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!
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