New Experiences

I went for my first race in belgium Two days ago, just a real genuine experience it had all the factors to it.  The race started out really fast and i attacked from the gun which probably wasn't the best idea being my first Belgium race and all, but I figured what the hell and gave it a go.  No surprise that about halfway through I would pay for my early efforts, and got spit out the back of the pack but i did my go and happy enough with that.  My teammate Eliot did do fairly well however and finished with the bunch after being off the front all day long covering attacks.

the real story tho doesn't come from the racing it comes from the sidelines, from the moment you arrive the experience is overwhelming.  All the old guys at the race are looking at you, and your legs to see how good you look and they all have start sheets that they mark in to see who wins the race because they are betting on all the riders and how the riders will do.  It is truly great, they also know all the

 names of the big riders, it is much like baseball in the US lots of stats to keep track of and other things, but its all for betting.  

the next day we did a coffee ride with all the guys from the house Peter, Matt, Eliot and me, we went into Ghent to get some coffee and pastries in the main square and man was that ever an experience.  All these old buildings and small alleyways full of bakeries and shops and it was just an epic adventure.  

Today Matt, Elliot and I went out for 

our adventure, we went to the Muur today, the famous climb in Ronde Vanlaanderen.  The view that overlooked the top was just epic however when i left the house I forgot the camera, so I promise that when I go back next week I will take pictures and post them on my blog.  After the Muir then we adventured through the farmlands on cobbles and small roads, it was truly one of the best rides i have had in my short career. 

After this epic ride I went out again right away on a shorter ride to go see my mate Ian who was racing just 4km away from the team house.  So I went to go see what all the fuss was about and it was a huge junior race, team buses and the whole bit.  It was good to see Ian and i hope i will be able to see him again before he goes back to the USA.  I hope that the stories to come will be the same quality, as I'm sure they will be I will keep writing. 

Caio 

Belgium

As some of the people close to me know I was thinking about moving to belgium, because the UK has not really lived up to the expectations that I had.  There is much more races and much more quality over in Belgium, also I feel that the racing best suits my style over in Belgium so it is the obvious choice.  I will not be riding for any teams in Belgium, but will be racing alot and looking for teams or contacts to help me out in any way shape and form. 

I have also been very sick over the past two weeks, so I hope that I am past the sickness for my adventure to Belgium.  I feel much better, but last night when I ramped up the speed in a training exercise I found out that I had lost quite a bit of fitness from being sick, but being in belgium and racing and resting I am fairly confident that my fitness and speed will return soon.  As i am not sure exactly where I am staying, I believe it will be somewhere around Ghent, in the Flanders  region, as this is the area with the most racing.  soon I will know more about my adventure because I will hopefully be going as quickly as next week, Keep checking the blog for updates on this new adventure. 

caio for now 

LOCAL RACES ARE GREAT

I love the local race they help you to get your confidence back when you are feeling down I was feeling pretty bad after the last few weeks going to large UCI races and getting dropped just over half way through was starting to get to me a little bit.  so this weekend I did a local race in Essex and even though i had been pretty sick for a few days I finally felt like I was starting to come around and my legs where starting to get back under me.  I attacked early in the race, and got away for a few miles but the only person to come across the gap, of course was the smallest guy in the field.  so that didn't last too long on a windy course.  Then three laps in my teammate Joe Skipper attacked to bridge up to a breakaway that had already been established, so naturally as a teammate I did all the chasing.  I spent two laps chasing down all the attacks from the main field to make sure that no one else got up to the break.  After this I was pretty tired so I sat in the pack until the last lap.  On the last lap, cramps and all, I figured it was now or never to try and get away, the breakaway was not coming back so I put in my flurry of attacks.  within 12 miles or so I put in about 4 decent attacks that gave me a slight gap over the main field, but every-time they chased us back.  then in the last kilo I put in my last attack, and basically didn't go anywhere so that was it I was done!  

Right when i'm am starting to feel good, I was very happy that my legs where starting to come around, but because I went into the race this weekend sick, naturally I came out even worse off.  So now I find myself taking anything that will help me get better for next weekend, another big premier calendar race this weekend and I want to be able to go into it with the best possible chance, even though i'm not quite right still from the transition.