Normal service is resumed

After dropping my daughter off at Ghent St Pieters station following her short but very enjoyable visit, well the hotel and resteraunt staff are still talking about it! I was back to racing today. Racing with the WAOD at St Laureins near Eeklo today, fortunately they started two separate races, which in the main was quite sensible but there were one or two 'incidents' but more of that later.

I was a bit concerned when I first drove onto the circuit when I saw that they were putting straw bales up on some of the corners, doesn't normally happen in Belgian races, so I wondered if it was especially dangerous, no problem it wasn't.

The course was dead flat, very open, the weather was good 26c and windy which was a bit of a challenge on some of the straights. From the start / finish the there was an immediate 90 degree left which was fast and safe, 200 metres to another fast safe 90 degree left which led onto a fast straight about one kilometre onto a 90 degree right which led onto a two kilometre straight that wandered back and forth a little, a 90 degree left which you had to get lined up correctly because we were coming off a fast wide straight onto a 3 metre wide concrete track with only one correct line. This straight was maybe 500 metres, we were usually in the right gutter, into a 90 degree left, another tight corner, leading onto another 3 metre wide concrete lane for maybe 2 kms, this was cross headwind off the right, very exposed and we were very definitely in the right hand gutter, swing left at the end before a 90 degree right onto the home straight with about one kilometre to the finish dead straight Total lap length between 7 and 8 kilometers.

I didn't really have a race plan other than not get carried away in the first couple of laps and just to see how the legs felt, I was happy that the sprint was dead straight and my feeling at the start was that with the wind or more the cross winds we wouldn't be a large group still at the finish so whilst last corner positioning is always important it also gave plenty of scope for re positioning and too far forward would almost certainly be a liability.

The first couple of laps went to plan, never in trouble but sitting on wheels the whole time with no problems matching the kicking out of corners and unusually there was no corner I wasn't taking perfectly which always saves the legs and of course energy. From there up until the bell I was feeling pretty good, jumping up to breaks, forcing breaks, pulling strongly, the legs feeling good. Its really good for the confidence when in the cross headwind riders are continually drifting off the wheel and I had absolutely no problem stepping out and powering across the gap, there was a continual attrition of riders as the group whittled down, mostly on this straight. In the second half of the race, each time along this straight I tried to form an echelon and ride away, I could get 4 riders to do one turn but then they wanted to hide and sit on allowing the bunch to come back, I even tried putting every body in the gutter and shredding the line which I did manage to do, but in little groups they would claw back, it was too tough a day for me to succeed on my own, not really my thing either.

About half way we began to pick up riders and small groups from the younger race ahead, it started off OK and we managed to keep separate but as time went on these guys were just hanging onto our bunch and really getting in the way. At three to go, almost exactly on the finish line one of these guys veered across to hit me on my left side, one of us had to go down, it wasn't me, I shrugged him off and he went down like a sack of ...., apperently his bike was trashed and he went off in the ambulance, fortunately he didn't bring anybody else down. I had noticed him a few K's before, he was wearing a really smart predominately all white uniform but I think he was really tired and trying very hard, all over the place. I guess he gets a bit of a rest now.

Coming into the bell, it was pretty clear there would be a sprint, there would be the inevitable attacks but I started thinking about how to run the sprint. There were maybe 20 in the group but it was confusing in we had maybe 6/8 from the other race that were probably going to get in the way but not feature in our result. There was one recognised sprinter in the group (apart from me of course) so I elected to ride his wheel on the basis that I thought I could roll him in a long straight sprint but he would also know who else was a potential danger and ride to cover any real threats.

Well that was the plan and coming out of the last corner both he and I were perfectly placed, he was about 6 back and I was on his wheel, then some pratt from the other race turned left, and I do mean turned left, and was taking us into the gutter, we both yelled, braked momentarily to cut back right and bugger me he then turned right and were heading for the barriers. Again we were yelling, mine was very choice, very personal I can confirm, my lead out man was actually alongside of him at this point and managed to fend him off long enough to slip by, I had to back out and go left again and spend some pennies to catch my lead out man, by this stage we are along way off but we still have 400 meters to travel. Basically we were closing all the time until we realised that we had run out of road and weren't going to make it and freewheeled in from about 50 meters out, very disappointing.

The one man chicane saw me waiting for him just beyond the finish and sensibly turned around and went back down the course!

Talking to my lead out man after the race, we were both convinced that without our difficulties we would both have won. I have no doubt that we would have been first and second, I can't obviously be sure which order of course. Oh I was 4th in that sprint!

Whole day as tourist

No ride today, I spent the whole day as a tourist sightseeing around Ghent with my daughter. Well not actually the whole day, since I took advantage of the sale season to buy a new bike case to replace the one with smashed locks courtesy of Qatar Airways. I'd been in last week and thought they were an excellent price but today they were 50 Euros cheaper, so I was pretty happy with that.

Then we drove into Ghent to have look at the old town and get some lunch. The traffic was amazing light and the parking very easy which surprised me until I realised that Ghent festival main concert events finished over the weekend. So we got wander around the old town in relative tranquility although there were still a few party goers still drinking in groups from the weekend, they must have a lot more staying power than me!

The old town is packed with history and historical buildings which I always find fascinating but what was almost more fascinating was the activity in de constructing some of the amazing structures assembled for the various concert acts, VIP enclosures, bars, concession stands etc etc. Given that Ghent is a very very old town and the squares and open areas may have been adequate in the middle ages for markets and the like but there is an area for big sound stages and hundreds of thousands of people. Solution; erect them above the canal network, a lot of structures where placed over the canals on massive steel girders. The construction, the fitting out, the wiring, the sound systems, the generators etc etc must have been enormously expensive to ship in, assemble and now take apart, seeing it all without the distraction of thousands of people easily reveraled the complexity of what had been achieved. It was all pretty impressive that's for sure.

Back to the hotel for a pleasant dinner, it was pretty quiet actually, probably to do with the rain we were getting so we had a lot of time with the staff, loads of raucous laughing going, so all in all a very light hearted enjoyable day. Back to the serious stuff of racing tomorrow, near Eeklo which is Roger Devlaeminck territory for those old enough to remember "Mr Paris Roubaix'.

Slight hiccup in the procceedings

Todays race was with the VWF in Borchtlombeek, a bit cooler and fresher today but still warm with a bit of a breeze.

I've had a third place here in the past but todays course was subtly changed from previous years to include a nasty section of cobbles, maybe 500m which included nasty challenging climb.

The course ran along a flattish straight concrete road for about a kilometre before a 90 degree right onto the first climb of the circuit, about 500m of concrete road, swing right at the top and effectively drop down again to a roundabout where we turned left up a fast bit of new tarmac to turn 90 degree right onto the cobbled climb, over the top still on cobbles to a 90 degree left along another fast tarmac road to a 90 degree right, another fast level road into a 90 degree left along a narrow lane that started fast downill, then soon became a long uphill for about 1500m, turning 90 degree right at the top, a fast downhill into a 90 degree right, short fast straight down to a 90 dgree left, another fast level straight, into a 90 degree left back into the home straight which started fast downhill but finished kicking up through the finish line.

Good field today everybody was there, so it was going to be a fast race, I thought it would kick off on the first climb where riders wanted to be in place for the cobbled climb where it was certain to open up each lap. I was proved right as we started fairly sedately but the further up the first climb we went the faster it got. I surprised myself by being really comfortable and moving up the left to turn the top corner as second wheel, lost a few positions on the fast downhill hitting the cobbled climb in maybe 15th place, surprised myself by really powering up the cobbled climb with my bike bouncing and the carbon wheels sounding like they might explode any minute, but I was third wheel at the top and feeling comfortable. Held position in the top ten along and over the longest climb and down the other side, felt good enough to put in a strong acceleration out of the last corner to open up a few gaps down the home straight but we were pretty much together I think going through the finish the first time.

Lap two was pretty much a repeat except there were more efforts to force a gap and the hills were taken even faster with no let up in between, I was over the moon about my climbing, particularly on the cobbled climb and was feeling quite confident about having a real go on that climb before the end.

Third time (of 5) up the cobbled climb I was holding excellent position at the front, but going acoss the flat cobbled section at the top before the left hander along the fast tarmac my chain dropped and even though I have a chain catcher it took too long to get back on. A 100 metres off the back, I chased and was edging back until the longest climb where I had been strong, but somebody must have really opened up over the top and I knew that was race over for me!

So that was that, with my daughter coming for a two day visit it was back to the hotel to greet her as a consolation and another race on Wednesday. Shame about today although I always think I can't climb I know I'm not that bad so I had been thinking pretty confidently about being in the 'money'. I run Osymetric chain rings but the set up is pretty well perfect at the moment so I don't point any blame there, just the luck of the bounce, chain bounce that is!

Lazy day in Erondegem

Very lazy day today, starting with a late breakfast. Finally got on to ride at about 11am, I decided that I would go on a bit of a mystery tour since I raced yesterday and will race again tomorrow, no intervals no training just a cruise around picking up the town centres of some of the older towns that I usually try to miss during the week. The weekend when the shops and businesses are closed is the time to look at some of the older buildings and sites I decided. I had a rough idea for a loop around, I certainly did a loop but whether it was the one I started out to do is a different matter.

Spent the afternoon on some writing oh and watching some bike race in Italy. I came back to the hotel yesterday to find a new cable TV system being installed, 1250 channels!!!! Seem to be from all over Europe and the middle East but with 1250 channels it takes for ever to scroll through to find something to watch! So I was lucky I think to find the Trofeo something or other.

So an early night and a race tomorrow. My daughter also arrives for a couple of days visit tomorrow that should liven things up a bit.

Torrential rain, thunder and lightening

Well what an interesting day, the race was at Hengstdijk in Holland, so it meant a bit of an earlier start for me but it was still only just under the hour for me to get to the race all on good roads so it wasn't a problem. The drive there was done in misty sort of conditions the sort of a start where you might expect the sun to burn off the mist and for a nice sunny day to follow.

Wrong! Having signed on the weather got progressively worse as I got my stuff together, starting with almost continuous claps of thunder moving overhead follwed by torrential rain and then the lightening started in the immediate vicinity as well. Oh joy! Well I was ready and already wet so I went to the start, Belgians or the extra Dutch boys in the race don't blanche at a bit of rain so I wasn't going to either, although I must admit it wouldn't have taken much to get me to change my mind! It was so dark and the rain was absoluteley torrential at our appointed start time of 10.30 that we really needed lights!

So there we are ready to go when there is a mighty flash and enormous bang of thunder right over our heads, all the women and lot of the men ran screaming for cover, the officials calling for a 30 minute delay to the start as they disappeared, given we were already wet we weren't too impressed. At least in races in Holland they tend to have decent race HQ's, this was a family camping park so had load of room undercover for us to sit in the dry and warm until the officials were prepared to brave the elements. By the time we started 30 minutes late the rain was still torrential but most of the thunder and lightening had moved away, just the occaisional clap as went round the first lap. Nobody had warmed up so we had the civilised situation of no atacks for the first half lap when the racing got underway.

I don't think I can describe the course too well, the roads were mostly very narrow, it wa difficult to sit on a wheel given the spray so you couldn't really see too much, there were quite a number of slow corners that everybody was giving a lot of respect too, indeed we lost quite a few riders on the first lap once we got up to racing speed, they were losing contact on the corners and its really hard to come back if you do that a couple of times.

Right from the start I was a bit wary on the corners but holding my place well enough, carbon rims even with Swisstop yellows are a bit suspect in torrential rain, I've ridden that combination quite happily in wet conditions but nothing like today.

There were primes on the line each of the first few laps for the first two across the line, coming through the last little village before turning onto the home straight which was cobbled and like ice, one of the stronger riders attacked and I thought to myself he's not just going for the prime here so having got off the cobbles I went after him, picking up a few Euro's in the process. Well for the next half lap he was 50m in front of me and what was a shrinking bunch was about 50m behind me. It seemed to me that I was bringing him back on the straights and getting further from the bunch but I was losing so much in the corners to both. At the time I was thinking I just had too much air in my front tire since that was the one that was constantly slipping away from me making cornering a nervous past time. After half a lap out there I thought this is silly, we're not getting away and if they are serious the numbers will eventually count. Wrong again, I didn't sit up but knocked it off a couple of clicks and what was left of the bunch duly came up to me and went charging through only to sit up shortly after. Our man sat out about 100/150m in front for two laps with no concerted chase, very occasionally 3 or 4 guys would roll it through but its just not the way they race here so our man pulled ahead in the last lap.

I continued to have front end problems, with the front wheel doing its best to slip away from me on most of the corners, a front wheel slipping and sliding certainly keeps you interested that's for sure. Anyway coming around for the sprint that should have been perfect for me didn't turn out that way, coming through cobbled village I had to give up position to keep the bike upright, there was a really nasty right hander that cost me position and the cobbles were so slick coming of that corner I wasn't confident about getting out of the saddle. I managed to get on the tail of the group going for the sprint coming out onto the main road, I closed up on what I thought were the main protaganists but found when I jumped around them that there were still two guys in front, I just didn't have enough road left so third in the sprint it was, not a disaster but I was hoping for better.

Now for my excuses, what I though was an over inflated front tyre turned out to be a slow puncture, obviously the tyre was moving enough on the rim to make me feel unstable when I was laying the bike over. I am also embarrassed to say that when I went to put the bike back in the car the back brakes were very firmly rubbing on the rim, presumably I had knocked it when I cleaned it the day before. In my defence it was raining so hard that having got the bike out of the car all I did was pump the tyres up, I would normally check those little things but opted for the dry in stead!

I've washed my clothes three times and I still don't think they are clean, even with my bar of SARD Wonder Soap, the socks went straight in the bin, so I have wet clothes everywhere now. The bike was actually a bit easier, Jurgen bought me out a bucket of soapy water and container of some 'magic' mixture one of the Italian teams that stayed here left for him. I think it was petrol and industrial detergent, cleaned the bke up a treat, not sure its done my hands any good though.

Wet with thunder and lightening today

I had dinner on the patio tonight under the awning with thunder and lightening and some occaisional heavy rain as a backdrop, quite deafening, just as well I didn't have anybody to talk to tonight, I couldn't have heard them. I felt sorry for those folk on a night out and not being able to hear each speak.

It was also wet this morning, so I delayed my ride a little while, I couldn't see any point in going out while it was torrential, its not as if I otherwise have a busy schedule. I got ready at my nusual time, after I have spoken to my lovely wife via Skype, while I was getting ready it was no more than spitting but by the time I got to the front door it was teeming, so I sat for a while then found something else to do. Sure enough it eventually stopped although the roads were still wet but they soon dried out, it was 28c after all.

Todays ride was a lot of Active Recovery like yesterday, some Endurance and Tempo witha little bit of Threshold thrown in with just a few intervals to make it interesting, I kept the ride to about 90 minutes to hopefully be fresh for tomorrows race in Holland. I managed to get lost today, well not lost lost but on a road I hadn't been on before and not totally sure how that had happened but I just follow familar names on the many road signs until I get back on roads I do know.

After lunch I spent some time cleaning my bike for tomorrow, it wasn't too difficult in the main, just a damp rag and finish off with a polish, but there is so much sand around, its the nature of the soil plus they lay the road clinkers in a bed of sand, its a real bugger in the drive train, I imagine that there ien't anything more abrasive on the chain and moving parts than sand.

Tomorrows race is in Holland, it will take about an hour to get there so will be the longest drive I need to do to get to race, I don't know the course but I hope I know the finish and even if I don't now, we have 5 laps to cover for our race distance so I will by the time we get to the end.

I'm still undecided about whether to ride the ICF Worlds Championships, I'm giving away to many years to be comeptitive and whilst its always a well run event and a bit of an 'occasion' I am struggling to see the point of just participating. I rather think that I'll race on the Friday and can then race on the Monday, the day after. But we'll see maybe I'll be going well enough after a couple of more races to give myself at least an outside chance. In any case I will go along if for no other reason than its on Steve Snowling's doorstep, so I want to see him at least one more time before I return home.

A very lazy day

Trying to recover from yesterday’s race was the sole plan today. The plan started with an extra hour in bed and a later breakfast followed by 90 minutes at Active Recovery pace, letting the legs spin but with no real pressure on the pedals. The weather was very conducive to a nice easy bike ride, warm again but with a pleasant cooling light wind, prefect for an easy bike ride, simply trying to get the blood flowing through my muscles to help clear out ‘stuff’, mostly accumulated Lactic Acid.

I bumped into Peter Ryalls by the Schelde Canal, just shows you what a small world it is, but around the Ghent area riding by the canals will find you many bike riders of all calibres sooner or later, No Pro’s today but there are usually some out and about.

This afternoon after having my lunch on the patio I actually had a nap, not something I’m prone to and to be honest I wasn’t planning it but lying on my bed reading I was gone pretty quickly but that’s Ok I didn’t miss my dinner. Wim the chef was trying to convince me that Moules (mussels) cooked in white wine, the special of the day was what I should have but although I don’t mind them from time to time they can sometimes be a bit dodgy so I declined.
Next race will be Saturday in Holland, the last time I rode it I crashed! I plan to avoid that outcome this year. I understand it’s a new course but I hope the finish is the same, I recollect it as dead straight for about 800 metres, after about 500 metres of cobbles. Of course because I’ve said it’s a good finish for me something will go wrong! A bit like I said Wednesday wasn’t a good finish for me!

I had a quick review of yesterdays race power file and there were a few interesting little facts, well I thought so anyway.

-Total elevation gained was 3 metres, which will have been down to the speed bumps or traffic calmer’s.

-The average speed along the back straight around 48kph every lap until the last three when it dropped to 45kph, that would explain why I was able to get back in the race towards the end, everybody else was getting as tired as I was!

-I pulled over 1000 watts 21 times jumping out of those darned slow corners each lap

I spent the evening sorting out the technical difficulties of connecting high speed/high bandwidth WiFi for my PC thats more used to low speed/low bandwidth diet in Briagolong. I think the poor thing was just overwhelmed, mind you at least I understand what's going on with Windows XP, I also have a tablet with me, mainly for books, that runs Windows 8, it may or not be OK but finding comparable control functions is a bit of a nightmare!

That's more like it but it almost wasn't!

Another hot day today, 34c I think was the temperature and I think I'm starting to feel it at least in the races.

Today was a race with the WAOD at Laarne, I've raced the Laarne course before and I've never liked it, especially the finish but I wanted to catch up with Peter Ryalls a TDF rider from way back, Peter rode the TDF in 1961 when it was national teams, he's a really intersting chap and at 75 is still pretty fit and can be very quick. It was great to catch up again in person.

The Laarne course, from the finish line threads its way down a narrow concrete lane that continually turns both left and right for about 2 km. the concrete joiners are at least across the road rather than running up the middle, the road drops away sharply on either side so going off the road won't be nice. Then a 90 degree right onto another narrow lane, the trap for the unwary here is the deep hole right on the apex of the turn, 200m and then another 90 degree right but this one goes onto a wider road which basically snakes back up through the other side of the village with an easy 90 degree turn abot two thirds of the way along, the excitement along here are the 'traffic calmers' that tend to throw you up in the air particularly when you aren't paying attention! This stretch then turns through a 120 degree turn, with built in 'traffic calmer' just for good measure, along a 400m straight which today was headwind and then through a lazy 90 dgree turn for about 100 metres then there is about a 30 degree cut back to the left about 150m to the finish line. Its the finish I dislike the most, since its obviously a bit fraught keeping the power on through the first bend and the late change of direction always seems to me to be asking for trouble.

For some reason not clear to me, nor anybody else in the race that I could talk to, they started two races together, us and the younger age race that would normally start in front of us by a minute. In all the races I have ridden as a vet its a formuala that has worked, at least when there is sufficient numbers for two races, there were certainly sufficient numbers today. We started on the back straight and the first lap was absolute chaos, bodies everywhere especially down that twisting back straight, we were changing direction at speed without any warning you just had be a 100% aware, there was quite a lot of 'banter' being passed back and forth and I must admit for about 30 seconds there I really wasn't enjoying the lack of structure at all. Basic problem was that 'guns' were all trying to either go forward through a slew of lesser lights and any strong riders at the front were trying to make the chaos decisive and ride clear. Making around to the slightly wider back straight which we travelling at over 50kph I managed to move forward by tagging onto some of the younger age group who started at the back so some semblance of normal order was resumed. We lost pretty close to half the bunch in the first lap I think, although I imagine they kept going until they were pulled from the race.

I spent the first half of the race literally hanging, I kept moving up when I could but we were going so flipping fast, I was playing that game that you play with yourself when its all really too hard. I'll hang in for one more lap, one more lap and so on until we reached just over halfway when I found myself pulling really hard turns, closing gaps and jumping into moves. I suspect that the reality was everybody else was now tired and the race pace had cooled a little to something that was more to my bodies liking! I'll have to check that sometime on my power file.

I started the race without a real plan other than I'm not getting involved in a bunch sprint and if I feel good towards the end I'll see about getting away. I had no problem getting away, just put the power down and ride away but to be honest I didn't have it to sustain the effort all the way, so we kept breaking up, reforming breaking up, each time we lost another one or two that just gave up the ghost and didn't come back.

So on the last lap coming around to that awful 120 degree turn that was really dragging it out my legs as we sprinted full on to get back up to speed, the inevitable happened the sprint effectively started 600m out into the headwind, the best line into the right hander was obviously keep it tight on the right. Having cruised for the first part of the sprint I started my sprint wide on the left as we hit the right hander, I have to admit I was laying the bike over so far to get the power down I snagged the inside pedal but not sufficiently hard as to flip me. As the road straightened out of the right hander before moving left, with guys taking the tight line on the right also moving left to cut the corner , I managed to cut through the sprinting line and move to the right to stay away from the scramble to cut le hander tight, by this time I was moving faster anyway. What I thought was inevitable, which is why I chose to ride slightly eccentrically happened, the line coming off the right to cut the left hander and the guys that had been following me on the left all wanted the tightline on the left. I was already moving past them on the right with loads of room when the inevitable did happen and both groups fighting for the short line came together, I was looking back as the sound of bikes and bodies hit the road.

There were two guys that were in front of the mess that I didn't get to but I was pretty happy with third in the bunch sprint since I was giving away a few years! But you may well ask why was I sprinting in a bunch sprint that I said I wouldn't touch with a barge pole and was proven right about the accident potential. Its a good question, rush of blood perhaps?

Todays back straight, pretty fast


I had a beer with the guys, I needed something cooling, then had to do battle with miserable bugger of a WAOD official who was trying to tell me that I wsn't on the result sheet!! Resolved in the end when I went off to find the only one of the officials that spoke English and pretty well in fact, he had also been Chief Judge at the finish so end of Argument.

I am now officially stuffed, downloading my data today I noticed two things, I spent an awful lot ot todays race with my heart rate at 170 bpm, my max is 175! Also for those of you up with the jargon, my CTL has risen 6.5 points since Saturday when I finally got my bike, experience tells me I can't sustain that, I would normally hope to improve my CTL by 3/4 points a week. Its an age thing so I need to be careful, so a real rest day might be in order or maybe a couple of very very light days.

Hot day and a great catch up after over 30 years

Today was another very hot day, Im not sure what the temperature climbed to in the end but it felt even hotter that its been the last few days. On my ride today it ws OK while I was moving but having to stop at traffic lights or railways crossings was definitely getting uncomfortable.

Two hours to day with a few 2 minute, one minute and 30 second intervals thrown in to remind my body what's required, then back for a nice long cool shower, I couldn't quite manage cold water, but tepid was very very refreshing. A few domestic duties in the afternoon like washing through my cycling clothing, I also spent some time tuning my PC, bloody things, the one I have with me only really gets used on trips and badly needed a bit of 'tidying up' and tuning!

In the evening I had dinner with an old mate that I haven't seen for over 30 years, Steve Snowling, Steve used to mechanic for us when we had the team going but more famously he was a regular six day mechanic and did spells with the German Telecom team and the ill starred British ANC outfit including the TDF. Steve now lives in Belgium and has for a long time, I tried to get hold of him the last time I was here but couldn't but we had a great 5 hours last night doing all the old stories and some of the intervening 30 years. Part two will be in a week or so, Steve now lives in Wevelgem and the ICF world Championships this year are apparently being held almost within walking distance of his house.

I'm racing at Laarne with the WAOD today. I prefer racing with the VWF but apparently WAOD races are 'easier', we'll see, I don't remember any easy races in Belgium to be honest, so I will be expecting it to be as hard on my legs as Boom. Assuming the Laarne circuit is the same as previous years its not a finish for me, the course is fine in the main, I remember it has a couple of nasty tight corners and a vicious stretch of cobbles, but in the last 500m there's a 120 degree right hander and the last 100 metres makes a slow 90 degree right as well. I prefer a fast straight run in where sustained top end is in play, jumpy stuff isn't my forte, others are a lot better at that than me.

The main reason I'm racing at Laarne is to meet up with another mate, Pete Ryalls, Peter rode the 1965? TDF, which was one of those years they experimented with national teams, Pete rode with the British team but more of that later.

One bonus from meeting up with Steve last night was that he insisted in giving my bike a going over and a bit of a tweak here and there which was very handy. Although he still does bits and pieces with bikes and his legendary tool set is even more impressive than it always used to be, he actually builds industrial robots these days.

An easy day in the sun

37c today, brilliant day just light winds so given the race yesterday an easy 'recovery' day was in order. Whilst my legs weren't exactly sore they certainly did feel a bit empty, I know I raced hard yesterday. It was interesting looking at my power numbers for the race just to see how the reality stacked against the training, I didn't actually do anything in the way of wattage over any time period that I hadn't incorporated into my training plan, the key difference was I seemd to be hitting those high spots constantly during the race. For instance I might do 8 * 2 minutes @ 130% in training then stop, in the race I just had to keep doing them! I averaged 95% of my FTP for the whole race for those of you that are up with that sort of thing, for those that aren't, it means that I was trying real hard!!!

Little item I missed from yesterday, the first thing I had to do to register for the race was a basic 'whereabouts' form in case the 'doctor' wants to visit! There have been a few races with doping controls and I know of one chap in my age catgory that has had a 'holiday' and is now back racing!

So today was 2 hours up by the Schelde canal, pan flat except a couple of bridges, nice and easy just keep the revs up and enjoy the scenery. I even managed to resist the temptation when guys came by me, didn't get involved in hunting them down, just chilled, I really enjoyed but with this weather due to persist I'm going to have to get some sun block.

Tried to get a few small things from the nearest bikes shop, Schollearts, they've been really helpful over the years so they are my LBS here, but they were closed! Closed for two weeks while they were on holiday, I went to the next shop along the road which is the local Specialised retailer, same thing! I know people need their holidays but is this approach purely Belgian?

This evening was the big post tour criterium in Aalst, obviously the first. On the billing was Chris Froome, Ritchie Porte, Nairo Quintana and Peter Sagan. As it turned out Froome and Porte where there and exceptionally well received, no Qintana, no Sagan, there were a couple of Euskatel riders that I have to admit I didn't recognise, a Quick step rider who is the guy that six days as well and I can't get his name as I write this, the rest of the riders I think were local second and third tier team riders to make up the numbers. Actually there might have been a Vacnsoliel rider as well.

Before the big event there was an event for old 'stars' which was quite amusing some perhaps not so old, looked fit enough to get straight into a proper race, others were obviously just there for the beer but generally they just hung together in a bunch until the last lap when half a dozen riders took it up seriously and left the rest. One amusing thing was they started with a couple of police motor bikes leading the race, but I don't think they could go slow enough, they were repalced by a couple of young cops on mountain bikes! Don't get me wrong these guys looked incredibly fit and judging by their shaved legs are also racers themselves and they had no problem staying in front.

The sad thing was I knew them all, no matter how old they were. Peter van Petergem looked like he could race tomorrow, Willie Deboscher definitely struggled badly even at the pedestrian pace, Fons De Wolf looked as cool on a bike tonight as he did in his heyday! I could go on but I won't.

Tonight in Aalst (no prizes for photography)


The main race was delayed for 45 minutes, I have no idea why but the 'people' watching opportunity was amazing. Given it was still extremely hot and a bit humid, I had found a nice shady spot under large mature trees, opposite me in the sun was 'bar row' with a couple of thousand people standing outside in the sun seemingly intent on drinking all of these bars dry. It kept me amused for over an hour til the racers finally came out.

Boy that was hard

I finally got around to doing what I came to do, race.

The race I opted for today was the VWF race at Boom (pronounced bowm), which I think mean tree? I've always thought VWF races were harder and to my unraced legs this one certainly felt pretty hard, although I have to declare myself very happy with my first outing of the trip.

It was great to catch up with people today including the guys that run most of the races, they certainly work hard and they've always had time for me, helping out when I need it, very welcoming indeed. One of the first people I ran into was Andre,which was good, we had a good catchup, Andre speaks enough English for us to get by and at the sign on he introduced me to a few of the other guys, but as in the past not many of them have much English so its difficult, but he did point out a few extra guys for me to lok out for, other than the top guns I already new.

The weather was superb, 34c, a light breeze blowing down the course making the rising back straight more of a challenge but also making the finish straight pretty quick. The course was about 6km around, almost triangular in shape if a bit of an irregular one. From the start / finish there was along fast straight, into a 90 degree left, another 90 degree left after about 50m, then a long straight that meandered a bit, gradually climbing into a 90 degree left, down a fast not too steep downhill into another 90 degree left, through a small roundabout on the wrong side which led us onto the fast run back to the finish of the lap. So not too technical which was ideal for my first race.

So good field, oh did I mention that the reigning ICF world champion was kicking around, do love those rainbow stripes, I haven't been in a race with the reigning world champion since about 1979?, that was Gilbert Glaus from memory. Oh there were a couple of former World Champs around as well. Good course and great weather, so I was ready although to be honest it didn't exactly feel like it on the three warm up laps I did, but once up to race speed, a couple of cogs up it was fine.

My plan for the race was to do nothing, just get some good quality race K's in my legs. I stuck to the plan for 4 of the 10 laps, just staying on the wheels, but then the blood started to boil in my brain and I started mixing it up. The first time I didn't even mean it, I did a hard turn and as the next guy came through he was yelling for me to go, we were clear, well about 50m clear and fortunately that was short lived, I knew I wasn't ready for a two up break! It went on like that for a couple of laps, a break going then more and more people joining it up the road until it was the whole bunch again until it started again. Then there was quite a serious group forming off the front which seemed to have all the top guns in it so I thought go for it, so I did what I'm usually good at, launched across the gap as hard and fast as I could go, which was great except as I latched on they started swinging around having some sort of argument, I assumed somebody wasn't pulling their weight. Of course with the impetus gone the bunch came up pretty quickly so I had wasted my effort. To be honest I paid for it over the next couple of laps as the bunch stretched, broke and reformed continuously and at about two laps to go there were five guys up the road and I was wallowing a bit at the front as more and more guys pinged past to try and cross the gap, I didn't have it accelerate hard enough to latch on. I was starting to think, as more and more guys were firing by me, that that might be my race over, hoever my mate Andre saved my bacon by coming by me at a much more sensible rate of acceleration, saying come on Ray, so I managed to get on his wheel and back into the reforming bunch.

By this stage the break had gone and I for one didn't have it to get across, I think everybody else was in the same boat, so my new plan was to get on Andre's wheel for the sprint, he sprints well and is usually there or thereabouts and given clear air I think I'm faster. At the top of the finishing straight the roundabout saw me shuffled of his wheel but as we lined up for the straight run to the line I managed to move up nicely on the right into a good position and had clear air as the sprint started, I was moving up nicely, not yet full on when the whole bunch moved right blocking me then moved left giving me a run but too late, I was finishing so fast though, I came up behind Andre and another guy sprinting for the (bunch) win but there was nowhere for me to get through so I pushed my front wheel up between them as far as their chainsets, any further and they would likely have had my spokes! The things that you do in a sprint, you'd think at my age I have more sense than push myself into a spot like that to try and make an extra place! However I was in the money, something I consistently manage to do except when I fall off or puncture.

So all in all I was pretty happy with that.

Analysing my power file after the race I was frewheeling for 15 seconds in the last 30 seconds and still made money. I had to freewheel for 10 seconds midway through which would have been when the bunch moved right on me and I was also freewheeling for the last 5 seconds having nowhere to go to finsih off the sprint. I feel with a bit more race toughening and a bit of clear air I can win this trip, mind you talks cheap and there are lot of guys to get by first!

Two lessons to take from today: If I'm going to sit in and sprint I should stick to my plan and if I'm going to win a sprint I need to be in much better position when it kicks off.

Todays finishing straight just after the start finish.

Tomorrow will be a recovery day, a couple of hours enjoying the sun, forecast is 38c tomorrow. Then in the evening there is the first of the post tour criteriums in Aalst which is 5km's away, I've been before and it attracts 100,000 people, its free sponsored by the local brewery, with the hot remepratures I'm sure they will recoup their money from the beer stands! Top of the bill is allegedly Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana so it should attract a good crowd, all things being equal I will be going with our chef, so Belgian beer and frit's on the menu tomorrow.

At Last

Finally I have my bike, its now re assembled and in good order, can't say the same about the case though, one clip lock smashed, one damaged but there are five so the contents were fine.

It was all a bit of a saga really having been promised delivery on Friday afternoon, the box was passed to a delivery company for transport to my hotel. I filled out a form that only had my hotel address and phone number on it. Somewhere along the line the delivery company also got my home details, presumably from the airline, and instead of calling the hotel, called my home at 3am Australia time and left a very indistinct message containg a phone number that couldn't easily be deciphered. Of course by the time Hilda checked the message it was too late to do anything about it here! I called the number, actually I called several variations of the number, and got hold of somebody who told me that yes they would deliver it, probably late on Saturday afternoon. At which point I said can I pick it up myself? Oh yes its sitting here now!!! So I got into the car and collected it, Brussels airport is less than 30 minutes away, problem solved - eventually!

My original plan was to do a couple of hours on Thursday, just recovery pace, spin up the legs a bit and get the journey out of my system, then do two hours on Friday with some short sharp intervals just to remind my body what its all about, then race on Saturday. I was looking forward to a race on Satuyrday, it was course that I've always placed reasonably well on, however not to be, I didn't think I was up to getting the bike out of the case and jumping straight into a race! So I'm back on track, did an hour at 100rpm just to get the legs going, then 30 minutes of short intervals, finishing off with a 30 minute roll home, so my legs are OK, I'm well rested, with no bike I couldn't be anything else, so I'll race tomorrow.

I have two choices to race but can't make up my mind which to choose, neither is particularly far away, so I'll decide in the morning. Weather is going to be good and frankly my only ambition for the first races is to finish and get some race tempo in my legs, hopefully I can be a bit more ambitious later on.

Still no bike!

Despite confirming that missing bike box is now in Brussels and being promised that it would be delivered today I still have no bike.

Of course the two numbers I have to telephone are only operated 9 - 5, Mon to Fri!

Going on the performance to date I'm not going to see it until Monday, maybe.

Day 2 - bored

PLenty of time to watch the tour this after but I would have preferred to be riding and just watch the finale!

Called the Brussels office of Qatar Airways this morning and spoke to a nice lady that was very helpful to a point, seemed to understand that lost luggage was a big deal but definitely gave me the impression that it is a very common problem! However even she stuck with the stock answer, checked on the system to look up my 'report' then checked the flight schedules to tell me it will probably be this afternoon, if not this afternoon tomorrow and if not tomorrow almost certainly by Monday!

When I asked if her 'system' could actually tell me that the bike case had been found, the answer was NO, it will turn up when it turns up! So no real progress there. When I pressed her on how many baggage items never turn up she said none they usually turn up eventually! Eventually is really going to screw up my trip. If I wait til Monday to get my bike or decide I need to buy something then I will lose 3 races and not be on my bike for a week, I will be very pissed!!!

I'll chase the lost property office at the airport late this afternoon, if they haven't called here to see if its turned up on todays flight.

I went to a couple of bike shops today, to fill in some time and just check out what is available if I have to do something about a new bike. Lots of bikes to see but Belgium seems to ride Shimano, very little Campagnolo which is my choice ona ll my other bikes and very very little SRAM. So bike choices plenty but equipment choices seem to be very small. I really hope I don't have to choose.

The update on my bike is that it has been found in Doha. Hooray! But it's still in Doha and won't be in Brussels until tomorrow! That means the earliest I will receive it is late afternoon, so its probably not sensible to get up and race on Saturday but Sunday ought to be realistic. I just have to hope its all intact but its in a hardshell case so should be fine.

I guess that means I should stop eying up another new bike, after all I do have EPS equipped Focus waiting at home for me.

Well I've arrived but....................

I'm now esconced in the Hotel Boevendaal in Erondegem in Belgium. Its almost like coming home now especially being met with a welcoming hug from Jurgen, the hotel owner. As he said its 8 years now that I've been making this trip, I always get the same room and the small but very comfortable family hotel, is familiar, easy and always very helpful.

My flight on Qatar Airways was just too easy, great flights, good hub at Qatar, great seats, good food and being able to fly into Brussels instead of my usual Schiphol is just so much more convenient leaving me with an easy drive to the hotel.

That's the good bit. My bag was the very first bag to arrive at the carousel, I didn't bother to get into the scrum to retrieve it straight away, I let it do a full lap first! I tend to travel at the front of the plane and although bags come through much more quickly experience tells me that travelling with 'oversize' items, my golf clubs or my bike, you always finsih up waiting til last for those items.

Well I waited and waited, and waited and waited. I eventually accosted the Qatar ground service lady to ask her to check on it. She wasn't exactly speed personified and after a 24 hour flight you tend to become a little impatient to get away from airports. However I stayed calm and patient, well for me anyway, and made her go backstage so to speak, to look for it. No joy, no sign of it, probably still in Doha she thought. Now I know that it's just a missing item for her but she demonstrated a real lack of sympathy, took no responsibility, directed me to the Lost Property office to file a report and promptly disappeared. No matter what the outcome over the next few days I have a feeling that I might be talking to Qatar Air about their customer services in Brussels.

Mind you the young lady on the lost Property desk was obviously bored but took all the details, her English while much better than my Flemish or French wasn't great but we got it done, although her take on the oucome was that I at least had the claim paperwork to make a financial claim on the airline. Her parting shot was that if it turned up they would send it on to the hotel but not to pester them, there was nothing else that could be done!

I actually asked Jurgen to ring them for me as soon as I got to the hotel to make sure I hadn't missed something on the language front, but he got the same response, so I guess I have to wait now to see what happens!

Its great travelling half way around the world to race and then have no bike! To say I'm a tad frustrated would be an understatement. I obviously need to see if they turn it up but how long to I wait, and without riding. My insurance will cover the value but its just such a time consumming affair setting a new bike up, I know I've just done it (well watched anyway) plus of course the shoes, helmet etc that's in the bike box. Oh well patience is a virtue, just not one I've been over endowed with!!!!

The cleaned and polished race bike ready to go into the bike case.

The new bike ready to ride when I get home, courtesy of Bikes@Brighton.

To cap off my day, I had tried to order some bits and pieces from Wiggle to be here when I arrived to try and save some weight. Wiggle have royally stuffed up that order, 'stuck in the system' they said be shipped soon, but there's still no movement, told them to stuff the order and stop sending me emails in the future. They and their ilk are not good for LBS's anyway, not that I really have one that's well stocked where I live but maybe that's a chicken and egg situation?

Finally there was a bit of excitement her last night, a helicopter landed in the garden! According to Jurgen he got a call about 7pm from a chap that said he was in the area, fancied something to eat in the terrace restaurant and could he park in the garden! So he did, what a show off

One week to go

Finally its only one week to go, so its just all those little things to do like get the race bike in good order before I strip it down to go in the hardshell travel case and decide what clothes I'm not going to take with me. Past experience says that I always seem to take stuff I never use, so I'm going to try really hard to get it right this time. Of course if I was really sure what the weather was going to do it would be easier!

I've had three big weeks of training, by my standards anyway, pushed up the CTL (cumulative Training Load) pretty quickly so I'm really happy with all the power numbers although I know that racing adds more intensity so I expect to have to work in the first races but hopefully the base will come through. I had a weekend of racing last weekend, a handicap on the Saturday afternoon and a criterium on the Sunday morning. I got severely mauled in the handicap due to it being a super tough circuit and my mark in the handicap being just too rich for me, probably would have been just about OK on a flatter rolling circuit, not a circuit that starts up a nasty long hill and then gets worse, I really was just hanging on from the start. However a good hammering was just what I needed I think to harden up.

I was a bit nervous that my legs would be a bit shot still on Sunday morning, but no problem, a good fast hit out sitting at fifth or sixth wheel the whole race, just covering what I needed to and happy with that for a decent weekend of racing. A couple of observations from the race were that only 3 or 4 guys seemed to want to attack the field and there were NO counter attacks, there were 2/3 points that I almost went but stuck to my plan for a good fast training ride. In the sprint which was 500m out of the last corner, slightly uphill into stiff breeze, I had already said to the guys I would just sit on in the sprint, and although there was some sort of lead out going on which was not nearly fast enough, there was a big whoosh out of the corner from guys at the back of the race that had got gapped every time the pace picked up with a snowballs chance in... of winning a sprint, sprinting like crazy - of course they were all blown with 300m, going nowhere and wobbling all over the road just making it dangerous for those who did know what they were doing in a sprint! Just a rant really, obviously I respect everybodies right to try and win a bike race but do they realise how dangerous they can make it? I know they are always quick to complain if I come through hard making my own gaps!

Anyway I've paid for the big weeks of training a bit this week, I had to call off a planned interval session due to just not having it in the legs. I have been doing blocks of 3 weeks followed by a recovery week but had thought to go for one last big week of training before I travel, partially because of travelling etc I will miss a few days. However my (aging) body says that won't happen so I'll reschedule my week to a recovery week with a couple of strong sessions at the weekend, that will have to be enough.