Good legs and bad luck

I really hate that title. It sounds like an excuse and I like to believe that in a way one creates their own luck. But... flatting out of the lead group of 30 with 3 laps to go in the Oudenburg kermis must qualify as bad luck, right? Here's the low down:

Scott Wenzel, Scott Jackson, Elliot, Santiago, and I pedaled out of the CC at 1:30pm with our backpacks and shoulderbags under a perfect blue sky. Destination: Oudenburg. A little over an hour later we arrived and scouted out the course before obtaining our numbers. The blue sky was swallowed by darkness as if the apocalypse was imminent. Apparently the cycling gods were angry and we were to feel their wrath. 15 minutes before the start, rain soaked the dirt and crap covered farm roads. A nice sludgy mixture awaiting my mouth, nose, ears, and eyes! Here's a first for me: on the line the field was blessed by a priest with holy water. That was comforting. The race was underway and the 70 or so riders hauled through the slippery roads of Oudenburg. When the roads are wet like yesterday you memorize the man hole covers, the painted bricks, and all the areas that become as slick as ice in wet weather. In the first hour my legs were awesome. I feel like I have the best form of the season thus far and if my fitness grows over the next weeks that will be even more exciting. I was following wheels at the front, staying out of the wind, and accelerating with ease out of every corner. It was a nice feeling! Now let me say a word about Belgian farm road spray. It's nasty. Imagine riding as hard as you can in a crosswind 1 inch from the edge of the narrow muddy road. The peloton is single file and there is a constant spray of water, mud, and dung going directly into your face. You can only keep your glasses on for so long before they get so muggy and steamy that your visibility become zero. Then your eyes become so clogged and encrusted with gunk that they sting and you spend the next 3 day picking particles of "who knows what" out of them. You try spraying water on your eyes during the race but that only helps for 10 seconds. But it seems I digress. Back to the race. The peloton was wittled down, groups seperated and came together, and I was feeling good. On the last corner of the circuit with 3 laps to go: Psssssssss. I was pisssssssssssed. I rode the flat to the start/ finish and got a wheel change from one of my teammates who was out. I remember saying under my breath, "This is useless," but I had to try. I soloed for 1 lap trying to connect to the group. No dice. My race was over. Went to the kleedkamers and washed away the dirt but the frustration remained. That's bike racing though. Good legs and bad luck... right?


This is me afer the race, covered in Belgian farm road spray.