Success
I did a Kermesse in a place called De Panne yesterday. It's a medium sized city right next to the sea. The weather, was of course typical of Belgium, overcast, cold and a monstrous wind. In fact, it was the windiest day during my stay here.
Nate Fields and Matt Allen were my teammates for the day. We arrived in De Panne and strolled through the streets of De Panne in absolute confusion for about a half hour. Finally we saw a team white van that said 'Professional Cycling Team' on the side riding straight ahead of us with what seemed like confidence in navigation. We were wrong, as we headed in the direction they were travelling, they came up behind us from a side street and began following, probably trusting us to finding the race venue. We stopped at a bar and asked for directions, they told us it was just round the corner. The name of the bar that hosted the race was 'Cafe Lusthoff', the smokiest of the bars I've been in so far. The team that followed us was actually a Lithuanian team, which explained their knowledge of the local streets.
We signed up, paid 8 euro and went straight to the van to start getting ready. Most race venues usually have school or a gym where we get given bathroom facilities. Nate and Matt went and dressed inside there, I stayed and dressed inside the van while I listened to an Irish team joking right outside. We started warming up, I said, "Hey the wind isn't too bad". We turned round to head back and the wind hit. It was so bloody strong that we struggled to push against at times when it blew in intervals of a few seconds. We warmed up on the same route for about twenty minutes and headed for the start line. At every race, there is always a bunch of fat men dressed in badly coloured blazers and trousers, the race officials. They told us that they changed the start line to a block away and that the start was going to be delayed for ten minutes. So, I stood and held my position on the front and soon realized that it wasn't necessary, the pack only had about 70 people in it. So I rode round a bit more, when one of the race officials whistled and signaled the start of the race. I stood in the front and one of the officials spoke in Flemish and he waved his arm and we were off. The first lap was neutral, was we took it easy round the lap.
The first part was about a two kilometre stretch with dozens of traffic islands. Then it took a right angled turn into a section of the city that contained blocks of apartments. This part had a long section with lots of turns and accelerations and parts where the wind was seriously strong. Then it came into a another long stretch, about 3 km long with about four traffic circles interrupting the rythm. After that the wind was at its strongest as we turned into yet another long stretch, this was where the break, if there was going to be one, would struggle the most.
We crossed the finish line, rode a few extra metres and the race started. Racers sprinted into the wind up ahead. The group immediately stretched into a long single line. This was a race where if you wanted to make a difference, you would have to be a huge powerful rider. From the beginning I knew that if I wanted to survive, I would have to hide away as far as possible from the wind as possible. A break formed in the distance, about twenty riders. We came into the snaky section, I was already suffering and the person in front of me started to put distance between me. If you allow a gap of more than a metre to open between you and the wheel in front of you in this type of wind, you're screwed. I held it, just just. We came into the second stretch, and I was on the verge of tears as the pain increased. Finally the group held up and formed into a clump again, and then another attack and the group stretched into a long line snaking past the traffic circles, and finally into the last stretch.
That stretch was the hardest stretch, the hardest experience in my whole cycling history. I barely hung on as the line whiplashed constantly, as the riders in the front tried hard to find the best place to resist the wind. Then, in th e corner of my eye a figure went flying throught the air, it was one of my teammates. He hit a traffic island and, believe it or not, he managed to control himself in the air and land regaining his tempo.
It carried on like this for 11 laps, the pace never dying. Every lap I held on for dear life. Finally we rode past the finish and one of the officials displayed the 'one lap to go' sign. I couldn't believe it. So I positioned my self well in the group, so that if a sprint was going to happen, I would be in the right place to finsh in a good position. When we got to the final sprint I put in a massive effort, surprisingly beating half the pack and finishing up in the front.
At the finish, Matt was surprised to see me at the finish and shook my hand, which made all the pain in the wind worth it. I earned 7 euro and finished somewhere in the thirties.
I made sure that I wouldn't make the same mistakes that I made in my previous races, and it paid off in the end.
Nate Fields and Matt Allen were my teammates for the day. We arrived in De Panne and strolled through the streets of De Panne in absolute confusion for about a half hour. Finally we saw a team white van that said 'Professional Cycling Team' on the side riding straight ahead of us with what seemed like confidence in navigation. We were wrong, as we headed in the direction they were travelling, they came up behind us from a side street and began following, probably trusting us to finding the race venue. We stopped at a bar and asked for directions, they told us it was just round the corner. The name of the bar that hosted the race was 'Cafe Lusthoff', the smokiest of the bars I've been in so far. The team that followed us was actually a Lithuanian team, which explained their knowledge of the local streets.
We signed up, paid 8 euro and went straight to the van to start getting ready. Most race venues usually have school or a gym where we get given bathroom facilities. Nate and Matt went and dressed inside there, I stayed and dressed inside the van while I listened to an Irish team joking right outside. We started warming up, I said, "Hey the wind isn't too bad". We turned round to head back and the wind hit. It was so bloody strong that we struggled to push against at times when it blew in intervals of a few seconds. We warmed up on the same route for about twenty minutes and headed for the start line. At every race, there is always a bunch of fat men dressed in badly coloured blazers and trousers, the race officials. They told us that they changed the start line to a block away and that the start was going to be delayed for ten minutes. So, I stood and held my position on the front and soon realized that it wasn't necessary, the pack only had about 70 people in it. So I rode round a bit more, when one of the race officials whistled and signaled the start of the race. I stood in the front and one of the officials spoke in Flemish and he waved his arm and we were off. The first lap was neutral, was we took it easy round the lap.
The first part was about a two kilometre stretch with dozens of traffic islands. Then it took a right angled turn into a section of the city that contained blocks of apartments. This part had a long section with lots of turns and accelerations and parts where the wind was seriously strong. Then it came into a another long stretch, about 3 km long with about four traffic circles interrupting the rythm. After that the wind was at its strongest as we turned into yet another long stretch, this was where the break, if there was going to be one, would struggle the most.
We crossed the finish line, rode a few extra metres and the race started. Racers sprinted into the wind up ahead. The group immediately stretched into a long single line. This was a race where if you wanted to make a difference, you would have to be a huge powerful rider. From the beginning I knew that if I wanted to survive, I would have to hide away as far as possible from the wind as possible. A break formed in the distance, about twenty riders. We came into the snaky section, I was already suffering and the person in front of me started to put distance between me. If you allow a gap of more than a metre to open between you and the wheel in front of you in this type of wind, you're screwed. I held it, just just. We came into the second stretch, and I was on the verge of tears as the pain increased. Finally the group held up and formed into a clump again, and then another attack and the group stretched into a long line snaking past the traffic circles, and finally into the last stretch.
That stretch was the hardest stretch, the hardest experience in my whole cycling history. I barely hung on as the line whiplashed constantly, as the riders in the front tried hard to find the best place to resist the wind. Then, in th e corner of my eye a figure went flying throught the air, it was one of my teammates. He hit a traffic island and, believe it or not, he managed to control himself in the air and land regaining his tempo.
It carried on like this for 11 laps, the pace never dying. Every lap I held on for dear life. Finally we rode past the finish and one of the officials displayed the 'one lap to go' sign. I couldn't believe it. So I positioned my self well in the group, so that if a sprint was going to happen, I would be in the right place to finsh in a good position. When we got to the final sprint I put in a massive effort, surprisingly beating half the pack and finishing up in the front.
At the finish, Matt was surprised to see me at the finish and shook my hand, which made all the pain in the wind worth it. I earned 7 euro and finished somewhere in the thirties.
I made sure that I wouldn't make the same mistakes that I made in my previous races, and it paid off in the end.
posted by Wesley at 10:54 AM
1 Comments:
Cool to read this race report. Not only your people at home enjoy it.
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