We lined up for our first Tour of the season in Orleans, France racing the Tour de Louriet. It seemed pretty straight forward 3 days all of which were 100miles each stage and just like Belgium. Flat.
The tour kicked off in great fashion, with the cliché kiwi sayings "this one time at Tour of Southland" and "this is good training for Southland" being most suited to give you an idea of what we were facing. These clichés seem to be said by most kiwi riders all over the world when challenged by the cold and cross winds. No greater way to start the tour than 100guys single file in the gutter.
Day 2 saw the exact same pattern happen again. This time I wasn't caught napping at the back and made the selection of 15riders which consisted of all 6 riders from the French Army cycling team and no Yellow jersey. We covered 58k in the first hour so there was a motivated group of guys we were riding with all the way to the finish.
The final day we had a team mate Ryan 2nd of the General Classification which made for a straight forward day. 2 of our team mates sacrificed their race and rolled on the front for the entire 100miles with the French Army Team who now had yellow. We protected the teams GC placing and rode a great tour as a unit.
No road trip is complete with out its fair share of stories. On the way to race one of the team cars broke down 100k from the race hotel. That left me and Eoin stuck in a road side gas station for 4hrs people watching and patiently waiting to be picked up.
Closely following that we raced a Pro Kermesse. To experience one of these race is a unique one. Imagine 200+ riders 80-90% of which a eager amateur races like myself wanting to become a pro racing against the professional teams of Belgium over 12-15km circuits for 180km on the tightest of roads no more wider than a single car. CHAOS! With a fitting tour hangover and still feeling tired, the race was a battle for me but towards the end I made the 2nd split in the race and was happy to have the gas at the end especially after a tour.
Again quickly after I was lining up for a Top Competition race which was challenging with its constant rolling hills. Seems like my body was still a week behind and hadn't fully recovered.
From there I have had a week to come right and recently race another Pro Kermesse. This time the real big names lined up. Phillipe Gilbert the current world champion, Tom Boonen the current Belgium Nation Champ ex world champ and 4 time winner of Paris Roubaix to name the highest profilers on the line. Although the racing was a lot more controlled it was a lot of fun getting stuck in.
We have a big Top Competition again this weekend and then for me I will be looking at Tour de pays Savouie in the French Alps fromt eh 13th-16th of June. 4 days of hill top finishes on some of the Tour de Frances most famous climbs. Its been a long time since I have climbed some real climbs so hopefully we get to go down the week before hand to get some time in the hills before hand.
Cheers for reading.
