The 2014 Season Has Begun!

It's crazy to think the winter has passed & I am back in Belgium again! Where did the time go?! It seems like only yesterday I was finishing up my 2013 campaign & packing my bags to spend the winter at home. Now here I am in Zottegem again! I had a solid winter this year. Everything went as planned & I've worked harder than ever before so I am hoping I can show it this year. 

This year I am confident. When I look rationally at the season ahead & the winter I've had - all I need now is some luck. 

I left home on the 3rd of March to move back to Zottegem & get the 2014 racing season started with my team Terra Safety Shoes & the support of The Dave Rayner Fund.

Cousins in Belgium! 

Since being back I've clocked up 3 race days & have got some quality training done. I've (almost) adapted to my Belgian home again & being back with the boys is great fun! 

The last few weeks before I left home I was itching to race. On March 8th it was finally time to pin on the numbers again! This season I started off in France at the 151km Paris-Evreux Classic. A very welcomed change! First race day of the season is always exciting as well as a little nervy. Although your confident of the training you've put in, you never quite know how you will fair out. There was certainly some cobwebs that needed blowing out! I was pretty happy with my race. After roughly 6 months without such sensations it came as quite a shock to the system, to say the least! 

Lucky 13!

I was really in the hurt box for the first hour, my legs were nowhere to be found. However, after the first hour I started to come around & my body got back to normal. Although it was too late. The damage had been done. After a pretty fast but straightforward descent, we came to small village where a series of technical corners & roundabouts forced a split in the peloton. This split contained roughly 30 riders of which 2 of my team mates were present. My positioning was pretty poor at this particular point & I just missed out unfortunately. 

The parcour was very rolling, a little like home - so it suited me well. On some of the climbs we came pretty close to bringing back the gap but as the French Army had every member of their team in the split, they set a high pace which was impossible match. After 100km I unintentionally got a gap on - what was left of - the peloton. I pushed on & joined 4 riders ahead, one being my fellow Dave Rayner Funded rider & team mate Adam Lewis. For the next 40km or so we rode in no man's land between the front group & peloton to test the legs & try to salvage something from the day. Unfortunately we got caught 6km from the finish, & at this time there was only 30 guys left in the "peloton". With no result left to grab I just rolled in for 50th place. 

Paris-Evreux

After a solid weeks training Niuewrode 1.12B on the 16th March was next up. As it was the only 1.12B on that day, a big field was expected to take to the start line. 306 riders signed on as it turned out & 6 from the Dave Rayner Fund. I can only use one word to describe it - chaos! Luckily for me I snuck my way to the front row at the start, so I missed out on the carnage of the first few laps. 15 crashes in the first 15km apparently! I heard & saw a lot of them, even felt one & suffered some tyre burn on my leg. Ouch! 

There was a lot of "heart in mouth" moments. Especially at the finish! I tried a late attack at about 3km to go but got nowhere. When I got swallowed up I slotted back into the line & tried to get involved in the sprint! In doing so, I very nearly ended up crashing. I got sandwiched in the gutter after a squeeze in the peloton & ended up balancing on my front wheel in the gutter while me & my bike were at a 45degree angle. Somehow I managed to keep it upright. Guys crashed all around me but I survived the damage. I was blessed for once! This all happened at about 60km/h mind, so I lost all positioning. I was relieved to roll in for 73rd safe & sound. All in all, not a race that suited me but I was never in any trouble & got around with relative ease.

 Check out this video of Niuewrode - this just shows the craziness that is Belgian bike racing:

The following Sunday the 23rd I took to the start line in Mol for the 52nd edition of the 1.12IC Zuidkempense Pijl/GP Wilfried Peeters. I had a nice week building up to this race & although it wasn't a parcour that's suited to me I was still quite optimistic & excited. The race itself was 163km in length. We started in De Kaasboerin-Postel & raced roughly 20km before we reached the circuits in Mol where we would do 10 laps of 14km.

The weather was not on our side unfortunately. It certainly wasn't warm - 5 degrees or so & not long before the start we started to get a little rain, which later turned to a lot of rain as well as some hail stone showers. We were treated to all 4 seasons in one day! Being from Ireland, you would have thought I'd be accustomed to such foul conditions but as it turns out - I suffered with it like never before. 

The race was fast from the word go as expected. Some nerves in the first 10km caused a high speed crash in which I got caught behind. After making it back to the front of the race things seemed to settle down. 

However as the rain & spray of the peleton kept getting worse I started to really feel the conditions taking their toll. My legs were fine, but I couldn't stop shivering. I didn't have enough clothes on & I couldn't feel my hands or feet. At one point my jaw was getting cramp jittering with the cold. It was so grim. I felt like pulling the plug many many times & grabbing a nice hot shower but something kept me going - the sense of satisfaction I would have afterwards. Every time we went over 55km/h I struggled. I was statue-like & my legs felt like they were seizing up. So the few times I got myself to the front & tried to do something I realised it wasn't happening. Not today! Most of the time the race was too fast to even attack. For such harsh conditions we still had an average speed on 43.5km/h.  

That pretty much sums up my day. There was 15 guys ahead who contested the win. I didn't contest the sprint so I finished mid-way in the second group for 71st. My race number was also 71 for that day! Karma! 

Link to the Zuidkempense Pijl/GP Wilfried Peeters website: http://www.zuidkempensepijl.be/zkp/

My Strava file from the race: http://www.strava.com/activities/123549057/overview

Luck hasn't been on my side so far & a nice result has evaded me, but I'm not worried. I've only raced 3 times & it's a long season! I'm now training hard again to finish off the spring/classics part of the season with some strong performances. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks!