Kruishoutem = WIN

I won my second race of the season yesterday! It was a fairly standard Kermis race around a good little circuit with a section of cobbles, some tight corners and quite a few people watching.

Where's Wally?

I spent most of the race creeping around, letting things unfold and watching people. I’m doing quite well at my new tactic of letting other people be the aggressors and using them as much as possible. 

Yeah Buddy!

It’s so good to win again, as it’s been over four months and I’d almost forgotten how. Hopefully I can keep being a crafty devil and get a few more good results before the season’s out.

DreamTeam

I went to a Pro Kermis yesterday with Llewellyn and we paid three euros to race a full Rabobank squad, including Lars Boom and Michael Matthews, 1t4i rider John Degenkolb, and a fleet of other top Pros. It was pretty darn cool. I did plenty of sneaking around and hiding as the professional Kermisses are 160km, which is a full length race in my eyes!

Here comes the pain train.

Nearing the end there was a break of seven riders just up the road and I thought I'd try to attack across (that's a joke by the way; it was Lars Boom and Andy Fenn up the road!).

But I did attack with 2km to go and felt good. There was no getting away from the Rabobank leadout train for Theo Bos though and I was reeled in. I snuck back into the line and managed 27th place. All in all a really fun day. I can't wait for my next pro Kermis.

Back on top

On Saturday it was my first race back after a few weeks of taking it easy. I was determined to sit in for once and actually save myself for the best sprint I could manage at the end of the race. It turned out that the race was rather more hilly than usual and had a 1.5km climb in it, which made it quite hard to save the legs up there. I had a worrying bodily message before the start of the race when I went for a pee and realised that I was dehydrated; what a schoolboy error!

Phil minding Josh in Bruges.

Naturally, despite being a canny fellow for most of the race, I still started cramping with 40km to go and had to ride ‘gently gently’ and roll onto the wheels. In the sprint I ended up going stupidly early (350m) because a gap opened on the right and I didn’t want to get boxed in, so I switched all the guys behind me (it’s the Belgian way) and did it! I got a good gap but when I hit the uphill bit and my speed reduced to about 20kph with 50m to go a few (about 21) guys came round me.

Aside from the riding (cycling this, bikes that!) I’ve got my friend Phil visiting this weekend which is great fun. We saw the sights of Brussels on Saturday night, and minced around Bruges on Sunday like the annoying English tourists we are so it’s been nice to have some relative normality. I’ll be building up the training again this week before a bigger race on Sunday in Affligem. I’m looking forward to getting back into the routine. Peace out people.

'Easy' weekend?

I had quite a relaxed few days in terms of mental pressure this weekend. There were no big races on so I did a couple of Kermisses with a bit of extra training beforehand. The plan was to sit in and get some ‘speed miles’ in but I have an allergic reaction to sitting on wheels for the duration of races, so I naturally ended up doing more work than I should have.

Saturday was a 110k Kermis in Koekelare and I got there early so I could do ninety minutes steady before the start. It was nice to meet up with Neil Reeder and the GWR boys too, as four of them had come over to smash up the foreign circuit. The start was characteristically fast and twisty, with a lovely smattering of cobbles and crosswinds, and the bunch shredded. I bullied my way to the front and stayed there or thereabouts throughout which was lucky, because it was carnage behind. 

I got in the break, then I clung on for dear life. I'm still looking quite comfortable here.

Nearing the end there was a group of about forty riders away and I was cruising along with them, mostly at the back with sore legs. One guy clipped away and no-one else chased him so I waited for my moment and then attacked about 1.5k from the end, in a nasty headwind section. I felt like I was barely moving and thankfully a bloke came across to me from the bunch. I did one turn and then sat on him, before doing the age old trick of jumping him (like the big meanie I am) 300m from the line. The bunch were right on our bums by this point and one guy came round me, but I just managed to hold onto 3^rd by doing a rather comical bike throw (and spraining my arm in the process).

When the legs say no and you just can't go, follow wheels. Sitting on like a boss!

This is me pretending to be at the front of a bunch sprint, when in fact I'd been off the front for over a kilometre; got ya! 

On Sunday, me and da boyz rode 20k out to Merelbeke for another jolly Kermis. It was quite a big field and the fast course made it very difficult to get away in a break. After several semi-suicidal attacks (easy for me to say) there was finally a split near the end with 10k to go, and as it had four of us Terra boyz in it I drove it. 

One of many doomed breakaways I was in. This 10k escape earned us one 10 euro prime. I'm not sure it was worth it: if you look closely at my face you'll probably agree.

I put in a little attack 3k out but wasn’t feeling it and when I came back my Belgian amigo Bjorn De D went over the top and took a friend with him. He was looking super strong so we massed at the front and covered any chasers. From there myself and Josh Hunt did a textbook lead out train for Llewellyn Kinch who just got pipped for third and was fourth. It was a good day for the team and a pretty convincing show of dominance.

Mythical: enjoying the view from the top of the Muur yesterday.

Today I enjoyed a coffee in the sun, riding up the Muur Van Geraardsbergen and getting a team issue hair cut. This weekend is the Tryptique des Monts et Chateaux stage race in Belgium so I’m looking forward to seeing how I go over a few days racing.

Hair cutting is the new spectator sport. It's like a live reality show. Here's Josh Yetman getting the snip. 

 

Team issue haircut. Well I like it (and it was free). This is also the photo on my application to be a boyband member.

Only as good as your last race

They say that you’re only as good as your last race, which is why I had to race twice this weekend. On Saturday I raced in Vlaamse Pijl which is a UCI race with some cobbled climbs in it from Flanders. I was pretty pumped, but it turned out to be quite a disappointing race in the end. I rode the course a few days before so I knew what was coming with regards to the climbs but I forgot how insane a bunch of 200 riders can be. The first hour was pretty rapid and then the 10k before the first cobbled climb was like a race finish; guys were diving up the cobbles at the side and doing suicidal moves to get to the front. You spend more time leaning on other guy’s bars than not, which wears you down mentally. No one gives anyone any space; it’s a brawl on wheels.

When you get to the front it’s a case of smashing it for as long as you can until you got swamped, and as it turned out this happened to me just before the climb. I went from top 30 to almost dead last and from then it was pretty much game over. There were two or three stupid crashes up the climb and I had to unclip, then over the top it was balls out, obviously. The long and short of it is that I chased onto the group in front alone, but by that point they were off the back of the bunch anyway, so we rode to the finish and got pulled 30k from the end.

I was down to do 4-5 hours training on Sunday but I wasn’t really up for it, so I decided to take out some frustration and ride 55k to a little Kermis and sit in for training. I’m pretty awful at sitting in though (as anyone who knows me will agree) and I was stupidly aggressive early on in the race. Once I got in the break I did sit on at the back quite well, but with about 30k to go my legs were tying up a bit so I inhaled some gels and did no work. The break shredded in the last 15k as usual and I made the front five. I wasn’t riding for a result up until now, but I started thinking I could have it at this point. Up the final climb two guys gapped me but I caught them around a dodgy corner at 300m to go. I laid down a seriously weak sprint to try and get the early jump on them but it was lame! Still, I was happy with 3^rd after a solid weekend.