“Arden Challenge” – June 2011

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I traveled into the hilly Ardennes forests of eastern Belgium (where the Battle of the Bulge and Ardennes Offensive occured and 75,000 Americans died)  for this four day series. Stayed in a remote youth hostel, rode to each stage start and back each day! Circuits were usually a 100 km road loop with very long gradual climbs with additional 20 km of criterium loop at the end of each stage. Uphill speeds of the field on these hills were astounding, with some of the best Dutch, Flemish and Wallonian hill riders (No Kermesse Kings here).  I was only able to stay in for 20 minutes, 45 minutes, 90 minutes and 2 hours 30 minutes respectively each day before being “popped” and limping in with other stragglers and often getting lost (One Flemish guy had GPS which saved us from ending up in Luxembourg!) . On the last day…I was going better and survived until  the last KOM – just before the last finishing circuit but my cleat was loosening up from the cobbles and I just cracked…and ended up chasing for the three of the criterium circuits before I got “pulled” with 10 km remaining. I enjoyed the whole experience and exploring this region – my pick as one of the best places in the world for cycling.

Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda @ Wachtebeke June 2011

Ghent Shipyard

Allan Peiper ?

Flahute

On the way to the Wachtbeke Kermis, north of Ghent….I got on the wrong side of the Ghent shipyard complex…..in scorching  89 degree heat. After doubling halfway back towards Ghent and hopping a ferry to get across the harbour, I manage to TT up the other side of the canal and arrive with 15 minutes to spare….. already with two hours in the saddle. On the market square of Wachtbeke.  I loaded up two liters of cheap sports drink but had forgotten to bring a third bottle – a mistake I would regret.  I registerd and got my number quickly and made it to the startline where the imposing figures of the Kermesse Kings skelelton Guy Smet and Patrick Coquyt (Age 52) and there respective entourages of young lackeys indicated that the whole Ghent mafia was there -minus Staph Boone’s team from the “farm” whose man, Mario Willems, stays off  Smet and Coquyt turf because of a falling out with Coquyt.

I felt strangely good, although the legs are slow coming out of the turns….but downshifting and doing a smaller gear -like 53×17 or 16 for the initial jump out of the corners really works for saving the legs. Because of the sweltering heat, the big guns held back until about one hour in…just when I was running out of water. In one particularly dreamlike moment, I found myelf floating up behind Smet and Patrick while Smet rolled out a massive gear on a cowpath a la Spartacus and shattered the field.  I stayed focused on Coquyt’s wheel and after he went through I pulled through hard ….too jerky probably because I heard Smet grunt something to Patrick and they sat up and hung me out to dry… so that ten seconds later I was up the road alone and blown up with heavy legs and barely able to pedal and get back on the train when it hammered through with the remaining peloton. The water situation got desperate but nobody would give me anything….I asked a Flanders guy- hoping he was a foreigner but he blurted something in Flemish and the Jayco Ozzie had some typically incoherent Australian excuse ….showing me his sole bottle …even though his soigneur was in the feedzone with water every lap….the spectators leaning over the barriers would not even give me beer despite desperate gestures and pleas each lap. We were down to 25-30  guys out of 70 starters so I realized that I was in an unusually good and bad situation all at once and theoretically in the money but I just could not stand going much farther without water. My head was burning up, throat so parched and I was wilting mentally thinking about the glasses of amber liquid which glistening in the sunlight and held casually all along the barriers of the start finish.

Two laps later my left cleat was about to rattle off and I cracked mentally and pulled out of the race from the middle of the pack right in front of the announcer after 105 minutes, I piled over a metal barrier like a line change in a hockey game and barged through the crowd straight to the bar for some wasser. The old red noses looked at me with hard faces while the announcer (actually Allan Peiper doing perfect Vlaamse dialect!) said something which sounded quite important about John McGill… Amerikanse Renner three times and the words “stoppt”. I asked a soberer tifosi type what all that Flemish meant, and he said it meant all those silly fools who bet on the American have lost some money! Idiots…they seem to do that every time! Next lap, I craned my neck on tip toes over the beers and spectators on the barriers to watch the battle; and in cames Patrick and Smet steaming 30 seconds off the front with two young customers in tow. The end would be almost inevitable. I noticed Smet won in Saturday’s race too. Another day at the office. He drives a big black Mercedes SUV and does not need to share his winnings with anyone, because he doesn’t need any help. He wins two or three times each week.

On the ride home I stopped off at Staph Boone’s “farm” to chat. I poked my head inside the lair and was astonished to see that the entire flooring, foyer and kitchen had been renovated nicely….not the dump I remember. Emerging from within were a young Ozzie named Colin or Cowan and a big Ruskie kid named Peter  stays there 10 months per year. An American named Ryan Dewald from 9 years ago was back in residence but away scoring dinner…they said he was 32 years old…..with amazement.  They asked me if I would be joining the team. I guess there is not enough time for that…since I am doing the Ardennes thing now.

Strange thing is that this Peter, the Russian Kid, has a bike which looks surprisingly like my own Litespeed which was stolen in Ghent in September 2008 from a nearby restaurant. Too similar I suspect to be just a coincidence. It is the same model, same size and has the same kind of Chris King headset that I had ! He says it belonged to an American who rode for Discovery Channel…hmmm…. least that is what he was told.

Rest Day in the Ghent – June 2011

26.06.2011 Ghent, Flanders (Bike racing Capital of the World)

Hey Onions and Tifosi:

It is Sunday afternoon and I am reposing in the late evening sun overlooking the renaissance era canals, row houses and castles of Ghent- sorry to rub it in.  I find myself again immersed in the very highminded intellectual pursuit of bicycle racing; This afternoon I spent two hours watching the extensive five hour TV coverage of the Belgian Championships. Gilbert attacked everyone at 2 km to go on an almost flat 1.4 ” percent cobbled grade, got a gap on Boonen, and rode away!

Today was a tourist rest day off the bike around Ghent and catching up on sleep . I decided not to stay at the old Kingsnorth International Wheeler’s team “farm” this time because I want to do my own schedule and go farther afield from the flatlands of Ghent. And although the team house is newly renovated, and there is an empty room…..I decided a house full of 20-22 year old Ozzies and Ruskies who watch TV and read bike magazines and tabloid newspâpers all day when not racing - might be unbearable.  Actually there is a 30ish American named Ryan somebody living with the team this month . I certainly would recommend that team for anyone that wants to try the Flemish bike racing life and pay only 100 Euros/month rent complete with soigneur; motorpacer, team car and teammates.

So I am attempting this trip on my own, now staying in a clean, ultra moderne  (and actually empty) hostel, which is affordable and allows me to relax and race while also exploring Belgium a bit more effectively. The disadvantage is that I do not have a soigneur and feed at the races like almost everyone else who shows up to race. I actually take the train to races, if necessary. I have a 10 trip railpass ….I pay a surcharge of 7 dollars for the bike…..and am a firm beleiver that it is a cool way to get around efficiently in Europe if you can read a map and train schedules – even if you are a bike racer.

Limbourger Kermis June 25, 2011

Saturday  I hopped a train out to Limbourg Province for a real elite w/o contract race on a cold foggy day.  Not the same luck for me as the day before, when I finished decently in the pack of a 100 km Kermis Race near Ghent.

These ubiquitous “Around the Church” Kermis races are like very long criteriums which leave and re-enter the center of small towns combine main streets around the village square or church with an often narrow, windy maze of cement cowpaths. These races are scheduled around a village “Kermis” festival which includes beer tents and cheesy music with friendly semi-drunken people, wurst, frites, and a small carnivals with rides and shooting galleries. Shivering on the startline without my belgian Musculor massage oil, I shuddered more to see several big names, someone pointed out one of P. Gilberts teamates, a young Lotto professional (I suspect that younger elite pros are allowed in elite w/o contract races, if they are U23 because they will still get their asses kicked by the Kermesse specialists) . The race started much faster than the day before with an attack up a cobbled false flat into a headwind and we remained strung out and single or double file from then on. The circuit had at least twelve  corners over 10 km and I was  immediately afraid of being dropped but I am learning to become patient and never come around riders when a gap opens up, you have conserve your energy…play it cool ….and let someone else panic and fill the gap. I am more comfortable than usual in the Flemish races, not nearly as nervous as years ao. That helps. I have learned to downshift and then jump out of the corners at a higher cadence out of the corners which really helps and follow the wheels up onto the bike paths if there are cobbles. Nevertheless only 50 minutes into the race at the 40 km mark, I was up front but feeling the legs weaken near the front,. I was on Guy Smet’s wheel (Smet is a 6’5″ 200 lb. giant kermesse star …..seemed like a good wheel to follow unless he attacks.http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=3967)  Somebody up front launched an attack on the false flat with headwind and I gapped…..within 10 seconds I was gassed and the legs didn’t work anymore and I completely stopped pedaling and sat up letting the entire long strung out peloton ride by.  I did not even attempt to catch back on.   It took me 90 minutes to ride the 20 km back to a train station near my youth hostel in Leuven….running on fumes.

Hopefully recovery will come in time for my race tomorrow. I hope to do two  or three more kermesses near Ghent on Monday, Tues or Wednesday; then two days before a four day stage race in the Ardennes  at the end of the week. Looking forward to that despite being teamless etc.

Around the Church – June 2011

Friday night  (June 24th) .. I finished my first race near Ghent….on the Flahute BIke. Despite only 4 hours sleep and having to completely repack (with the correct grease) the BB30 50 minutes before the start in a (really good) village bike shop called Alexis Sport in Lovendegem , I made it to right village, found the designated bar for race registration and made it to the start line. It was a 1.18 Race which is designated as Elite without Contract but also includes Amateurs and Masters and has a smaller prize list. With my 2 hour warmup, my legs were ready to go and I succcessfully surfed the middle of the peloton most of the race without major problems. It was 20 times around a 5 km loop on roads narrower than my driveway. There was a cobbled “hill” (i.e. 2-3% grade for 100 meters) going around a church which was useful in my case. I made the mistake of trying to chase the 6 man break on the last lap and was then hung out to dry in the field sprint. …one place out of the money 31st out of 70 starters. But a good sign.

Rough Arrival in Brussels

My dream race trip is experiencing a few hiccups …I just flew into Brussels this morning only to learn that the bagage handlers at JFK misrouted my bike to Amsterdam. I have to wait around here until evening to pick it up and I am almost somnambulant, having been unable to close my eyes in the middle seat on a packed KLM flight. Hope things improve.

Flahute

I like Flandria Cafe’s post about Gus Van Cauwenburghe which pays homage to this forgotten Flahute, who inspired many New Englanders, in his second cycling life. A Flemish professional from the 1930′s, Gus’ career was stopped by WWII. He later made it to “the states”, worked as a grocer for twenty years until starting his own a bike shop in Hampton, New Hampshire:

http://www.flandriacafe.com/2010/10/guscyclings-lost-soul.html

Gus sold our family my first racing bike, a three speed “Chiorda” (made by Bianchi) in 1974. After a few trips to with Gus to citizen races with Gus in his Volkswagen bus, I was on my way towards becoming tifosi if not a gearhead. Gus holds the record for the most Kermis victories in one season in Belgium – 72 ! But I was too young at the time to absorb such information but always knew that someday I would race in his homeland.