Hello to all my readers. Life is very busy right now at the Cycling Center. We have a full house with the Navigators living upstairs and also lots of visitors ranging from press to friends of Bernard and Ann. The press that was here came to shoot a piece about Americans racing in Belgium and learning to ride cobblestones. They gathered footage from around the house and then 5 of us from the CC went to France to ride some famous cobbled sections of Paris-Roubaix and even the Roubaix Velodrome. It was awesome to ride the track where so many historical cycling moments took place. They did a few interviews and filmed some great footage of us flying over the pave and coming down the banking of the track. The piece aired on Friday night just after the national news. Talk about Prime Time! It was a great experience and although I wasn't interviewed I had a great time working with the crew and riding those historical roads.
On the racing front things are a little rough. This past weekend was a 2 day stage race in Belgium called 2 Days of Gaverstreek. That first stage was one I'll never forget. I've never been that cold on a bike in my entire life. As we lined up for the start it began to rain and by the time the peloton rolled out everyone was soaking wet and shivering. It was about 6 degrees Celsius and with the strong winds I soon lost feeling in my extremities. I wasn't able to reach my top end on the bike because I was so cold. In a sick way it was quite humorous because when I stood up out of corners I could hardly ride in a straight line because my arms were so numb. I bumped into a few guys and didn't even know it until they yelled at me! The race broke apart fairly quick due to the strong crosswinds and terrible conditions but I continued to race. Only 30 of the 170 racers finished so the organizers allowed everyone to race the second day. The Cycling Center Team chose not to start, though, because of the amount of stress the cold conditions placed on our bodies. It was better not to risk a week of sickness for a low placing in one race.
I luckily stayed healthy from last weekend and have had some great training rides this week. Derek and I did a nice long ride a few days ago along the canal that runs from Brugge to Gent. I really enjoy riding along the canals. There's no traffic, very few turns, and great scenery. I found out that the roads along the canals were originally used by teams of horses to pull the large ships from town to town...fascinating. I suppose the cyclists that now ride the roads can be considered a type of 'work horse' too.
Well, I'm off to go re-con some important sections of this Sunday's race. That's right, I'm racing on Easter Sunday. So when all of you are enjoying your Easter brunch, just think about the pain I'll be in. It's ok though, I'm planning on doing a nice Easter breakfast on Monday... French toast and all.
