For anybody who might be thinking it’s been too long since my last update, blame Cyclocross Magazine. In the past two (and a bit more) weeks I’ve covered nine pro races and raced three times myself in the Vlaamse Cyclocross Cup. Of the days off from ‘cross, I spent a couple either sick or chasing the doctor, a couple celebrating Christmas, and a few in the office. So the time has been spent, not necessarily always well spent, but spent, there’s been little opportunity for much of anything else. Including this blog.
So we spent a busy Christmas in Belgium. For Christmas itself, we went out to Oudenaarde to hang out with some good friends we know from the racing scene and their awesome and adorable kids, where we were well cared for and really well fed. Christmas itself was a rare warmish day, the sun even cracked the sky at one point, and we got to go take the kids skating in town center, which was really fun. The rest of the two weeks were mostly freezing, sometimes snowy, occasionally rainy, but fun across the board.
For those in search of further reading, here’s the rundown on every race I wrote about over the holidays:
- Scheldecross, Dec 18
- Kalmthout – Juniors/U23, Women, Men, & Update on AmericansDec 20
- Zolder – Juniors/U23, Women, Men, Dec 26
- Diegem, Dec 27
- Loenhout, Dec 29
- Bredene, Dec 30
- Baal – Juniors/U23, Men, Jan 1
- Sint-Niklaas, Jan 2
- Tervuren, Jan 3
As for myself, results were mixed. I felt good about my race in Lichtervelde, but didn’t quite get the result I hoped for, while I felt bad about my race in Balegem and got one of my best results ever. Waregem was just a straight-up mess, but I went, so it’s at least worth mentioning.
Lichtervelde Cyclocross
I was excited to go to Lichtervelde. It followed a big (by Belgian standards) snowstorm a few days earlier and it was held in very cold conditions, so I felt like I would be in a position to do pretty well. I would have to dig deep into my last reserves of New England tenacity, but cold and snow, at least on this side of the Atlantic, seem to have become my forte. Plus, we were kicking off a season of ‘cross, and I was feeling inspired from that as well.
As soon as the race got going, I felt like I was in a position to make some good things happen. A couple of guys who I normally can’t touch were well behind me, and a few guys who I normally beat were completely disappeared. On the start line I had noticed that most guys were underdressed for the weather, with temperatures well below zero Celsius, while I was wearing extra layers and had dropped hand warmers in my gloves and toe warmers in my shoes. It definitely seemed to help.
Descending the one whoop-de-doo on the course.
I mostly rode conservatively, trying not to lose ground or make a mistake on the snow, then surging as hard as I could anywhere that there was traction. Other guys were kind of backing off on the easier parts, which meant that I could gain ground every lap just by pushing the pace in the right places. So I rode, trailing one group of three, I was passed by one guy on the second lap who looked like he was ready to ride away. But then he faltered, and, by the race, came back to me. I went around him on the last lap and he never had the opportunity to pass back. That was that.
We saw a couple of hot air balloons in Lichtervelde.
After the race we stuck around and watched a couple of American U23 riders (beloften, the call them over here) go at it in the Elite/U23 race later in the afternoon. Danny Summerhill, who didn’t really have a great trip to Europe overall, rode a good race in Lichtervelde and took the U23 win. There are a few photos on flickr.
Balegem
After a long (fun, but long) Christmas celebration and then another long day at the World Cup in Zolder the next day, I went into Balegem without a lot of expectations. I was tired, and just wanted to make sure I got an effort in my legs. But in the press room in Zolder, a couple of guys asked about my racing and I told them we were going to Balegem the next day. They said it was a hilly course, so I should watch out. Hills are another thing I’ve done well here, so I started to think maybe it could be a good race for me.
That changed when I saw the course: three short but steep and very muddy drops, two equally short and even steeper climbs, some twists and turns in the muddy fields, and then a descent down an icy, cobbled, gravel road that turned into singletrack before heading back to the pavement at the end of the lap. It was fun—kind of—but not the sort of hills where I excel.
So I rode the thing, taking it pretty easy on the downs and running the impossible-to-ride ups. The mud, still semi-frozen after the snow the week before, stuck to everything, and by the third lap was clogging my drivetrain badly. But I kept pedaling, stopping to clean things out a bit twice, then pedaling some more. I felt like it was going terribly, and figured I was headed for maybe my worst race of the season.
But Mindi kept yelling something about the number ten, and so I figured that meant something and kept going for as long as I could until things were so clogged that pedaling was impossible. Then I ran, finally reaching the end of the lap—at this point I didn’t even know which one it was—just as the leaders were coming up behind me. So, lapped and bummed about my bike, I walked off the course and went to clean up. Cleanup options were basically some barrels of mucky, freezing water and not much else, so I did the best I could on my bike, packed the car, and chatted with Pete Webber, US Masters 40+ National Champion, who had just won the race before mine. (Read all about Pete’s adventures in Belgium on Mud & Cowbells.)
Only when I went to turn in my number did I discover that, while I thought I was in a bad state, everybody else in the race was even worse. I had managed to pull a tenth place finish in the Masters 30+ field, my best ever result in Belgium. About half the field seemed to have abandoned after one look at back board the EMTs had resting at the bottom of the dangerous descents (which really weren’t as scary as they looked), and others had gone out with bike problems worse than mine. So, by virtue of persistence more than skill, I grabbed a top ten.
Waregem
I’ll spare you the details of the Waregem disaster, except to say that we only got to the race about 60 minutes before it started, I didn’t have a valid 2010 license (this was the first race of the year for me), and it snowed the night before. So the course was a mix of semi-frozen, hub-deep mud, ice, and snow, along with a few snow-covered roads for good measure. I had all of 10 minutes to warm up, and, within 2 minutes of the start of the race, my drivetrain seized up so I couldn’t pedal at all.
I tried to DNF, simply walking off the course at the beginning of the third lap, but somehow they were kind enough to place me—dead last, of course—so at least I can claim to have raced in some sense.
But there’s good news. This weekend I managed to finally get my new bike, a Leopard, which should carry me through the last two months of this season. With a new bike (and, finally, a pit bike) I should be in much better shape for the final few races, and especially for Masters Worlds in Mol in a few weeks. I’ve also got a new drivetrain for the old bike, so hopefully I’ve seen the last of the complete jam-ups for a while.
Next weekend, with the Belgian Championships I sit out from racing myself and just write—a welcome opportunity to get in some time on the new bike with little pressure. Then there’s one more Vlaamse Cyclocross Cup race for me, a few days in Davos, and Masters Worlds. Then the real World Championships in Tabor in the Czech Republic after that. Plus I’m working on some other exciting stuff for next season. I can’t say what it is yet, but it’s going to be really awesome if it works out. So stay tuned for a full report on the new bike, lots of racing action, and news on the 2010-11 season as well!
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