Down Time

The time between races here in Europe seems to go either way. Either I'm bored to death at the cycling center in Belgium, or I'm too busy traveling between Belgium and my cousin Jeroen's house in Holland. The trip to holland, if I get everything right, takes about 4 hours. If I miss a train, or some jerky conductor tries to charge me for my bike, then it can take up to five hours, ugh. I've gotten this whole travleing around Europe by train, with a bike, down pat though. Each time I'm heading out I have to clean the bike ( more so I don't get dirty) pack as much stuff as I can barely survive on and defnitely don't forget the food. Traveling with bike can be a bit of a pain in the but, however I just travel with the frame and leave the wheels at 'home' with my cousin. This way it's not technically a bike and thus the majority of train conductors let you by without a special bike ticket. There is once in a great while that jerk conductor who just has to live the purest of lives and, they're the ones who will not even give me the option to buy the bike ticket on the train. They're that lovely breed who seem to find satisfaction is kicking me off the train. The best part is when I proceed to the ticket window just to buy this bike ticket, and the ticket agent has this look of disbelief because even HE doesn't think I need a ticket for my bike! Because there are so many bike races here in Belgium, and because the conductors are quite accustomed to having bike racers travel on the train with their bikes, it's kind of known what you're doing. Now to circumvent ALL of this, wouldn't it make sense that my training bike stays at home and my race bike stays with the team? Well I know the team still has my race bike from last year (in nearly pristine condition) and I haven't even seen my race bike from this year yet so we should be able to assume that the 07 race bike is is pretty good condition as well. But yet I still have to lug my training bike all across Europe time and time again. I think it would even make sense to leave my 06 race bike in Europe all year round so that the team doesn't have to pay for the extra shipping costs of carting my 07 race bike out here. Ah yes, these are the great mysteries of our team. Things that would seem to make perfectly logical sense, and ease life for the staff and riders, seem to be impossibilities. On the plus side though, I get to race with my SRM and thus get some great data for future training.
Well I had a ten day break from racing, and in that time a few of us did a 'pro kermesse' just to try and keep the system primed. Well this pro kermesse sure did seem to have a whole lot of amateurs participating. I think there were something like 170+ starters! Yeah in a field that size, with riders that look like they hadn't touched their bikes since last weekends local world championship race (Read: their local group ride) I wasn't going anywhere near the back end of the field. I didn't even want to go anywhere near the middle of a field that big. There were still some pro teams there, even representation from three ProTour (Division 1) teams. So you have the ProTour guys, about 15 guys from the Chocolate Jaques team and all these locals. Hmm, odd to be sure. I gotta say though, that race was A HELL OF A LOT EASIER than anything else I've ever done in Europe. Man what a nice change of pace. I wasn't absolutely dying in the first hour, I wasn't even really struggling. It was a nice change to be able to comfortable sit at the front of the group all day snd to be actually able to SEE what was coming up in the road ahead of us. These simple pleasures are generally missing from all the other races I seem to participate in out here. The one thing however was that the race tactics made no sense, but then again with no TV coverage to keep the eagle eye present, I'm sure the race was bought out by somebody. What happened was a group had gotten away about 120K into the race. Probably about 30K later the main Peloton had brought the escape group back to within spitting distance. I was right up there at the front watching as the group steadily brought the escapees back. Well when we within spitting distance, the main bunch I was in, sat up and stopped riding for a bit. Well since we still had about 20K to go I figured they were going to let the time gap open up again, then really ramp up the pace so that we would mow down the escape group just before the finish and have a nice old bunch sprint. Well that never happened, that group was within spitting distance at one point, then we never saw them again. Uhh yeah, I dounno. So b the time my group was approaching the finish line we were sprinting for like 25th place, hardly worth risking a scary bunch sprint. Especially since all the local yokels who'd done nothing all day started cramming at the front. Another change of pace for me was the ability and opportunity to attack with about 5k to go. It's kinda nice to feel like you've been able to race somewhat what at the end of the day, instead of the usual pulverizing and subsequent heart attack special which is closely followed by getting dropped from the group. Ahh yes, the simple pleasures in life. I've been feeling better and better in the races (now all 5 I've done thus far), but I kinda suspect that they've just been easy for one reason or another. I'm still so scarred from last years swift European kick in the a@* that I still don't believe I've been able to survive the real torture. But that question will soon be answered! I've recently been informed that we're doing some REALLY big one day races that are the ritual preparation for the biggest spring classics. So I'm pretty sure those races are going to be plenty hard.
In other news I'm still so glad I can stay with my cousin in Holland. The training is worlds better and it feels like a home away from home. These two issues are polar opposites to life at the cycling center. Over the weekend I got a 6hour 200k ride in and a 5 hour 150k ride in. That would literally be a quest for insanity in Belgium, because the roads are so bad, it's so very easy to get lost out there and there is nothing to see. The weather had been quite lovely, then it turned. Sundays 5 hour ride included some lovely Dutch mountains, or what the weather man calls 30mph wind gusts. It hailed four separate times during the ride, well one of the times it was a mix of hail and snow. But the rain or hail or whatever never seems to last that long so you're never really suffering in the elements. Moreover, I'm literally covered head to toe in clothes so if it begins to hail I just pull up my neck warmer and cover up the last little bit of exposed skin on my face and then you can't even feel the hail. So who could really complain then? Yes I still think this is the way to live life, office life is so very far from where I want to be for now. Reading this everyone at home might think I'm nuts, but I don't even get a second look out here. I'm the sissy covered head to toe in gear. There are plenty of people out riding their bikes to the store or wherever in jeans and a coat. I don't think anything bothers me more than riding in wet jeans.
Tomorrow is the Nokere-Koerse, a one day race with a mid/high level field so from here it's a whole ton of racing. I'll be doing nothing but racing and resting for the next three weeks at least. This is always the time when I'm able to get really lean, which just means I can eat more. I love it!
Thanks for reading
Bernard