The stuff I do.

Almost done!

2006-08-11T00:35:00.000-07:00

So a week from today I will be home again, I hope!!! Have you read about the London threats? I am flying through London, CRAP!! I hope that all sorts out by the time I get there or that will be one crappy day! Anyway, with a week left it's race til ya puke time for me. I am racing today in Rumbeke on a 3.2kmx32 laps course. Like a crit but not, Belgian style. Then depending how that goes I might race Saturday. And if I don't race then I will for sure Sunday then Monday and Tuesday are options too. No races Wednesday or Thursday. Those will be my final days here. I need to do some shopping for my parental unit, who I love very much and need to do some shopping for since without her, I wouldn't be writing right now, and of course the girlfriend. So yea...
Right now the Belgian Sun is shining (it's raining out) and I am super stoked to get to race! Should be a fun day and I hope I can keep the good things I was doing on Wednesday still going and race well.

Ride your BIKE!!!

2006-08-10T00:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a kermis in Beernem, the next town over. I was pretty excited for this race. It suited me pretty well, not to many hard accelerations and fast. 7 of us left the CC a little over an hour before the race. It took all of 20 minutes between leaving the CC to us all being inscribed. Then we rode over the Blanca's car and changed and headed out on the course. Since the whole Landis thing a lot of Belgians have come up to me and have said "dutch dutch Landis dutch dutch?" No this is kind of hard to deal with. I can't just nod and agree cause they might be asking me if I think doping is cool, and to that I can not reply. But they also might just be saying "Landis is the man!" but how can I tell. So I have gotten pretty used to just shrugging and saying "Spect u ingles?" (not sure on the spelling there). So the race. It started fast, like usual. I was feeling good and actually doing a good job of moving up and staying away from the back. But with 130 guys there I always seemed to be moving up but never got to the very front. But much better. So about an hour into the race, we're bombing along one of the canals and BOOM!!! Bikes and people everywhere! I shot to the left and managed to miss falling over but had to take a foot out and wait to go around the bodies and bike. I finally made it through and started chasing. I caught on to the tail end of the group but guys were popping infront of me every few seconds. I closed the gaps about 5 times but couldn't do it the 6th. It's hard to go around people when you are already in your 12 going as hard as you can and can feel the lactic acid in your toes from peddling so hard. So, that ended my day. I was so mad, still am. Argh!!! (like a pirate). That was that! I have a few more races here before I leave on the 18th. I hope I can get one more good result, I can feel it coming.

Alvin

Tales from the Cycling Center

2006-08-06T00:53:00.000-07:00

Last night was movie night for the "American Boys" of the Cycling Center. Whit was awesome enough to rent V for Vendetta and Munich. We made it through V, which inspired some interesting conversation among those who had just seen it and those who had seen it pior. After a short intermission go refuel and prepare for the next movie of the evening Munich began. I was otherwise occupied during the movie being a good boyfriend so I was not pay much attention to the film. About an hour into the viewing my nose began to run a little and a few sneezes found their way out. As a result I excused myself form my girlfriend and head to my bathroom go get a tissue and blow my nose. As I get closer to out bathroom I hear the unsettling noise of running water. I cautiously proceed into the bathroom to notice the toilet running like Niagara and coating of water on the bathroom floor. TERRIFIC!! I do my best to open the back of the toilet but to no avail and then flush to alleviate the growing water problem in the tank to buy myself enough time to get my roommate to help in this current predicament. I calmly leave the bathroom and reenter the Common Room where the movie is being played and calmly ask Jason to help me with a problem that I am having. He follows me toward our bathroom and along the way I quickly brief him of our current bathroom situation. We enter the bathroom, the expletives fly, then laughter ensues. After a few flushed and screw driver we were able to stop the water from pouring out onto the floor. Unfortunately, the Powers-that-Be are out of town leaving Jason and I a "manual flush" toilet for the next few days.

Alvin

Good morning...

2006-08-05T05:12:00.000-07:00

Well, it's actually afternoon here but morning back in the States. But this is really here nor there. ( I really just wanted to use that expression) anyway, I am feeling a ton better. I have been really tired that past few days, all the riding catching up with me. But I rode today and the legs are feeling better. So this is all good. I am racing again Wednesday in Beernem, the next town over. I am still loving that races are so close. It is going to suck having to drive at least 2 hours to get to races when I get home. But you have to do what you have to do. Bike racing is worth it.
So, the people who run the bakery next door are getting married, so the bakery is closed for a week, ARGH!!! This is bad news for me, now I have to ride to go get bread, that is a lot of riding with my 3-4 loaf a week habit. While they are off getting married a few of their friends have put up a HUGE sign saying "Happy being Married!" or something like that since I can't read it since it's all in Dutch and that have stacked 30-40 used tired up infront of the bakery and have made it look like an abandoned building. It's pretty funny! Cracked me up when I rode by today.

Alvin

Rest...

2006-08-04T02:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, so all of the racing and riding hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday. I have been riding and racing quiet a bit and I need a rest. So today off to Brugge. A few of us are going to see Pirates of the Caribbean. It will be in English but with Dutch and French subtitles... It'll be interesting. Then I am going to finally try to buckle down and get The Girl a gift. Andrea has sent me a ton of stuff and I really should at least look for something ;-) Kidding. She is pretty awesome and I am looking forward to actually getting to SEE her again. 2.5 months with out seeing and being with your girlfriend is a long time. ;-)
Anyway, of to the movies and gift hunting.

Alvin

Drafting????

2006-08-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have no idea how to draft! The race yesterday in Veurne was so windy. I can't really express how windy it really was. The race took off into a crosswind then a right into the worst headwind I have ever raced in. The first 7 guys were able to draft each other, the rest of us were in the gutter just trying to stay on the road, which I almost fell off of a few times. The race shattered by the 2nd lap and I got selected out, damn. I raced with a few guys to the line and got 34th on the day. Not so bad... Still learning.
Since none of us got past the first half of the race, we all decided to ride home. We meandered through the Belgian countryside and stumbled upon the Thrench Of Death. No lie. This was a WW1 trench that they now call, the Trench of Death. It was pretty cool to check out and I think on my next long day I'll ride out there and take some pictures.
Today my ride I think will be a ride to the GB for food and then resting for my race tomorrow. Mmmm food...

Alvin

More bike racin'

2006-08-01T02:11:00.000-07:00

I got race on Sunday which was my birthday! I never seem to have normal birthdays... This year in Belgium, the year before in the airport, the year before that a wedding, and the year before that on Cape Cod. All good in their own way. Anyway, the race. This was a HUGE betting race in Inglemunster. The field was over 160 guys! Craziness. I had the worst start ever and struggle for the first few laps to move up. But, with a field that big, you move up 20 guys there are still over 100 to get through to get to the front. Because of the huge field guys kept popping infront of me and I kept closing gaps. I could only do it for so long and I ended up in a group of guys. It was kinda neat though. These guys kept racing their butts off. We even sprinted at the end, it was fun.
Yesterday I rode for a few hours. Then I talked to Bernard a bit and he said I could race today as well as Thursday. We agreed that I have the fitness to finish these races but I need the experience of actually racing to improve, know what I mean? So today is a usual Kermis, pretty excited. But Thursday should be awesome. He selected me for the race because it suits me more, less accelerations and high speed. The really cool part is I get 10 euro just to start, then they pay another 10 for finishing 31-60. There should be alot of guys there but I should come home with some lunch money!!! Yahoo!!!
Nothing too new in the land of Beer and Brats! Which they serve at every race. I'll let ya'll know how the week goes.
Have fun,
My Lady Fan is a cutie!

Alvin

Buck Fush

2006-07-29T00:19:00.000-07:00

So I just walked down to the bakery to get my loaf of bread for the day and as I am approaching I see a Benz parked out from with a bumper stick that says Buck Fush. And then I laughed, a lot. Then a little more. Wow! I can't believe they the dislike of the man run across the pond and into Belgium.
So, my race on Wednesday was in the 90 degree heat. We rode down to Deinze. The race was in the middle of the city. There were a ton of spectators everywhere and the beer was flowing like water. The typical Kermis. We showed up in plenty of time and inscribed in the bar that was on the Start/Finish line. After pinning numbers and slamming as much water as possible we took the start line and off we went. The race started off very weird. We started SO SLOW... There was a bunch of yelling at the front and the pace stayed "piano". I think the big guns wanted a slow first lap to preview the course before the Sh!t hit the fan. And sure enough, as we hit the finish stretch we were strung out, single file, doing 60kph. The race course was wide open mostly, with a few tricky corners, one absolutely tiny road, and a little bit of traffic furniture for good measure. Besides the speed I was feeling great during the race. This was an awesome feeling since on the ride down I though I might get dropped from the group just rolling to the race. Anyway, I found myself at the front a few times going with a move or two and chasing back group in which we were not represented, doing my job so to speak. Then it got ugly. My stomach started hating me. I tried to down as much water as I could but to no avail. After about an hour and twenty minutes of racing, we hit the finishing stretch, I dropped to the back, cross the finish line and started to throw up off the side of my bike. Once I was dead last, I pulled over and puked up what was left, and that was not much. The ambulance was nice enough to stop and see if I was ok, which I was, well sort of. I dropped out of the race, puked some more, then found a nice piece of shade to slowly down 2 water bottles and watch the race. The heat and I don't like eachother so much I guess, it's not the first time the heat has made me sick. This was my first time really racing in 90 degree weather this year, so I think that was the reason for getting sick. Cause I drank a ton of water before and in the hour or so that I was racing, but I guess not enough. But I get to race again tomorrow, on my BIRTHDAY!!! Woohoo!! I will be an old man entering my mid-twenties at the ripe old age of 24!
After a day of recovery, Jason and I rode down to Ieper yesterday. Ieper is where many WW1 battles took place and the also inspired the poem "In Flanders' Fields". I got to see Flanders Fields. There was an amazing amount of cemeteries doting the country side. And sure enough, there were poppies. It was quite a sight to see, really awe inspiring. There were also the occasion bunker on the side of the road, on of which turned into a barn, those cattle ain't goin' nowhere. The we rode into Ieper to see the town hall which was rebuilt after the war, the town was destroyed from mortar fire. Then we rode over to Menin Gate. The gate has the names of all 500,000 (I think) who died in and around Ieper. It was amazing, every inch of free space was covered in names. Ieper was well worth the trip and I think I might ride down again before I leave. There are still a few trenches that you can visit in the area and I'd like to see those.
Today is pre-race again. Off to ride soon then clean the bike and eat.

Alvin

Footballers and Faux Hawks

2006-07-25T03:56:00.000-07:00

My last race was on Saturday and I am racing again tomorrow. The race went a little better then the past few for me but I still need to work on the positioning and as Bernard put it, "More Pissing Vinegar!" But its coming, slowly.... That night 5 of us from the house got to go to a Club Brugge football game. The CC has sky box tickets for entertaining important people and giving us Americans another taste of European culture. The game was good. Club Brugge beat Paris St. Germaine 2-0, Go Belgium. The best part of the game for me was watching the crowd. They really get into their football, way more then any American things they do, well at least on par with some on the nuttier fans.
Today is turning into the normal pre-race kind of day. Ride in the morning, lunch, clean bike, relax. Now that the Tour is over I have a lot of spare time.... haha. But the Tour!!! Landis is my hero. He did an amazing ride this year and showed "character" for going from nowhere to Mr. Yellow Jersey. He is a true champion and deserves all the credit he gets. Best past, I might get to meet him in the coming days cause he is doing post-tour crits in Belgium!!! Woohoo.... Afterall I missed him at the Tour so I have to make up for that, right?
Good news on the faux hawk front. I finally got one including a small euro mullet for full effect. The Lady Fan thinks she'll hate it but wait 'til she sees it when I get off the plane, she'll love it!!

Kermis and Rain and Random

2006-07-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

So it's about 9am here is Belgium. I am sitting in our "Internet cafe" or the common room, which is the only room in the house with internet. I am staring out the window admiring the rain... and I have to race today. Sweet, today will be my first race in the rain here in Belgium. It should make for interesting day. But, since it has been a week since my last race I am still wicked stoked to get out and race my legs off. The race is at 3 and we take off from here at 1:20ish. The rain is coming down harder and I am becoming more and more thankful for my rain jacket.
Well, other then the rain, things have been going well. I have put in for really good training ride and the legs are feeling great. I am currently on a quest for the most Euro Trash hair cut I can get. But between the language barrier and random Belgian holidays I haven't been able to do it yet. I hope Monday though. Talk about randomness in a Blog! Oh yea, my lady fan is a hottie! ;-)

Alvin

I Am...

2006-07-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

I am the self proclaimed Bread Monster!

I eat like a loaf every 2-3 days, so I think it's a deserved title, don't you?

Alvin

Belgian "Rain"

2006-07-19T02:54:00.000-07:00

So we are in the middle of Belgian "Rain" for the past few days. It has been clear sky's and over 33 degree for a few days now and a possibly will hit 37 today (that's all in Celsius, trust me, fricken hot!) Yeah, Belgian Rain is sunshine and Belgian Sunshine is rain. Its funny if you are here... Maybe. Anyway, due to the extreme heat and some consultation with Dr. Dag, Bernard kindly called off our races the past to days and told us to stay inside. So he's pretty much forcing us to watch the Tour. Not so bad... We have all been out riding our bikes in the morning before it really gets hot out.

Well then. Two days ago my roommate's parents came to visit and they invited me to Gent to go hang out and walk around. So Jason and I headed to Gent. It is a pretty awesome city. Gent Fest was going on when we got there. It is a week long festival, I think mainly to celebrate beer, but I could be wrong. There were zillions of beer tents set up everywhere and people were walking around with drinking and having a great time. We were there in the middle of the day so it wasn't too crowded but as we were leaving more people were coming. In the center of town there is a castle that has been newly renovated and still partially under construction. It was awesome. A castle just sitting there in the middle of the city. I think it was form 1100 or so, so pretty old. From the top of the castle you could look out and see forever. The coolest part was being about to see all of the HUGE churches surrounding it. We ate at a little Italian place on one of the main streets. Had good pizza and the usual arrogant jerk waiters. This one wasn't so bad but you can just tell, ya know?

As for racing, my last race did not go so well for me or anyone there really. It was extremely windy. I think 6 guys finished the race and most everyone else was out of the race by just after the half way point. The wind was a huge factor and I realized I don't really know how to draft. The Belgians can do it in their sleep. While Jason and I were riding we saw school kids rockin' the rotating paceline. This is something some guys I race with in the US can't figure out how to do but 5 kids under 12 can do it on the way to the park or wherever. Belgium is awesome! I was supposed to race today, but the heat stopped that. But, I will be racing Saturday, supposed to be much cooler. I'm going to race hard and see what happens.

The tour is on. The first 45km of the race today are ALL UP.... damn!!!

When ya gotta go...

Our new team kits.... should be helpful in a crash.

Alvin

From a stroller.

2006-07-15T02:01:00.000-07:00

So Jason and I are on our ride the other day. We pass a mother with two children, one of which is in a stroller. This little girl can not be more then 3 years old. As we ride by SHE yells, "Tom Boonen, Tom Boonen!" from the stroller. How cool is that!?! This girl is maybe 3 and of all the words she knows, which can't be many, she knows the name Tom Boonen, and mistakes us for him, an easy mistake if you ask me. But come on, really. Do you think this girl can recognize the Belgian President or Prime Minister or whatever they have here? Probably not, but she can yell "Tom Boonen" at us. Belgium rocks!

Alvin "Tom Boonen" Nordell

I'm hungry.

2006-07-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

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

Oostrozebeke Kermis Round 2

2006-07-10T01:18:00.000-07:00

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

Hmm...

2006-07-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

Yea, I don't know.... It's all goofy.

I got a NEW BICYCLE!!!! (well sorta)

2006-07-06T23:21:00.000-07:00

It has been a wicked busy 3 days. I'll start at the beginning, 3 days ago, the 4th of July. The house decided to have a 4th of July party to celebrate our National Holiday and have some team bonding time. I woke up early with my roommate and rode. We needed to get back early be because we were 2 of the 3 judges for the National American Pancake Contest!!! 7 Pancakes were entered and 3 of us voted on the top there and crowned the NAPC Champion. The official results can be found at www.cyclingcenter.com. It was a great way to start off the 4th. Everyone in he house was totally into it and I was lucky enough to be a judge and get to eat a ton of pancakes, that tasted awesome, for free, the best part. Man I'm glad I spoke up to be a judge when I did. After the Contest, we watched the Tour as a house. It is so awesome to watch the Tour with a house of 20 bike racers, we start yelling and get all rowdy when the sprint happened or there is a crash. It is really sweet. Then the BBQ began. We all decided to chip in 10 Euros to by a bunch of food and share it. This turned out to be an awesome idea, there was more then enough food, we had homemade tortillas, store bought as well, guac, salsa, Frites, BEER, Coke light, steak, potato salad, pasta salad, huge amount of salad, and much much more. Once the eating subsided we cleaned the whole party up in less then 30 minutes, which was pretty impressive. Everyone just grabbed something to do and it got done. After we cleaned it was off to bowling!!! Bowling was awesome and quite an experience. The bowling part was pretty normal, I almost broke 100, damn 99!!!! But then the Euro part kicked in. The lights got dimmed and screens came down from above each lane, and then they started playing music videos on the screens, but they played the ones that they can't show in America because they are practically porn!! Do you have any idea how hard it is to bowl when you have to stare at that?!?!? Lets just say that ALL of our scores went down. Weird. After the bowling we stayed at the place and finished watching the Germany V. Italy soccer game. The game was awesome but Germany lost... Sorry Volker, maybe in 4 more years.

The next day I went to the biggest sporting event in the world, the Tour De France. The start of stage 4 was in Huy Belgium, south west of Brussels. Wow, it was amazing. A tour start is like a circus. First, there is a atleast a 100 piece parade that goes along the entire Tour route about an hour before the race. That was something to see. Then all of the riders and bike showed up. We all hoped the fence and walked around with the riders. I got a bunch of Phonak autographs and saw everyone else. I think Tom Boonen is my new favorite rider, probably because I get "mistaken" for him so much, haha. We got chased out of the riders area by Belgian Police after about an hour so, then we walked around some more and took in the entire spectacle. It was a trip. As soon as the race started we all sprinted back to the team van and went FLYING off to the first feed zone to watch the race go by. On the way to the feed zone we passed all of the Tour tour busses. That was cool to see, and something I've never seen before, going by the Discovery Channel bus was the best.
The feed zone was cool. The guys who feed the riders were there making bottles and chatting. I actually stood next to Graham Watson to take pictures, how cool?! The entire feed zone, at least 3 km worth was lined with people. WOW! I really couldn't believe the amount of people who were there, and had been there for hour before we even showed up. And then the race flew by, in about 30 seconds. People wait all day for 30 seconds, It's amazing. And they do this for 20 days straight. It really was mind blowing, it was so awesome.

So yesterday I got a new bike. Well, not really. I went to Frans the bike fit guy. He has to be in his 60s-70s, old, and doesn't speak any English. He has set up a ton of Pro Tour guys. Ann drove me to his house. In his back yard he has a room of off his garage that is set up for doing bike fits. I think this guy is the Tom Martin of Belgium. They reminded me of eachother in their attitudes toward bikes. So, Frans measured me, legs head, torso, arms, feet, everything. Then he did a bunch of calculations and came up with my perfect bike. At one point I saw him just stare at the numbers and scratch his head. Then he got up and remeasured my torso. Apparently my legs are way long for my upper body, so he had to do some "magic" to figure things out. Then he measured out my bike and changed my seat height, bars, stem and cleats. Then we left and I rode the new fit. Oh My God. It felt like a new bike!!! And I can actually CORNER now. It's amazing. The bike feels so sturdy under me and I feel like I can put more power into the pedals and everything is just better. I recommend everyone who races a bike come visit Frans. If you just like riding, I don't recommended it because he only has one position, that is, RACE! He could careless about overall comfort as long as you are going fast. So yea. It was well worth him minimal fee and I almost feel like I ripped him off.

Today is a long day followed by pre-race, then you guessed it, race day, in Oostrozebeke. I can't wait to get back in the race and really try out the new bike. I feel so much more incontrol of my bike now, I think this will actually improve my racing enormously. We'll see.

Have fun,

Alvin

Feed Zone Pictures

2006-07-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

More TdF

2006-07-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

And More...

Me "posing" with a Phonak rider.

Tom Boonen

Discovery Guys and the Team Car

TdF Pictures.

2006-07-05T23:21:00.000-07:00

First set from the Tour. I'm not the best at picture taking... But you get the idea.

TdF

2006-07-04T22:31:00.000-07:00

I am going to the Tour de France. TODAY!!! In Huy, Belgium. I'll post pictures.

My First U.C.Ican'tbelieveitwentthatfast.

2006-07-02T23:53:00.000-07:00

So, my first UCI...
Doing a UCI with the CC is pretty awesome. We get the "pro" treatment. In the morning someone else makes our bottles, race food, loads the vans with EVERYTHING and drive, pays for the race and inscribes us. At the race they get everything out for us, set up the bikes, the bottles, food. It's awesome. Uncle Gert, Geert, and Paul were awesome yesterday, thanks a ton guys! So in the morning all I am in charged of is getting up, eating, making sure I am packed, and being in the van before it leaves. All of this I did right. I did everything yesterday right. Then I made one mistake, before the race ever started and it was all over.

So we get to the race, it was in France. In a little town called Preux au Bois. It was the usually little Euro town with a chruch and a bar in the middle of town, a few houses,and of course, a bike race. We pull into the race and we see the Roubaix team. They have their own van with pictures of them on the side, like a Pro Tour team, just smaller. This is going to hurt. It turns out about 5 teams brought 10ish guys to the race and the plan was, drill it in the beginning until 10-15 roll off the front and we have atleast 4-5 guys in it. So I know this and this means, stay near the front, and hold on until the break goes.

We get kitted up and get water and food and head out for a warm up. Our warmup was intense, we motorpaced the team car for a lap. At first I was like Oh My God, I am going to die, but then all of the crap left in my legs from the week cleared out and I was feeling great. We roll around a bit more then line up. The team gets an OK starting position, 2-3 row. The announcer calls off all of the riders in the group before the start, my name sounds cool in French. Then we start, and we are going soooo... slow!! What?!?! I am totally confused. What is going on? We start rolling along the first half kilometer of the course then suddenly we take a right instead of going straight back into the town. Holy crap we are doing a parade lap!! What?!?! Then we cross the line and it all goes to hell. We bomb up the first hill, bang a right and it 53x11 as hard as we can go. And I find myself dead last going "what's going on?" This didn't last to long nor did I. Before the end of the first lap I was dropped. My day was over. CRAP!!! One stupid mistake, BEFORE the race, dropping back during the parade lap, and my race is over. I heard the first hour averaged 46kph on a technical hilly course, with a ton of wind. They were flying.

After my race ended, I pickup my other teammate who lasted just as long, he'd been sick all week. We rolled around until the end of the race. We found a cool road, wheat fields on either side as far as you could see and rolling. It looked exactly like EVERY flat stage in the Tour de France, which I am going to on Wednesday!!!!!!!!

On the way back from our ride we stopped at one of the course crossing to watch the race. The course marshals we having a party. You know they big metal things on the side of parks that look like bowls that horses probably drank out of back in the day? They had one filled with ice and beer. Which they kept offering to us over and over. But that's a no go. They did offer us a coke but we declined as well. They were nice guys, kind of, and very drunk. I am pretty sure that they were making fun of us, in French of course, but they could speak about as much English and we know French. So it was an interesting few minutes. Yup. That's France. It is a very pretty country, and the language sure does sound cool.

The Team car...

This is where inscription was, and always is... in a bar

A left over bunker from WW2... Just hanging out.

Paris anyone?

Everyone is Racing in France, Even ME!!

2006-07-01T05:25:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I get to do my first UCI race. Woohoo. I am pretty stoked. And it is in France, the GP Preux-Au-Bois, UCI 1.12. So that means, today is a pre-race day. Three of us went out this morning. As we were heading through Oostkamp we went by a Saturday Touring ride. Not what you are thinking though. When we went by them, they were all sitting outside of a bar at tables, all with a beer in hand and as we went by we got a loud "AAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!" They cheered us on. It was awesome. That never happens in the States. But that was a normal Touring ride for the Belgians. A group of 20-30 guys riding bar to bar, grabbing a beer at every stop. It's pretty cool. What else is cool today is that the Tour de France starts. We get to watch it in either, Dutch, German, or French. The French is probably the most entertaining. They have like a talk show thing that goes on while they show parts of the stages. Kind of like Monday Night Football meets like Larry King or something. And after recent events, it looks like the Americans have a much better chance of winning another tour!!! Sweet, but sucks for the French.

Yesterday Jason, my roomie, and I went to Gent for a little training ride. It turned into the normal, lets go out for 2-2.5 hours and get home 3.5-4 hours later. Pretty typical. We followed the canal that connects Brugge and Gent to get there. All of the canals here have roads that line them because back in the day the boats had to be towed up and down the canal by horse probably. Gent is a sweet city. It looks like it has a ton to do. We rode around the city for a bit before heading back. But I did take some pictures. I think I will try to hop a train ere one day to hang out, on a rest day of course.

How sweet is that last one... How do you NOT take a picture and post it to the world!?!

Alvin

My poor wheel

2006-06-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

Today at about 12:45 Belgian Standard Time, my front wheel, a Mavic Open Pro, died. It was 5 years old. It lead a good life full of traveling and hardly a flat or need of a true. I will miss you...

Anyway, yesterday was an easy day. Nate and I tried to do a work out be WE were worked over from the Kermis the day before. So we packed it in and just spun. Today was much much better, well besides my wheel dying, poor wheel. Other the that nothing too new to report. I race again on Sunday, I think. Should be a good time, and I hope to REALLY finish it this time.

Lata,

Alvin

WHAT?!?!?

2006-06-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished my first Kermis, sorta... Here is yesterday.

The morning was the normal day of a race. Got up by 8 and had breakfast. Next I drank my 2-3 cups of Senseo. After checking CNN.com and my e-mail a "few" times I ate an early lunch then started getting ready for the race. We collectively decided to leave 15 minutes early and head out of the CC at 12:45 instead of 13:00 ( we rock the Euro time here). Since last time we rode down to the Kermis that was more then an hour away and got lost we figured better to leave a little early and not miss the race, just in case. So, riddle me this, How many American Bike Racers does it take to navigate Belgium? Well, the answer, more then 7. Cause the 7 of us, didn't really get lost, but the hour and fifteen minute ride took almost 2 hours. But we rolled into town to the waving arms of Blanca, who is awesome, and she pointed our way to Inscription and the start. Inscription was again, in the back of a smoky bar. We just made it in time to get our numbers. To our surprise, they gave us "crappy" numbers so we did not need to turn them back in so inscription was only 3 Euro, like always, but different. Then we roll over to Blanca's car and put our bags in the back. As we rolled to the car I was getting more and more excited, mostly because we were on the race course and going up a hill!! Finally, a hill!! Oh my god was I stoked. And every time up it, it felt like my bike had no chain, just straight up. Once we pinned our jerseys and watered and fooded up we went to the start, at the bottom of the hill. On the start line, Whit jumped the gun a little and got a "relax USA" from the crowd. It was funny....

So the race starts. Bam... We are off flying up the hill. I felt great!! After the hill the course flattened out a bit but was into a nice headwind. We took an almost 180 degree turn, headed on to more flat road then bombed down a crazy decent, completely straight and well over 50 mph, Brett said he hit 56.. Holy crap. Then we hit come big roads, banged a right onto some cobbles onto smaller farm roads, another right onto a big road, then a right onto the rotary and back up the hill. Repeat this 11 times at 10.1km per lap and that is the race in a nut shell. We did the first lap in under 15 minutes. Do the math, it's pretty fast.

So I have issues going down hill. For the life of me I can't keep with the group. It was actually more painful to try and stay tagged on the back of the group going down then it was any of the times UP the hill, go figure. I must be a weirdo, Whit agrees. Ok so why did I SORTA finish the race. Well, the whole race I'm feeling pretty good, getting better at drafting and moving up in good spots and staying out of the wind. I did a little bit of work for the team. So I've made it an hour and a half into the race, (my longest thus far) still feeling good. We come around the roundabout bomb up the hill and bam, we stop. WHAT?!?!?! next thing I hear is "dutch dutch dutch" over the PA system and the guy next to me is super P.O.ed. Apparently, there was too much traffic on the course and they deemed the race too "un-safe" to continue. Hmm?? There were cars on the course and I did dodge a horse and carriage at one point, but it wasn't THAT bad. Still safer then some races I've done in the US. But they stopped it. Probably a good idea in hindsight, but still I was well on my way to finishing my first race, CRAP!!!

So a few things in the race, up the hill we were doing about 35kph, UP. Damn. At one point there was a crash at the top of the course. One guy was in the road, we was ok, another just off the side in the grass, and a third about 50 meters ahead of the crash in the bushes. WHAT?!?! I tried hard not to laugh when I went by and saw him crawling out, he looked ok so it's ok to laugh. Weird.

Anyway, things are look up in the racing. We did a little over 60 Km in about an hour and a half, we were flying. I felt good, so the legs are coming around and the head is catching up to the legs, finally.

Someone explain me this. My pretty lady friend, Andrea, has sent me 4 letters thus far (she really likes me). She sent one two days after I got here, 2 of them about a week after I got here, and one only a few days ago. One of the ones from a week after I arrived made it to me only a few days after being mailed, the rest of them all came on the same day, 2 days ago, and I've been here for just over three weeks. How does this work? Anyone? Anyone?

So yea...

Alvin

Feet up and Relaxin'

2006-06-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a rest day. I spent most of the day checking the internet and reading. I kept the feet up and tried to put bike racing out of my mind for the day to totally rest and recuperate. Good things for a rest day. Today is a pre-race day again because tomorrow, duh, I am racing, in Kruishoutem. There of us went for an easy 2 hours. It was somewhat eventful with a flat tire and a bike incident, not me. We were riding the Blue H Loop and we came up on about 40 middle school age kids on bike. I think it was their gym class or something. They were all wearing bright yellow vests. As we went through them one kid goes "Look, Tom Booonen, and that's Lance Armstrong" and pointed, in English even. But he wasn't being a jerk little kid, he was just routing us on and knew we were American, thanks to the CC team kit. I still can't believe the way people react to cyclists here and us as Americans. We get a ton more respect then in the States and are treated better as a result. I think it is also some what of a novelty that we are Americans trying to hack it with Belgians.

So tomorrow is another race. The bike is all clean and I'm all filled up on rice, eggs, corn flakes and protein powder. I am really excited to do it. I felt awesome last race and I think barring any upsetting of large Belgians it will go pretty well.

Alvin

Oostrozebeke Kermis (#3)

2006-06-24T23:45:00.000-07:00

So the 8 of us saddled up and rode down to Oostrozebeke. I was supposed to be an hour tops to get there, took us almost 1.5. we did manage to get some guy in a car to drive us there, as in he lead and we followed. Good thing too cause we were headed in the wrong direction. We are still learning the elusive art of Belgian Navigation. Anyway, we made it to the race and found inscription, which was in a beer tent. I was pretty cool. All the little kids look at you like you are their hero as you walk by, and all the older people look at you like a race horse wondering if they should place a bet. Nate actually got grabbed by one guy, spun around, and felt up (his legs) to see if he was worth betting on, I checked the betting boards later, no one bet on him.
After we all inscribed we rode over to the KleedKamer, a first time for me. I think the translation is Locker Room. But this was no locker room, it was someone's garage, seriously. It included a washer and dryer, lawn mower, and gardening stuff. These people also had chickens just behind the garage, again, pretty cool. Oh, and then to use the bathroom, just walked into the house and used it. Everyone is very respectful though and nothing gets touch that shouldn't, and the bathroom stayed very clean. That's pretty impressive for a bunch of cyclists, at least in my experience.
We loaded up with food and water, pinned our numbers, and rode to the start. The start was crazy. I got a front starting position but as soon as they said go, guy were flying everywhere and I got a little scared. I tried to hold position but I ended up fall backwards quite a few spots before the first corner. I managed to stay there for quite a while though, but it still was not far enough up. The course was a lot of fun, there were a tons of corners, a few S turns, little roads, (we almost ran into a hay truck on the first lap, that was interesting) and a few big ones with a false flat heading into the finishing stretch. I was feeling awesome during the race, I was doing everything better, drafting, cornering, moving up when I could. So about 45-hour in I was feeling very confident with my race, a first. Then, it all fell apart...
A guy about 5 riders ahead of me opened up a gap about 30 meters before one of the corners, not wanting to get dropped, I swung around them took the spot and went through the corner right onto the back of the field, then the yelling started. Dutch this and Dutch that. I go into the next corner and... (mom stop reading here, I am fine, didn't crash or anything so no worries) and this huge dude chops the crap out of me, followed by his 3 friends. Then every following corner was more of the same and also them taking the corners extra slow and accelerating extra hard out of them to try and drop me. Drop me they did, but just to spite them I made them do it 2 more times. I managed to claw back on 3 times but after the third going into the finishing stretch I was spent and they were going wicked hard. I peddled so far I couldn't feel my legs. I had drooling flying everywhere. My eyes were tearing. My stomach was around my ankles. And I just couldn't stay tacked on the back. I chased for another lap then got the red flag, I was done. As I rolled across the finish I heard over the PA "Dutch Dutch Dutch Alvin Nordell Dutch Dutch duct USA." Atleast everyone knows who I am, nut I just got dropped, so probably not a good thing... Oh well.
So I headed back to the KleedKamer, grabbed some water and rolled around until the finish. As I was riding I found Wes, (who's last day here is today, we're all going to miss you) with him was Blancha (I hope I'm spelling this right). She is our fan, and she's pretty awesome. She bought me a coke, which I appreciated very much. Nothing like a cold Coke after a hard race, I should try to get sponsored... So it was cool to meet her. Then I continued to roll around. I made it to the next town over. As I am riding I see people standing at the street corner and I'm like, "this looks like another race". Sure enough, there was a junior race going on. Wow, how cool is that. In Belgium there is pretty much a bike race going on somewhere within an hour of wherever you are. Pretty awesome.
The race ended and 3 of us finished, not too bad, I just wish I was one of them. I will be soon. So we rode home, again getting lost and taking the long route back for a nice 5 hour day in the saddle. Today is a rest day, thank goodness. I am going to see about going into Brugge but the busses run weird on Sunday's. I think I might just stay in though because the Belgian National Championship is on today at 3:30. Pretty sweet. So yea, the race was encouraging and a little discouraging but I am stoked to race on Tuesday. I think someone said hills, finally!

Tschuess,
Alvin

Kermis Oostrozebeke

2006-06-24T02:59:00.000-07:00

It's T-minus 3 hours until my next race. It is about an hour bike ride, then 45 minutes to find inscription and the course. I've just stuffed my face silly with rice, bread, honey, muesli, and the all important protein powder. This is an awesome thing, for all of you out there who have recovery protein, try mixing it in with the milk/soy of your cereal first then adding the actual cereal. It kind of turns the milk into pudding and then makes the whole meal yummy goodness. Also I think I started the raw honey trend in the house, spreading honey onto bread from the Baker... yum!
I'll let you know how the racing goes. I plan to tear it up and get yelled at in Dutch!!

Alvin

Ouch! My Ear!

2006-06-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

So Lactate Threshold tests hurt. Both the pedaling and the ear pricking, where they take your blood from. Actually the ear thing, didn't hurt that much, especially toward the end of my test when I was trying not to puke from going so hard. So this is the test. You put your bike on the Ergsomethingorother. The Erg makes you pedal at 100 watts and they tell you to hold a 95-100 cadence, pedal speed. Then every three minutes the machine makes you have to pedal 50 watts more until you die. There is a cool computer screen that show you what you are doing. The results: I'm not a Pro Tour rider, but I did ok, still lots of room for improvement. I did find out that I can suffer like a mad man who is suffering though. They told me that I can "Die a thousand deaths" during a race. I'm sure this will be very helpful when I get closer to finishing a Kermis. So all in all, there is some hope for me, sweet! I'll quietly mention that the 4 of us who went down to the Doc's and rode home got lost a few times on the bike ride home and actually did a circle without turning, weird. This has happened to me once before in Kalamazoo, I thought I was in the Twilight Zone for sure and would spend eternity going around and around.

Today was back to the usual, more bike riding. Today I did the 75 km White H Loop. I rocked out on some intervals, did them for too long oops, but I felt good, so, good training for tour, right? Anyway, tomorrow is a Pre-Race day and Saturday in Kermis #3. I found out today that they sell "baseball cards" of the Davitamon-Lotto team at the Apotheek (pharmacy) down the road. Definitely getting some of those tomorrow, especially because one of the riders is supposed to come to the house soon, got to get an autograph!

Alvin

Pictures

2006-06-21T00:03:00.000-07:00

Kermis #2

2006-06-20T01:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday was my second race over here. It went better then the first one. The race started out pretty fast on big roads, we took an almost 180 turn onto another big road, "around" or over if you are me and half the field, a roundabout, then a hard left turn onto a road half the size of the one we were coming from, through a neighborhood with a zillion corners onto farm roads, back onto the big road then another turn back onto farm roads then back on to the big road to finish the first lap. I managed to make it a whole hour this time. I made let a few guys go through a tight corner in front of me, got screamed at by some dude in Dutch as I was trying to go around him coming into a corner, then heckled by a different Belgian, in English this time. He said "you corner really well" with a thumbs up for effect. Jerk!!! Then I ended up at the back, accordianed a few times, tried not to puke and got dropped. I chased down a few other guys who had been dropped then "sprinted" with another Belgian guy for 9 zillionth place. The race was a good time though. There were a ton of people there to watch and cheer us on. They cheer you here whether you are 1st or 9 zillionth. It awesome. Inscription was in a bar/cafe/video rental store. Kind of weird and something I've never seen in the US. I thought it was pretty cool. I was happy that I did better this race. I am still making the same mistakes during the race but I did it much later this time. I think in a few more races I'll be finishing or at least racing for the majority of the race.

Yesterday I found out that I am not doing that UCI race I thought I was going to be doing. I was a little bummed when I found out but brushed it off as quickly as possible, there is a ton more racing to be done. So instead Justin, Bret and I went for a long ride out to the coastal city of Oostende. After getting lost a little bit and heading south instead of north we made it. It is a good size city. Looked pretty touristy but a fun place to hangout for the day. The three of us rode around the marina and then to the beach. We checked out a sweet gothic church. Then we headed home. We hit up the canal roads home, they usually have less or no traffic. It was a pretty sweet ride. One cool part about riding here, we saw 2 pros! One from Davitamon-Lotto and another from Rabobank. Here, you need to look at the riders to see if they really are pros. In Europe, wearing a Rabobank or Discovery Channel jersey is like wearing a Red Sox shirt or jersey in the States. SO with all these jerseys riding around you got to look at everything else. Both of these guys were rocking team issue everything. They had the exact right bikes, shoes, and like the pros do, wearing more clothing while riding then needed. It's cool.

Today, training day. I think I am going to ride some of the canal road because there is no traffic and not very many stops. Maybe I'll make it to Gent and back....

Tomorrow I am doing Lactate Threshold testing with Dr. Dag. He is the doctor for the Discovery Channel team. Pretty cool. We get the same Doc are George and Lance!! I'll tell ya'll how that goes.

Alvin

Rest, Relax, Race, Repeat.

2006-06-17T00:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a pretty normal day at the CC. Get up, eat, check the e-mail, ride the bike, shower, change, eat, check the e-mail, hang out, eat, check the e-mail, go to bed. So it was a good day. It's amazing when you have so much down time you actually need to sleep less at night. At home when I'm juggling school, work and riding I need a solid 9 hours to feel recuperated in the morning, here I can usually almost sleep 8 hours before I'm wide awake and starving for more food. We eat a ton here too. It's amazing the amount of food and water that gets consumed by 20 cyclists. I'd say we spend close to 1200 euro a week on food here at the house between us all. I've been pretty happy with pounding the Muslie and vanilla soy milk, eggs, and bread. It's not that glamorous but quick and filling, and pretty cheap. Sometimes I go for the chicken cabobs from the butcher, those are quite tasty and next time you are in Herstberge you should get some. But the Butcher is closed one day a week, so don't come that day.

Today is pre-race day. I'll be heading off for a short ride in a bit. The come back here and clean the bike and make sure everything works well. Tomorrow I am doing a Kermis in Zedelgem, about a 45 minute bike ride from the house. So I need to make sure everything is ready tonight for the race tomorrow so that tomorrow I can concentrate on racing and not worry about anything else, need to relax before the mayhem begins.

On Tuesday I am racing in my first UCI 1.12 race in Geluwe. I'm really excited for this. These are like the "Pro" races that you see on TV. There might even be a few of those guys there, we'll see. So Monday will be a lot like today, easy ride, clean and eat and eat and eat. You really can't eat too much. It's a beautiful thing, almost as beautiful as Andrea. ;-)

Alvin

Rest and Windmills

2006-06-15T11:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was rest day for me. This wasn't too much of a heart breaker for me since we were having some typical Belgian weather, raining and 15C out. So I spent the hanging around the house, shooting the breeze. A few of the guys and I went to the butcher that is right down the street. There isn't a whole lot in Hertsberge, but there is a butcher, a baker, and haha no not a candlestick maker, but a bio farm and a produce stand. These places are where I do most of my shopping. Man, I love fresh baked bread. Every town in Belgium, no matter how small has a Bakery and most likely a butch as well. It's pretty cool, and good to know if you get lost on a training ride and really need something to eat. So yesterday, pretty relaxed, the way a rest day should be.

Today a few of us did a bike shop run. I had to pick up some stuff. Then I rode into Oostkamp to mail a few letters to my awesome girlfriend, Andrea, her Birthday is Monday, you should tell her Happy Birthday, or atleast remind ME to do it, kinding. Then I rode back to the house and 4 of us took off for a training ride. I was completely lost the whole ride, luckily Jason and Nate knew where they were going, kinda. We rode to where some of the guys were racing a crit tonight, Eeklo, previewed the course then continued riding. We ended up in Oostberg Holland. Lost of windmills and Orange. The entire country is covered in orange while the World Cup is going on, that's soccer for all ya'll back home. They say the whole country is painted orange for the whole month of June.

Wakken (the town)

2006-06-14T00:41:00.000-07:00

Holy Crap! I just had my first race here in Belgium. It was pretty awesome. The morning of, was spent chilling and eat, a lot. Then we suited up and rode to the race at 2. It took about an hour rolling easy to get to the town, Wakken. Then the fun begins. We roll into the center of town. It's a circus. There are rides set up for children, carnival games, and good ol' circus food for sale. We did our best to find inscription (registration). A few guys sitting in an alley way behind the barriers, already 3 sheets to the wind yell at us and point us down the alley they are sitting in. Everyone here knows who we are, we are the Americans, and we're dressed head to toe in red, white, and blue.
We ride into the alley way. We find ourselves in the back of a bar with all the empties lining the alley wall. Then 2 girls all of 7 or 8 with huge smiles on their faces corral us into a back door. We enter this little bar, totally smoky, pretty loud. They they point us into the back. We walk into someone's kitchen, no lie, we inscribed for the race in someone's kitchen. There were 4 officials sitting behind a table, all chain smoking. We sign in, it's 8 euro to sign in and you get 5 euro back when you hand in your number. For all you in the States, it's less then 4 DOLLARS to do a race!!!!
After I got out of inscription and pinned my number I went back into the bar to get some water. This part is awesome. Some woman walks up to me, older, huge smile, and starts talking to me, in Dutch. I have no idea what she is saying. I say "English?" and she goes "oooh", she knows as much English as I know Dutch. Next thing I know she's running over to her friends pointing at me going "American, American." It was a hoot. I ask the bartender for water, "Gas or no Gas?" she asks. "No Gas" I say. Then this very large, already drunk, guy comes up to me. Shirt half unbuttoned, gold hanging around his neck. He says, "You bring good team today? Last year you had guy falling over. No falling over this year ya?" I just smile and say "we have good guys, I hope." he laughs and goes back to his friends. The Older Woman comes back to me and asks me more questions. Luckily this time the Bartender does some translating. All in all it was a pretty awesome experience getting water.
Back outside in the back of the bar the urge hits me, I gotta go. Nate points, and right there, in the corner, 3 outdoor urinals for all to use, just hanging from he wall. How sweet?!?! Once we were all back together we rode around for a while then piled into the front of the start line. Good starting position is key in any Kermesse. The whistle blows and we're off. We book it up the road. There is a fork in the road about 100 from the line with a median that directs the flow of traffic in the road. We go OVER it, cause it's faster. WOW! In the States, that would have been a blood bath. So I find myself sitting on the front of the race, crap. I sit up and drop back to about 5th. We go into the first corner. I'm expecting 50kpm into the corner but nope, they guys in front of me jam on the brakes and we roll through the corner. I'm in shock. I'm used to going through corners hoping my tires will stick, not here. The Belgians go through corners super slow, then "accelerate", never "sprint", out of them. But man do they accelerate hard. Within 5 pedal strokes we're back up to 50kph and I'm like holy crap. I do my best to stay near the front but a zillion things are going through my mind and I'm still a little giddy from just being here racing. I ride the next few laps pretty well then make my final mistake. I let a guy go infront of me through a corner, behind him was a single file train of about 15 guys, and I can't break into the train. So I finally tag onto the back of it, and guess what, I'm dead last. But by this point we have already shelled 20-30 guys. I do my best to try and move up but we come out of the corners so hard it's hard to get around anyone. Today, the wind was blowing just enough to make drafting essential. So after my 30th time coming out of one of the corners, my stomach in my throat, my legs say enough and I can't get back on. I roll it hard for the rest of the lap into the start finish. As I approach the line the official tells me I'm done and I hear over the PA "OK USA". I just laugh and turn off the course.
WOW!! My first race. Better then the worse I hoped I'd do but I still have a ton to work on. I know what I did wrong and there are plenty more races to work on it, that's why I'm here right? I rolled around until everyone finished, we had one guy make it to 3 laps to go then his group got pulled. Once we were all together we turned in our numbers, got our 5 euros back and rode home. Three of us did an extra hour to make it a 5 hour day. Then Nate and I hit up the sauna and cold shower to recover a little.
Today was awesome. It's amazing to race here. All of the little kids look at you like you are a rock star. They even bet on the races here. They have betting boards up with odds and everything. There are hundreds of people out to watch, most sitting in cafes and bars on the sidewalks cheering as you go by. There are people on the side of the road with start sheets who check off your number as you get dropped, I watched a few people do this for me. It's just so different and so awesome. Just wow. I can't wait for the next one.

Pre-Race

2006-06-12T04:09:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty excited. Tomorrow will be my first Kermesse. It's going to be hard, but I'm looking forward to the suffering. I hope I have a good ride and last pretty long, no getting dropped in the first lap.

Yesterday and today were both easy days after my Koppenberg experience. I rode this morning. Later on it's bike cleaning time and making sure it runs "perfect". Bernard say that control everything that you are able to and make that perfect so that you have more energy to focus on that which you can't control, like what's going to happen in the race. It's all about saving energy, that's why we're supposed to stay off our feet as much as possible today. I'm looking forward to my pre-race dinner, stuffing myself silly! Better to have to much reserve for tomorrow then not enough, right?

Me in Belgium...

Another sweet thing about Belgium, there are tons and tons of different training route marked on the pavement. The one I'm on in the picture is the White H Loop, called this because there are white H's on the ground with arrows pointing the right direction. The White H Loop have 5 options, 30k, 55, 75k, 110k, and 165k. They keep mostly to little farm road not on the maps and go through really pretty parts of the country. The H's are kept up from year to year so they are always there. There are also Blue H's and Green JJ. It's awesome.

Ok, so I don't get any flack about the er... helmetlessness... (or less at least) No one here wears one, ever, from the Granny Group Rides to kids riding to school to the Pros out riding. And it's pretty awesome because you really don't feel like you need to wear one like in the states. All of the cars are so used to riders that they look for them before they turn and most of the time give riders the right of way. Half the time you really don't even need to worry about cars because there are bike paths along every rode pretty much, and the path are usually a few feet away from the road with bushes or grass in between, I'll have to post a picture. And when you ride on the road the cars give you space or if they are close it's so controlled and not in hostile fashion what so ever that you hardly notice. So yea. But in the States, always.

One more thing. In Europe, gotta pay to pee, it's .30 euros. Just in case you travel over here, keep some change on you.

Alvin

The Koppenberg

2006-06-10T09:33:00.001-07:00

Nate and I set out today for a little jaunt into the Ardennes. We went up three climbs that the Pros do in the Tour of Flanders. We were fortunate enough to get to ride straight into the wind the whole way there, usually an hour and a half but today close to 2. The ride was down was nice, besides the wind. It was the usual Belgian ride, town to town. Once in the Ardennes we jumped onto some farm road and started toward the climbs. The climbs were pretty incredible. They were all really steep, maxing out at 22%. The cobbles were wicked jaring. You just bounce around the entire time. There are some "smooth" spots to aim for but it takes some work. But to make it up the climbs you pretty much have to go as hard as you can, or else you fall over.

The Koppenberg was the last climb we did. It was about 600m long. All Cobbled. The last section kicks up pretty steep. There is almost 1-2cm of space between quite a few of the cobbles, so you have to go hard. We recovered and took some pictures at the top. Then rode home. It was a pretty sweet ride. The 3 'bergs and the extra kicker we through in for fun all hurt but were awesome.

So cycling is everywhere in Belgium. Here is a picture of what one guy painted on his barn. All the greats, and Lance on it.

Alvin

It's A SIGN!!!!

2006-06-10T01:25:00.000-07:00

Kermesse???

2006-06-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday started off with a "group ride" to the Bio Farm and the Butcher in town. The 6 of us stormed the Farm and bought up quite a few veggies and Fruits. I went straight after the All Natural Peanut Butter I had been hearing so much about, I'll let ya know if it's actually any good so you can pick some up yourself. After the thorough ravaging of the Bio Farm we sacked the Butcher. Their BBQ Ham is quite good and I'm looking forward to my cabobs tonight.

Justin and I then took off into Brugge, on the bus, no bike. Brugge is a cool old city. It has it's "historic" half and is more modern half. We walked around the historic half. Here the streets are all very narrow, cobbled, and windy. In the center of this part of the city is where they start the Tour of Flanders every year. We stopped at an Italian place (in Belgium?!?!) for a quick bite then walked around a bit. We stopped at a Cathedral that houses a Michelangelo sculpture of the Virgin Mary and the Big Guy.

After playing a little more tourist and buying postcards to send home we stopped at a cafe and had coffee. We just hung out for a while then took the bus home. Since I had not ridden yet I jumped on my bike and headed toward the town that some of the guys were racing in. After about 40 minutes and a few map checks I found the town, pretty easily actually. Now the hard part, finding the race. I had always heard that the races were in the center of town and the HQ of the race was in a bar. So I rode around looking for the center of town, or a bazillion guys on their bike, which ever came first. Well, I found the town center, but no race, hmm... So I rode some more and stopped to ask for direction. I asked the first set of guys "Kermesse" and pointed to my bike. They had NO idea what I was talking about. So I said "Bike Racing?" and they were like OOOHHH... Then gave me direction to the bike shop... Darn. So after a few ore people gave me direction on how to get to the bike shop I went in and asked them. The guy spoke a little English, thank god, and pointed me in the right direction, "Left at the church, over the lights, left around the circle." I thank the guy and take off, still, more, nothing. I can't find the race. So after about 40 minutes of riding in circle around Torhout I pedal home. But, when the guy who actually races at the race got home, they told me it took THEM an hour to find the race once they made it into town, so I didn't feel as bad after that. Hmm....

Alvin

e-mail

2006-06-09T00:46:00.000-07:00

If you get bored or want to say hi or ask questions shoot me an e-mail...

sxabiker@yahoo.com

Holland and Belgium

2006-06-09T00:18:00.000-07:00

The Church is from 1645ish I think and the town is Damme.

Holland and I can't fall over good.

2006-06-08T23:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Justin, Wes and I took off for our ride, 2-3 hours. We went into Brugge first. Then Wes, took off home as he has a Kermesse today and Justin and I went on to Holland. It's about a 45k ride into Sluis. The roads here are pretty awesome. We were on a somewhat major road that was lined with bike paths on either side. Pretty sweet huh? I wish it was like that in the US. In Begluim getting places is a little more difficult. You need to know the places in beween here and there to get where you are going. No route numbers, just remembering city names. And like yesterday, if we hadn't had to stop at the bakery, never would have made it home. The Bakery truck was block the sign pointing home.
So Justin and I made it to Holland. We pretty much just dipped out feet in, we checked out a new(er) church built in the mid 1600s. It was pretty awesome. We had ride over cobbles to get to it. Oh My God. I can't wait to race over the cobbles. We you ride over them everything shakes and vibrates. After about 30 seconds things start going numb. It's a weird feeling. I hear though at 40-50kpm you hardly feel them, Tuesday I'll find out!
After the church we started back. Sorta. We went a less direct route. We took some canal roads (all the canals here have roads/bike paths next to them to ride on, makes navigating a little easier), and pulled out the map a bunch of time. Eventually we made it back, only about 30 extra minutes of pedaling, we got a little lost.

Next was "crash-training" or Judo. Well, I don't fall over good. We road to the training from the CC. Toward the end we did a rotating paceline, on a 4 foot bike path for a few kilo, that was awesome. Then we went bombing through a few towns. It was pretty cool, we were dressed in race uniform (I'll post pictures of it as soon as I have some, you can tell we're Americans) and had a follow van, it was pretty "pro" looking and people honked and waved, atleast I think they were. So we show up and hang out for a few minutes. Then the training begins. It was a basic Judo class of how to fall over without hurting yourself, hopefully this means no more broken pelvises for me!! Any way, I wasn't very good at this. My legs were flying one way and the rest of me the other. I was landing wrong and I only spilled a little of my own blood. We started doing more advance flips and falls but not me. The Instructor took me to the side and had me practice the easy stuff. I felt like the SpEd Kid being mainsteamed. But, I think I'll crash a little next time.

So far Belgium is pretty awesome. The bread rocks and the road are super friendly. When riding on the road, cars still "buzz" you a bit like in the US, but the buzz is very "controlled". You never feel in danger or that the guy was going for you like you feel in the US sometimes. It's a great feeling to be accepted on the road and not as some freak in tights. Still missing the girl tons and tons.

It's Beginning!!!

2006-06-07T05:21:00.000-07:00

I just found out that tomorrow I have "crash-training" and Tuesday will be my first Kermesse!! I'm pretty stoked. And for anyone who knows me well knows I NEED the crash training!!! haha!!! I think it's funny, OK?!?!

TNTR (Belgian Style)

2006-06-07T00:28:00.000-07:00

TNTRiders in Belgium.

Never in America

2006-06-06T23:46:00.000-07:00

I went for my first bike ride here in Belgium yesterday. Just an easy few hour, because of the body trying to ge over the 6 hour time difference. Wesley and Justin took me out. We went up the canal. At one point I asked if we were on a bike path. Nope, it was a regular road, about the size of any US bike trail you've ever been on, so when a car comes move over!! Luckily the Belgian drivers actually respect cyclists here and they pretty mush drive off the road to make sure you pass safely. The ride was pretty senic. We passed a ton of other cyclists. The weird thing in Belgium is, other cyclists don't wave or say HI when you go by. Most of the time they just "size you up" and check out your... bike. On the way back to the center I saw something that almost made me crash as I was trying to fish out my camera from my pocket. I saw a Belgian Tuesday Night Touring Ride. Why is this so weird, because the group was made up of about 20 riders all on their "hybrid/going to the bakery" bikes and the youngest person only started ordering off of the McDonald's senior menu in the 80s. They were all dressed in their every day clothes, khakis and button downs for the men and pretty much the same for the women. There were 2 leaders both in bright yellow vest, one in the front and one bring up the rear. It was quite the sight. (I'll work on posting pictures). The three of us had to pass them. There were really nice about it. The leaders had whistles and yelled things in Dutch, most likely something like, "On your left!" We went by without an issue and pedal back to the Center. Man, if there were more rides like that in America, I couldn't even imagine. It was pretty awesome. They rest of the night was spent eating and resting. I figured out how to us Skype and called the girl. It was good to hear her voice, she was at UPS at the time. She was trying to get her birth certificate but they couldn't find it, apparently she was never born, weird. Anway, if you want to e-mail me and ask me question please do so. Have a nice day.

Alvin

The food run.

2006-06-06T05:20:00.000-07:00

Well I arrived at the Cycling Center after about 21 hours of traveling. I started at 330 Michigan time and ended at the CC at 1845, Belgian time. You do the math, about 21 hours i'd say, need to like add 6 and carry a 2 in there somewhere but lets say 21 hours. Bernard picked me up at the train staition in Tielt, I was about 45mins late. I had to switch trains because of a Belgian Holiday that know one can name. Other then that all my traveling went smoothly. I sat next to this woman on the flight from Chicago to London who ended deciding that I was he new best friend and travel partner. We ended up walking around the London airport trying to find our gate, the plane was late, and then I had to talk her through customs, I hope she found her friend. Anyway, I got here alright but tired. Bernard gave me the grand tour and then I settled in. I bummed some dinner off the guys here and put my bike together. Then I did my best to stay up as long as possible, which was rough. I finally called it a day and hit the hay at 2130ish. I ended up sleeping though the first shopping run, crap. But they snuck me in on the second one, so now I have food, good thing cause I was getting sick of jelly beans and Newtons that I brought with me on the trip. The food run was interesting. 6 of us leave at a time for food. we stopped at the bike shop first. 3 of us went off to find an ATM to get some Euros to pay for food. Then the the Stupid GB was closed for stocking or something. You would think they would do that at night to not lose business, not in Belgium. Luckily there are more GBs and we stopped at a smaller one. Shopping was fun. I was like "what's the word for tuna?" The guys were awesome and helped me out. They've all been really nice with helping me get situated. They've all had to do the same thing I am so they know what it's like. So far I'm digging it here, but I am missing the CRAP out of Andrea. Off for my first jet lagged bike ride. I'll let ya know how it goes.

Alvin