A Change is often a Good Thing

The last 2 weeks have been another ten times better, as a few tweaks to my life in Belgium have occurred. I moved house, I’m training stronger, I’m learning Flemish and my friendships with my team and locals have grown. So all in all things are looking great!

I felt like a real tourist when Linda and Patrick (team mum & dad!) took me to the Ardennes for the weekend to their holiday house and of course a race. It was so beautiful there, quite similar to the Southern Highlands. Along with Angelique, Linda & Patrick spoilt us like we were their surrogate children for the weekend. We even had time to squeeze in a bit of a tour of the surrounding villages and meet the locals at the Café Beffen…. Yes that’s the town name and yes, Beffen does mean something else in Flemish, but we’re in the French speaking part! (See photos).

Ciney 18th May

The race was one of few “hilly” races, held on a 9km loop x 9? With 2 short big-ring climbs. I decided to help my team-mate who was the climber today, seeing there weren’t many races that actually had hills in them. Sadly I punctured in lap 3 but chased back onto the peleton for a lap. I made the selection in an early break and was soon joined by a few more riders. It didn’t include Hannah, so I dropped out of the front group to go to the 2nd group to get her. Two laps later I had towed her back to the front group. I make it sound easy, but my quads have never hurt so much!! It ended in a 9-up sprint, with the winner gapping the field in the final km and I sprinted in to take 3rd, Hannah 10th. There were about 50-odd starters and only 24 finished, so it looks like the hills were enough to sort a few out for the Regional “French Speakers” Championship won by Ludivine Henrion
http://www.wielernieuws.be/wedstrijd/cineydameselite_2008.html

Tourist

During the week I was also treated to a guided cyclo-tour of Gent from Ronny Couliez, who is my new house mate (well he owns the house). Finally I will be living a Belgium in Belgium, and am learning Flemish a lot faster. Ik bein enn stomme ezel before! Hahaha (I was a stupid donkey before!).

Wodecq 24th May

Another slightly hilly race with no breaks getting away with the winds not in our favour. Sadly after 50km whilst making an attack and looking at the bunch trying not to crash- I ended up getting a double puncture when I hit a rock!? Wodecq is in the Wallone Region so no spares vehicle. It was tough love and I had to watch the race from the little pub they set up at the finish. With the music blaring and the crowd supporting the riders it was just as much fun as being in the race. SCF rider Ilse finish 13th in the group, with Aussie Kathy Watt making the 4 person break and taking out 3rd!

Nederzwalm 25th May

So after what seemed like endless punctures, I was hoping to finally finish a race unscathed. The flat circuit through the farmlands had a few tight corners, which proved a bit sketchy when the rain decided to fall mid-race. We looked like Paris-Roubaix riders with mud covering us.
English riders Nikki Harris and Emma Silversides made some strong attacks but with 15 riders remaining in the group there were too many covering the moves. Lensy Debboudt made a strong move in the final 5 laps and we were away for a short time, but it wasn’t til about 2 laps to go that Nikki, Emma, Lensy, Veerle Ingels, Veronique Staes and I were able to break clear… finally. Post race Lensy had said she wanted to be 2nd wheel coming in to the final corner, which was a good idea with still 250m to go to line. Unfortunately I had over geared it coming into the finishing straight, running something that felt like a 53x13, determined not to be totally embarrassed by this I held on for the win. (Ok so I had over a bike length clear) But my 2nd victory!

News

The Tour de l’Aude finished in France last Sunday, so my mates Emma and Emma were back for Tues night’s BBQ. Was great to see them again and have a few too many laughs. The running joke is that they will need to take Vallium when they visit the house that Ronny and I live, as we are both such chatter boxes and hyperactive! There hasn’t been a dull moment go by since I moved here, so its been really great.

Training

Finally I am happy with my training, have got a local mate watching over my program to make sure I’m not doing too much or too little. So this week has been nice and hard. Have figured out how to fit in training amongst so much racing too!

What’s Next

Thursday I am off to Holland, as the Belgium National Champs are on here this weekend. I am staying with Jose Tomic who has been kind enough to organise for me to race sat/sun and tag along with her team Flexpoint. It will be an interesting insight to a pro team in Holland, as the races are said to be even bigger and faster. I hope I can handle being in a big peleton, will let you know how it goes next week!