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!

Cyclingnews Diary Entry

Check out my Cyclingnews.com diary entry here.

I had a race I was happy with in Diegem on Monday and an okay one in Loenhout now.  I've got to start packing for the trip home tomorrow, but I'll try to do a full update from those races soon.

I Survived! The Zolder World Cup...

Wow, today was nuts!  I raced the Zolder World Cup last year as well and I found it to be fairly wide open, with a few tricky descents thrown in towards the end of the lap.  But it wasn't anything that I would consider life threatening.  I would consider what I did today mildly life threatening.  I made it through though and now I'm here to tell you about it.  The course was taped and set up fairly similar to last year's.  The new factor in the mix was a good amount of snow.  They had shoveled, plowed and salted most of the course.  The definition of a shovel being used loosely though...  There were a few course workers doing their best with a piece of plywood nailed to a signpost.  Anyways despite the preparations to clear the foot or so of snow, there was still a nice slippery layer covering most of the course.

I felt alright warming up and was doing okay with the technical bits of the course.  The start of the race on the F1 track was pretty quick and made for almost instant chaos once we hit the snow.  I found a good outside line to avoid the biggest pile up and kept my wits about me.  The first half lap was going great as I was riding by many others that were laying on the ground.  Then I met my first of several straightaway dooms...  Going by the pit I caught a mini-snow-rut the wrong way and took a pretty good digger.  I got up as my bike was getting ridden over by those that I had just passed while they were taking their turns on the ground.  My bike and body were all right so I continued onwards.  Then came the series of descents...  The first of the two was fine.  The second one I screwed up and got some air time without my bicycle.  Bike and body still okay, so I remounted and crossed the finish line to head out for another lap.  

By the second lap there was a bit less traffic in my part of the race and it was easier to see the mini-snow-ruts that marked most of the course.  I continued plugging away.  Clearing the descents was a good challenge for me and provided some thrill upon each successful completion.  I felt like I was riding fairly steadily, just not super far up in the field.  The laps ticked by without any more major events and I was moving up a bit.  Unfortunately  I was pulled with one lap to go in 41st place.

While my result was far from good, I really am just happy to be all in one piece still.  Hopefully the bike handling skills and cojones growth from today will pay off in the future.  Perhaps even tomorrow?  Because there is another bike contest here in lovely Belgium.  The Superprestige race in Diegem is one of the coolest courses I have ever done.  It is very urban and has some cool features throughout.  As long as we are on the subject of cool things...  How about Lars Boom throwing down in the elite race today!  The race was awesome to watch on TV and I'm glad that Boom is back racing.  Even if his schedule is limited he certainly puts on a good show.  I'll try to get up some pictures from today soon, until then here is a video from the last lap of the elite race.

Vrolijke Kerstmis

Merry Christmas from Belgium!  Not a whole lot goes on here on Christmas day, but we were treated to an excellent Christmas Eve dinner here at the house last night.  Today has been a day of relaxation and preparation for tomorrow's World Cup in Zolder.  The temperature is well below freezing and has been keeping the snow around.  The specialness of a white Christmas wears off when the snow that is making it white came down from the sky last week.  But Belgium did still bring us something for Christmas, the sun!  The sun doesn't shine too often here, but when it does it really livens things up.  It made today's ramp up ride quite enjoyable.

 Here is one of the cooler pedestrian bridges heading into Kortrijk.

 

Next up for today is a pretty rad music video from Don Diablo.  Check it out to see what the kids in Europe are doing.  At least the youth are hooked on some healthy things...

Race Day!

Well okay, it wasn't actually race day.  But we made a race for ourselves here at EuroCrossCamp in a small park along the canal.  We started everyone together with bragging rights on the line, as well as a day without chores for the victors.  I eased into the effort and it felt just like a Wednesday night cross practice at home.  Except this midweek training had a few spectators and even some photographers.  So with all of the fabricated hype there was some extra motivation to go hard and get a good effort in.

I've never been to a EuroCrossCamp with 6 days off in between two races.  It is nice to have some time to focus, train and really get the body on track for the bigger races that are coming up.  At the same time though one can only sit in front of the TV watching Jim for so many hours.  In the end though it is an entire week of building excitement towards some of my favorite races.  Hopefully I've been storing up some good energy.  The two pictures below from our training race really showcase the great weather we have been having here. Okay, actually it really is that gray, but at least it was above freezing today.

After dinner it was time for some more intrasquad scrimmage.  This time though at the local bowling alley with even funnier shoes than the ones we wear for cycling.  The competition was heated with Yannick going for the speed record, but also managing to knock down a few pins.  I think he broke 36k/hr.  That seems pretty fast for a bowling ball.  The sleeper though was junior rider Cypress, he crushed us all.  Rumor has it at home he does two hours at the bowling alley for every one hour on the bike.

   

EuroCrossCamp director Geoff Proctor demonstrating some excellent form.  It came down to a 10th frame battle between the two of us and he just barely got me.  Actual scores will not be disclosed to protect the self esteem of those involved.

Kalmthout WC and the Good Days

Yesterday was the Kalmthout World Cup, my first race of the camp.  We woke up to a bit more snow and it continued to snow off and on all day.  The drive to the race went surprisingly fast.  Snow often has a way of shutting down Belgium.  The course was similar to last year, but with a few more turns.  It was fun to ride in the slippery conditions.  Unfortunately I didn't have a great race, finishing in 52nd place.  I suppose that leaves a lot of room for improvement in next week's WC in Zolder.  Here is a photo from Kalmthout.

Today consisted of an nice easy ride to one of my favorite places in Belgium, the city or Kortrijk which is not too far from Izegem.  As much as I love all the hard days of training, they make me love the easy days even more.  Fortunately with all of the racing during EuroCrossCamp there are a lot of easy training days in between with room for fun. A new record of fun and deliciousness for me was set today in Kortrijk.  Not one, but two stops within the city.  First we got some coffee, then put the gloves back on for the short jaunt over to the waffle shop.  There were six of us on the ride today and I'm sure we look like a bunch of clowns on these days.  But we are all certainly having a good time.   These are the good days. How can this not be a good time?

 Here my snow machine waiting for waffle consumption to be completed.

It was even sunny in Belgium today, which seems like a rarity.  Of course it was welcomed though and made the easy ride that much more enjoyable.  If you readers have any questions or want to know about some specific areas of my experiences over here let me know in the comments!

Frozen Belg

Welcome to my blog.  I've got some brief catching up to do.  Last week was a great close to the domestic season. for me  I finally got the win in the DII Collegiate race at nationals.  WWU also won the team title!

After a couple days at home I flew to Belgium, where I will spend the next two weeks participating in EuroCrossCamp VIII.  I arrived to snow in Belgium for the second year in row.  It doesn't snow very often here and when it does things don't operate so smoothly.  Similar to Seattle/Bellingham.  Regardless I've been riding outside each day, because riding the trainer is no fun, and riding on snow and ice can be.  Otherwise there hasn't been too much excitement around the house yet, so I'll share a few pictures.

 I think this is the ride of a Benelux Region hipster.  Spotted outside of the coffee shop in Izegem.

This is what most of my training has looked like the last three days.  It's been a good challenge, but I won't be complaining when it finally thaws out sometime next week.  Tomorrow is the Kalmthout World Cup.  It was a super fun race last year so I'm looking forward to it.  Hopefully I'll have a more exciting update soon!