I'm hungry.

So what's been up? I did a crit in France which did not go well. I missed my pedal, crap, and then went straight to the back and a few laps later off the back. The course had some pretty tight corners with cobbles in them, not quite my cup of tea so to speak. David Nelson did really well though and was in the break which lapped what was left of the field at least once and got a solid 10th, it was sweet to watch. The race did pretty much blow apart and I think only 11 guys really finished. The town of Douai was really pretty though, kind of a consolation I guess.
The next day was a Kermis in Oostkamp about 15 minutes away from the house. I did an easy ride in the morning and decided my legs were feeling ok so I decided to do the kermis even though I wasn't scheduled. The race had some cobbles a bridge to go under, a bunch of little roads and a few tight turns. We had a "controlled" start because all of the technical section coming 50 meters from the start. Once the race began I found myself having difficulty moving up. I was feeling pretty god but was struggling for position. I gave myself a second to sit on the back and it was the wrong second. Someone six guys or so ahead of me sat up and I found myself off the back. I chased hard for a few laps but eventually got pulled. Somehow, I ended up winning money!! 5 Euros!!! So now I can atleast say that I have won money racing in Europe. Not many guys back home can say that!
I took the next day off the bike completely. After 3 races my little legs were quite tired! So into Brugge it was. I went with Jason and the new guy, Santiago. We had a mission to find Tom Boonen t-shirts. We looked everywhere for them but to no avail. Crap! Oh well, looks like I'll be ordering on-line when I get home. I think my Lady Fan AKA Andrea might get me one when I get home, cause it'll be close to a year for us, HOLY CRAP!!! Anyway, once we resolved ourselves to bitter defeat we ran into a few other CC guy and headed to an Irish Pub to watch the Tour stage. Since it was an Irish place they had the Tour in English, which was nice. Too bad the commentators kind of sucked and spent more time talking about their traveling during the tour then the tour itself. I guess for a 5 hour a day 3 week bike race you need to fill time some how. But it was still nice to get some English. While in the pub, we met a guy and his girlfriend from LSU how were at the end of a 2 month bike trip through Germany and Holland. They were interesting to talk to and the randomness of the situation was pretty cool too.
Well today was back on the bike. Jason and I headed out for 4 hours which turned into close to 5. We did the "Three Bi@tches" as we lovingly refer to them. The cobbled climbs, Kwarmont, Patersberg, and the infamous Koppenberg. They hurt just as bad as the first time. It was good ride. Then we came back, crammed our faces with food and sat down to watch the rest of the Tour.
I race again on Saturday so tomorrow is a pre-race day. The race is only 30 minutes away. Bernard gave me some specific things to work on so I'm really looking forward to the Kermis.
Landis in Yellow!!!!

Fur Sur,
Alvin