Joe’s Blog!

Wow, that was fast. First lap I looked down and we were going 33mph. I lasted about what the guys projected for your first kermis, 15 minutes. I learned quite a bit though. You CANNOT let gaps go. They are really hard to close. Plus the other racers get really pissed, luckily I didn’t do that. Also, some of you may have heard about taking the corners slow in European racing. This is definately true. I would be going 30 on a straight, 15 in the corner and back up to 30, 200 meters from the corner. It makes finding a rhythm really hard, much harder than in the US. The Soulard crit course is the closest thing I can think of that feels like what we did today, but there were only 5 or so corners and it was a 7.5km loop. The accelerations and stung out racing feels a lot like Soulard, maybe even The Loop during Gateway Cup. Todays race was really large too, around 130 racers. I was also surprised to see Webcor, Endeavor, Snow Valley, TIAA/CREF and Great Britain National team racers out there today. From what I hear most of them are staying at the US U23 National team house. All in all it was a hard race. All of the guys on the team got pulled at some point today. Our last guy went with about 3 laps to go. It was a hard race for all, 120km in under 3hrs. In the end these races are definately rigged. Passing notes on water bottles seems to be a common practice. Paying of other racers is not out of the question either apparently.Lastly, possibly most humorously, some Belgian man came up to me as I lining up on the startline and grabbed my sideburns, rubs them saying something in Flemish then he and his buddy give a big belly laugh. I have no idea what they said but I geuss they enjoyed them…even Belgians like the burns!

Some new pics from today have been posted!

img_0019
Originally uploaded by zeusfaber.

This is one of the better backyards in Hertsberg. This is an average house on an average street. Mind you Hertsberg probably has a population of no more than 1500. We aren’t talking the burbs or the Ritz here. Maybe I am easily amused. But, I think it’s simply amazing.

Just got back from a warm up ride for tomorrows race. The legs feel good but not really sharp. After a couple weeks of racing I’m sure a bit of that sharpness Tosh and I built motor pacing will come back. I learned a few things on the ride today from fellow CC racer Josh Tarrant. The kermis races are run by the local pubs and are betting races. Most of the time they are rigged too! Sounds a lot like the kerin track races in Japan. On the brightside they are only 8 euros to race and if you turn in your race number after the race you get 5 euros back. Racing for 3 euros (about $4 USD)!!!! Thats great, who cares if it’s rigged. Also, apparently each town has their own bike routes. There are painted markers on the roads for routes of varying length that all loop back to the same town. So for me I can follow the “H’s” back to Hertsberge. There are also different colors for different routes. Each route may also have a long or short versions too. Today I did the Silver H 35k loop. Pretty neat. The rest of the day I will be hanging out resting up for the race tomorrow. Most of the guys say that if you last 20 minutes in your first kermis you’re doing ‘ok’. I hope to better than that but we will see. The race is 120k, 16 laps at 7.5k per lap. If you end up 3 minutes behind the leading group they will pull you, much like the crits in the US. But if you are pulled here you still place. So it is possible to be in the money and be pulled, kinda strange.

One last thing. It seems Belgains are really into lawn care. It’s amazing every yard looks like a putting green or the STL Botanical Gardens. They take very good care of their lawns, hedges are trimmed to perfection and everything well manicured. The average lawn here looks like some of the best I’ve seen in STL.

More to come tomorrow.

I found out today my first race will be Sunday. It is a 120k kermis in Inglemunster. The race isn’t too far away so we will be riding there.

So far so good, I am still getting used to it over here. My jet lag is still making me tired and wide awake at strange times. But I am sure that will pass.

It is 10pm and it is still light out. It makes me think it’s earlier in the day and I should be doing something. That is all. Goodbye.