MILES WATSON

Hi All Plane trip wasn’t much fun what was supposed to be a 35hr flight turned into a 45hr flight. The flight was delayed for an hour to start with, and then while travelling over AUZ we had to stop at Darwin as someone needed to be taken to hospital, we waited at Darwin airport for ages & then received the news that they had died in the hospital. My original course was Aux NZ-Singapore -Amsterdam-Brussels, which ended up being Aux-Singapore-Frankfurt- Brussels. I flew in on Mon 7:30am local time, my bike and luggage ended up turning up the next night which was a bit annoying. When my bike arrived my big chain ring was wasted, completely bent, 4 of the teeth half worn off. I had to spend bout 30min straitening it with pliers and bashing it & then filing them smooth with a file so the chain would run properly. There are 25 people in our team (Kingsnorth International Wheelers), I have been given bib shorts, top, socks, drink bottles, & team caps all in all it’s pretty good for an armature team. We are the most dominant team in numbers and results at races. Most of the races we do are called a kermis which is usually120km in length, around a town consisting of about & 13 laps. It’s usually a 20km bike to & from the race, which gives a good warm up & warm down. Race entry is 8 euro & when you give your number back you get 5 euro back from your entry. Roads are absolutely shite here, it’s like MTB (Mountain biking) on the rd there seems to be road works everywhere which are un finished. Cyclists have right away over cars, if you want to cross the road cars will stop for you. There are cycle paths on both sides of the road which fits 4 riders to use it, plus footpaths beside them. Trainings really boring, but racings great. There are bike paths that go along the canals for ever and are hot mix which makes it all the more sweet. I went for a recovery ride today on the 9am canal bunch ride, wow its amazing literally thousands of people, in either big & small groups or by themselves. I was in a group of about 60, we averaged about 43km and in a fast race in NZ we will average 40km, but it is almost completely flat & hot mix. No hills really where I’m staying in Gent, but further south is a bit more like the Waikato. There are more people who bike than drive here. The whole country seems to be set up around cyclists. I’ve had 2 races so far and another tomorrow in Holland, which we will ride to race & ride home. The first race was a kermis which was 7.2km a lap in length, 120km total in length which was on thur. 68 starters, I didn’t finish got pull out with 3 laps to go all the other guys said I did really well and they only lasted about 30min in there first race, & I last about 2:30hr. All my training has been base and this is a huge shock to the system riding abut 30km faster than training, racing speed is about 50-60km, every 10secs there is someone attacking its insane. My second race was good I got 16th out of 45 starters and most races pay down to 30th place. I have been getting lots of help from team mate Andrew Wells. I got 10 euro prize money which you double to make it to NZ dollars. The race was 30 laps of a 3.3km circuit. We slow down heaps for the corners then its a sprint out of every corner like you are sprinting to the finish, then be time you got some momentum up your heavily braking for the next corner. The circuits are around towns on the outskirts of Gent. The atmosphere at every race is huge; its like going to the rugby back in NZ, there is lots of betting at the races. It’s like being at the Nationals at each race. Most races are between 3:30 and 6pm. We seem to race every 2nd day. There are 6 riders being selected to race in an interclub race on the 25th of June which I have been selected for which I’m stoked about because a lot of guys have been here for weeks racings & have not been selected. Originally I was going to be staying at a place called the farm which is now full so I’m boarding with a 65 year old couple who are the most cycling enthusiastic people ever meet. They have all the tem kit, pics, autographs from riders & are friends with some very top riders, & big tem team mangers. Christian is Belgian & speaks good English; Ansos is Italian & speaks no English. I’m quite close to the centre of the city, if I open the front door leads directly on to the foot path. It is a 3 story house, I’ve got my own toilet, kitchen ect & only pay 180 Euro a month. I’ve got stereo, TV ect in my room its mint & the beds are good. They have been taking cyclists in for 30 years. In my spare time I’ve been using the town bike & exploring the city it’s beautiful, hardly any traffic, everything is really relaxed no cars screaming past sirens boy racers ect I love it here. I’ve got to go to get ready for my race in Holland which starts at 7pm 2nyt. Please ask Qs if interested in anthying because it is so different here it would take forever to right it all down.

Cya