Wolvertem Nerom

These are pics from the first Wolvertem which I already wrote about. The second race in the same area two days later turned out to be a big mess with 8 of the strongest riders getting away super early. I didn't even know a break had gone and when I heard they had 35 seconds I promptly started going on the attack with the stronger looking moves. I got in several promising moves, but they never lasted long as the peleton seemed insistent on chasing everything that moved. It started to get rediculous when one team in particular who was not represented in the break would always instigate a hard chase, but at the same time would never make an effort to escape. The same guys would let gaps go and put their own teammates on the front to chase it down, it was like a massive rolling make work project, if they would have put just one of their guys in a move life would have been much easier. Eventually the group of 8 blew apart, but stayed away and the bunch sprinted for 9th. I was in the best position of any sprint so far this year, but got very unlucky with traffic and botched it completely.
Today we are racing a crit on the outskirts of Brussels. Lots of money, good course and no wind today should make for some good racing. The other good thing is that they capped the crit out at 70 riders so it should be relatively clean and controllable.
In other news I may get the nod to race with the pros next week. I race Monday in Kester which is supposed to be quite hard and then the pros are racing in Gullegem on Wednesday I think it is. Today in the paper several team announced their rosters for the race and it is one star studded line up. Check it: Boonen, Steegmens, Van Petegem, Devolder, McEwan, Hoste, Nuyens etc. This could be my one big chance to give it a go on Boonen's wheel. Two years ago I tried van Petegem's, but he is so small his draft was unsatisfactory.
This week represents a cycling fanatics dream with cycling on the television all afternoon long. Things get rolling at 14:00 with the Tour of Belgium and then after that is on the Giro takes over. The Tour of Belgium rolls almost right past our door tomorrow, if the weather is good I will try to capture the atmosphere on a climb or something to give you something to look at.

Wolvertem

This long weekend I am doing two races in Wolvertem and area. The first was on Saturday and today we race again in Nerom.
Saturday's race went relatively well. I felt good the entire race, but in the end the high speeds didn't favor a breakaway and for the first time this year the race ended in a true sprint for the top spot. With an average speed of just over 45km/hr I knew it was going to be a fast sprint. And with the final 2 km including a roundabout, three tight corners and a decent to the finish position was vital from a long way out. I know that I am probably sounding like a broken record by now, but I got unlucky in the last couple of corners, was not aggressive enough in the final corner about 200m out from the finish where the riders just in front of me went into the corner 6 wide touching shoulders and banging handlebars, and I finished 41st... 41 of 108, nothing to be proud of, but I did make a bit of cash from a fast day spent primarily in the bunch.
I am working on some more interesting content than this endless stream of race reports for the near future. I am here to race after all and the good thing is that racing 3 times per week seems to be working well. I feel like I may have lost some top end fitness over the winter with the increase in my overall training hours, but I think the added volume is aiding my recovery and allowing me to cope with more racing.
Now its off to eat some spaghetti with brown sugar and spin over to Wolvertem-Nerom for another 120km of action packed circuit racing. It is a holiday today so the fans should be out in force. Nerom is a nice circuit, I did well there last year so lets hope I can finally pull off that top 20...

Be in the know

If you want to follow results from Belgium and confirm my claims check out Wielerbond Vlaanderen. Follow the links to Uitslagen, Weg and then click on the date of the race. There are often several races a day so scroll down to the appropriate race.

Steenhuffel

Another day, another race. After the fiasco in Pepingen I was ready to get the good vibes back and ride a solid race. With a big weekend coming up with races on Saturday and Monday yesterdays race was perfect to get some confidence back and tune the legs for the weekend. Just over 120 riders took the start in the quaint town of Steenhuffel. The 120 km race started at 17:00 so the local population was out in force to witness the spectacle and with only two races on the Belgian calender yesterday so were some of the top riders in the country. The field was once again international with a Russian squad, a lone Murphy-Gunn Irishman (must have been left at home while his mates are at the RAS), a couple of English speakers on random teams and a pile of Dutchies.
The course was ripping fast, half on normal roads and half on one lane field roads. With 14 laps of 8.5 km and a tail wind on most of the twisting field roads it was almost like racing in a video game. The small roads were mostly single file at high speed, but I felt really comfortable and railing the corners felt incredible.
As for the outcome of the race. Everything stayed together with small breaks being brought back until the last lap when a group of 11 drove clear. I focussed on staying top 20 in the bunch going into the field roads and then maintaining that position for the final sprint 5 km down the road. My plan worked well and until the final corner I was in prim position to get in the money. Then on the final corner as I was getting set to dive inside as I had the entire race a couple of guys closed the door as the field drifted inside and I lost valuable speed and had to re accelerate out of the corner and lost a few spots. If I am to do well in a bunch sprint I need to maintain as much speed as I can and grab a strong wheel and hope they deliver me in good position to the line. As long as you are far enough up the field then you can be sure that everyone is actually going to sprint. The opposite happens if you aren't aggressive enough in the final km and end up coming into the final 500m too far back, because then half the guys sit up and you go nowhere.
So, hindsight tells me I should have fought harder to be top ten going into that corner, but that is easier to say than actually do around here, but I will do it yet. I rolled in to 46th. Nothing special, but I felt strong and I mentally I am back in action.
The weather has dramatically improved in the last 24 hours as well so I am trying to get some pigment in my legs and look the part.

Bogaarden

I know its a few days late, but after this performance I was down and out for a bit wondering where all the hundreds of hours had actually gotten me for this year and why I am seemingly slower...
This was an incredibly rough race and after surviving most of it, the constant accelerations and dramatically downsized group after the first hour made my day just short of riding out the suffer fest. My teammate Chris made it to see the end and even he, the ever cool and collected Mr Willems admitted it was a challenge just to finish. After the race he left me with some wise words that a bad race does not mean a bad season and that is were I am leaving it and instead of dwelling on this one I am looking ahead to countless opportunities for improvement in the coming weeks.
I rode with Tino today and we had a good chat about tactics and situations unique to circuit racing here. I am going to go into the next race remembering to stay calm at all times and to think more on the end of conservation than races past. On Sunday I was on the very front from the start thinking that I had super good legs. I even got in a strong move early and thought it was my day. Needless to say after closing too many gaps and riding too close to the front I was just short of power when it came down to crunch time. You need power when the race really goes down and here that point is often far to clear cut. If I think of the races I have done so far there are always one or two very precise moments in time when the race was made, whether it be a chance to get in the winning move or stay on the right side of a peleton splitting acceleration. Even being here for the third time I need to be better at laying it down once or twice for real, rather than showing my hand ten times in a race.
Tomorrow another 120km circuit race awaits and after this one I hope to give you a more inspiring report.

In De Buurt

What does this part of the world look like?

The other day I took a spin along the Dender to the city of Aalst and then made a loop back to the commune of Affligem. This is some of what I saw and the beginning of a new series on pdotproductions showing you what I see everyday in my temporary home. The clocktower in the square in Aalst is the oldest structure of its kind in Belgium

The local windmillPerhaps one of the best places in the world to enjoy Affligem's most famous export across the road from...... the place where it all began, with monks brewing the famous beverage to raise funds to maintain their abbey.

St Martens Bodegem

The toughest kermesse course I know of. Last year I finished 45th at this race on a reasonably good day and just missed the money. This year after racing 65km with the pros the day before I knew I could either be gutted for this hilly circuit race or be on good form and fine tuned for performance after the previous days effort. Turns out it was a bit of both.
With 18 laps to cover of a very demanding course of which you spend almost half the lap going up it was a day to be going well. In addition the small 65 man field, wind and high level of riders made it a good full day in the hurtbox. Early on a break of 6 went clear, but in the end they were brought back by the efforts of a counter attacking Davitamon-Win for Life duo of Belgiums top U23 riders. With around 12 riders scattered about up the road I went on the attack with 2 km to go bridging to a solo escapy. We got caught going into the final km and I was left to bleed through my eyes and try to sprint in a straight line with lactic acid spurting out my ears to 28th. Alot of work for 28th, but with the level of riders and selectiveness of the course the team is happy and it bodes well for Sundays almost equally challenging circuit in Pepingen. Last year I cracked the top 20 there in the second break survived the whole field road, rolling and cobbled mess in style...I plan to do it again.

Puivelde Pro Race

The wake up call...
Last year I did this pro race and finished in the bunch in around 60th position. This year I was on the rivet twice and that faitfull second time the elastic stapped and I was left floundering in the wind wondering what had just happened.
With 145 starters and all the big pro teams in Belgium present with some of their top riders it was a race I simply wanted to live through. 4 protour squads were represented (Disco, Liquigas, Predictor, Quickstep), but as usual the odds were stacked towards Chocolade Jacques and Landbouwkrediet with their high numbers. This year there was a very important difference in the race day conditions in that unlike last year a strong blustering wind was whipping up a sufferfest on many sections of the course. From the start several long stretchs were ridden in the gutter at speeds of just over 60km/hr and I was spinning out my 11 just to maintain contact with the wheel infront of me. On the only uphill on the course speeds sat around a steady 55km/hr and I knew it was going to be crucial to try to maintain a position near the front of the peleton. Just over an hour in I took a corner in about 30th wheel and then lost the guy in front with the incredible acceleration and wind. I literally flew back 60 spots instantly just before the climb finally getting settled in again. Then 10 minutes later coming out of a tight 270 degree corner off a field road onto a big road I again failed to hold the wheel in front of me and lost a pile of spots. Then just as I was thinking I had made it through the section a rider in front of me let a gap go and we were left to check our ambitions at the nearest cafe and head home to race another day.
It was a huge disappointment to drop out so quickly and although I was in very strong company I should have been able to ride it out.
But the beauty of racing in these parts showed itself once again when I ended up racing in St Martens Bodegem the next day and finally making some money...

Laarne

I am on a roll...an unlucky roll.
Laarne was another elite race, but the first race since arriving that offered the true exposure to grit racing I remember from years past. The course was half two to four lane roads and half field roads with many tight corners and a couple on sketchy sandy flagstones. With 19 laps to complete for a total of 133 km, gusting winds and only 51 starters it was going to be a rough day. I felt good the first couple of hours, staying for the most part out of trouble. I tried to stay as close to the front as possible without catching too much wind, but even sitting 10th wheel there were gaps opening up constantly as the speeds for the first half of the race were extremely high for such a small group hitting over 60 km/hr in the cross winds at times. Eventually a group of about 6 got away and the attacks and gaps kept coming with no real changes in the bunch. With about 60 km to go I attacked and made the biggest tactical mistake so far this year. I took one guy with me who I didn't recognize and we got a gap within seconds. We then turned into the headwind and I could feel the effort immediately, I thought conservatively and eased off as I saw that the peleton was chasing and waited to see if a counter attack would go and then get in a stronger move. As it turned out, after I was caught the other rider dangled off the front for a lap and then was joined a group of 3, staying away and finishing 12th, if only I had gone for it then. With about 50 km to a started to feel the efforts of the challenging conditions and missed a move of another 8 guys. Eventually I ended up in a group of 6 with 21 riders up the road. It was not a good situation and I was pretty distraught that I had messed up the race. I started to feel worse and worse and couldn't hold the wheel of the rider in front of me when the group started to go for it entering the last lap. I got dropped, rode the last lap solo and finished 28th. As I crossed the finish line and started to slow down I could hear a buzzing sound and the clank of a broken wheel. Turns out I broke a nipple on my rear Fulcrum and the wheel was rubbing the brakes and only about 1/3 of a mm from rubbing the frame. I stopped to find that the wheel wouldn't even turn one revolution when I tried to spin it, no wonder I felt bad! I remember in the race that some guys yelled something at me that I didn't understand and that I started to feel considerably worse with about 50 km to go, so my best guess is that I rode the last 50 km with the wheel rubbing the brakes. Two races in a row with mechanicals, I have served my time.
Interestingly enough the race was on the 13th and my start number was none other than 13...

Sportzone Fitness & Wellness Club

I am working on a series of photos to share with you the great work that Sportzone is. This time around I have tried to capture the magic of the Lounge Bar concept that Sportzone has integrated into their club. It is not uncommon for clubs to have a lounge type area, but what is uncommon is the shear quality of the space that Sportzone offers as well as the assortment of beverages available. I am sure you will agree that this is one special fitness club and I will bring it to you one piece at a time.

Lounge Bar

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.

Minimalistix - Whistling Drive

I am going to attempt to reinstate the weekly music video and although it isnt Monday I saw this clip at Sportzone and thought I would share it asap. Regular readers will recognize this as a remix of the previously featured Peter, Bjorn and John track "Young Folks". This remix comes from Belgian trance prject Minimalistix. Started in 2000 their work is a staple of the Belgian club scene and is regularily featured in the top 10 of various European dance charts. Enjoy.

Whistling Drive
Minimalistix
Sphear/Data Records

Training

With no racing this weekend it was decided that I should do a solid block of training to get some volume back. After the three hour ride on Saturday I went out on a four hour adventure on Sunday. I ended up finding my way to Zottegem and then wound my way in the direction of Gent. I was riding on a fairly big road and decided I wanted off of it so I popped onto a nice looking country lane and within a few hundred meters I saw a guy at a house on the left side of the road with last years team casual shirt on and when I got a closer look I realized that it was my teammate Bart! I had managed to find his house on a quiet country road in Flanders without even knowing where I was, incredible. He was just about to head to the provincial race and gave me some good directions for some incredible roads in the area that would lead me to my destination. I have never ridden in this region before and I must say that it is incredibly beautiful. The area was rich with greenery and riding along the river Schelde was very peaceful. On the ride I managed to find a very Belgian souvenir, but that is for another day.
Sunday was to be the last day of the unseasonal warm and dry conditions here in Belgium so with 6 hours on the program for Monday I knew it could be a tough day. The thing about rain here is that the temperature doesn't necessarily plummet ten degrees when the rain starts and the rain seems to fall much lighter than in Calgary. All in all this can make for some fairly pleasant riding in wet conditions which is what I experienced that day. I set out for the first hour with a teammate and then continued solo towards Brakel and the Vlaamse Ardenne. The region is where the majority of the challenges in the Tour of Flanders lie and with some intervals to do I eagerly set out to find some bergs from the Ronde. With no real destination in mind and a vague understanding of the location of various cities in the area I simply let the roads take me for a ride and ended up finding some breathtaking field roads and villages along the way. The weather started to turn foul after the first hour with high winds and blasts of rain, but once I was in the zone I was good to go. After all those wet rides in Victoria this winter the conditions felt luxuriously pleasant and I still had to pinch myself to remind me of that fact that life can't get any better than blasting up some of the world's most famous climbs in conditions that mimic those of the battles that have been fought on them. Eventually I found myself in Oudenaarde and then on to Ronse. From here I was in the French speaking part of Belgium and getting close to the French border. I don't really have a good handle on this region and thinking I was heading in the direction of Enghien, where I have been before, I was actually heading to France and almost ended up in Tournai only a few kilometers from Roubaix! While on a narrow field rode in the middle of a mass of lush green fields I decided enough was enough and that I was quickly becoming lost so I turned in the direction of what I hoped was Ronse and after a few km found signs to lead me back to Flanders. I then headed in the direction of Brackel again and then on to Geraardsbergen with its familiar roads to fill the last hour of the ride and get some of the last intervals out of the way. It was an epic day and illustrates the magic of simply riding in this region. Here you ride from city to city. The locals never use any form of directional sense beyond knowing where each city is in relation to another. Instead of saying that you should travel north for example they will tell you to head in the direction of Dendermonde or if you want to go west to head in the direction of Oudenaarde. This makes for interesting travel and the constant discovery of new roads.
Yesterday I headed out with Tino for a nice easy spin and while we never were more than 10 km from the house and the town he has lived in most of his life we still found roads he had never seen before. We also found some nasty cobbles and a rain storm, but it was a great day.
Today it is raining again, but it looks to be letting up somewhat. Hopefully I can get out for a pre race spin in the afternoon and then start preparing for tomorrow's race. Unfortunately it looks like the race we had originally planned to do is canceled for some reason, I thought that type of thing only happened in Canada... Regardless there is another race close to Gent to maybe we will do that one instead.
I checked results from the Velocity stage race at home and was a bit disappointed in the performance of the Alberta teams. Looks like the lazy boys from the coast ran the show without much contest, nice riding Jamie.

Settling In

It is a strange feeling knowing that will be here until September. Last week was really busy with three races in 5 days, but now I am also starting to settle into the living part of life as a racer in Flanders. I spend a fair amount of time at Sportzone which is only a couple of kilometers from the house. They have me doing some work there, entering data for new membership accounts, cleaning etc. It is good to have a place to go to and some distractions from riding and racing as life in a Flemish village with only that on your mind can get tedious. The other day I was hanging out there after a ride and Penne, Roesems and Co. showed up. It was good to see the training partners from last year again and hopefully I can meet up with them in the next few days for some good riding. Roesems is rumored to be riding the Tour this year so that will be exciting to follow.
I didn't get into the provincial championships for today. The rule is that foreigners can compete, but they must have lived in the province since Jan 1 of that year. Because of this I did my first real training ride yesterday since arriving here. It was a great three hour rip around Flanders with lots of picturesque field roads and a bunch of sections from races I have done and the Tour of Flanders. As I descended off the Muur in Geraardsbergen and on towards the Bosberg I saw Boonen's name and others written on the road and could almost feel the energy and incredible suffering that that section of road has seen. It is incredible to be back in the epicenter of the cycling world. Even being my third time here I can still feel that incredible energy that this area generates for cycling.
Today I am going to head out for 4 hours and take advantage of what the media are warning is the last day of the great drought. It hasn't rained here in something like 36 days, but tomorrow and Tuesday are supposed to be wet, so I need to take advantage of the weather today. I could be racing in the French part of Belgium early next week, but for sure in Halle on Thursday in another Elite race. The proposed schedule for the coming weeks looks like this:
May 10 - Lembeek-Halle (elite)
May 13 - Oordegem (elite)
May 16 - Puivelde (pro)
May 17 - Sint Martens Bodegem (elite)
May 20 - Pepingen (elite)
May 23 - Londerzeel (elite)
May 26 - Wolvertem (elite)
May 28 - Wolvertem Nerum (elite) or Berlare (elite)
May 31 - Zaventem (elite)

Licensed

This year I am racing on a Belgian license and today I finally received it in the mail. The reason for the Belgian registration is mainly to ensure that I can ride pro races. Since our team is not Continental I normally would not have access to pro events as a foreigner. We had this problem last year and since I am staying here the entire season it makes the most sense.
Getting a license here is a little more involved than in Canada. One of the most interesting differences is that here you have to be declared fit to race by a physician in order to complete you application. The license itself is also much nicer and a bar code on the face of the license makes race registration very simple. Another interesting point is that your team manager gets an accompanying license to allow them exclusive access to dressing rooms, rider only parking and other areas at races as your official assistant. By limiting access to these areas races become much less chaotic and safer.

Kortenaken-Stok

What a race, if I didn't have leg speed before this one I should have it now. 120 km and an average speed of 44.5 km/hr on rolling roads with a fair amount of wind meant a zippy trip to the hurtbox on more than a few occasions. I did this race last year and finished 45th, this year the race ended in a peleton sprint (or what was left of the peleton) with about 90 riders, of the 120 that started. This year Konica-Minolta from South Africa showed up again as well as a few other foreign riders and teams. I noticed a Norwegian on the start list, as well as a couple of Chinese riders, one of whom rides for Marco Polo, some French and Dutch riders and one rider from India. The rider from India was Torak (spelling?), for those of you from Victoria you might know him from such training centers as Pacific Sport where he left his mark in not always the most positive fashion. He was dropped half way through the race while riding a cyclocross bike...
Anyways, Sportzone was relatively well represented in the race with 3 riders meaning that a top 20 should be in order for at least one of us. Early on a small group went up the rode and grew to about 13 riders. After about an hour I started getting in some moves to try to get across to the leaders. Michael and I got in a move with one of the South Africans and got a good gap, a few riders bridged and we managed to form a solid 10 rider break that seemed like it might succeed, but it go brought back after about 5 km. At one point the leaders had over a minute and it looked like the race was over, but then Bioagrico decided enough was enough and started turning on the front making for some serious gutter riding and suffering in the ditch. With my head down going 55 km/hr in the gutter I knew something serious was going down on the front and before I knew it the break was back and the race for first was on again. In the final lap it looked like a bunch sprint was going to have to decide the winner as the peleton was moving very quickly and no teams were letting anything go. As we rounded the hairpin corner about 1500m out from the false flat uphill finish I was sitting in about 35th position, not great but I thought I could maybe grab a top 30. With about one km to go a Frigas rider darted across my front wheel and I was forced into the cobbled gutter which cost me speed and the wheel I was trying to hold. In the end I finished around 60th which means nothing, but it was a good day of training and a chance to get some legspeed. Chris had a good day finishing 17th in the bunch sprint.
The team is trying to get me into the provincial championships for this Sunday, which is a 150km race that attracts around 200 riders. In Belgium you have to start the provincial championships if you are an elite z/c otherwise you get an automatic one week suspension.
Thanks for reading.

Sportzone Fitness & Wellness Club

A nice assortment...

As you have likely gathered by now I am riding for Sportzone Fitness & Wellness Club this year. The team has an elite squad doing elite, pro and UCI events. As with the beginning of every season the day you get your gear is alway an exciting one. Living at the team managers house means I get my stuff right away and now you to can check it out. Our kit is made by Belgian Nico Sport and so far I am very happy with it. I love the chamois, being one huge pad of perforated leather like material with a healthy dose of foam injected. The stuff fits really well and looks sharp.Get your fitness on

Breedhout

Another day and another race. Due to the lack of racing this weekend I decided to race yesterday in an elite race in Breedhout. I rode to the race as the weather was good and the extra training is always good. After 20km of spinning I arrived to the sign on cafe, payed my 8 euros (you get 5 back when you return your numbers) and then found my teammate Chris to drop off my bag and arrange for a feed. It was a windy day, but sunny and warm meaning that staying near the front and drinking alot would be key. 161 riders took the start including the Kazakstan national team who ended up walking away with a great deal of prize money. The race was 120 km long covering 13 laps of a rolling course with two climbs and countless rollers. Each lap there was a 25 euro prime to keep things interesting.
Immediately it became apparent that it was going to be a fast day as the first lap was over in about 10 minutes. On the top section of the course in a crosswind speeds sat at around 50 km/hr and on the climbs we were holding well over 30km/hr most of the time. Even with the high speed a Kazak managed to stay away for 6 laps solo, bagging the primes. I stayed near the front for most of the day as on many sections we were riding the gutter literally, not on the pavement but on the flagstones that comprise the gutter, single file, amazing. Chris is a very experienced rider and on several occasions he would come along side and give me a tow to the front and then jump a gap and get us in a move. I got in a couple with him and a few on my own, trying to find the one move that would be successful. As you know from last year this is often a bit of a game if you are like me and relying primarily on the strength of others to keep the break away from the charging bunch. Unfortunately none of the three or four moves I got in lasted more than a few kilometers at best and in the end a group of 16 jumped clear in the last lap and the bunch sprinted for 17th position. The race was won by Davy van Damme of the Yawadoo Mobile continental squad, last year he was on the riders in our training group. Of 140 finishers I rolled in 91st, I didn't really sprint instead thinking about perhaps saving a bit for the race tomorrow in Stok. After racing 120 km and averaging 42 km/hr I spun home making for a solid 160 km day. It is another elite affair that normally attracts some bigger teams, last year I made the second group and finished around 45th at this race so hopefully I can make the front group and bag the first top 20 of the season this time. It is a really nice course, mostly flat with a few brutal gradual climbs into the wind, but the roads are good and nice and wide. Stay tuned!