Best race yet and the best result too

Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) the race was in St Laureins very close to the Dutch border.  A sunny day but very windy on the open course mostly out in the country side except for a small section through the township. The name didn't ring any bells on the way there but as I pulled into the town I realized that I raced there in 2013 and remembered the day very well. It was windy the last time too although from a slightly different direction, I was just starting to hit some form in 2013 and the boys were trying to psych me out by telling me how many ex TDF riders there were in the field, there was also a guy making  a nuisance of himself in the sprint, swinging right and then left, still that was all history.

I was there nice and early, I'm not letting the traffic or poor directions hold me back for the last few races, parked up where I did last time down a nice quiet side street.  I signed on early and opted to do two laps of the 7.5km circuit as a good warm up already suspecting that the race was going to be hard in the strong wind.

I'm not sure whether I've mentioned that with the WAOD they usually put two races on the course at the same time, on a longer course like this one it's not so much of a problem but on shorter ones it can be a real pain.  Normally the younger (faster) race starts first followed 2 minutes later by the older (slower) race which is usually enough to keep the races separate.

With us it can be three races on the course, my race, the next age group down (younger) and a women's race if any women sign on. However with us they start us first then the younger race 2 minutes later!  If and when they catch us it becomes one race with two prize lists, the WAOD are the only ones to do it this way, everybody else starts the younger race first, I'm really not sure why.

Today there were four women who nominally race with the younger race but start with us, a sort of two minute head start but they also race for a separate prize list. Confused? Me too it gets quite difficult understanding where you are in the race, number colours are different which helps but when two large bunches merge it can be difficult to check all the numbers, I usually just race for the best result I can and hope that it works out in my race.

I should also mention that when I say women I mean young women, teens or early twenties, usually good racers that I assume would normally race in UCI races but racing with the old guys gives them a good hit out, two of the girls in todays race were very strong, at least until three laps to go when it really got lively!

Our race got underway, almost immediately lining out almost from the go, I rather foolishly started at the back, chatting!!, it took me almost the first lap to get into position where I wanted to be, the race split on the second lap (of seven) for the first time, I managed to make it, just as the last one to cross the gap, into a group of eight that went clear. I was still trying to recover from crossing the gap on my own when half a lap later the break from the race behind us came roaring through taking a few of our race with them. I was in a small group trying to get back, the group comprised those of us that had been shaken out of the lead group and a small number of riders from our bunch that had managed to hang on for a bit, this included two of the Dutch girls, one of whom was pulling turns, quite impressive into that wind.  This went for a lap or so and we could see a small group holding just in front of us, I wasn't sure who was in it but we were pulling them back especially into the wind.

Coming around to two to go the rest of the younger race came up with a good number of our race in tow!  I got quite cross at that point since about 10/12 riders in our race had been trying to race the other 25/30 followed their usual tactic of saving themselves to hang on with the other race and in so doing get a decent place. Since I'd been bashing my brains out trying to earn a decent result I wasn't best pleased when I was now in a bunch with maybe 12/15 of the race behind us and about the same number of my own race, 8/10 of whom had just been dragged around. we lost the two girls at about the time the junction was made since there was a flurry of attacks which did shake out a small number of weaker riders.

Having worked out that the sprint would certainly be for a place in the top ten or better, given the tough racing I would have been happy with that so did nothing but swing on the back, or near the back for the last two laps, vigilant for any splits but otherwise being a 'sprinter'.  The final straight, from three corners out, was all into the wind, along the narrow 3m wide straight I managed to move up quite well, riders tried jumping into the second last corner but were closed pretty quickly, there is only a short straight before the last corner which gave us a dead straight headwind run in for somewhere between 800/1000m.  Riders jumped out of that corner, I just followed wheels, about half way up the home straight there was a very stall as the riders that had gone for it out of the corner died, the stall was only for a second as a new wave of riders hit out for the line, 400/500m to go. I stayed on the wheels, moving from wheel to wheel to keep going forward looking for an opening to start my own sprint, a lot of riders seemed to be dying so I hit out down the right hand gutter, maybe 200m out and took it all the way to the line to win the sprint.

 

Hanging around the back for the last couple of laps!

Bit of a surprise, one of the reasons may have been I chose to sprint in 52*15, I'm pretty sure most of the others were 53*12 or 11, so although I was dying at the end just like everybody else, in the lighter gear I was able to keep the legs turning over to maintain momentum.  I usually put a sprint win down to being one of the riders that uses his head better, not necessarily the quickest, today I may have been both. So very happy with a win, don't really care how the last races go now.

Today Thursday was another wet one to start with, so after breakfast I had almost resigned myself to no ride even though I only wanted to a max of 90 minutes to keep the legs ticking over.  But at about 11am the skies cleared and I went looking for a minimum of 60 minutes in the countryside.  In the end I managed a dry 75 minutes in the dry and about 20 minutes after I got back it rained on and off for the rest of the day.  The forecast for the rest of the stay is good though, 30c at the weekend.   

Taking a breather, now ready to race again.

Got  soaked on my ride on Monday, I was only going to cruise around the countryside for a couple of hours, too late for training now, it was overcaste when I started but the roads were dry so I went out, my throat seemed OK after a good sleep.  But this is Belgium, it started drizzling, then it started raining, I wasn't even half way around my proposed loop so I turned around, home for a hot shower, wash my clothes and clean my bike again!  Hopefully I didn't aggravate my sore throat.

I was quite surprised that my legs felt reasonably good, I didn't really test them of course but I still won't race until Wednesday.

 

Crossing the finish line for the final time

 

 

I was quite impressed with my power numbers from the race yesterday, nothing spectacular at the top end, nothing over 850 but my best average for 10 minutes was 325 watts, 20 minutes 320 watts, 30 minutes 320 watts and 60 minutes 310 watts, pretty happy with that shows I was trying pretty hard when I was on my own.

 

Cracked them at last

I don't think I mentioned that the over 60 races are now over 58, not sure why, doesn't make them any easier that's for sure.  Again for reasons I don't understand the reigning Over 60 ICF world champion race in his WC jersey, first time I've seen him wear it and possibly a bit cheeky since the race was with the WAOD who withdrew from the ICF earlier in the year.

 

Quick visit to the Aalst criterium in the evening, Aalst is a pig of a place to park at the best of times but with 60,000 - 70,000 coming to watch, Froome, Sagan and Roche plus a host of local pro's 'race' it was a nightmare.  I arrived late and left as soon as it was over.  Sagan just managed to get over Froome in the sprint, yeh right, but with the amount of beer being consumed everybody seemed happy. 

 

 

 

Today, Wednesday the weather was still pretty average but I managed 2 hours easy missing most of the showers. A headwind out and tailwind home so the first 27km in just on 40 minutes, the return 27km in just under an hour! Of course I wasn't trying! 

Four races to go, came close but not quite.

Think I've worked out why it might have been taking me so long to recover from Tuesday's race, I woke up this morning (Saturday) with a sore throat!  Not a bad one but definitely not right.  Given that it was also a pretty stormy, wet day I opted to stay in bed and watch the Alpe  d' Huez stage of the tour and what a stage it was, epic, but unfortunately more spitting morons out there and I did wonder at the single policeman I saw trying to control the drunken Dutch men, I've always liked the Dutch having spent quite a lot of time there over the years, but after their antics with the Sky team car and riders I need to reevaluate that.

Early night to try and shake the cold.

Sunday and a race at Lendelede, about 30 minutes easy drive to the event, given recent difficulties finding race HQ's I gave myself a little extra time but found it OK so had plenty of time for sign on formalities. The weather was good to start but went downhill quite quickly as the rain came on starting with a bit of drizzle deteriorating to steady rain by the finish.  The course was good for me, a bit exposed to the wind in places, basically a slow downhill into the wind and a tailwind uphill straight.  Probably the only 'interesting' bit was a cut through what I can only describe as an alley way, maybe 2 meters wide, to connect the downhill straight with the uphill straight.

All the 'usual suspects where there and the race was held on the line for quite a long time waiting for the Police to give the OK, they basically go around the course and remove any cars that are parked (illegally) on the course.  By the time we were released to race I felt like I hadn't taken the time to do three laps of the course to make sure I was fully warmed up, I think everybody else probably felt the same since it's the first race where we started sedately.  Coming up the uphill straight for the first time a rider came through quite briskly, I was second wheel, when I glanced back we had a gap so I went over him tapped him on the behind, lets go, we did, I pulled to the top of the hill, swung over and he moved over with me even though we had a 100m gap!  That was going to be the story of the race unfortunately, I wasn't feeling that great but I wanted to race, but the others, the strong ones at least wanted to race me first. 

In a nutshell three went away, nobody but me was interested in chasing, they weren't that far up the road but every time I tried to get across I had company that wasn't interested in cooperating.  Eventually two riders went out to chase, I gave them a gap to make sure they were committed and then jumped across.  I don't they were too happy but we had certainly gapped the bunch who were probably 30 seconds back at that point. The ploy then was to keep me at the front and then jump through to try and dislodge me, this tended to piss me off a little so after a lap or so of this I thought I wonder how strong they are and went at the top of the uphill straight where the speed really picked up  and I got a gap, they never came back, quickly dropping out of sight behind me.  I don't think I was gaining on the front three but nor was anybody going to catch me, so I did four laps on my own.  Not my favourite way of racing, I'd rather be in a small working group and sprint for a win at the end.  But there again anybody that's raced with me recently will know that I'm not the guy that's going to attack uphill at the end of a race either, but that's what I did in Tuesdays race.  Obviously getting old and confused!       

Nice Chinese meal for dinner, several glasses of 'medicinal' red wine to help with my sore throat which I've managed to push it down on my chest!!!

Tomorrow evening, weather permitting is the Aalst criterium, which is the first of the post tour criteriums, allegedly with Froome and Porte same as the last time I was there, plus Sagan etc, but I'm only going if its not wet, I still have three races to ride.

A couple of (much needed) recovery days

Wednesday was a recovery day, 90 minutes on the bike in the morning just turning the legs over, to be honest that's about all I could manage anyway, definitely feeling Tuesday's race.  Looking at my 'numbers' from the race I'm not surprised, 10 minutes @ 350 watts, 5 minutes @ 375, 20 seconds @ 1000 watts is a bit tough on old legs, not to mention  my lungs!  Mind you not much compared with Chris Froome's 414 watts up the Ventoux in 2013, there are  key differences of course where Froome's climb was around 40 minutes and he weighs around 12 kg less than me!

When I was driving back from the race I was thinking that when I was sprinting and diving through the gaps I probably ought to have knocked it off when I started 'nudging' people, you'd think I should know better, you don't bounce very well as you get older!

Thursday was a training day, 2 hours with a couple of my interval laps at the midway point.  My legs certainly felt better than yesterday but they were still a bit heavy.  I guess I did race hard on Tuesday, I haven't fully recovered which makes me think I really need to think about my remaining race programme. I'm two years older than the last visit and I don't think that I quite have the training base I had last time either.

So the session was loads of 'sweetspot''/threshold with the combination of one and two minutes intervals interspersed with 15 second sprints.  I felt quite sluggish at the longer intervals but the shorter one and two minute ones were hard but up to power, the sprints were definitely sub standard, I was barely putting it over 1000 watts although on the positive side they were all over that number.

For the remainder of my stay there are races this Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. The ICF world championships is on the last Sunday, currently I am not planning on riding it.  I know there is no possibility of riding all those races, physically speaking and I'd rather have a few good races where, like the last one I can really get into it, so I need to spend some time evaluating the races and possibly the courses. I'd always considered that flatter fast courses suited me better, but Tuesday's course was definitely 'lumpy' so now I'm not sure!

Friday (today) was going to be an easy cruise through the lanes, maybe a couple of burst to be ready to race tomorrow, however my legs felt really heavy again at the start which sort of helped me decide on my remaining race programme.  I think I did too much yesterday not being fully recovered from Tuesday and set myself back a little, so I turned the ride into an easy endurance ride, one up on a recovery ride in my vocabulary, so is was mostly tempo with a few pushes up some of the small 'bergs', at times I felt OK at times I felt very sluggish.  So decision made, I will race on Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday and the following Monday, four races and 'll try and have a good crack in each one.   

That's more like it, feel like a racer still.

After yesterday's debacle of not being able to find the venue (and missing out on what turned out to be a bit of a soft race in terms of field size) I had no problem with todays HQ having been there before, albeit in 2009 I think.

No question I was very strong in 2009, I won three races in Belgium, but when I turned up to this race in 2009 and tried to sign on in the correct race, I was told that I had been 'promoted' to the 50 year race, which was obviously beyond me, having said that I still finished in the 'money'' and had gone particularly well up the climb.

The course was fairly straight forward the start/finish straight rises steadily from Wulvergem on a concrete surfaced road, turns right across 50m of cobbles to get on to the climb, which has a reasonable hot mix surface, if a little broken in places, with decent hot mix all the way up and around to the finish. The climb itself is the back side of the infamous Koppenburg climb, famous in various of the Belgian spring classics and the tour of West Flanders amongst  others. The Koppenburg is a steep cobbled brute, fortunately no cobbles today.  Having got to the top of the climb, the course turned right across the top of the ridge which had a nasty crosswind before another turn took us downhill back into the village, the down hill was unfortunately head wind so not an easy bit of the course.  Back through the village was a 90 degree right, a left, another right, a bit of a dogleg right which bought us back onto the home straight with 200m to the finish line.

Having had a day off yesterday I opted to do two laps before the seven lap race, first one I just rode, second one I booted it up a bit thinking my legs are not usually so good initially after a no ride day, I'm consistent there, my legs felt distinctly 'blocked'.  

Back to normal size field today around 40, maybe 40+, lead car goes off and of course there's an attack straight away but only one guy on his own, fortunately the field ignores him until we hit the hill for the first time when the pace picked up and he was dangling about 50m off the front, the climb is narrow and twists and turns a bit so the race is pretty much lined out, there's not a lot of room to bunch.  About half way up I'm thinking that I was really easy and others look like they were laboring quite a lot, so with a rush of blood (obviously in my subconscious I must have been thinking how well I was climbing the last time on the course), I powered it up, not savagely just lifting it incrementally, I rode clear passed the early breakaway and shot around the right hander clear, hoping that there would be group coming across.  No such luck, a single rider came across and having got to me, he then wanted me to tow him down the hill, I did keep going because I could see a group of 5 also coming across too, however by the time they got to us the majority of the bunch had also closed the gap to them. Break over and I'm already thinking that maybe I should have waited a lap or two before committing.

The race went on like that, I was in every split that looked like it had a chance until one six man group slipped off the front after the two to go board had been shown.  For some reason I couldn't fathom I was having more trouble with the lesser incline of the concrete surfaced road up to the climb proper, which is where they went.  They were only ever about 200m clear and as we hit the hill for the last time I went on my own about half way up, I was joined by 3 others who arrived one at a time, so we hit the right hander to cross the ridge closing on the front group clear of what's left of the bunch which has dwindled to about 15 due to attrition of the constant attacks. Unfortunately the bunch caught our little group before we caught the leading group which effectively stopped our momentum.

So the leading group got to sprint for the win, we were sprinting for 6th, I got into a good position through the beginning of the corner sequence, got a bit shuffled when a rider who was never going to make it stick (he's been yoyoing on and off the back for the whole last lap), went going into the last right hander with about 500m to go. I was happy enough with that, it was an uphill, headwind sprint so followed wheels around the corner and into the dogleg, jumping out of that I felt a bit like Peter Sagan bouncing off of a couple of riders who were doing there best to fall off I think.  Went hard up the right hand gutter passing riders all the way but didn't quite get to the front but was really happy with the race and result.

After collecting my money I visited two of the three WW1 cemeteries that were on the circuit. The area has literally hundreds of these small cemetery's and memorials as well as the bigger more well known ones. Both of the ones I visited where British and as I walk along the headstones, it has to be wondered what the world might have been like if these mostly very young men hadn't been there when they were needed.  I've been in a lot of them over the years, they still make me very emotional but when you see the care and attention with which they are maintained you can sense the respect that is given to these brave souls.

I was going to race today, but..........................

I had every intention of racing today with the WAOD near Zottergem, another wet day unfortunately but I've always been OK in the wet and the course promised to be interesting with some Flandrian bergs to climb on the course. In fact I think it was billed as some sort of hill championship.

Got all my stuff together, my bike in the car and set off, I didn't have far to go only 20 minutes, slow going in the wet but I had plenty of time.  I got caught behind some sort of oil spill that the fire brigade was dealing with that cost me a little delay but soon past it I followed the SatNav directions which took me through the centre of Zottegem, well that was a mistake since there were road works with a road closure and negotiating the one way system on very narrow was interesting for a few minutes to say the least. however I eventually came out the other side and continued to what I thought was my destination. Wrong! Wherever I was there was no evidence of a race HQ, other racers, or any sort of race preparations! Bugger! I assumed that the address I had jotted down was wrong so thought I would just follow signs to the village name I had noted. Well I did  this, effectively going round in a big circle following the signs without any evidence of a bike race, so I back tracked trying to follow the signs, same result. By now its raining more heavily, and my frustration was rising and my motivation was falling, I hate having to rush to prepare to race and you need time to fill the forms to be able to sign, get the bike out etc etc, never mind warming up/looking at the course.

Then I spotted a car with what looked like a race bike on a rack, thought beauty and followed him. It soon became evident he was doing the same as I had just done, roaming round the countryside hoping to get lucky. With the clock counting down, I finally thought no that's enough and reprogrammed the SatNav for home!  Of course 'sod's law' then kicked in and the bloody thing took me right past the race HQ, I had 20 minutes to the start of the race, the rain was as heavy as it had been all morning, I might still have time to get it done, then I spent another 5 minutes trying to get parked, we were at a busy commercial junction, which eventually was the last straw. With time running out I declared it a rest day and drove home.

I've been doing this since 2008 and that's the first time I have failed to find an HQ or get to the start of a race in time.

I had originally planned to race on Tuesday, which I will do now, but having been surprised to pull up pretty well on an easy recovery ride on Sunday so I decide on today's race and maybe Tuesday as well if I felt OK.     

Sunday was a much more satisfying day, even if my morning ride was wet, I kept the ride nice and easy through the lanes but surprised how good my legs felt.

In the afternoon I drove to Wevelgem to spend the afternoon/evening with an old friend, Steve Snowling, AKA 'bubble'.  For those that know him he's doing great, still a tool freak, enjoying his job hand building robots for I think some sort of secure pharmacy dispensing safe. He builds one each week staring from the base components and raw materials. He still does his bike mechanics from his garage which is jam packed with tools and old bikes, mostly for friends and work colleagues. He was kind enough to straighten the gear hanger on my bike for me, a simple enough job when you have the right tools and Steve does.

For those that don't know Steve, he was a valuable some time mechanic and always supporter for our little team, in real life he was 6 day mechanic (which was his favourite), pro team mechanic, TDF mechanic now retired from all the travelling.

We had a great afternoon in the sunshine and a BBQ while we chatted about old times, shared.  It was such a great evening, that when I got back at 10.30pm it was still daylight.

Just as a footnote the address I had written down was correct so I guess a little local knowledge was needed to interpret it.  Two races to choose from tomorrow, one very local, 5 minutes the other on a course I have ridden before so I know where I'm going!

Bloody hell that was hard!

I raced with the VWF today in Appels which isn't very far at all from where I stay, the VWF races are in my opinion are always the hardest, better fields with much more depth. There was a race with the WAOD which turned out to a one hour race two age groups combined on a course that I've already mentioned I don't particularly like, so I made the right choice from that point of view.

The Appels race was a more 'proper' 60km affair over 8 laps, I think I've already said that the only other time I have raced this particular course I podiumed and was really close to the win.  So I turned up today thinking well I've had a couple of good races, not expecting a win or anything but thinking I should be able to acquit myself OK.

I was slightly surprised on the line, there were over 70 starters, I'm more used to 30-40, and this course has a good deal of narrow roads that make it all but impossible to move up in those sections. I started near the front, clipped in quickly and let down the finish straight, that was the only time I was at the front! By the time we had done half a lap I was thinking that I'll be lucky to get to half way, so fast and intense was the racing.  There were four corners that required a full on jump to get out of and hold the wheel, there was one corner I just kept getting wrong, the corner itself wasn't that bad but it was the broken nature of the apex and a dreaded gap in the concrete road coming out of it if you were millimetres off the optimum line, sods law said that I had to recover by a full on effort into the wind to recover the wheel in front.

By the time we got to the end of lap two I was still thinking that 4 laps would be good, but I had made the first selection of thirty or so, just by the skin of my teeth, second last wheel! I managed to move up a little in the fastest section of the course to get a slightly better position. By now I had reverted to the corner technique that worked so well the first couple of years I came to Belgium, take the outside line to carry more speed and change down two cogs, of course its an approach which leaves you a bit open to riders bombing inside, which they do a lot. But at least it preserved my strength a little better, I guess if I rode a full season, my strength would build, most of these guys don't seem to change down.

I reached the half distance board, four laps to go, then was just thinking one more lap, one more lap, we got to two go and I thought I can finish this, we got the "Laatste Ronde' call and it suddenly occurred to me that I might as well sprint, moved up, moved up, sitting perfectly, six wheels back (I came off the wheels late the last time here),absolutely nailed the corner I had been having trouble with (finally), then got bombed rather badly , maybe even dangerously on the last corner, lost the wheel in front, big effort, back on the wheel.  300 metres out I'm following a wheel up the left hand gutter thinking this was great, then we were breaking hard, very hard. We had run into the slow moving bunch, or at least the non sprinting part of the bunch of the younger age race that  started in front of ours. By the time I cut right any chance of a good placing was gone but I did manage to sprint into the money just!

A training day and a recovery day

Because of my tyre malfunction on Wednesday and because it happened so early in the race I thought I needed a training day on Thursday so I used my normal canal ride with the 'interval loop' for some high intensity work, basically short intervals and sprints.

 I rode out to my loop at a combination of 'sweetspot' and threshold after a decent warm up of course. During the first two minute interval I got stung in the mouth, didn't know what exactly it was but in Australia I react rather badly to wasp stings, I need to carry a little bag of pills and cream. Mind you in Oz they are big mean things that sting first with or without provocation. Anyway I was half way through the interval so I had a quick feel for the stinger (the Oz wasp has a stinger that detaches and keeps pumping for about 20 seconds so the drill is get it out quick so that you don't get the full dose), couldn't find any stinger so finished the interval. I'm now expecting my mouth to start impersonating a melon or something but figured I'm out here I might as well finish the session so I did, B***** me, just after I had finished the last sprint I've got something inside my undervest stinging away like a good un. By the time I'd done an emergency stop and pulled up my top it had stung me three or four times. This time I got it of course and I'm not entirely sure what it was but looked like a small under nourished wasp alright, now slightly squashed of course. Now I'm riding home, my mouth already swelling up nicely, thinking that I will need to go straight to the pharmacy for the bits and pieces I needed, even a single Oz wasp sting knocks me about for 2/3 days. To my surprise the swelling in my mouth was already easing by the time I arrived back So I guess this particular European brand of wasp really is an undernourished imposter in the wasp world, I have to say I'm quite pleased about that.

Pretty boring stage of the tour but it looked really hard, maybe it was so hard everybody was nervous of committing too much, except for the break of course but they were only looking for a stage win. Its amusing that the tour seems to bring out all the armchair experts and critics, none of whom actually have any experience of riding a serious race but they are full of **** advice and analysis, personally I can't be doing with it so I've unfriended three people on facebook in the last 24 hours for being these 'experts' and inflicting their stupidity on me. I don't suppose they will care, they may not even notice that I've done it, but at least I've exercised my opinion and definitely feel better for it. Having initially been hesitant I now value facebook as way to connect with old friends and people that I've shared experiences with or indeed have similar experiences, plus family and extended family of course.

Friday has been a very lazy day, I only did one hour on the bike and I have to admit my legs hurt a bit, hope I didn't over do it yesterday, I have two races to choose from tomorrow (Saturday) both within 10 -15 km, so I am really spoilt. One course I have ridden a few times and have to admit that I don't particularly like it even though I did finish third there on my last trip, the other I have only ridden once, finishing second, really thought I was going to win that day I was coming home so fast, but got 'finessed' by one of the riders I was coming over. I don't have such high hopes this trip its more about enjoying the racing and just seeing how well I can do. Right believe that you are just too gullible. Whilst it is true I don't have particularly high hopes I would love to get some sort of result in one of these races.

I did notice on my little trip around the countryside that the police have put out a whole lot of 'No Parking' signs which usually indicate the route of an upcoming bike race, as far as I can tell there are two different races in the 4/5 days, I think one of them might be one for me. Rolling course just enough to make it interesting without being 'life threatening' so we'll see. I have been told that here is a race on Monday that takes in some 'real' Flanders hills, mind you experience would say that they aren't actually that long, a two or three minute interval maybe, I'll probably give that one a miss anyway.

Finished off the day with a Chinese for dinner having spent the afternoon watching the tour, after the excitement of the 'classics' stage and the drama of the mountain stages a transition stage is a bit of an anti climax. Not to the riders of course, its another stressful 200km, I feel sorry for Peraud he appeared to come down really hard.

Very restful day followed by a wasted day!

Took Tuesday as a recovery day, a bit wet with some drizzle and overcast but warm enough at 22 c. I elected to just do the canal ride but without the 'training loop', it was very strange on the canal path, I only saw one other bike rider which is extremely unusual, normally there are heaps, ladies with their shopping, kids, bike riders, tourists but today nothing, felt a bit like the Marie Celeste. The afternoon was spent cleaning my bike and watching the Tour, amazing stage, I really enjoyed it, however I am getting a little tired of the 'knockers' who now descend on any winner with accusations, veiled or otherwise, of doping. Personally I want to believe and at the moment I am more swayed to believe that the guy calling for night time testing and for testers to attend training camps is the straight one. Maybe the answer is that the call for more testing has curtailed other 'booster' programmes? which is why certain teams are no longer competitive? I've also decided that FB 'friends' that launch gratuitous doping innuendos will no longer be FB 'friends", I just can't be bothered with it all.

Thursday should have been a race day, and I suppose it was of sorts. Given that the traffic around the Ghent road works was horrendous in the rain on Monday I decided that I would allow an extra hour to do my 100km journey today. Of course today the traffic was absolutely fine, so I was at the race venue two hours early!! Better than being late I guess. Highlight of the day was three people remembering me as a winner at this village (Koekelare with the OWVF)) previously, they must have long memories it was a while ago and on a different course to todays race. The last time I raced here, on todays course, I needed to hop on the pavement and sprint to get in the money, the last corner at speed is a bit sketchy to say the least. Today was wet, the course short at 2.5km, on narrow winding roads with a bit of 'street furniture' so quite interesting, however the race for me lasted five laps - Puncture - so I guess I'll be training tomorrow, since my next race is Saturday. The bonus is I get to clean my bike again, the course today was rural and muddy.

Very cruisy day and a wet race

On Sunday I had a very relaxed day, one hour just cruising on the bike which was great my legs felt really good, except when I had to take myself up one of the small 'bergs', then they were sore! Just to prove I did race hard on Saturday. A quick review of the numbers for Saturday was quite satisfying as well, best 20 minutes (which was the last 20 minutes) was 325 watts, the best 10 minutes (again the very last 10 minutes) was 355 watts. Not numbers to worry any TDF rider but at my age I'm pretty darn pleased them, particularly at the end of a race.

A bit of a strange weekend in the hotel, I was the only guest staying so in order to get a lie in (and not get my breakfast) Jurgen gave me the keys for the weekend, I guess I have been here for a month or so each year since 2008, part of the family.

Monday was a WAOD race at Adegem which due to a wet day and the road works on the major connecting freeway around Ghent, was a bit of a nightmare, waiting in traffic queues is not something I'm used to anymore, especially around Briagolong! I thought I was going to be late but eventually arrived later than I would like but still got signed on and on the road for a sighting/warm up lap OK. A new course to me but pretty nice generally but the first corner was littered with metal manhole covers both on the way in and out which did concern me when I first saw them given it was wet but there are only experienced racers in my races, many ex pro's and nobody does anything risky usually, accidents happen of course but at that corner we managed to get a line in and out of it kept away from the slippery metal. The last corner into the home straight had a small stretch of cobbles but basically you had set up for the turn entering the cobbles so you weren't really turning across them. Apart from those points it was a really nicely surfaced course with the longest straight being perfect hotmix, fast and smooth.

A strange race and to be honest I'm not really sure what happened at the end. Basically there was break of five up the road at about 2 minutes, a single rider at about a minute, I was trying to get in a small counter to get away from the bunch but it wasn't really working guys were surging off the front but when I went across to them they then wanted to sit on. In the end I went on my own coming into the home straight took about a lap to catch the single rider and one rider who had fallen out of the leading break of five, now four. I had been well clear of my bunch, but half a lap later six or eight came up sitting on the back of the break from the second race on the road (the younger age group) so my group of three was caught! I was more than a little ticked off with that having made a good effort these guys came up on a free ride! Anyway we jump on and joined the (motor) paced line for a couple of laps thinking will I have another go on my own or will I wait for the sprint, either way I was thinking I had a good crack at fifth for the day.

Wrong! when we were coming up the home straight for what I was anticipating was the bell (although there wasn't actually any ringing, we don't use bells here), we were 50 meters from the line when the chequered flag was suddenly whipped out, giving nobody a chance to sprint. Confusion reigned, nobody was sure what had happened. At first I thought that maybe the lap cards had been for the other race and we had collectively misunderstood but what I think actually transpired was the officials lost the plot, because the bunch from our race came through embedded in the bunch of the younger race behind and were allowed to finish the race. The officials had misplaced us on the road and thought we were down not up, not the first time that sort of thing has happened in a race but annoying nonetheless, still its all volunteer officials that turn out quite a lot during this part of the year to run races. Just to add to the confusion as I was going to collect my money after the race the commentator called me over he wanted to interview the winner of the race! Unfortunately I had to disabuse him.

Actually apart from the finish debacle I was pretty happy with my ride, again the numbers were good particularly when I was out on my own, and I kept it going and I was in no danger of getting dropped from the group afterwards, so hopefully promising as I get a few more races in my legs.

Lost again! and a brilliant brilliant race in Holland

Yesterday Friday was another day for exploring, the weather was perfect 26c with a light wind, a really nice day. My plan was a bit ambitious, a big loop of predominately country lanes, enjoying the scenery and fresh air. Well it went Ok for two thirds of the ride but then it came unstuck quite quickly. The problem is that you ride into a small hamlet expecting to stay on the road through that's taking you in the right direction then you are faced with a T junction with no signs at all! So I was making guesses whether it was going to be right or left but when I started to ride into Geraardsbergen (home of the Mur de Grammont) I knew I was so far wrong it wasn't funny. I once raced a kermesse in Geraardsbergen that went 10 times up through the town just turning right before the last cobbled section past the church, I wouldn't have lasted long except that I followed another rider up the footpath to avoid the cobbles through the town, no big crowds for a local race back in the day, so the footpath was available every lap. Anyway I was heading in completely the wrong direction, I actually had a map with me this time, a detailed small scale? map, but I was encountering signs with names that weren't on my map! Back track was the only option, so 2 hours in the country achieved. Today I raced in Vogelwaarde, Holland. What a brilliant race, You can't have as much fun as I had today with your clothes on it was great, wind, cobbles, in the gutter racing, echelons, high speed it had everything you could want in a race held on a brilliant sunny day, which got pretty warm. Because the race was n Holland we had a lot of Dutch riders signing up too so it was a bigger field today. There was a 300m cobbled section about 500m from the start/finish line. I think the Paris Roubaix categorises cobbles as difficulty one, two or three, I estimate these were category two, lumpy and difficult but they could be worse, with no bail out on the side either, we hit the them hard and fast each time so they were over pretty soon, some riders struggled but the section was so short that most were able to rejoin.

Start of the B Race

There was a very long cross headwind straight that had everybody either in an echelon or in the gutter, awesome, first lap we were down to 10 riders coming out of that section and we actually had a pace line going for the rest of the lap to cement the gap, which we achieved, it was game over for most of the field. Normal tactic is for a group to not really work and then one or two riders to take a flyer off the front.

One lap later the race is in pieces - welcome to Belgium

Later on in the second half of the race it got a lot more confused since they insist on sending the oldest race off two minutes ahead of a younger race, which tends to mess up our race but today I just treated it as one race and I was good in that race too towards the end, I'm good at groveling in the gutter, much better these days than continually jumping out of corners. So in the money again today, much happier with my performance, raced it all the way to the line, aggressively, not sure of the exact place yet but according to the pay out I was well up. Satisfied with that. Recovering on my bed watching the Tour now,

A Recovery day and a training day that wasnt.

Yesterday, Wednesday was a recovery day with a planned ride 'off the map' so to speak, a little exploring of the narrow quiet scenic lanes. There was some drizzle for some of the ride, enough to wet the roads for a while but it didn't last long and although it was a bit cooler, around 20c it wasn't exactly cold. I'd like to be able to tell you where I went but apart from the first and last 20 minutes I have no idea. I do know that for most of the ride I wasn't anywhere near where I thought I was, about 20 minutes into the ride I must have got completely turned around in terms of direction, its easy to do in the narrow lanes through the fields, you start by heading North say, the road twists and turns and before you realize it you are heading south! Still no panic I can't ride that far in an hour and eventually I came across a sign that had a place name on it that I recognized, which showed me how far I was from where I thought I was, I managed to get back from there with the minimum of confusion. Of course I could always have asked for directions, but what's the point of exploring if you get directions? Today, Thursday, I had intended to repeat the training session from Tuesday so that's what I set out to do, again a bit cooler today, 20c but sunny with a bit of a wind blowing to make it more interesting. I completed the first lap with intervals and realized that I still had Tuesdays session in my legs, on Tuesday it had been hurting but I had perversely enjoyed it completing it OK, today I knew I was working much harder to get near to the same result. I hadn't fully recovered, given that I'm racing in Holland on Saturday it didn't seem wise to hammer myself again if I was already tired, so abandoned the interval plan and turned the day into a simple endurance ride, although I did enjoy the challenge of hammering into the wind for 10 minutes at maximum watts. I hate it when your mind is writing cheques that your body can't cash!!!!!! A One good thing about today was that I ran into, not literally you understand, my mate Pete Ryalls who did so well at Maryborough when he came to stay earlier in the year, he's been having a bit of a rough time but was buckling down to some training, we have a tentative arrangement for dinner on Monday evening after a race in Eeklo. Currently settled down to watch the tour stage, they seem to have good weather and at 120km to go seems a bit of a promenade for most, I imagine there are a lot of riders quite happy about that after a hectic few days.

A good days training

Trained hard today, but more of that later. Yesterday, Monday, I took as a recovery day, 2 hour ride through the countryside, enjoying the scenery just rolling the legs around. I had a plan, four place names in my mind to do a big loop through 'unknown' territory, I nailed the first two, St lievens Houtem and Zottergem after that I have absolutely know idea where I was and to be honest I probably couldn't have backtracked either. However it was brilliant day weather wise, 28c I think with a light breeze which made it a very pleasant day to be on the bike so I just enjoyed being out there confident that sooner or later I would come across a sign that I recognized. More by chance that skill at almost exactly 2 hours I found myself at a junction of the N50, only 2kms up the road rom the hotel, I'd like to call it skill but it was a surprise to me! I spent the afternoon with the tour, great finish but a terrible crash. Interesting to see the Facebook 'experts', calling for heavier bikes, no deep wheels, no radio's, more skills training (what!)etc etc as a fix for crashes. If most of these people were bike racers, they've forgotten the reality of it out there 200 guys racing, a moments inattention, a sudden swerve and somebody goes over the wheel, result crash we've all been there, it happens and its no secret that road rash and collar bones are the commonest result. I hope that all the fallers recover quickly, especially Spartacus. Today I trained, having thought about what I actually lacked on Sunday I came to the conclusion that at the 'component' level, nothing, initially I was punching up speed and power, closing gaps, climbing as well if not better than most of the opposition. What I decided was lacking was the ability to keep doing it for the whole race, that's fixable, not necessarily a quick fix but what else am I going to do with my time! So today I rode 25km to my quiet little training circuit, all at tempo, some of it at threshold. My plan was four laps with more 'work', starting with a one minute interval, followed by a two minute interval, a 20 second sprint, 20 second rest, 20 second sprint, there were also two dead turns that also got 15 second sprints out of them. It goes without saying that I was trying to keep the gear rolling and the speed up between each effort, no freewheeling. It was hard, very hard but that of course was the point, I think my lungs were giving out before my legs, although of course my legs caught up pretty quick. All the sprints I was punching 1000 watts, even at the end, I did think about another lap but I was actually feeling a bit sick by then, I managed to get my HR to 176 in one of the sprint sequences, I thought my max was 175 these days, that was probably what was making me feel ill! So I compromised by doing 10km above threshold on the way home. For those that understand training with power, my TSS for the day was 225, with my hour of intervals it was 135! pretty happy with that for a day's training, I plan on repeating that on Thursday, with hopefully a better performance at the weekend. Now I am settled down for the cobbles stage of Le Tour, which with a 100km to go has so far been pretty boring.

Well that was hard my lungs now hurt and my legs are like jelly!

I knew my first races weren't going to be easy, the racing here is much more full on even with the old guys, and only having raced three times this year, two of which were handicaps, I knew it was going to be uncomfortable. It was! I probably didn't do myself any favour's going on the attack after only half a lap had gone by, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I was always going to struggle I think but that ensured the pain was going to come sooner rather than later. The course wasn't flat at all, more tilted, downhill one side, uphill the other side, probably nothing worse that 3% for about 1000 metres through the finish, tough enough coming out of a slow corner with attacks each lap. There was a fast downhill into a narrow almost dead turn which was pretty tricky, I managed to get it sideways on one lap which had the riders behind me squeaking, but I only did it the once.

By the end of the first lap we were down to only eight riders with only four really contributing, I was going through just to make sure the rest of the race didn't come back, I was really looking for a few steady laps to try and get my lungs back inside my chest!!! The racing here is just effort after effort, nothing steady about it all. The eight split into two fours, I was in the second four and to be honest happy enough with that if we were going to just keep it going, unfortunately the other (younger) race came up at that point going 5kph faster and the pain just got worse. They did take us up to the other four but after that I lost the plot completely, by halfway I was in survive if I could mode,I wasn't doing anything to contribute to the race just following wheels. However it wasn't all bad, I definitely had all the attributes needed and I'm fast, what I couldn't do is keep doing it for the whole race, hopefully that will come as I do more races, I think it will take a few though but I did enjoy it while I was mixing it, I wouldn't enjoy just sitting on the back. I'm battered now, lying on my bed watching Le Tour.

Still very hot but at least I can watch the tour now

Still having intermittent WiFi connection issues which is all a bit of a mystery but at the moment its good so here's an update on the last couple of days. Friday was a 'training' day so I mixed it up with some longer sweetspot/threshold efforts and some 2 minute and sprint intervals, bit better than earlier in the week which is good, particular the 10 second sprints which are now over 1200 watts which might not be earth shattering in the big leagues but I'm pretty happy with that. There was a bit of cloud cover in the morning when I went out so just a tad cooler for most of the ride, it was only on the ride home that the sun came through and we went to 34c. A bit of excitement (for me) at the hotel this evening, the BMC U23 are in residence, 2 trucks, 2 team cars, 1 DS, 1 mechanic, 2 soigneurs, 5 riders - pretty good ration I would say. A big race on Saturday around Zottergem, just down the road, the guys were telling me that its a bit of a mini Tour of Flanders, 175km using lots of the ToF famous climbs. A 100km loop, then 5 laps around Zottergem. For dinner I got the "sports meal', same as the team, I don't do enough to eat that much anymore! so I didn't commonsense said I ate half of each serving except the salad and even then I felt really stuffed. It was avert warm and very very humid night, very uncomfortable. The forecast for Saturday is more of the same, the hottest day yet before it eases a bit on Sunday, glad I'm not racing 175km.

Saturday morning I had a real result, I've been having trouble with rear mech this week, gear changing at the back is very temperamental. Don't really understand it, the bike went into the box perfect, came out with a problem. Anyway I persuaded the young mechanic to have a look at it assuming that for an expert it would be a quick adjustment, it wasn't but he stuck at it and fixed it for me. Hooray for BMC. Second score was that I forgot to bring safety pins, here you get a number but no pins, so you always need your own, for the first time this year I forgot! I managed to blag a dozen from one of the soigneurs who was very generous, second hooray for BMC. I've done 90 minutes just spinning the legs ready (I hope) to race tomorrow at Dikkelvenne with the WAOD, its about 30 mins away, so no pressure for a 12.30 start, I've not raced there before but I'm anticipating a flat course. I'm now settled down in front of the big screen in the lounge watching stage 1 of the tour on Sporza BE, the commentators are giving Rohan Dennis a big build up, mind you they just did the same for Luke Durbridge and he didn't do so well. Huge crowd, glad I'm not there in the heat, its making me think of my own plans to go to stage 4 if its still hot. PS late update Jurgen just joined me and shouted me a nice glass of red wine!

Hot hot hot

No WiFi in the hotel last night so this post will cover two days. Yesterday was HOT, my bike computer, which is German and therefore always accurate, said the average temperature on my ride was 39c, with the top temperature reaching 43c! No wonder I felt a little (read a lot) tired by the time I got back For reasons of 'Skypeing' home I didn't actually go out until 11.30am, mistake! My plan was to do 2 hours with a 'training' segment in the middle using one of my preferred canal rides with a little loop that I have used before to do some intervals, race simulation if you like. I've only raced 3 times this year so far so I feel I need to do something like this. The lap allows me a 2 minute interval, a 1 minute interval, a 20 second sprint and a 30 second sprint with a little rest in between. Up until I did 3 laps of that I had been feeling OK, a little jaded from the day before but basically OK and the heat wasn't bothering me. By the time I had finished the interval session the heat and everything else was bothering me and I still had 20+km to get home which turned out to be a real chore. However a cold shower and an hour on the bed with 3 bottles of isotonic drink bought some semblance of normality. Upon analysis the short intervals all yielded good numbers and the short sprints pushed over 1000 watts and I still had some to go, so all good. The only thing is, I did 3 short laps and that was OK but in my racing it will go like that for the whole race, that's where the challenge will lie. On the way back down the canal I did my good deed for the day, having been flagged down by a chap that had had a puncture, changed his tube but had no means of inflating it! Which seemed very odd to me, when I produced a C02 bottle he was non plussed! He spoke pretty good English so we had quite a good chat and he was off to ride The Marmotte the next day, I hope he doesn't puncture! he insisted on the ubiquitous 'selfie' and then I was on my way. It was pretty hot by this time so the canal path was pretty quiet so I don't know how long he'd been waiting for someone to come along. This probably a good point to mention Belgians/Europeans fixation on suntans. Just about every bike rider I see is wearing a sleeveless jersey if he is wearing one at all, I hate to think how the cancer statistics are growing here, no sign of slip, slap, slop or cover up here. I bought some more factor 50+ myself today, my pale winter skin needs all the help it can get. Today all I did was 90 a mins recovery ride, went out a little earlier, its been cooler today, there is some cloud cover so only reached 31c. I went off the beaten track today, or at least off my known routes and did about 70 of the 90 minutes out in the country basically following my nose in directions terms. I only had to back track once when the road I was on turned into a dirt track, it didn't look to bad but I only have race wheels with good tyres on so as interesting as it looked discretion for my equipment overruled. This afternoon it was off to the big bike shop in Aalst to try and fulfil some special clothing orders and pick up some more isotonic drink. I was lucky with the clothing which was just as well since July 1st is the start of Van Eycks big sale and by the weekend it will be like a plague of locusts has hit the place, good time for a bargain but not a particularly good shopping experience. I'm pleased to say that despite being tempted by all manner of goodies my own money stayed firmly in my wallet!