see....I have to be able to stay hydrated for more than a few seconds at a time. But, for know I'll head back to my throne...

Questions/inquires

I appreciate the questions/inquiries that many of you sent. I will attempt to respond to them here and in future reports.

The "other than racing questions" involved stuff pertaining to the world situation and how things "appear" over hear.

One thing I have to stress is that I am living with a bunch of Americans, so current events still seem to sink into my brain in much the same fasion that they do when I am back home. However the televised news here does seem to show quite a bit more, along with a bit more variety, and less "programmed" repetition. Also, remember that Hertsberg is a little village in rural Belgium and that the nearest city is Brugge, which seems to thrive on lot of tourism. Although Paris is relatively close, if something is going on there…I would have to see it on the news to know about it.

I don’t really want to get into a whole ton of political stuff, but on the whole, people seem to have a liking for America. On the other hand they don’t really seem to like President Bush, at all. At the moment this doesn’t seem like it is a hard thing to do…even for Americans, but things are definitely a bit more liberal here and well I have to say that I don’t really like the taxes that I see on a lot of stuff here, nor do I like that I get a feeling of restriction when I start to look at how "businesses" operate here…so I’ll just leave it at that and not go down that road any further, especially seeing as I really don’t know what I am talking about…but who does anyway.
Some other "other than racing questions" pointed more directly at me and who I am.
Well when I am not riding my bicycle I like to do stuff like go hiking, camping…sleep, watch cartoons (yes, cartoons), eat sweedish fish, eat oreos with a big glass of milk, and those things called cherry flavored craisins, have you ever had any?? If you haven’t you don’t know what you are missing!! They remind me of these strawberry gummy snacks that I used to get when I was younger, this is before they started making them in all sorts of crazy animal shapes and whatever, besides I can’t say that I don’t want to eat them because they are bad for me or something, they are just cranberries ( I can probably make some sort of negative calorie claim about them too, well they might be too good for that but whatever)…..hmmm what else….I’ve actually taken quite a liking to cooking, I think this was some sort of influence Ted had on me. I often find myself trying a new dinner or something with out a recipe. I figure out how the basics of it work and go from there. I made this butternut squash risotto thing and it turned out pretty good, but I think I can make it better…did ya here that CarrieAnn? I’ll at least be a P-R-O Chef when I get back! Well, maybe not really, but in my mind I will be.

Oh, and something else. First you gotta promise not to tell anyone. Promise?? I was talking with Uncle Hert and agrees that there is a hole in the market here, and I’m going to capitalize on it! Big time! I’m gona bring the evil giant to Belgium. I’m gona start opening Starbucks up all over the place, next to all of the millions of bakeries in Belgium there is going to be a Starbucks, and they will be open 24 hours a day every day including holidays. I’ll have all of Belgium twitching from too much caffeine in no time! So who wants to give me a couple a loans?....

Another even quicker recap

Another even quicker recap:

This one involved a little bit of travel to just outside of Paris. UCI 1.12 Saint Maximin. It was a 5km circuit done more times than I want to count. The circuit involved a climb through the finish line of about 1k and was fallowed by a false flat and a turn into a cross headwind, fallowed by a downhill section back to the climb. The "hill" was big ring all day, which really wasn’t that awful. It just made the rest of the circuit feel really good, especially the false flat immediately after.
A break of about 9 went after the first couple of laps and that was THE break. I’m still trying to figure out how this race got the "UCI" sanctioning it did…or maybe it was pulled at the last minute?? There were two teams in there that were fairly decent and had about a million guys in the field, and also had men in the break, so things were controlled by them, at least for the most part. There were few moves that looked as if they might have made a solid chase group. I know Sean and I did too much work to get ourselves in one of these…really I thought it was solid, but I guess I was wrong.
By the end the "hill" had taken its toll on all of us. Three of us remained when we rolled the final lap. The finish was an uphill bunch sprint…well sort of. Aron, Sean, and I ended up 28, 32, and 44 respectively. Nothing horrible, but nothing to get all excited over.

Other comments:

France has a larger discrepancy between classes than I would have imagined. We spent a little bit of time driving around to find the race. In that time we drove through a seemingly private town that included its own polo club and golf course, and we drove by some little shanty towns (tin lean two’s and all)…literally.

About 100 meters past the start/finish: All of us rolling out for some good ol' fun.

Post race, getting ready to head out. Left to right, myself, Aron, and Chris.

"A quick recap"

A quick recap of the past weekend: The past weekend involved Pevele a UCI 1.12 and Douchy les Mines a UCI 1.12 that bore the label of “criterium.” Both took place in France.

Pevele was on Saturday and was probably the most ridiculous start to a race I have yet to experience. At this point I think that both you and I know that races in France often start before the gun ever goes off, but this was more chaotic than average. To set the stage; it was a 17-18km (11 laps total) loop that hit two sections of cobbles. The first and the longest section was the one that Hincape broke his steer-tube on earlier this season (also the ones from our photo op). This was fallowed by a narrow uphill/headwind section that lead to the second section. Still wondering about the start? Hmmm, well the day before we all were planning on a 4km sprint to the first section of cobbles. Redlined from the gun right?? When we showed up they decided to tell us that we were going to do a neutral lap that bypassed the cobbled sections, and then were going to stop the whole peleton and start the race from some other point on the course…..rrrright… Anyway we started our 40-50kph “neutral” lap and the pace car, of which I was literally sitting on its bumper, decided to lead us all down a dead end road. I Then hightailed it to the other end of the peloton, bushwacking-cyclocross style and proceeded to do the rest of the “neutral” lap including the cobbled sections. Here on the neutral lap the peloton split into four groups, yes, splits on the neutral. I really can’t complain too much at this point because I had good positioning and was looking back at the splits…to be honest, I was sort of hoping the splits would stay and the race would just continue without the “official” start. Eventually we were stopped at the designated “official” start and proceded to push pull and creep our way past any official and the start line itself. I mean really this was ridicoulous, guys were lined up on the grass and any other place you could find. Ok go! 8km to the cobbles. Well lets just say my legs didn’t like that restart thing too much or something. I hit first section of cobbles with good positioning, but did too much work to be there. This translates to 200km before the cobbles… uhohh I think I did too much work …100km oh sh—I did do too much. Ok so maybe I got a bit antsy after the chotic “neutral” lap, and it cost me my race and any chances of making it into any sort of selection…of which I feel very strongly that I could/should have been in. It was a hard day to settle with.

Douchy les Mines took place on Monday and was another unique one. Can we say UCI Kermis! Definitely not a Crit. 6km laps (21 laps total)…um no not a crit. It fallowed the typical kermis formula of run you through all the tiny little streets with 1001 turns and then shove you out of town into some windy section…oh and did I mention that little hill, yeah you gotta go up that too. I guess when they said crit all they ment was that there was going to be a pit and free laps allowed. Obviously they ment multiple free laps, being a 6km course and all, that is unless someone can show me how to sprint in my cycling shoes…ummm yeah, I can’t sprint in a pair of running shoes, so go figure. The day ended with three of us in the peleton sprinting for 30th place or something. I will say that this day went a bit better than Saturaday, but not much. Oh, and one other thing, there were millions of little French kids all over the course and they were much less reserved than your typical Belgian. They liked to talk back and throw stones onto the course…yeah and the ones that were trying to look tough, they were sort of missing the target on that one. So, all you US punks out there, you definitely have a one up on the French…or as we have been so affectionately calling them, “Frank.” I not sure if I entirely like Frank, at least at the moment. And Frank FYI, the accordion before the race was just not cool, especially after you ran it all through a ton of speakers.

The Legitamacy of it all

What have I been up to you ask?? Well, riding my bike of course, duh! The past few weeks have been a bit slower than the first few, which in some ways is good. Some of the time was spent with the Belgian cold/flu sort of thing. A bit frustrating because the last time I got sick was last year at the same exact time. This winter I even made it though a few rounds of the flu unscathed. Maybe, its just all that international travel stuff. Anyway, I am now back on my feet. I did a kermis while I was still hacking a bit, survived that and we ended up with a man in the break. Not too horrible. Also, did a UCI 1.12 in Anzehem this past Saturday. I ended up struggling with a few flats. This sort of brings me to a point that I struggle with. I’m not sure how to relay some of the details of racing here. How do I really describe the aggression, and mentality of it all? What is it like to do a UCI race here?... I can try, and have tried. But, without actually having first hand experience, I feel I am only scratching the surface. Describing the racing/lifestyle here is about as unique as the racing itself.

Besides going on about the whole lifestyle thing and that being a professional cyclist is 24 hour a day job, what else can I say? Well, I will say that I feel the Cycling Center is a legitimate endeavor. Take for example a UCI race. We show up with a crew that takes care of everything except us putting on our shorts and actually pedaling our bikes. The races involve “real” caravans. Take a look at some Tour de France coverage, look at the caravan, that’s pretty much what we have fallowing our races, less a few spectators of course. In the race there is a constant stream of information from Bernard in the team car (through the radios), and Ann is always armed and ready in the feed zone. What more can you ask for?? All I really have to do is race my bike. Piece of cake, right? Well lets just say that I hope to be able to say that at some point. Remember, the mentality in races here is nothing like that of the US. Its go hard from the gun, and go even harder until a break forms, and then go even harder. Very little room for playing “patty cake.”

Aside from the actual races themselves, there is a ridiculous amount of support that the CC receives/provides/has access to. Training guidance, bike fit, diet consultation, massage therapy, etc. etc. its all there when you need it. It seems as though there is a Pro tour team car in the driveway every week, someone or other stopping by to see how things are going. The point is that there are a lot of people looking out for the well being of the CC, and the goings on within it.

A bit more about myself….

Right now I am in round 2 of Bret vs. Belgium (or however you wish to look at it), but with a slow start, as with last year, I feel as if I am only in round 1.5. Not trying to sound negative at all here. It’s just that I am very anxious to get some good racing in, and little time to open up all that winter training and preparation. Almost like an impatient little kid. I’m getting very itchy to really get into a race and dig deep. Only in the past few days have I begun to feel near 100% again. Finally stopped coughing, man that took a long time. Now its time (a bit overdue at that) to go tear it up…so look out Belgians here comes a big ol’ American with a bull’s-eye on his back…see if you can catch me…ha!

All of you who sent questions or comments thanks, I have tons to work with now. Not that I didn’t before, but now I got a little bit of an idea of what some of you want to here…ahemmm…only some of you though.

Below are a few pictures that a fellow CC member, Eric (thanks, Eric), took at a UCI, I was not racing in this particular one, but I hope some of the pictures give a little bit of an idea of how things work.

A view from the caravan, keep in mind that we have good position in the caravan this day. Meaning there are a ton of other team cars behind us.

Above: A shot of Sean doing some motorpacing for a nice solid warm up. Yes, you are looking through the rear window of the team car.

Below: A view of the inside of the team car

To my valued readers

To your left is a picture of a picture. Yes, I know if you wern't already wondering a bit about me...I'm sure you are now. No, really the point of this is that some of you seem to be taking a liking to some of the photos I have been putting up, and that I have been lacking in describing my personal cycling/racing experiences. This leads me to ask a question of all of you. (Yes, there are quite a few of you...I figured out how to check the little page hit counter...either a few of you really like to click a lot, and I mean a lot...or there is actually a lot of you tuning in.) What would you like to hear from me. Race stuff, daily life stuff, pictures, ramblings about my view on life??? Send me questions, and if I don't get any, none of you can complain!! So, ha!! Take that!!

Just in case you haven't figured it out yet, the above photo is from an earlier post, and it looks like it turned out quite well.

The below photo is a doctored up version of the original post...free Picasa picture software at its finest.