More belgian racing

So its been a few days since I wrote anything, not to worry, I am doing well. Yesterday, I did a kermesse in Drongon which is just south of Gent. It was pretty warm and muggy, fortunately we missed the rain that came pouring down just after the race finished. Course was pretty windy with a lot of sharp turns and some real benders along with a nice hill and euro roundabout...of course they had to throw in a 1/2k of cobblesection up a hill. Race started out fast and furious. I worked my way towards to front to stay out of the nonsense. Not sure what it was, but riders were be sketchy and stuff. I had one belgian push me out of the way. Whatever, I guess thats racing. Then one dude cut over quick and took out my front wheel. Fortunately, my mean street skills were enough to keep me pushing the wheel back in him so that I didn't crash. I just kept thinking, What the hell is going on tonight? It finally quieted down a little bit after about an hour as the testosterone finally wore down a little. I didn't make the break, unfortunately, but I stayed with the chase group and finished my first race! 1st out of 6th aint' too bad I guess for some guy who prefers road racing over the crit style racing. Officially, Saturday's race was a finish b/c they flagged us with 3 laps to go, but this was a true finish in my eyes.

The more races I do here, the more I am understanding about positioning and jumping out of the corners. One thing I don't understand and despise these belgian idiots for are the constant attacking when they have nothing to gain. For instance, last night we were working hard to bridge back to the break and the pacelining was decent with the group just 20sec ahead but still in site. Then you have these idiots attacking each other into a headwind then slowing down b/c there is no chance they can make it across. Why?! This consequently leads to the the breakup of the paceline and a slowdown in our pace which brings us further behind. When I said I wanted to come here to learn how to race, I am definitely doing that, but there is some stuff that I see which is just plain stupid. Comments for or against this style are welcome, as I am open to any viewpoint. Another thing that I just don't get is all the yelling these guys do. You would think these guys would tell each other to shut up but none of them do. They just keep blasting their mouths off at each other over just stupid stuff. One rider started yelling at me to pull and close the gap. Now I had done a fair bit of work to keep our group close to the break so I wasn't going to even give this wanker a break. I yelled back at him some expletives in a euro/english accent. He lucked at me dumbfounded and cowarded back and rode faster to close the group. As soon as you yell something back at these wankers, they shut up immediately and won't say another word. I usually don't say anything b/c i don't want them to know I'm a foreigner since they will then ride you to the ground.

Today, I rode to Gent, which was about 90k r/t or about 3.5 hours. I rolled around the outskirts then dropped in for a double espresso. The espresso got my heart racing and wasn't a good feeling as I rolled out of town on the cobbles. Fortunately I could take the canal path all the way back. In Belgium, all the canals have roads that run alongside them. Cars rarely use them so it makes for perfect roads for interval training. Apparently you can literally ride for 4+ hours without having to get on any "road" persay. I saw a few guys motorpacing behind scooters which looked like fun. They weren't going terribly fast but it would be fun to have some scooter driver pace you at 50k/h along the canal. When riding along the canals you have to be careful of the canal road ending on one side of the water. There is never any signage so its sometimes a gamble unless you know the roads. I didn't, and rode about 2k down one side only to come to a brush/tree end to the road. Other than that, its a pretty good system. Makes for a scenic ride and you don't have to worry about traffic.

On the way home today, I was clicking along nicely about 35k/h. I rode by this old guy around and I look back after a few minutes and he is drafting me. I slowly took it up a notch, never really going out of my zone to 39k/h, still there. I am doing 40k/h down this canal, with an old guy drafting, then the guy passes me at 41k/h on a flatbar roadbike. Unbelievable! I took his draft for about 10seconds but I couldn't let him do me in. so I passed him back and up'd the ante a little to 42k/h. I'm still feeling good and finding the groove which I know I can hold for a long time. He holds on for a little while then he is off the back. Yeah, so I was battling some guy probably 3x my age, ohh well its the little battles right?

In closing, I had my 2nd celebrity appearence yesterday. Before the start, a camerman was looking at the startsheet and asked me if I was from the United States. I said yes and then he asked if he could take my picture. He had me set up perfectly for the light without my helmet and glasses. I asked if he had a website and what the pictures were for. He said, no website and the pictures are for me and my collection, but if I see you at the next race then I will give one to you. Apparently, collecting rider photos is something belgians do. Bike races are ingrained into the culture here. Last night's race had the attendence similar to the tour of california finish at santa rosa. Of course, everyone here is drinking tons and smoking. Even the race director was drinking a beer from the pace car while driving in Tue's race. Crazy stuff...somethings that will never happen in the states. So now, I have to people who have my photo in their collection. Not sure if I should be worried or not. The first guy who took my photo has been to 4 out of 6 races I have raced in and recognized last night and gave me the nod. He will now be referred to as the "maroon groupie" b/c he wears this maroon hat everwhere.

Hope everyone is having a great week....
tot ziens,
Matthew