I did a couple of bike races since last time I updated.  Yesterday was the Heusden-Zolder World Cup in Belgium.  The venue is an F1 race track and the course was pretty different from anything I had ever raced either here or in the states.  The first half was fairly wide open and fast, but the second half had numerous technical climbs and descents plus one “run up”.  This run up was more like a climb up though because it was so steep.  My short legs were grateful for my free left hand’s assistance in getting me to the top each lap, but I was still going faster than some people up it.  It has finally warmed up a bit here in Belgium and the sun was even out for a bit yesterday.  The race started fast and I managed to stay out of trouble in the opening lap and tried to settle into my group.  Being on a wheel was nice for the 400m long road section down the F1 track every lap.  I rode fairly steadily and finished on the lead lap so it  was an alright race.  Here is some video from the race.  It’s got some good shots of the descent and also the run up.  I feature on the descent at about 1:15.

Today we raced one of my favorite courses, the Diegem Superprestige.  It is the most urban cross race I have ever done and had tons of spectators this year.  The elite men’s race is under the lights, but the U23 race was happening right around sunset. I’m not sure exactly how many starters there were, but it was one of the bigger fields so far.  It was quite muddy so that made for a bit of fun.  I had a good race and finished feeling strong especially in the last couple of laps.  I’ll try to find some pictures to post in the next couple days.

Now we have one day off from racing and then it back to it with one of my favorite races on Tuesday.  I’m welcoming the day off after 5 races in 8 days so far.