Final Week!!

0 Submitted by on Sun, 08 June 2014, 19:54

My final week and a half brought me to the Ardennes for a three stage Top Competition race. Now I was told heading into the race that it was probably one of the hardest races on the Belgium circuit. There was 26 KOM climbs over the three days. But really that never mattered because I never saw the front or hardly any of the peloton because I didn’t finish on the first day. The race started off with having someone’s rain vest falling into my front wheel 9km in. I then spent the next 5kmish using the caravan to get back in. I was not even 500 meters in the field when I got caught behind a crash. After this I had to chase back in again. When I got back in we started a 8km climb full gas in the Ardennes and I was the last guy. It’s hard enough to stay with the skinny ass climbers but as the last guy I fought pretty hard until I was dropped from the group and pulled out. The only two positive things that came out of this was that I got to stay in a 4 star hotel in Germany for the next couple days then pounded out two solid training days in the hills.

My view all day on the first stage.

My view all day on the first stage.

After a travel day on Monday, I took Tuesday as a opportunity to go and see the Tour of Flanders Museum. The Museum was absolutely jaw dropping to see if your a fan of the Cobble Classic!!! IMG_20140527_142711[1] Thursday was a long day of 200km: a 40 km ride to the race, a 120km race, then a 40km ride home. The race was spent strung out with tons of attacks and was split into a bunch of groups but we never caught the original breakaway of 5. The peloton battled it out for the minor places and I finished midfield at 57th. I thought this was going to be my last race in Belgium (on Thursday), but I ended up getting a call to be a guest rider in a Interclub the day before the race. Saturday I had no car again so it was another long day 205km. This team I was guest riding for managed to get in the early breakaway. I spent the first half just surfing the field. That was the calm before the storm, 50km to go I made the “Elite” split of 15 in the cross wind section. Had my group not screwed around for a couple of laps we could have caught the whole breakaway. But nope, people thought they were superman and could cross a 1.5 minute gap. By the time we got settled down we caught most of the break except 7 riders. I then battled it out with the split for a 20th and 30km long hard ride home.
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My tips for Belgium:

Pro: Cheap racing 5-10 euros sometimes free, Prize Money goes 30 deep every race, Cheap Beer and Waffles!!! aha

Cons: Very Expensive in Europe (i.e. Food, Travel), Bad Internet, Hard training roads The weather is all over the place

Pro and Con: The racing can be freaking hard. There are some races where you’re giving it your all and you can only just sit in the field.

But recap of my time in Belgium. I have met so many people and friends on this trip. With what I call a pretty successful month I now have some of the biggest life and cycling career decisions to make within the next couple of weeks.

I could not have ever done this trip without the help of the Jet Fuel Coffee Team from our management, sponsors and fellow teammates to helping and letting me take this opportunity. Andrew Randell for the time and effort he has put into helping me develop as bike racer. I’ve seen huge gains the past three years I’ve been with him.

Most importantly I couldn’t have ever done this without the financial help from people like Global Relay Bridge the Gap, Morning Glory Cycling and my home town Peterborough Cycling Club for the support they have given me. Without the help from all of them it would be very hard/impossible to be able to do anything I’ve done this year. To add to the list above and for everyone else who has helped me along the way: “I personally THANK YOU!!!” All of the life and cycling experiences I have had over the last five weeks I will use and remember for the rest of my life.

Now time to spend some quality time at home recharging my batteries before the next long trip.

Beer, Beer, Beer and more Beer.

Beer, Beer, Beer and more Beer.

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