Hi everyone.
Racing has been going pretty good lately; I have had a few mechanicals latey: I broke a spoke, needed to buy a new chain, chain ring, cluster, tyre, etc. The roads are lethal on the bikes here (and the wallet ). I have been sick for a week, crashed in one race but it was minor damage to me and the bike. Had a flat in a race the other day and in another race broke my chain. Shops are hardly ever open over here & bike shops don’t carry much stock or equipment so it is very frustrating to get what I need and get my bikes fixed before the next race. I’ve not started in two races because my bike wasn’t repaired in time.
I’ve been placing in the top 20 of every race which is good. Placed 6th in a Crit, (Criterium) one week ago with 91 riders. I made a break with one lap to go with another rider. I was doing most of the work trying to hold off the pelleton as I knew this would probably get me in the sprint , I’m just starting to build up a nice sprint. I tried to gap him 1.5km from the finish but I was toast and he hooked back onto my wheel and beat me in the sprint. My team mates said (they were watching from the sidelines) that I put on a good fight. They had all pulled out earlier from the race due to being lapped. It was 37.5 *C that day, in a 2hr race I drank 6 Liters of electrolyte drink, water and coke. There were 16 laps & I was drinking one bottle a lap at the least. It’s so, so hot here. Everyday its’ at least 34*C, the roads are cracking here in chunks, like the outback ( LOL). I’m feeling really good about races now & can ride the races well, using my head better & conserving my energy. I now know who are the riders to watch and who to let go. Because our team is an international team it makes for very tough racing here, as the Belgians really don’t like us to take a win.
Sorry, If you are not a cyclist the pieces in brackets will probably be not of much interest.
(I wore out a brand 23-11Chorus cluster in 3 weeks; there is so much silt & sand on the roads. I have had to put a Centaur 25-12 (an 11 is a really hard gear to push & is used for sprinting, a 25 is what you use for climbing). As I have worn out my 11 tooth, I was using the 12 and it’s just not big enough here so, I’ve needed to adapt my cluster so I can put my 11 from my Chorus 11-13 so onto my 12-25. Booth the 11-12 were lock rings with a built in spacer so I had to source a flat 12, so the cluster now runs, 25,23,19,17,16,15,14,13,12,11. I get up to 57km per hr in my 12, which I reach very often in the racing and then I’m spun out at a cadence of 100. If you come to race in Belgium you need at least an 11-53! lol.) It’s so flat the speeds in the races are insane. I was bridging a gap by myself for about 1km at speeds over 65km. I’m starting to build some awesome strength up in Belgium. I can’t wait to see how I go in Nationals and the Tour of Southland. Some days I’ll be out training sitting at 50km for several km’s without building up much of a sweat. If I attack from about 10 deep in the bunch I can build up so much speed that 95% of the time I can break free of the bunch and do a solo effort to catch up to a break or start a break. In my last race my mate Javier saw me do an attack and the pelleton tried to respond but I had too much gas and bridged across to the next break. He told me after the race he thought to himself “ so is that what we are doing today” when I attacked. He said a few others tried to catch up but I had too much strength. It’s great to watch what happens to bunches when someone really hits the gas which I’m now doing. For myself, I’m a climber, and endurance rider, so it’s very hard for me to win sprints, especially as it is so flat. If there was an up hill finish or if I get in a long break & have tired out the break before the finish I have a good chance of winning a sprint. But as, races here are no longer than 120km and my races in NZ are usually between 160-200km, it makes winning for me here a lot harder. But I will take a win before I leave!!
With at least 12 riders from your team in every race it makes racing much harder. If a team mate is in a break up the road people in the same team are not allowed to chase. In every race there is usually a break of 4-10 riders, so if I miss the move and try to bridge across by yourself it is not liked by my other team mates. As I’m a Kings North rider it encourages the bunch to chase me. The other riders in the bunch do not want riders from the same team to be in the same break so if I miss the break away I’m supposed to just sit back in the group and let the rest of the pelleton catch up. But some times no one wants to work to catch up so if I try to gap across by myself I encourage the bunch to chase me. If you miss the break you’re usually screwed. The pelleton is so big it isn’t always easy to be in the right position in the bunch to chase when the break goes. Our team has so many riders but nobody works together, so it makes for very frustrating racing sometimes.
I’ve tried to start a few breaks but because our team is an international team nobody really comes to help make a break and nobody is strong enough to hold the pelleton off by themselves, so I can’t do a solo break. The team does help other riders from the same team out a little but not very much, the team is more of a collection of individuals as it is such an amateur team. In the middle of August there is a team presentation to the media and also another interclub race. An interclub is huge with lots of team cars, fully sponsored teams and, over 200hundred riders. It’s like being in the Tour de France, because of the amount of support crew and riders out on the road. The whole pelleton takes up 3 lanes of a highway plus the foot paths and any other spare rideable surface. Only several people get selected from the team & I have been selected for all the interclubs that I’ve been here for. This coming interclub I know I will do really well. These races are longer with more climbs and are often cobbled which suits me.
There are lots of Music Festivals on all over Europe at the moment, because most people are on holiday and finished studying for the year. I haven’t been to any yet but am planning to. I try to go swimming as much as possible here, as there is an artificial lake with a beach 4km from where I live. Some of my friends from the team and I have been biking to the ocean quite often and spending the day there chillin & swimming. It’s really nice and only a 120km return trip. I have tried the chocolate, pastries, beer, salami, sausages and ice cream. I think the Ice cream is by far the best. It’s like Moeven Peck but 5 times better.
There are now two new riders living in the same house as me. One from England and the other from Arizona. Javier, who is from Arizona is 26 and is in my team and we are now best mates. Liam from England is in an U/19 team. They are both very good & we all get along great. It’s interesting to learn about their cultures etc. Yesterday I said to Javier lets cook some tea and he just looked at me! Like what the heck! there are so many phrases, & words that I don’t know of theirs & they don’t know of mine. I now have the use of a laptop so I’ll be updating my blog weekly with news & photos. Thanks for reading. I hope everyone is enjoying the winter back home ( lol).
Cya,
Miles
