Since my last update I have ridden 4 races, and gave 2 a skip due to a bit of fatigue and illness which I have now managed to shake, I hope! I am not going to go through every detail as it would take days but I'll go over them. They have all been going relatively well, some good some bad. Bambrugge was not a good day at all, I rode to the race which was 30 odd kilometres away and when I arrived I was like a grape turned to a raisin. I was feeling really bad on the way there and in the race I was feeling even worse. When I started to feel dizzy and weak it was time to pack as I might not get back to Oudenaarde! While watching the race afterwards I noticed my back brake had been rubbing, so that was the reason I found it so hard to move up! So that was a day not to remember, but I guess everyone can have a bad day.
After Bambrugge, I had a few days off to try and get back around to normality and my next race was in Denderwindeke. I travelled with my team-mate and friend Indy Waelbroeck. The race went well, was feeling much better but I did notice that, unconsciously I was still nervous from my crash at Reningelst. But, as the race went on the twisty roads were becoming a lot easier and all nervousness went. The road surfaces were not great and it was a hard finish - a hill of 4-5% for nearly a kilometre, doesn't sound much but when you are going full gas it is much! I did come home with some money though, all 5 euros of it! So it wasn't the worst of days..
I raced again the next day in St. Maria Lierde. Again I went with Indy, but this time we rode there for a warm up as it was only 18km away from Oudenaarde. I heard the day before that it was a hard course and it was. It consisted of a hill to the finish like the day before but this time it dragged on for a good bit after the finish, then we had another hill roughly a kilometre or so later. This one had a cobbled corner and was a bit steeper, but once you got over it, it was recovery time - if you want to call it that as we were still hitting 60km/h on some parts. It was slightly downhill with some rough roads and swooping corners so the speed was consistently held.
After Bambrugge, I had a few days off to try and get back around to normality and my next race was in Denderwindeke. I travelled with my team-mate and friend Indy Waelbroeck. The race went well, was feeling much better but I did notice that, unconsciously I was still nervous from my crash at Reningelst. But, as the race went on the twisty roads were becoming a lot easier and all nervousness went. The road surfaces were not great and it was a hard finish - a hill of 4-5% for nearly a kilometre, doesn't sound much but when you are going full gas it is much! I did come home with some money though, all 5 euros of it! So it wasn't the worst of days..
I raced again the next day in St. Maria Lierde. Again I went with Indy, but this time we rode there for a warm up as it was only 18km away from Oudenaarde. I heard the day before that it was a hard course and it was. It consisted of a hill to the finish like the day before but this time it dragged on for a good bit after the finish, then we had another hill roughly a kilometre or so later. This one had a cobbled corner and was a bit steeper, but once you got over it, it was recovery time - if you want to call it that as we were still hitting 60km/h on some parts. It was slightly downhill with some rough roads and swooping corners so the speed was consistently held.
The race went really well for me, I rode well staying in the top 10-20 riders most of the time. I also moved up a lot each time up the hills and especially on the cobbled section. I gave a few digs and got into a few moves but a break had got away early and was going to stay away.
 |
| Aero Tuck ;) |
I was feeling pretty good the last few laps and gave a dig at around 1 or 2km to go, but got caught with about 500 to go and the bunch just breezed past me and I finished at the back of the peleton but was really happy with how my legs felt and how the race went.
Next up was Kortrijk Doorniksewijk which was an amazing circuit around the streets of Kortrijk. The race had some pretty big riders there and was multi-national. We had the Belgian Champion in attendance, Garmin-Cervelo, the Russian National Team, Japanese, Brits and of course Irish! The race was crazy fast, we did a 7km lap in roughly 8 minutes which is around 50km/h average speed. Had some bad luck unfortunately. I punctured with 3 or 4 laps to go, not sure as there was no lap signs, but there wasn't much longer left in the race. Was disappointing but thats all part of bike racing, these things happen and you move on.
So that's a very quick round up of how my racing has been going in the last few weeks. I am loving life here at the moment and meeting so many new people who I would have never met sitting at home in Fermoy! Look out for another update soon, I hope my luck changes and I start to get some nice results soon. I think I deserve some. Right?
Salou
