Love letters from Holland

I just spent a hideous amount of money on my hair. Don't ask how much cause I'm not telling.

So, In two days time I will be in St. Wendal, Germany, with the rest of the Canadian Team and having my first look at the World Championships course. Exciting times; I can feel the tension building towards the culmination of my mission here. The weather has taken a turn for the colder here, so we may be in for some ice and snow in Germany but that might actually be a welcome change after all the muck that I've had to endure so far. Two more races to tell you about from this past weekend-

22 January, Heerlen, Nederlands.
Another day in the mud. Whee. I knew that this would be a tough day after checking the course because once again, rain had succeeded in turning the circuit into a quagmire. Not super deep, but nowhere was it firm enough to be able to roll, always forcing the bike. Three runups today including a really long stair section that was spaced almost too far apart for my long legs. At least it was warm, but we all froze in a 5 minute hail and rain shower before the gun. Got a good starting spot, but my head was somewhere else and I lost a lot of spots before the end of the pavement. I felt like I was riding the flat muddy corners well today, but not as fast as Groenendaal who lapped me with I think 2 laps to go for me. He was shortly followed by Wellens who proceeded to demonstrate how one is really supposed to ride. In all, not my best day, but pretty OK. I ended up 22nd or so and finished in the money.

23 January, Hoogerheide World Cup, Netherlands
Another warm day, except this time the course is lightning fast hardpack with lots of fast pavement sections. Good thing cause my legs are feeling pretty worked from the day before. I was getting very good vibes from my recon laps, and my warmup went really well so I was looking for a good ride, except for some unkown reason the start time was moved up by 15 minutes and I barely made it in time. At least I didn't miss the gun, but I missed my call up position somewhere in mid field and had to start from the back of 64 guys. That was a death sentence because there was almost no way to move up given how fast the course was. I moved up OK anyhow, and managed to get into a little group before I started to get popped off the back each time up the long pavement climb. I was able to come back a few times through the grassy technical sections, but ultimately I couldn't hang on. Then with a lap and a half to go I hooked my arm on a post and went down hard. That kinda took the wind out of my sails and I had to swap bikes. Got caught by a 5 man group cause of that and got dusted up the hill to the line. The upshot of this misadventure was that I actually managed to make it onto the lead lap (along with 48 other guys), and I think that the form will be there for St Wendal.

In other news, I'm going to be coming home to Ottawa early. I'll be back in one week from today, then I have a little time to recuperate before bolting down to South Carolina in mid-Feb to getr down to some serious training again. The racing scene dies down here after Worlds, and my training quality will be much higher in SC than here on my own.

Next report form St Wendal!
Thanks again,
GReain

Twice in one week - Wow

Back again on weblog tip. Just thought I would continue my recap of the Christmas racing since there is no one here to kick me off the public computer yet.

December 28, Hofstade. World Cup.
My what a crappy day this was. Probably 2 degrees and spitting with rain/snow/etc. Long way from the relative warmth of the van to parcours, which sucks when it's cold out. I took my Kona out for a couple laps and what a fun time that was. probably only about 200m of pavement in each 2.5km lap, and 2 lovely 300m sections of soft, wet energy sapping sand. The rest was mud bog. Cool. Good thing Luc Assez from the Flanders team was there because I ended up changing bikes every lap. True to form I was off the back from the start and losing time on each sand section, although I felt that I was riding the mud really well. Here's how you do it- rest on the pavement then 10m before the mud starts grab two more gears and turn the power on, then keep pushing that gear and try to maintain speed all the way through. To paraphrase Yacov Smirnov "In Belgian Cyclocross, you don't steer bike, bike steers you!" Or something like that. I got to enjoy my second tubular rolling experience much to the delight of the drunken spectators. I have to idea how I finished.

December 29, Loenhout. 'A' Category race.
This was a cool race. It was my first time being this close (within 1km) of Holland and as far as I could see, there was ne discernible change in elevation. Great. Actually it was really great, the course was super compact with multiple overpass bridges and big piles of dirt to ride over and run up. As usual, lots of mud. today I actually got race some guys, which was a first, and I was really working the mud and ruts really well. Until I shoulder checked some spectators and then fell off the course and landed on them the next time around. Cool. I actually crashed numerous times and had several close calls, again much to the enjoyment of the crowds, but I kept my tires on and discovered that you have to line up the ruts really well or else you chucked like you're coming off a mechanical bull. I won a three-way sprint for like 35th spot (yeah, cool), but like I said it was the first A race where I had some guys to race with. Got lapped by Sven Nys, but no one else. Also a minor victory.

OK, the teenage girls are clamouring for the computer, so I'll check you later. Two races this weekend, pray for dry weather.

Peace Out,
GReain

The count so far

1 Bottom Bracket
3 Rolled Tubulars
6 Tubes Rim Cement
1 Rear Rim
1 Cassette Body
2 Road Tires
3 Prs Brake Pads
Many Brake & Shift Cables

That's all that I can think of right now. I'm going through so much equipment it's unbelievable. And I'm just using cheap stuff. Some guys are using Zipp or FIR wheels, 120 Euro custom tires and Dura Ace 10spd drivetrains. Multiply all that by 3 race bikes and that's a lot of gear.

My normal race day routine involves throwing all my crap in the van, driving 1-2 hrs to the race, changing into riding clothes, freezing my ass off doing some recon laps of the course, freezing my ass off washing my bike, changing into my second set of race clothes and shoes, freezing my ass off eating, freezing my ass off warming up, trying to communicate in Flemish/English/French/whatever to make sure that my spare bike gets to the pits and there's someone to take my clothes at the start, freezing my ass off 15 minutes before the start in the corral, racing for an hour if I'm lucky (or unlucky, depending on the day), freezing my ass off warming down and finding all my crap, sharing a shower with a bunch of other guys, then trying to find out which smoky bar I should pick up my money at. Oh yeah, and trying to find out where doping control is so that I can find out whether I need to test or not. I would think that I's pretty obvious that I don't need to be tested, but rules is rules. Then everything gets chucked back into the van and hopefully I'm not racing the next day, then I don't have to freeze my ass off cleaning my bike at 8.30 in the night. Fun right?

I did a race in the town of Luxembourg this past Sunday; pretty cool town built on some really steep river valleys with lots of old towers and walls and stuff. Unfortunately I was too busy playing at being a bike racer to check much of it out. This was an international A2 cat. race, which means that the competition is supposed to be tops, but the prize money not as good as an A1. Luckily there was a World Cup on in France, so the big guns weren't all there. Don't tell anyone though. This was by far the coldest racing day yet. Lots of frost on everything, and the race course was frozen solid. It was nice of the sun to come out and melt all the fast corners into slippery mud for us, cause I really don't mind breaking my neck. When we raced it was probably -3 or so, but I was tough and raced without legwarmers. True Belgian style. A fairly uneventful race from my perspective, I mean I didn't have any near death experiences and my tires stayed on for once. Either I'm learning how to glue them properly now, or my tire pressure was too high. Hm. Got another great start position, but lost it all in the first 2 corners where the bunch jammed up and everyone got off and started running. I managed to work my way up pretty well over the next couple of laps and got myself into a group of three by mid-race. We played around a bit, none of us wanting to go too hard because none was obviously stronger than the other two. I threw it down on a short stair run-up about a third of the way through the last lap which was good enough to get a gap, but they came back and this Belgian dude attacked on the major uphill section. I tried to go with him and failed but at least that got some distance on the third guy. I tired again to get across on the paved climb right before the finish but didn't have quite enough gas to do it. Live and learn- if I'd waited for that moment to attack I might've ended up one place better. No big deal though- managed to make it home in 17th spot and stayed on the lead lap with plenty of time to spare. The Belgian Elite sans contract champion won the race, so I guess that's not too bad.

So, 2 races on the schedule this weekend- an A1 race in Heerlen, Netherlands, and a World Cup in Hoogerheide, Netherlands. Should be a fun time. Worlds in less than 2 weeks, so hopefully the form keeps going up!

Thanks again for reading.
Hope everyone back home is doing well & I look forward to seeing you all in March.

GReain

Rest is Best

Once again I learn what I thought I learned before - rest is good. Before I travel back in time to finish updating on the Christmas races I have to inform you of the last week's events.

Got into Holland last Monday, took an easy spin on Tuesday, and then did 3 days of 3hr road rides Wed, Thurs & Fri, easy on Sat, 3 Hrs on Sunday. I guess that's not too exciting, but since I'd been doing nothing but racing every day for what seemed like a really long time it was great to just get back to doing some steady kilometers. No hills, but 50kph winds are tough enough I think. So yesterday Pete and I drove the 2-1/2 hrs to Otegem, in Belgium, which is a bit of a kick in the pants because it was about 20 minutes from where I was living 2 weeks ago. It was a Belgian A category race, so I was expecting more of the same ass-kicking that I usually endure. Turns out that I had good legs, because after a really longand fast uphill start I dove in to the grass in about 10th wheel right behind all the big boys. I got outgunned shortly after that, but it's pretty motivating to be racing from somewhere near the front instead of the back of the bus. It doesn't hurt that the organisers are starting to take notice of who I am and that I'm not last in every race so that I get decent call up positions now. I was second row yesterday, which means I was right behind the new Belgian champ (as of Saturday) who goes by the name Sven Nys.

So as I was saying, I did get spat out of the lead group, but I got picked up by a couple of guys coming up from behind and I rode with them for a few laps to save my wind. Boy is it nice to actually race with people now instead of suffering on my own! I attacked out of that group, got picked up by another chaser but he was stronger than I was in some parts so I kept getting gapped off on the grassy sections. I was working super-hard just to stay ahead of a really big group containing Peter and some locals who were about 15 to 30 seconds behind and I didn't think that I could hold them off, but in the end I snuck across the line just ahead of eventual winner Sven Vanthourenhout, so I got to do another lap while those guys had to pack it in. Gave it some really good stick on the last lap and managed to pick up 2 more places, and sprinted my guts out on the line to lose moving up another spot by about a tire width, but no big deal, I was just happy to have ridden so well. I was actually making time on guys on the dismounts and runups, which is a new development as well.

Turns out I finished 22nd, best result so far, and scored out 50 Euro for my efforts - enought to pay for the van to get there and back. Mainly though, I am really content with how my form is coming along and the fact that I am able to start jousting a bit with these guys.

OK, I'm on borrowed time here so I have to bail. Thanks again for ready everyone, more in a day or two.

Hasta la Vista,
GReain

Late with the update

Kids, thanks for being patient. I hope you've been patient anyway. At least where I am now computers seem to be alive and well. Much has happened since I last posted up here, so I will distribute the info in little bits over the next little while.

First to tell you where I am now-
Bunnik, 10km east of Utrecht, Netherlands. Living over a butcher shop run by a dude named Wim who also owns a Div 3 road team called Wilton Meat. Protein is not a problem here. I arrived the evening of January 3rd, after the last race of a block 8 races in 10 days. MOre on that later. Wim and Tonni are really cool and feed us really well. They are always excited to help out cyclists, which is really nice. I should mention that I am now travelling with Peter Morse, who will also be attending cyclocross World's in St Wendal. Benoit and Bruno are returning to Canada tomorrow.

Recap of the last 2 weeks-
Got really sick after that first weekend of racing (thanks Bruno!) and had to take some time off. Definitely bummed about that. Got in a couple of days of riding before going off to race again (still a little sick) on Christmas day in this little place called Beernem. This was a B race, meanin hard but not the hardest, and I managed to make 15th, which I was pretty happy about. Stayed on the lead lap by a good margin and scored 15 Euro to boot. Maybe racing isn't so bad after all? So that was December 25.

December 26, Diegem. Yes Super Prestige means just what you might think. Best of the best, tougher than Worlds, Canadians need not apply. Somehow we got an entry here and got paid to show up. Unfortunately, or not, I never found out how hard it was because I tore my derailleur off 200m into the race. The start was fast though. My spare bike hadn't made it to the pit by the time I got there, so I had to withdraw.

December 27, at the shop in Oudenaarde. Dropped my first bike off at Asfra in the morning with Luc, our manager, soigneur, mechanic, whatever. The Ultega derailleur was dead, as was the dropout which was a drag cause it is non-replaceable. I'm like 'Luc it's boned!' and Luc's like 'no problem I fix it up quick' then I left when he had my frame up in the vice with a mini sledge hammer.

December 27, Veldegem. Another A race, another flat course, another rainy day. Ever wonder what it's like to try to ride a bike through a ploughed field after 2 months of rain? I can tell you all about it. Raced on my Kona Jake today, which was cool, except since my Redline was getting fixed I had to use a really small circus bike as a backup. Really needed a backup cause it was hideously muddy. I felt like I rode pretty well, but still got smacked around by Mario de Clerckq. So did everyone else though and he won by like two minutes. Could have something to do with the dope. Did I say that? He is also claiming retirement right now before they can suspend him for his incriminating desk planner entries. But apparently he only made them cause he's writing a book. Or something. Maybe he's writing a doping manual for the cycling school he's running.

That's probably good enough for now. Bite size pieces and all that.

If you want to find out where these places are, go to www.multimap.com and punch in the place name. So far they're all in Belgium.

Cheers,
GR