P. Productions: Race # 3: Kortenaken-Stok Elite Kermesse

Ready to roll. Jurgen one of the team managers and me.

Yesterday was another elite kermesse. This time the course was a little less technical with only a few really tights corners and 3 or 4 rolling hills per 10 km lap. After some technical problems with my license, some clever taking advantage of their lack of English skills and good luck the commisaires let me start. The problem was that as of May 1 you need a letter from your federation to race internationally. I had brought along a letter of release from Bicisport and showed that in the place of the CCA letter and they didnt know the difference and let me start. I got the CCA letter today though thanks to Andy at the ABA for his swift work. The Konica-Minolta team from South Africa was not so lucky though and they were denied the start as they didnt know about the rule change either. Sean Kellys Irish continental team didnt have a letter, but after some quick calling and signature forging they got their numbers only minutes before the gun. Hectic day for the internationals!

Anyways so after some stress the adrenalin was pumping and I was ready to rip it kermesse style. It was windy so gutter riding was the order of the day and position and breakaways were going to be the key for the entire 120 km race. The peleton was huge at 197 riders and I was sitting really well and feeling good for the first hour. Speeds were crazy all day hitting 60 on the flats and averaging 43 for the race. Wind doesnt really mean a slow race, just alot harder...The early break went but it was back faster than a Texan in Nunavut. Finally a solid group of twenty was up the road and I was in the mix trying to get across. I started to see more of the big names at the front so I stayed top twenty and started playing the bridging group lottery. Profel, Unibet and Colba were out in full force and they were running the show up front and I was just jumping on wheels trying to get away. In the end I managed to get in the second group and we stayed just over a minute back from the break and ended up 6 minutes up on the peleton by the second last lap resulting in the peleton getting pulled and my sailing in to 42nd position.

I felt really good, pulling through in the chase paceline. At one point we were only about 20 seconds down on the break. It was another solid race and I felt much better than on Saturday. The team was happy and things are looking good for the future races.

Tomorrow I have a little 70 km circuit race to ride, should be a good time. The laps are pretty short with two solid poppers so I hope I wake up with the good legs in the morning.

Thanks for reading.