Catching Up from Diegem and Loenhout

I'm currently in Amsterdam enroute home so let me catch you up the the last two races of my EuroCrossCamp.  On Monday was the Diegem Superprestige race, one of the longer running races in Belgium and a favorite of many.  It is the most urban venue I have ever experience for a cross race and has a great atmosphere happening with a dance party at one end of the course.

I had a good race overall in Diegem.  After a decent start I began to move up slowly, but steadily.  I was really enjoying the long paved climb in the middle of the lap and it seemed to be working in my favor.  As the race went on I felt like I was gaining more and more momentum, which was leading to moving further and further up through the field.  In the end I only finished in 48th place, which happens to be the same place that I finished Diegem in last year.  So while it would have been nicer to have finished higher I still felt great about the race.  It was one of those where things seemed to come together well, tire pressure, line choices, handling, pacing, and good legs all in one. Here is a great photo of me in Diegem from Lyne at podiuminsight.com.

Monday's race in Diegem left me extra motivated for my last race of the camp which was the Azencross GVA race in Loenhout.  It is another one of the classic cross races in Belgium that I have done several times.  However this was my first time racing Loenhout in the snow, snow that was quickly melting and making things muddy.  The start was pretty hectic with a long straight drag race to a 90 degree corner that narrows all on pavement.  Coming out of the corner there was a huge crash that blocked the entire road.  Only the first few riders made it through, and the rest of us were left stopped with a foot down waiting for the wreckage to clear.  After what seemed like an eternity to be stopped for during a race, probably only 5-10 seconds in reality, we essentially restarted.  I got back to throwing elbows and battling through the mud.  Those awesome legs I was really wishing for to close out my season weren't quite there though.  I still pedaled hard and had some fun, but I was a bit disappointed with 58th on the day.  Oh well you can't be good all the time.  Here is a picture from early on in the race.

One more picture for today, from the Zolder World Cup...

Things got a little crazy there to say the least.  Anyways I'm off to catch the plane home.  I plan to continue updating my blog, but perhaps a bit less regularly than I have been these past two weeks.  So please follow along if you wish.  Thanks again to everyone who helped me get to EuroCrossCamp this year!