Where I left off I was building for Tour de pays Savouie in the French Alps. With a few other team member we spent a week living halfway up Col Du Glandon for a mini climbing training camp as the hills on offer in Belgium are non existent. It was a spectacular few days in the mountains as we rode some of the world famous climbs such as the Col De Madeleine, Col Du Chaussy, etc. It was an amazing experience riding the climbs but it certainly wasn't going to be enough to prepare us for the tour. Each stage was a hill top finish with another 3 Cols (mountain passes) during all four stages.
However my experience was to be short lived when a case of" bad luck comes in 3's" kicked off, 1hr before the race the food I had eaten earlier all of a sudden wanted to leave my body as quickly as possible. Not feeling the greatest up the first climb 19km into the race I went over the top in the second group on the road and chasing the peloton 20sec behind. The I punctured. With 110 motorbikes and nearly as many cars in the race I thought a replacement wheel wasn't going to be an issue. As I patiently waited for a car to stop they all seem to drive past waving back at me as I waved my wheel. 15min later the Broom wagon and Race Com pulled over and said I am no longer racing the tour as I am too far behind. Politely said, I was rather frustrated.
The remainder of the tour for me I feed water bottles to my team mates on the side of the road and spent a day as the mechanic for the team in the race car in the convoy. Like any tour a bad day isn't the end of the world and I was hoping to ride through to the end so I could continue to race and maybe one day have a good ride but it was cut very short in a cruel blow. A very disappointing low point of my season for me to say the least.
It was however followed by the highest point of my season. A quick train trip to Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris and my girlfriend was arriving for 3weeks in Europe as I had my first ever mid season break planned.
Playing the typical tourist we had a great adventure in Paris and later on London before we headed back to Belgium.
A weeks panic training and sightseeing of Brugge and Ghent while Madi was still here ended up being the preparation I needed for a hard days racing Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. 190km in the rain, wind, mud, cobbles, hills, and sun made the race a long day which would wear down the field. For me my legs started off in the most horrible state but I eventually rode into it and got stronger and stronger. Once in the finishing circuits I was able to follow and chase the riders every time the pace went on and still attack myself. The outcome was a good day of being competitive and really racing the race only to spoil it by cramping 500m to go and not having a lot to show for it.
I am now building back up for the remainder of the season and have recently just ridden a team time trial which was a lot of fun and brought back memories of the old days back racing school boy team time trials on the Auckland waterfront. A discipline I have certainly missed.
Refreshed and ready to go, the focus is racing as much as possible for the remainder of the season. I have only ridden 6 of the world famous Kermesse styled races here in Belgium so a few more for fun would be great for experience and hopefully the wallet if all goes well.
Until next time.
T
