Platte Band

Yesterday turned out to be an epic day of incredibly diverse riding. I started off the day with a 45 minute spin as I had taken the previous day completely off due to the bad weather we have been having here and because I likely won't get a day off the bike for a while with the racing calender coming up. I then drove myself about 45 minutes to just outside Gent for an elite race in Wondelgem.
The rain held off for most of the day yesterday, and with temperatures sitting around 16 degrees it was my kind of day. Unfortunately it was not really my kind of course though. The race was 21 laps of a dead flat, 16 corners per lap circuit with no more than about 800m between corners. With 90 riders in the race this made for some incredibly high speeds on the straights and from the gun I was maxed right out. Within a couple of laps I was starting to get my legs and started to move up in some corners and ended up sitting in the top 20-30 with a good view of the front just waiting for a gap to jump across or to have a gap open up behind to start deciding the race. Small groups went up the road, but never gained more than 20 seconds. The field was really interesting with Konica-Minolta from South Africa, the South African national team, a rider from Zimbabwe (riding for a Belgian team, one of the cross racers from the series Allez, Allez Zimbabwe) and a host of Americans, Aussies, Kiwis and Englishmen on Belgian elite and continental teams. I didn't know it at the time, but the field was dwindling quite quickly and after half an hour I was feeling good, not suffering too much and looking for opportunities to start racing. Then after about 45 minutes of racing while sitting in the bunch I hit a big pothole and thought I had surely broken at least one of my Fulcrums from the harsh impact. Looking down everything seemed to be ok and I didn't think much of it. Not until I tapped my rim going over a speed bump did I realize that I had flatted. Game over. If you flat in a circuit race its over. They don't allow a caravan in these races and with the speed it is impossible to get back on. I gave back my numbers, got my five euros back and drove home...
After a quick bite at Sportzone I went for a couple of hours with my teammate Sammy on some beautiful roads toward Zottegem. We passed some points of interest including the house that Robbie McEwan first lived in when he first raced here.
We also visited the grave of my former teammate Geert, who was killed while on a training ride last summer.
When I arrived back at the Sportzone I took in an hour long spinning class in their incredible spinning studio. It is like a club in there with crazy lighting and a great sound system, I'll try to get some pics for later. The class was tough after the long day I had had and it was sticking hot in the studio, but it was a great experience and if I have an off day and the weather is bad I just might have to do it again.
Four riding sessions and another days work in Flanders. Next race is on Sunday and that marks the beginning of the tight schedule of racing until the end of the month. I am excited to be racing more regularly again, I trained to race now its time to get some results.