A World Cup & A Birthday

It has been a busy week, with Christmas and racing 3 of the last four days. We have been up and out of the team house early each race day to get to the courses which have been 1-1/2 to 2 hrs away. On Saturday we traveled to the Zolder World Cup, Sunday we raced in Diegem, Monday was a rest day and today (Tuesday) we raced in Middelkerke.

Zolder World Cup was an entirely different type of race than I am accustomed to. First of all, I raced in the Team USA Skin suit (a World Cup requirement) which was TOTALLY AWESOME. The race was very aggressive (more than the others) with many riders using it as a full contact sport. The course was pretty rough with several very crazy descents. The course was rough enough that Matt ended up breaking his fork on the course. My warm-up was a bit off, I am not sure if it was the early morning departure of something else, I had a hard time getting warmed up and trouble eating what I needed to. I did my best to put it out of my head and focused on getting a good start. With that, I had an excellent start - good acceleration and pack position.

I didn't run into any problems until around 750 meters into the race and at that point there were several crashes , one in front of me that slowed things up and one beside me that I was tangled up in. Then I started to pay the price for not being able to eat and for my difficulty warming up. I was able to hold my own on the crazy descents, then would lose ground on the flats and power section. I finished the race 46th and while I would have preferred a better position it was a good finished and I fought through the challenges as well as possible. There is a good article of the Zolder World Cup on the Cyclocross Magazine Website with several sweet pictures of the US riders.

Diegem Super Prestige was on Sunday along with my 17th birthday and the race preparation went much better. The course preview went well along with the warm-up and pre-race eating. I felt like everything was spot on, with one exception…….I did not feel like I had any legs. The power was a bit off. So be it. Again I focused on the start and moving up from the back of the starting grid. I just kept pushing on and finished as well as I could. I did manage to break my MAVIC Shoe, which is a bummer - I like those shoes. I am glad I brought my old Adidas shoes. With all of that, I finished about 30 seconds behind Matt Spinks and a minute behind Jeff Bahnson for 45th place.

After racing we returned to the house and continued the normal race routine of getting cleaned up, laundry and eating. After dinner, we celebrated my Birthday with a milk free cake that Els made for me. Actually, it was an apple crisp, it was very thoughtful and well appreciated.

Loenhout GVA Trophee was today and everything was lining up well. My legs felt good, the course preview was time well spent and the warm-up was excellent. The starting position today was better than it has been at the other races to date. Although there was a Belgian rider that tried to line up between me and the fence, I warned him that there was not room, tried to get him to move…..but he insisted on staying. Sure enough on the start, I nailed it with a great acceleration (he did not) only to hear the crunch of metal after about five pedal strokes. He crashed right into the fence and spent precious time untangling his bars.

I managed to pick off a few people as the race went on and was racing well, sitting around 50th just behind Matt. I attacked right after the pit with about a 1/2 of a lap to go and tagged a rock with the front wheel. The rock flatted the tire and it was time to chase. However, after a few hundred yards of running I thought it was best to save the effort for another day. A good race baring one minor mechanical. Then we picked up while the U23 race was underway and scooted back to the Team House after that with another racing day in the books.

Each day I head to bed satisfied that I have squeezed as much as I can. I am having an absolute blast and learning so much along the way. My next race is not until the 1st and that should give me a few days to rest up and get the equipment back up and running.

The Holidays in Belgium

Christmas Eve was a pretty low key day with many of the us getting out for a recovery ride. I headed out with Steve, Dave and Jerome for an hour or so on the icy Belgian roads. The off camber roads did a pretty good job of helping us crash along the way as we stopped at intersections. The photo above is of me as the group waited for me to get back up - pretty soft/slow landing. After cleaning up from the riding we grabbed a late lunch and headed into town to tour about and do a little shopping. Plenty of cool shops to check out and enjoy. Then it was back to the house for a team meeting with Fox - aka: Chris De Vos - Head Soigneur. As I understand, De Vos means "The Fox" - so Fox it is.

Jeremy Power and Jamie Driscol with Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com (Elite/Pro Cyclocross Team) both stopped by to talk to us about racing & training. They discussed the value of motor pacing, the upcoming races and answered a bunch of questions. It was VERY cool to be able to chat with both of them. I have watched them race in New England the last few years at the VERGE cross series. The VERGE Elite race is usually one race after mine, so I am able to cool down, get cleaned up and watch them race. It was nice to have them stop by.

Then it was time for a little Christmas Eve dinner. It was a good celebration with appetizers and dinner including turkey, candied pears, peas, rice, cranberry sauce and a Yule Log (lots of milk in that thing - LOG-O-DEATH). Els (House Directress and Head Chef) was kind enough to make me my own chicken (because as anyone knows a turkey is roasted with butter). Actually she said "No TURKEY for you - Butter, You have CHICKEN". Everyone was in good spirits - it was pretty funny. After dinner, I enjoyed a game of scrabble with Danny, Joe and David. Joe had a 52 point word…Wow. Then it was off to The Wall for a late evening snack before calling it a day.

Christmas Day was also pretty relaxing for most of us. I headed out and did an open up ride to get ready for the Zolder World Cup Race on Saturday. I felt good with several solid accelerations. The day was mostly spent relaxing and staying off my feet. I did however spend some time getting the bikes setup for the Saturday. Then off to bed, Saturday was going to be an early day because of the 2 hr drive to get to the race.

First Race Done

My first European race is in the books. With a 12:30 start time we were able to get a good night's sleep and leave the team house at a reasonable time. At 9:30 this morning, 6 Juniors, 5 Mechanics, 2 Soigneurs and 1 Director headed out in team vehicles. Geoff (Director) educated us regarding the process of registering for a Belgium cross race. A fair amount of pushing to get things done…..similar to say a roller derby match.

After registration, we headed to our bikes and the Mechanics have squared them away and we are ready to roll. SWEET. I went out for 3 preview/recon laps and then headed over to the trainer to get the body tuned up.

The call-ups for staging are based on a bunch of factors, UCI points, national/regional/local standings, etc. - all of which I lacked, as I was the last one to line up. I was the 42nd guy to toe the line. My warm up was spot on as I ended up around 20th after the hole shot, that felt good. The first 4 laps on the snow cover course were solid and I was making forward progress until I had to pit for a mechanical with my bars. The bumpy course spun my bars a bit and there were a few downhill section that would have been a bit over the edge with tweaked bars. The pit bike was much slower (wrong tire choice) and I lost a bit of ground. Fortunately, the mechanics had me back on my primary bike right away and I held my ground for the rest of the race. I finished 29th for the day and will make a few tweaks for the World Cup on Saturday.

If you are interested, you can check the results for the majority of the races we will do using the instructions below.
Go to http://www.wielerbondvlaanderen.be/
- Left scroll down to Uitslagen (results), hold down and scroll right to Weg-Pist-Veld (Road, Track, Field).
- Click on the date bubble of the day you want to check.
- To advance to the next/previous week, click on the right or left little bubble.
- Click on the race name and category.
+ Category B is elite/u23;
+ Category C is junior 13-14 (aspiranten); junior 15, 16 (nieuwelingen); junior 17, 18.
+ Category D is Masters.

After the race we immediately returned to the house to get cleaned up and grab some food. Then I went out to deal with my bikes and didn't need to. The mechanics had them all cleaned up, lubed up and ready to race hanging in the barn. THEY ROCK.

Off to the team meeting, then dinner and a skype with the family.

- A good day.

CrossCamp Day 5 - My wheels are here!

Around noon today my remaining bike box arrived with everything intact. Including, wheels, muck boots, spare shoes, additional clothing and bike tools. Having finished the bike assembly, I now have two bikes and two sets of spare wheels in time for the race tomorrow. That was a welcome package. I was able to get out on the bike for an hour and a half as a race opener with several good jumps or accelerations. The bike felt great and everything was spot on. Not that I did not appreciate the leopard print cruiser….but it felt nice to be back on my bike.

My race on Wednesday will start at 12:30 and I am looking forward to the competition. Race information can be found at the NordzeeCross website. With the stress of no bicycles behind me, I am ready to roll and let the racing start.

CrossCamp Day 4 - Where ARE my wheels??

Having been in Belgium for 3 full days, I am truly having a blast. While I have not raced yet, I have settled in and am getting acquainted with the surroundings. We have made a few trips into town to the local chocolate shops, the bakeries and "The Wall". The Wall is an oversized vending machine that has almost anything that you could want. The items include: martini mix, 6 pack of beer, Coke (2L), milk, eggs, bread pizza, Red Bull, escargot, cards and plenty of other items. Very interesting to say the least.

I have been exploring around the town on a borrowed cruiser bike - I chose the one with no shifting but brakes……the other choice was shifting and no brakes. While I am enjoying the mobility, I would like to have my bikes to race on. I did miss the first race on my schedule (Kalmthout World Cup), however, it was nice to be able to watch the race on TV at the house.

My bikes and wheels have been enjoying the countryside as well. The frame box arrived today (Monday) after a 3 day liberty in London and I was able to put the bikes back together, minus cross wheels. There is an unconfirmed rumor that the wheels wanted to make a short trip to India. It would appear that the wheel box befriended several other boxes on the flight from Boston to London and chose to go on to India with many of the other bags. Although, the official response from the airline is "We have no idea where the luggage is". Seriously - who would not want to go to India?

To pass the time, several of us have been practicing skidding in the snow on the very snowy Belgium roads. Of course, there were several motorist that were stuck in the snow and we hopped off the bikes to help them get on their way. One guy that we helped just gassed it and waved out the window as he drove off. The cars were so small, it was like we just picked them up and sent them on their way.

My next scheduled race is on Wednesday and I should be ready to go - even if I have to borrow wheels. With any luck, the wheels will return before Saturday for the Zolder World Cup Race.

I have arrived in Belgium

It is official, I have arrived in Belgium ready to race my heart out.

Dad and I headed to Boston yesterday with plenty of time to deal with the hic-ups and not be stressed about missing a flight. We managed to pack 2 bicycle, 4 sets of wheels and all of the clothing I will need to race for the next 19 days into two checked bags and one carry-on bag. I was definitely warm and styling in my Revolution Cyclery and Wilcox & Barton casual wear - Thank you both.

There is much to be said for smiling, being patient and polite when checking bags. By our calculations of airline rules, we had two over size, overweight bags that should have cost about $450 to fly. However, the agent thought that was too high and "adjusted the baggage" to a better number, then was kind enough to give my dad a "Boarding Pass" to allow him to get through security and wait with me prior to the flight. She definitely made the process much easier. Kudos to her.

TSA was an interesting experience. I am glad that Dad and I spent so much time packing and securing everything with the ability to take it apart and put it back together quickly. The oversize boxes were opened, unpacked swabbed for explosives and "lovingly" repacked. Then TSA at the gate had no idea what the pedals & shoes (I think it was the aggressive toe spikes) in the carry-on bag were, so that bag was unpacked and rescanned. I should have the pack/repack sequence down pat for the return trip.

The time in the gate area was relaxing and pretty un-eventful. I boarded (early) without a problem and then the plane sat on the tarmac for an additional 1 1/2 hours while the luggage and cargo from other flights were loaded (a bunch of delays at other airports was the cause). The flight to London landed about an 2 1/2 hours late and I was on the ground in Brussels around 6:30a our time. The bikes & wheels are scheduled to show up on Saturday as they decided to see London for a bit.

All in all a good day of travel.

EuroCross Camp Selection

I thought I would pass along some really good news. Last week I was invited to participate in EuroCrossCamp (Eurocrosscamp.com) and will be headed to Belgium in the middle of December and be there a little over 2 weeks. The camp roster was run in a Cycling News story on Tuesday (www.cyclingnews.com/features/euro-cross-camp-is-a-go) with a pretty good summary of the Camp's purpose.

The roster includes 18 riders from around the US, including 7 - Junior, 8 - Under 23 and 3 Elite riders. I am in very good company. Currently I am scheduled to depart Boston on the 17th and be in Belgium on the 18th after a short layover in London's Heathrow Airport. The first race will be the Kalmthout World Cup on the 20th and while the associated Junior race is not a WC race, it is still a very big race. The following 2 weeks will be followed by either racing or recovery days with the possibility of 7 more races total. I am scheduled to return on the 5th of January.

My plan is to send regular update and race reports from "across the pond" to sponsors, teammates and other supporters. I should have access to the internet and my laptop with hopes of a few good photos of the mud, rain and snow. If you would like to be included on that list let me know and I will add you to it.

I have a pretty big list of things that have to be squared-away in the next 2 1/2 weeks so I can head out. As expected, I am doing all of the heavy lifting and have squared away the flight details, bike transport, passport and a portion of the sponsorship that is needed. So far we have covered about a 1/2 of the cost from generous support from my cycling team (Sunapee - www.sunapeecyclingteam.com), from Wilcox & Barton (my father's employer) and from Revolution Cyclery (www.revcycle.net), the bicycle shop where I have worked for the last 4 years. We are still in the process of pursuing other sponsorship and funding sources, so if you have any ideas feel free to let me know.

I have arranged to borrow several bike boxes from friends(thank you Ed & Herb), the Team has provided more than enough uniforms to race in and I am already packing all of the warm cycling clothing I own (and some of my dads). I am very excited about the opportunity that has presented itself. Regardless of the race results, I am confident that I will represent New England and US cycling well and will have fun doing it.