Race #2

Race # 2

Now I am not all that eloquent, so I thought I’d let the picture of me after the race do the talking in describe my physical state.



Firstly, thanks for all the replies to yesterday’s post re my first race. It gave me all the incentive needed to prove that I can race differently; I just don’t find it nearly as exciting. I mean, where can you experience nail-biting adrenaline rushing moments pushing your body to the limits (albeit that they keep moving) and feel so in touch with yourself as you do when racing off the front from the gun.
Anycase, the race was fortunately close again – only a 20km ride to the start. The race consisted of 15 laps, roughly 8kms per laps totalling around 115kms. Lap 1 and 2 I found some shelter in the group and stayed out of the wind and mischief. I was falling asleep on the bike, so I spent lap 3, 4 ad 5 getting into moves, bridging, etc. The Belgians have a strange way of racing – as soon as they find themselves with a foreigner in a break they sit up – most annoying thing! Lap 6 I spent hanging onto the back of the group trying to recover to swing up to the front for lap 7 again. The split in the group came and I found myself in a chasing group of around 12 riders, some 35s off the front group of 20. The next 8 laps were a blur, except that we caught them with 3 laps to go and then things shattered on the 2nd last lap. Final lap I popped off with the 2 other riders but managed to pull of a 26th place and 10EUR for my efforts. We covered the 115km course in 2:30, and 33C. The temperature is the big thing I am struggling with at the moment.

So yesterday’s race was good to get the body re-introduced to lactate which allowed me to race hard today. I am also well impressed by my recovery pants. It is possibly a combination of a stress-free environment, ample sleep and the pants which gave me legs today.

The races we do are called “Kermesse” races. This is also the Flemish word for “fair”. The photos below shows the festivities in the little town right next to where the racing takes place. Also see the pub where you enter the races. Something else they do here is to print a list of the entrants with their respective clubs and countries and hand them out to all the spectators. This means each spectator knows who is who – brilliant for supporting!





The view out of my bedroom of the church of Tielt Winge.




Want to sell your bike? Sure, just park it outside and put a sign on it saying “For sale”