After a hearty night’s sleep, I awoke, for the first time in a couple of days, at eight. I leisurely made my way down to breakfast. Geoff wanted to take whoever wanted to go on a trip to a sweet cycle shop in Bavikhove. The schedule with the shop and with afternoon massages only allowed for the trip to occur first thing, so we left right off the breakfast table.

The shop was sweet for it had it’s own line of custom bikes, swanky hand-built wheels, plenty of high end cycling clothing and other products never seen in North America. After getting our fill, we rolled back to the house and proceeded to lounge around until scratching up enough motivation to go for a recovery spin.  Will Dugan, Joe Dombrowski, Cody Kaiser, and Gavin Mannion went out with me to Kortijk. We took the quiet farm roads on the way out and the regular route on the way back. It felt good to spin the legs out and finally my legs are feeling the racing intensity. We were out for a while in the cold and screwed around a little in the skatepark in Kortijk. It was fun to roll around and do something other than roll on the roads.

When we came back, we simply lounged around the house and I found yet another sweet grocery store behind Del Haize. They are just so cool. I love seeing all the different food. It is driving some people nuts, but for me I will enjoy all the bread, chocolate product, and pastry’s that Belgium has to offer.

I am writing this at 5:30 New Year’s Eve and I can already hear the fireworks off in the distance. The Belgians celebrate New Year’s more than Christmas. It will be fun going to sleep tonight, but at least I am not racing tomorrow in Baal, but rather in Sint Niklaas on the second.

Happy New Years Eve!

Today was Gazette van Antwerpen’s Trofee #5, Loenhout. We(the Juniors) woke up again super bright and early for this one, 6 a.m. to be exact and were out of the house at 6:45. On our two hour drive to Loenhout, we passed a thermometer in Izegem reading -7 celsius. It was cold and it was supposedly colder in Loenhout. Very fun indeed!

There had been a smog warning issued across the nation due to the lack of wind, so we left early anticipating the longer drive time due to a slower speed limit of 90 k rather than the usual 120. We really did not drive that slow anyway and arrived 15 minutes earlier than expected only to find a terrible line waiting for race registration. We patiently waited in line for registering, but the longer it took, the more Belgian kids cut to the front desk in front of us. This naturally led to us cutting them once again and it goes to show nothing is given to anyone in this hard country, we have to fight for every single thing given to us, whether it be a position on the race course or registration. None the less, it had lit a fire under my ass to go out and do some work to these kids during the race.

By the time we lined up on the start line, the temperatures were still way below the magical zero degrees and the holeshot was uneventful unlike the Elite men’s race where the Start/Finish straight took out Jempy Drucker in the start and Lars Boom in the middle of the race. Jempy needed a while to be taken off course as when the rider’s passed through the start finish, he was still being carried off with a broken shoulder. Lars had an unfortunate drivtrain issue and had a big spill himself resulting in the need to stich his elbow up. What a wonderful birthday present for the reigning world champ. http://crosstube.net/Latest+Videos+%28unrated%29/Kluns+van+het+jaar%21%21+Lars+Boom+gaat+onderuit+in+cyclocross+Loenhout+2008/e98WqmbktCQ%26f%3Dgdata_videos.html

Getting back on subject, the race was full of so many fun features. To name some off, but I am sure I will end up missing one or another, there were two flyovers, two large rollers, a washboard section or some badly designed whoops(whatever you want to call them, but they were not smooth), a four corner chicane, and a fly-over/dirt mound. It was really fun and if it was muddy, the enjoyment factor would be way lower in my opinion. 

So after the start, I found myself riding with a group of riders a bit behind the rest of the field. To be honest, I cannot really remember the second and third lap for some odd reason, but it was on the third lap when I noticed I was feeling really good and had the ability to make something happen. Within a lap, I closed the gap between our two groups of about 20 seconds and I did all the work to shut this down. I didn’t really care if I was being used as a draft, I just wanted to shut it down. Once we had bridged, the riders we had caught simply joined our own group and we rode together. It was frustrating for before every time we entered the chicane section, a rider would barely squeeze in front of me into the corner and take a horriblee, very slow line which wasted a ton of energy speeding back up again to cruising speed. Granted the corners were icy, but they could have been ridable at a much higher speed than what they were. I rode with this group for a total of one and a half laps going into the finish. I was fighting for 30th when I got a industrial sized staple puncture my rear Typhoon and I had to ride on a total flat to the pit which was a quarter lap away. While this was so unfortunate, it was pretty fun riding it on the pavement. I would compare it to riding on a wheel made out of jello. I was able to get my bike that I started on with files and finish up the remaining quarter lap.

Overall, it had been a fun day other than losing so many positions due to a flat and having my hands warm up once again after the race. I can honestly say I cannot remember such a painful experience such as simply having blood flow return to my digits. I might have as well been putting them straight into a fire that’s how much they hurt.

Diegem went pretty well. Unlike last year, it was nice and dry and things were really, really fast and icy in some places. I wore a long sleeve skinsuit, cap, long sleeve base, and leg warmers and felt fine. It was just that cold.

I got a front row call up again and I love racing these big races, they are really fast and crazy. It was problably harder than the World Cup because there were more Belgians racing in the field. I had my legs under me from the start and raced well. The sandpit had been added on from the previous year and it was a run this time around. The race itself was pretty uneventful and I missed the final lap call and didn’t know it was the final lap up until halfway through the final lap itself. It was a bummer, but now I learned to stay up ahead in the race and not count on the final lap to make any “moves” in the race.  I finished 22nd, a buck forty five behind the race winner Tijmen Eising. I am definately way faster than last year, but I need to have “my day”. It’s coming, I know it.

It’s been below freezing for the past couple of days and things are COLD! Not such a really cold, humid cold, but  dry cold. I’ve been getting really thirsty on my rides, so I can tell the relative humidity is low. The forecast is pretty much the same and it’s not going to warm up too much. Racing in the cold really isn’t so bad after getting over the fact you need to dress like Ralphie in the Christmas Story and I think not being able to feel much is a positive during a race. If you want to be warm, just go faster, duh!

So I’m sorry for not getting anything up in the past couple of days, they have been pretty busy around here. The World Cup in Zolder was pretty disappointing for Nick and I.

For my race, I went to the line completely ready to kick some tail, and for the first 3/4 of the first lap, I had moved from my back row start position up 15 places and was working my way up, but I dropped my chain on a run up, remounted it, and continued riding up the second ride-up of the climb, but as soon as I reached its peak and shifted to my big ring, my chain went off the outside of my crank and I was placed in dead last by a good 30 seconds. I did not let it get to me and I chased hard for the next 1/3 of a lap. I was working my way back up to dead last when I put my head down to focus on the drilling on hand an when I looked up, I saw a steel course barrier right in front of me. I had misjudged the corner up ahead of me and simply clipped it and went down, breaking my right shifter and messing up my hands. It was a bummer because I had just passed the pits and getting a new bike was out of the list of options. I pulled right then and rode back to the set-up and cleaned up.

Nick wasn’t on his “A” game and pulled. It’s hard to race so much, so often.

We spend Saturday recovering and I took a nice ride with Chris Wallace on some of the roads around the house. It was nice and it allowed for me to keep my legs fresh.

On Sunday, we raced Diegem. It was quite a bit different this year than last year. It was really cold and really fast. I liked it better this way. Anyways, we enjoyed a nice, relaxing morning around the house and left at 10 to Diegem which is pretty much underneath the Brussels airport. A true urban cross race to the max. Here is a link to some photos taken, http://www.nielsdewit.be/0809diegem_junioren.php. I got a front row start and finally enjoyed a good race which I felt good racing. It was nice, but short. The bell signifying bell lap was the weakest I had ever heard and up until half of the way through the last lap, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure if we were finishing or not. But anyways, I had a good race and finished 23rd. There is room for improvement and I pumped to make something happen.

Nick so conveniently broke his pedal in the beginning of the race and had to pull. He’s been having some tought breaks for sure.

It was really cold today and I made sure to take a lot of photos. I have also uploaded them to a page in which you guys can all enjoy. I’m finally starting to get a hold of all the roads in the area around here. Ever since they put the really tall windmills in Izegem, it is easy to use them as a land mark when riding in the surrounding area.

The grocery store right down the way is soooo good. It’s called Del Haize which is pronounced “del ha-zuh”. I love the wide array of products which they sell there and how much different the products are here than back in the United States. I think it is just the packaging or something, but you can get it all at Del Haize. I’m really getting into the Kellogs “Extra” cereal with delicous chocolate chunks and hazelnut halves mixed in with delicious granola. I’ve been sure to pound this stuff day and night, it’s just that good.

Tomorrow we are racing in Loenhout and it should be fun. Hopefully I will not get my hand cut up like Ian did last year for I think my hands would simply fall off, they are still pretty skinned up and gnarly looking from the Zolder. When I woke up this morning, I clenched my fist and I felt a sharp pain and some oozing out of the scab on my left middle finger. Not fun, but it’s not infected, so it’s all good.

In other news, I have decided to live my dream out and have made the decision to live in the house for the upcoming month preparing for World’s on the 31st. Between then and now I will be putting in some serious training in the heartland of cross. I’m pretty pumped, it’s going to be so sweet to live the life.  I’m sure Nick is to enjoy the company of having somebody else in the house with him. He was getting pretty kooky last year after this stint of time, I think it will help to have somebody else to talk to hahaha!

Goodnight and here are some links to my photos I have taken:

http://cid-8d10f3b963ad57da.skydrive.live.com/albums.aspx

Enjoy!

So, right now I am sitting here eating on my bed and hanging out. The openers today went very well and the legs are feeling rested and ready to go. The World Cup in Zolder will be fun tomorrow.

I rode a similar route today than what I did yesterday. About 2/3 of the way through my ride, while I was doing some openers, the most pecuiliar thing happened; the sun came out. I was simply shocked. Not once have I seen it sunny here. Not once. It was amazing.

A little after the sun came out, I started to talk with another rider on the canal. He was a rider who also lived in Izegem. A really nice guy who made motor scooters for a living. Not only did we have a common bond of loving a certain two wheeled machine, but he was getting a massage from Hermann on Monday, as I will most likely get one from him on Saturday after the race. Funny stuff.

Christmas is really relaxing today. Not much is going on around town and the roads were quiet. I have yet to tear into the care package my mom has sent along with me, but I think I will soon.

More for later

-Eric

It’s a pretty cool place. Located right at the base of the Koppenburg. As a matter of fact, we hiked the Koppenburg today. It is just as steep as everybody thinks that it is. I was dying on the way up, just kidding.

 The museum was pretty sweet. It had a theater with three screens playing simultaneously. Do you think Snoop knows sensual seduction? No, this theater does. It was terribly hard to follow all of the action at once. Sorry for the theater, but I enjoy a challenge and enjoyed the movie.

There was a huge wall with all the winners of the Ronde van Vlaanderen from the very beginning, to today. I had always known Stijn Devolder was The Man, but he is of super baller status here in Belgium. Winning the Ronde is the goal of every Belgian bike racer from birth. I don’t think I could put this into words, it means this much.

They even had a sweet cobble simulator (not like I need to know more about what cobbles feel like under my tail).  It’s funny how somebody figured out how to simulate cobbles, but hey, it’s Belgium.

On today’s ride, I did some exploring on some of the smaller bike routes in the surrounding area. I am now pretty pumped to go out and find some fun routes off of the larger roads. They are all marked with route numbers and small triangles painted on the road. They are on the narrow, paved rural farming roads, so they are true Belgium. I like how much of a better feel I have for a place once I am able to spend a good amount of time there. I feel I now know Izegem and the surrounding area much better than I thought I would have known it last year. It is a fun place to be.

Enjoy the holidays and spend some time with the family.I know I will get to hang out with a bunch of stinky bike racing kids, but at least Els has a good Christmas-Eve dinner cooking tonight. It will be a lot of fun.

-Eric

To To start things off, the race on Sunday was in fact, not in Lictervelde. It took place on a small farm North of Gent which is a forty five or so minute drive. It was a small national race which has four races in it; a master’s race, a Junior 15-16 race, a Junior 17-18 race, and a Under-23/Elite Men’s race. This race was the smallest race that I have raced while in Europe. Like I said before, it was a real cyclocrossrace held on a farmer’s field with no barriers, no extended mud, no running, no dismounting, just a real cut-your-teeth cross race. It was a windy day and the field was quite exposed, so drafting played a larger role than what it usually does in a race.

Since I have UCI points, I was actually the very first Junior called to the line. It was pretty funny to see all the local Belgian kids rattle off a bunch of Flemish when I was called up. So anyway I was second into holeshot and for the first two laps, held on in second place. Like I said before, wind played a large factor in this race and even sitting in second, I guess I did much more work than what I should have for those behind me. I just wanted to use this race as a chance to get my legs back under me and get them warmed up for the World Cup in Zolderwhich is coming up. I lost a couple of positions while I was feeling gassed from the first two laps and I rode with 5th position after finding a groove on the fourthlap into the race. I stuck in this position until the second to final lap and fifth pulled away from me. This had to have been the hardest 38 minute race that I have done in a very long time. I have almost forgotten how bad I can hurt during a race.

Anyways, that race served it’s purpose to give me a sense of where I am with my racing capacity and I have a good gauge to use in the races in the weeks ahead. The Juniors and I cleaned up and went back to the house wthout watching the Elite Men/ Under 23 race, but Nick had another 17th place finish.

Well, I arrived last night in Belgium quite uneventfully. I missed my connection flight in London/Heathrow, but it wasn’t a big deal and I jumped on the next flight, which left two hours later. The drive to the house was easy and I built my bikes up and hit the sack after building my bikes up and taking a shower. I wasn’t too tired, for I was able to sleep eight and a half hours on my flight over the Atlantic.

Today, I am well rested and ready for some h to the core racing action. I’m getting kitted up to go ride to the town of Lichtervelde to watch Nick race. It’s only 15 k away. He’s been here for 4 days already, so he’s “acclimatized” and ready to light it up.

The rest of us Juniors race tomorrow. I think the race is also in Lichtervelde, so today is going to be a top-secret recon mission.

More for later,

E