Since my last post on racing in Belgium, I had taken part in 2 kermesse races (small races 100-120km usually 20 laps of a circuit) and 1 Interclub race 16 laps of a 10km loop. In the Kermesse's my results were slowly improving with me managing to get 21st in 1 event, I was still sticking to my game plan of ignoring the initial breaks and as the miles ticked by and the oppositions legs weakened I would then make my move in an attempt to get a result.
Next on the cards was the Interclub, these races are the largest and toughest events that our team takes part in, with the exemption of a few Professional races that we attain wild cars to. The Interclub took place in Geluwe a small town 70km from were I live in Lierde, that morning my soigneur collected from the house and brought me to meet up with the rest of the team in Oudennarde and from there we travelled in our bus to the start of the event. Upon arriving the team had already set up camp and had our bikes prept, numbers on and ready to roll, we sat in our sun loungers under the camper van's canopy, pinned on our race numbers, filled our pockets with race food, put on our kit, got our pre race rub and chatted tactics among ourselves in preparation for the race ahead.
After my warm up I got to start line and lodged myself in near the front, at the drop of the flag the race was off, riders immediately rushed up by me and forced me to drop back, my bike handling is not yet up to the level of the Belgians making it hard for me to fight for position. each of the coming laps would be highly challenging as they were composed of a fast technical section through the town from were we rode out into the exposed countryside (Belgium unlike Ireland has dyke's not ditch's diving fields and at road sides providing little if no protection from swirling crosswinds) where cross winds hammered the peleton till it was stretched out into 1 long single file line, it was from here we made our way to what would be the deciding section of the race as each lap we were faced with a 1km cobbled climb.
As with all Belgian races the break escaped almost immediately, one of our team Dan Patten worked hard to make his way into it but unfortunately came a cropper on a sharp bend ending his race as he plummeted into the tarmac deeply wounding his arm. I held strong in the bunch saving energy at every opportunity, when we hit the cobbled climb I chose an easy gear got a high cadence going and dug in deep to keep up. with each passing lap, more and more people were getting drooped and left behind as the frantic pace in an attempt to close down the break was taking its toll, with 6 laps to go the bunch split and a large group of 20 riders rode off the front, unfortunately i was unable to make the split and was left behind. 1 of my team mates Chris Jory made it across and in doing so battled hard to achieve an excellent 3rd place.
For the remaining 6 laps I decided to try and escape the clutches of the bunch, upon hitting the climb i pressed on taking 10 riders with me we worked hard for the remaining laps and as we hit the 1km to go sign the sprint was on, with 35 riders already having finished ahead the pace was far from relaxed as we sprinted up the finishing straight were I took 39th overall.
After the Race I was Packed up and shipped off to the Train were I had to embark on my trip home to Ireland for my National Champs. Of which I will write about in my next blog.
Thanks for reading!!
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