CAN I LIVE IN BELGIUM FOR 6 MONTHS ON 1000 EUROS???
I guess I have some bike races to win...
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Flin Flon Son!
So I'm sitting here in my garage waiting for people to show up to my garage sale. Its getting late and most of the good stuff is gone but I said I would be open till 9pm. I'm in Flin Flon Manitoba, 900km's north of Winnipeg for those not to well versed on this small town. A population of 5000 people and decreasing! population of cyclists: 1
For the last 4 years I dreamed of coming back to Flin Flon and training in the summer, I thought it would of been the best place to train. Well I was wrong! more on that later...
I always wish I started cycling when I was younger and I still think about that from time to time but the fact of the matter is you can't just up and get all spandex clad because your mom thinks you should be a cyclist. For one thing when your 15, dirt bikes ruled... If my friends all got skinny wheeled road bikes and lycra I probably would of followed them.
I realize now to get involved in sports there has to be involvement around you. Sure I played hockey in the Flon cause its a hockey town, badminton and basketball too. I was terrible at the latter and I'm sure if there was a cycling program at school I would of been interested.
I've never spent summertime in Flin Flon with my bike till now. Its funny how you can imagine the feeling your going to get doing something even before you do it. Don't get me wrong I was really excited to start riding here and the first couple of days were great. But now after being here for a week I'm getting seriously bored riding here! Theres nobody else to ride with, and the roads are terrible. Thanks to the 6 months of winter we get here, the freezing and thawing each spring really takes it toll on asphalt. Theres not much to see either and its always windy!
The good about riding here, lots of eyes on me! I'm like the village idiot or something, somewhat of a rarity here.
So with all complaining aside, I'm glad I had the chance to experience it when I did at age 27. I'm sure if I started at age 15 I would of been bored with it in no time, and who knows that experience could of soured my cycling career forever!
For the last 4 years I dreamed of coming back to Flin Flon and training in the summer, I thought it would of been the best place to train. Well I was wrong! more on that later...
I always wish I started cycling when I was younger and I still think about that from time to time but the fact of the matter is you can't just up and get all spandex clad because your mom thinks you should be a cyclist. For one thing when your 15, dirt bikes ruled... If my friends all got skinny wheeled road bikes and lycra I probably would of followed them.
I realize now to get involved in sports there has to be involvement around you. Sure I played hockey in the Flon cause its a hockey town, badminton and basketball too. I was terrible at the latter and I'm sure if there was a cycling program at school I would of been interested.
I've never spent summertime in Flin Flon with my bike till now. Its funny how you can imagine the feeling your going to get doing something even before you do it. Don't get me wrong I was really excited to start riding here and the first couple of days were great. But now after being here for a week I'm getting seriously bored riding here! Theres nobody else to ride with, and the roads are terrible. Thanks to the 6 months of winter we get here, the freezing and thawing each spring really takes it toll on asphalt. Theres not much to see either and its always windy!
The good about riding here, lots of eyes on me! I'm like the village idiot or something, somewhat of a rarity here.
So with all complaining aside, I'm glad I had the chance to experience it when I did at age 27. I'm sure if I started at age 15 I would of been bored with it in no time, and who knows that experience could of soured my cycling career forever!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
| Racing in Belgium |
Hey guys, some of you may know I took off to Belgium for a month to experience their racing. I've been here for about 5 days and I'm still overwhelmed at the popularity of cycling and the culture that follows it. It can't be described in words but I'll give it a try...
After 13 hours on the plane, then a 2 hour train ride from Brussels I finally arrived in Oudenaarde. Just to sum up Oudenaarde in a few sentences its a fairly small town of about 28,000. Cycling rules here. There are bike paths everywhere and everybody rides a bike. Every direction sign has a picture of a bike on it and for such a small town there are about 4 bike shops... Its not uncommon to see pro riders along the canal at any given day, just yesterday we saw a Quick Step rider on the other side of the road.
A few house mates had the experience of drafting behind Tom Boonen and Sylvain Chavanel the other day while they were motorpacing on the canal. Its not uncommon for amateur riders to do this and its perfectly allowed, it ensures a faster ride home...
About 1km away from the house is the Tour of Flanders course, completely marked with signs to follow and some of the most terrible cobbles. I understand cobbles now, nuff said.
Driving to my first Kermesse race I didn't really know what to expect, I heard mixed opinions from my house mates but the common trend seemed to follow, its fucking hard. I expected that and I expected wind and rain. We got both.
So you could probably guess I was kind of nervous but I just tried to stay happy and take in the experience. The wind and rain don't keep the racers away and they came out in numbers, I think there were 80 starters on monday. We pay 8 Euro for a Kermesse race, we receive 1 cloth race number and upon finishing the race and giving the number back we receive 5 Euro back. 3 Euro sure isn't bad for a race with full moving road enclosure. I should also mention that this race paid 30 deep! with about 150 Euro going to the winner. One of the cyclists who is staying at our host house got 28th place, he received 10 Euro for his effort. Oh and the races start late, this one started at 2pm.
This race flowed really well with few corners, a long narrow golf cart section that was mostly strung out and a minor cobbled section that ensured lost water bottles and loss of traction on the wet cobbles. Cornering here is much slower than North America, the racers slam on their brakes going into the corners then completely hammer out of them. The accordion effect kills most riders at the back so staying in the front group is crucial. I learned that fast. The racing is fast and strung out most of the time, its attack recover attack recover style of racing. Very intense and I was pretty happy just to finish the day. Everyone said my first race would be the hardest, I'm glad to have experienced it in terrible weather. After the race I looked pretty shell shocked covered in dirt and my lower back was killing me. It was basically a 2.5 hour crit race, most of the time being spent in the drops.
The weather sure doesn't keep people away and it was great to see so many people come out of their homes to cheer/bet on their local favorites. It was almost the equivalent to a Tour of Delta or Whiterock crit in Vancouver. Except this type of racing happens everyday in Belgium!
I finished 38th place (just outside of the money:0) Looking at the results page, I noticed a famous name finishing around 50th place:
Patrick Cocquyt. Some of you may recognize this name from the book "Dog in a Hat" He's 49 now, rode the classics as a pro in the 80's. He does well in these Kermesse races and like many amateurs/ex-pros who race them, earns his living off them.
More later, pictures too...
| Tough Times |
Sunday started like any other, wake up, eat, go for a quick hour long pre-race ride on the canal. The race would be the longest one I'll experience on my short stay, about 133km. It took place in Laare (another small town in West Flanders) These are called Kermisse races which means "Carnival" Because they usually are accompanied by a circus or fair in the area. It sure brings out the spectators and I found out really quickly today, the riders! The race numbers started out at number 1 and upon lining up to start I couldn't believe the size of the field, buddy next to me was wearing number 160! so there were minimum 160 riders in this field. More riders means a faster race and we flew down the home stretch at close to 54km/h most of the time. This was 19 laps of about a 6.5km loop. The first few went by fast and I was moving up with the help of a little sidewalk riding and smart cornering.
To keep your place in a field of riders who all want to be at the front is nerve racking. This race was just plain nervous, bumping and shouting. Really not a good feeling and I was trying to find a positive vibe today. Usually getting to the front and flowing through the corners single file is enough to enjoy the race for me. But I was fighting off feeling under the weather all day and I should of listened to my body and took the day off cause what happened next was bad.
It was about 1km from the finish line, a long finishing straight. I was midpack on the right side when a rider bumped another one. He quickly went down and in a split second I was over my handlebars and sliding on the ground. My head and right shoulder took most of the impact. I got up immediately and looked behind, sheltering myself from any other riders running me over.
One of the first things that came to mind was that I'm not going to finish the race now, then my arm started to hurt... I sat on the curb waiting for help when someone from the Red Cross came to check me out. He saw I could move my arm and didn't think it was broken. I was still so out of it and before I knew it I was left alone on the sidewalk so I grabbed my bike and walked back to the start finish.
There was definitely something wrong with my shoulder, I could feel my collarbone wasn't right. Spectators kept coming up to me talking in Flemish then a spectator pulled up in his car and gave me a ride to the start finish line. I was taken to first aid and then to the hospital via ambulance. The x-ray showed that my right collarbone had been fractured. So my racing in Belgium is over for now. As you can imagine I was pretty upset that day but things are progressing well.
With Belgium being a such a hard cycling country, there are lots of specialists in the province. So today I had the fortunate experience of seeing Radioshack's team doctor, then onto the doctor who treated Geert Steegman's of QuickStep for a collarbone injury.
So it looks like I'll be hitting the stationary trainer tomorrow and then back on the road in June. For those who have wished me a speedy recovery already, thanks. I'm hoping with all this down time I can go and watch the races...
__________________
To keep your place in a field of riders who all want to be at the front is nerve racking. This race was just plain nervous, bumping and shouting. Really not a good feeling and I was trying to find a positive vibe today. Usually getting to the front and flowing through the corners single file is enough to enjoy the race for me. But I was fighting off feeling under the weather all day and I should of listened to my body and took the day off cause what happened next was bad.
It was about 1km from the finish line, a long finishing straight. I was midpack on the right side when a rider bumped another one. He quickly went down and in a split second I was over my handlebars and sliding on the ground. My head and right shoulder took most of the impact. I got up immediately and looked behind, sheltering myself from any other riders running me over.
One of the first things that came to mind was that I'm not going to finish the race now, then my arm started to hurt... I sat on the curb waiting for help when someone from the Red Cross came to check me out. He saw I could move my arm and didn't think it was broken. I was still so out of it and before I knew it I was left alone on the sidewalk so I grabbed my bike and walked back to the start finish.
There was definitely something wrong with my shoulder, I could feel my collarbone wasn't right. Spectators kept coming up to me talking in Flemish then a spectator pulled up in his car and gave me a ride to the start finish line. I was taken to first aid and then to the hospital via ambulance. The x-ray showed that my right collarbone had been fractured. So my racing in Belgium is over for now. As you can imagine I was pretty upset that day but things are progressing well.
With Belgium being a such a hard cycling country, there are lots of specialists in the province. So today I had the fortunate experience of seeing Radioshack's team doctor, then onto the doctor who treated Geert Steegman's of QuickStep for a collarbone injury.
So it looks like I'll be hitting the stationary trainer tomorrow and then back on the road in June. For those who have wished me a speedy recovery already, thanks. I'm hoping with all this down time I can go and watch the races...
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