The last few weeks have been about going through the motions and getting my form back, which has largely been working. I have slowly been picking up points, getting some good placings in road and circuit races. I have been putting in more training time and really aiming to finish the season on a high, so far this has been going very well. The results are coming much more easily, as they were at the start of the season when my form was good.
The late season begins for me with 2 weeks in Belgium, I have been here almost a week now and have done 2 races so far. Now I have heard a lot about Kermesse racing in Belgium... mainly that they are bloody fast, bloody hard and bloody good fun! My first race was exactly this... the Merelbeke 1.12B Elite/U23 Omloop was around a 4k circuit with 3 straights, and 3 sharp bends... one of which was a dead hairpin... Oh and a cheeky chicane thrown in for good measure. It was flat out from the gun and lined out in the gutter along many stretches. At one point I managed to break off the front after about 30k, bridging across to the lead group, but they then stopped working and after a lap we were brought back by the bunch. I then sat in the line for the middle part of the race as those at the front kept the pace high, but as we moved into the last 15k I moved towards the front and tried a few digs, all of which got a small gao but never lasted more than 2k, with about 1500m to go I went for a flyer to the finish with a couple of others, sadly I got caught with 500m to go and led out the bunch sprint. I finished 50th out of 80 riders, but this was irrelevent, I had finished my first Kermesse... 110km at over 44km/h, fast and furious... and I LOVED IT! Mixing it up near the front and generally feeling strong!
The second one was not so successful... my freehub broke after 75k... so I had to hop straight in the broom wagon!! That's racing right? Nevermind.
Next race is Wednesday evening in nearby Kruishoutem, I can't wait to get back amongst the cobbles and in the infamous Belgian gutter!
Until then,
Ciao.
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