Racing and Brugge

Race #5 – Beernem
So I mentioned I would go to the West of Belgium this week to (1) see the country (2) go to Brugge and (3) chase after some races. Well, my 4hr journey brought me from Tielt to Beernem via Brussels and Gent. It was getting overcast and the weather looked miserable. Then it started raining, 20mins before the race. It did not stop.

We were racing on a lap with way too many corners again and on a single track road, max 2m wide. Add railway lines. Add speed bumps. Add road markings. Finally add 200 crazy Belgian cyclists. I was really scared and thought all the time that 1 second of lost concentration would result in you being in the ditch on the side of the road. Miraculously enough I have not seen a crash yet. I raced well considering I raced the previous day but all of a sudden with 3 laps (out of 17) to go my legs stopped. There was a small section of guttering and my legs couldn’t respond. I got waved the chequered flag for being 150m behind the peloton – game over buddy.

Dieter gave me a lift back to his B&B. What a lovely place. I highly recommend it. There is no TV or internet, so you just sit outside and relax. Some well needed rest!


Race #6 – Evergem
Part of the reason of coming to the West of Belgium was that I would be able to do 2 races while here – makes the trip more worth it. So I set off at 13:15 for my 40min ride to the race starting at 15:00. Wow, did I get lost. Every Belgian I asked on the side of the road looked at the GMaps printout, turned it around 4 times and then said they had no idea. I got so frustrated. Eventually, at 14:55 just as I thought I was going over the bridge to the town, I saw a sign “Evergem 10”. I was livid. Seriously upset. Well, not much I could do now so I rode home to drop my bag off. Only to discover that I hadn’t paid sufficient attention to where I stayed..so some more circles in trying to find home. Dropped off my bag and headed to Knokke. I thought the sea would calm me. Ha ha.

Knokke is a stunning place. It is apparently the Monte Carlo of Balgium. Porches, X6, and a myriad of sports cars litter the streets filled with luxury clothing stores. The European beach concept is very different to ours. We grab a spot and share the beach with a few other 1000 people. Europeans seem to rent their little cubicle and can’t even see the sea. They may as well dump some building sand in their backyard!



So a race day turned into a 7hr riding day. My legs were tired, so it was probably for the better not to have raced today.


Brugge and home
I got dropped off by Dieter at 8 at the closest bus stop. Some serious backstreet driving to get there – I was NOT looking forward to finding my way home. I got to Brugge at 9 which was great. The city only wakes up at 10:00, so I got to walk around and see all the sites, rivers and buildings with only being surrounded by ducks and a few delivery vans. By 11:30 the place was swarming like Sandton on a December Saturday morning – terrible. Brugge is a small town-they say only 20,000 people, but I think it is more 100,000: 20,000 locals, 10,000 students trying to make money off tourists and 70,000 tourists!


Brugge was amazing. You feel like you have been time warped to somewhere in the 1400’s. I did a boat cruise on the canals, bought a super good waffle, visited a cathedral or 2 and that was the sum total of things to do in Brugge. A lovely city but not much to do besides drink coffee, eat swartz seeuse mozzels and eat/buy chocolates.


After a good 40min run to get from the bus stop to the B&B I headed home. The plan was to ride to Gent (30kms) and catch a train home. I got to Gent and ended up in the Hillbrow area of Gent. Dogs running around, people with jeans around their ankles and baseball caps, rundown cars and houses, eish. In trying to get the heck out of there I ended up en route to to Aalst (30kms) and thought I'd then get the train. I got to Aalst and my brain stopped working, so I decided to continue riding to the next unknown town and then end up in Brussels city centre.



I spent an hour in the city trying to get out of the city without going on the motorway but to no avail. I kept running into the tunnels taking the traffic under the city! Notice the cars disappearing in the picture below.

Eventually I succumbed to the city and caught the train from Brussels North Station to Leuven and then cycled (25kms) home. Another cracker of a day. Starting at 15:00 and getting home at 21:30.

Race # 4 - Hoeleden

Today was a cracker of a race. Wow, I didn't get to see the front of the bunch once. Not even that of the chasing bunch. Not sure why my legs were so unresponsive today. It could have been because I caught a nap at 15:00 and people say that causes your legs to go to sleep and then you expect to race on them. Oh well, I'll just write it down as another learning experience.

The starting group was considerable in size - many riders returning after this weekend's Ronde van Antwerpen and the guys were in top form. We were close on 200 that started the 16 lap race. Cross winds and a long drag at the start/finish point accounted for some hard riding. Severe guttering was at the order of the day. It was one of survival for me - I counted down the number of times I had to endure each gutter section with my optimism groing as the laps counted down. Ha ha, we call this fun.

No result to write home about, but it was rather the severe speeds we were cornering at and the size of the bunch that made for a unique, well for me that is, experience. It sounds silly, but one needs to be totally alert the entire race - no long straight sections like back at home where you can take a drink with comfort and speak to the rider next to you. The Belgians also have an unwritten rule I notice: You corner in a single line and you hold your position from about 60m to the corner. No arging and barging into the corner and then try and squeeze through. Well, that makes for some civilized racing but also gives the uncivilized ones a chance to move up in the bunch. My hammies pulled when I reached for them in the sprint and subsequently rolled over in 46th place int he 3rd bunch on the road. With 20kms to the race, it was a good day with 160kms on the clock. Ave HR 160, max 181, 42km/h.

The next 2 days

Ok, so thanks to some serious networking I have an exciting 3 days ahead of me. Thanks to Christie (Jhb) making friends with Sarah (Jhb) making friends with Dieter (Belgian) at the Cape Epic (Knysna), I now have a place to stay in the West of Belgium. Good work guys, and thanks a million. I leave for Beernem to race tomorrow by train from Leuven. The trip will include 20kms per bike to Leuven, train to Beernem of about 1hr40 and a 2km ride to the start of the race. I sincerely hope my interpretation of the Flemish transport site doesn't let me down and my planned route will allow me to reach my destination before the race's 18:00 start.

I then stay over at Dieter's B&B (http://www.landleven.be/). I'll do a critique on it when I am back on Friday and let you know if I recommend it ;) On Thursday I am off to race in Evergem. Both races are 1.12B and 120kms in length.

Since I am practically next to Brugge, I am planning on spending Friday doing some sight seeing around that side of the country. At last I'll be getting there after buying tickets and missing the trip due to not having a Schengen visa 6 years ago.

I'll be back in touch on Friday before I race on Saturday in my home town, Tielt-Winge and Sunday in Duvvel. Well, that is the plan, with some rest the next week. I'll let the legs decide on Saturday about Sunday's race.

Have a good week all!

Brussels

I'm the tourist

Ok, so when I get home and I think back of the trip, what would I kick myself for not doing. Well, seeing Brussels for 1 would be on the list, so I spent my rest day yesterday walking in excess of 10kms around Brussels seeing the sites. So much for a rest day!

I didn't have a plan as I let home at 08:45, but it would somehow work it. Then, as I walked out of Belgium Central Station,


there it was. The light shining on it. The sound of the heavenly voices "aaaaahhhhhhhh", an Open Top bus - the same company as the red ones in Cape Town. This was perfect! It would take me to all the places I HAD to see and then I could plan my day.


Knowing absolutely nothing about Brussels and not expecting anything I was pleasantly surprised by the attractions. The Manikin Pis was as small as everyone said and Atomium was much bigger than I could have expected. The cathedrals, architecture and buildings were spectacular. The chocolate good and the pastries delightful.





I've put some of the pictures together in a collage - click the image below to see them in some more detail.

I got home at 21:00 to a Pommie barbequing for our house and the apartment next door. It was good and I even got to eat a piece of red meat in my pasta rich diet - yes please! Tomorrow (Tuesday) I'm racing closeby in Hoeleden, some 16kms from home. Will update after the race.

Weekend Warrior

Y'ello Summer!

Ok, some MTN propaganda, but look at the poster below: Summer in Hasselt



It is summer time which means time for a summer holiday. Even the boer takes a holiday!



That would explain why almost every shop is closed at the moment - Belgians have gone on their Summer holiday and tough on anyone stupid enough to stay at home. I just want bread, but I think that is asking too much. Ok, it is not that bad - they have these funky bread dispensers on street corners. Imagine a vending machine that pops out any 1 of 6 types of freshly baked loaves - sliced nogals too, ek se!

So I wanted to ride to Eindhoven, Holland on Saturday just because. It would have taken me into Holland and given me a nice long ride. I carefully planned my ride and found a road running almost straight there - perfect, I won't get lost. So I hopped onto it and first thing I noticed was that the bike lane (which is EVERYWHERE) had disappeared. Not 200m on the E314 and every 2nd car starts hooting at me. This continued for another 10kms before I decided I should probably get off the road, just now someone stops and we have some rage - them hooting and me waving back at them. Turns out that is a road you not to ride on and could even end up in the cells for!

So my epic 180km ride became an 80km tourist ride with 2 bakery stops, as evident by the photos below:




Part of the reason for the ride also being cut short was a sore knee I woke up with on Saturday morning with. So bizarre. Friday involved a short ride and it was fine. I blame it on the lateral movement associated with mopping from Friday and have thus made the scientific conclusion that it is detrimental to your health and thus an occupational hazard to mop and should thus be avoided completely.

A request to sort my knee out to the Man upstairs helped and I didn't have the faintest of niggels when I woke up this morning. So race day was on!

Races were scarce today so I had to trek out to Vremde, some 5kms from Antwerpen and 50kms from home. I managed to find the place and avoided any "E" roads. The race was a 1.18, so it was (1) shorter and (2) open to all kinds of riders - those with hairy legs, some old strong toppies and a number of VERY annoying Juniors. A break went in the 1st lap of 15 and I decided to leave it. Bad move, as that break stayed to the end, argh! There was not 100m in the 6km course which was straight, it was unbelievable! Turn after turn after turn jumping back up to 60km/h after every turn. The route also included a 500m stretch of cobblestones, conveniently placed in the last 400m of the lap. I will inspect my bike tomorrow to see if it is still complete. The race came down to a sprint for 7th place (I thought more guys had slipped away) and I decided to opt out of the sprint - looked why to dangerous and involved way too many paloekas. Well, it was a safe bet as the bunch piled down into the cobbles with forks, wheels and other bike parts flying through the air. Made it across the line safely in an embarrassing 34th place, handed in my number and headed home for a total distance of 190km for the day.

Week ahead
This week I race on Tuesday some 16kms from home and Saturday in my home town. Sunday is a race in Duvel I might go out for, again around 45kms to get there. The rest of the week the races are far away, so either we will do some long training rides or catch the train to 1 of the races.

Recovery Ride

Recovery Ride

Yep, so today was time for an easy 35km ride to Aarschot via Leuven with coffee and a Belgian waffle in the town square. Yum.



Have a good weekend!

Friday's plans and Belgium

What they don't tell you...
Well, the longer I stay here in Belgium the more I guess I will get to know, but today (Friday) is going to be a riveting day..spring cleaning the house! No-one told me I this is part of the full time cyclist life, my word… Ha ha. Ok, so how it works is every Monday the house gets cleaned. We skipped Monday because the owners are coming Friday afternoon, so we must clean the kitchen, bathrooms, lounge, dining room, etc today.

Cycling
I will do a short recovery ride today, as I think my legs need some rest after 3 long days (140km, 100km incl 60km race, 170 incl 120km race ). This weekend the races are all far away, so we will have to see what we decide on – a long training ride or a train trip to the race.

Belgium
Ok, so a few days ago I said something along the lines of the Belgians being ‘different’. Well, what would Life be like if we were all the same, hell no! So I feel it is only right to explain my view of Belgians after being here for just under a week: I have never met such a soft-natured nation in my life! The South Americans come close in their friendliness, but Belgians are unreal. The harmony between Busses, Vehicles, Pedestrians and cyclists are only but one example of this nation. It was particularly evident in the racing too. Everyone from shop owners and attendants to bike riders have such a gentle nature. Wow, this is a remarkable place. The longer I stay here, the more I am falling in love with this place. I honestly don’t know why people are immigrating to Australia, please, if you want to give up on SA come to Belgium where the weather is pretty good, people braai, you can speak Afrikaans everywhere, you can have a few ponies and a cow or 2 in your back yard and the place is pretty safe!

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”