Oostrozebeke Kermis Round 2

Yesterday was another Kermis in Oostrozebeke. Imagine, one town having 2 bike races with in weeks of eachother, plus we had to ride past another race to get to ours, man I wish it was like that in the States. Anyway, five of us rode to the race which was about an hour away. Inscription was in a beer tent, smoky, loud, and full of Belgians drinking. On the way into the tent we got the usual sizing up by the spectators to see if any of us were worth betting on. After inscription Blanca let us put our bags in her car and topped us up with water for the start. I was wicked nervous before the start, almost to puking nervous. I had such a bad race in France that I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well and prove that I am good enough to be here and that being away from home, everything familiar, and of course my awesome lady fan Andrea. Well the whistle blew and it was time to find out. The course was pretty technical with the first 2 turns coming in the first 50m and back to back. Then there were a couple of sweeping ones and then a hard left over a huge crack in the pavement with some traffic furniture to make things interesting. The rest of the course had about 6 more turns and a Belgian wind from, well, Belgium. The course was 6.6km and we had to go around 18 times for 118km or so total.

I started off with a good starting position but quickly found myself at the back. I suck at holding position but fought like a mofo to hang on to the back, and I did. I raced pretty dumb the first half of the race. I spent alot of energy having to go around guys popping infront of me. I dug deep and even started talking to myself out loud for motivation to catch back on, and I did, every time. Finally, the wind shifted and the "shit hit the fan". I found myself in a group of 20 or so chasing some guys up the road. I attacked a few times and came close to closing the gap but couldn't dig any deeper. I spent the last 30mins attacking the group I was in, they do that here, and I finish just infront of that group. YUP!! I finished my first Kermis, for real this time. It was the hardest race I have ever done. Someone told me we did one laps at near 60kph and we averaged about 41kph. Fast! I almost cried after I stopped. I was so happy to have finished and hurt so much from finishing. I am still pretty stoked about it if you can't tell.

Well today the fun keeps coming. I am doing a crit, yes a crit, in France tonight. My legs are feeling amazingly good, probably because I ate a ton of food last night, and I am hoping to keep the good times rolling. I'll let ya'll (i've been in the mid-west too long) know how this one goes. Should be interesting.

fur sure,

Alvin