Ice Cream!

The Ice Cream Truck came to our Belgium home today!

I had a very yummy post ride treat --- Mmmmmm!

Fleche

(Huy is painted all the way up the finishing climb)

We found some hills in Belgium this week at the Fleche Wallonne world cup. It was my favorite course so far. I really liked the hills... except perhaps for the finishing hill of this race which we had to do twice!

The Mur de Huy is only 1.3km and averages 9.3%. This doesn't sound soooo bad, but averages can be deceiving. The hill actually starts out not too steep and then kicks straight up almost vertical into the sky. If you were to walk up it, you'd probably need some climbing gear.

The hill was quite a tease for me. Before I knew it, I could see the 500m to go sign which means the top is only 500 meters away. This is not very far at all in biking distance (this isn't even very far in running distance). And the sign came so quickly after the start of the Huy that I thought the climb would soon be over.

But then it took quite some time to actually pass the 500 meter sign. Unfortunately, at this point I was working very hard to defy gravity and didn't recalculate the time I expected it might take to get to the top.

After quite a long time, the brain kicked in and says "ok -- i think we should be at the top by now." Then I look up to see the 250m sign. Now there was a bit of confusion as the 500m sign definitely passed ages ago. Then there was a bit of dread when I realized this tortuous ascent is still far from over and may last forever. But there was no time to dwell on these facts because I had to focus on not toppling over in front of hundreds of spectators.

The remaining thought process went somewhat like this:

225m to go

when am i ever going to get to that 200m sign?

200m to go

i made it! i made it! i made it to the 200m sign!

200m to go (thought 2)

i still have 200m to go? am i moving? keep turning the pedals.

150 to go

keeeeeeeeeep tuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrnnnnnning the pedals.

125m to go

turn turn turn turn the pedals. turn turn turn. don't stop -- you might fall over. turn turn turn.

100m to go

i think i might survive

50m to go

the road is flattening! maybe i can coast in now??

48m to go

nope -- gotto keep pedalling! pedal pedal pedal!

25 to go

the road is flattening -- wooo!! I'm gonna make it!!

And then there was a bit of excitement mixed with total exhaustion once I crossed top. Had I been a little more experienced in this race, I may have tried a couple of my teammate's strategies. One good one is to simply zig-zag back and forth across the hill. While this greatly reduces the grade of the hill, it does increase the distance you must traverse to the top and makes the distance to go signs even more irrelevant. Brooke notes that this strategy is particularly useful when both of your tires have most certainly, definitely gone flat.

The best strategy, however, is the Mackie "push push" strategy. Instead of silently hoping in your head that the hundreds of screaming, energetic fans would give you a push, be proactive. Actually ride along the edge of the course and yell out "push push" as you pass very close to the enthusiastic fans. Apparently this results in a few turbo boosts on the way up!

Or you could just have climbing super powers like Ruth and fly up the hill, but I'm not sure how to obtain these secret powers. So the team plan was to get our superhero to the hill in good position so she could fly away. The team raced super well and everything unfolded as planned. Ruth flew up the hill the first time and was in the winning breakaway ready for a winning flight to the finish. Unfortunately bad luck is sometimes a part of bike racing and 4km from the finish, her wheel got caught in a crack and the day was over. Luckily she is ok! And we are ready for another great race tomorrow -- hopefully luck will be on our side!

(This little guy has been monitoring our training rides -- we should be good to go tomorrow!)

Gelderland Take 2

Last year's Ronde Van Gelderland was my first UCI road racing experience. And it was a shock!! A field of 200 riders fighting for position from the gun... even though the first 7km is supposed to be "neutral". Last year I was losing that fight badly, barely making my way past the middle of the pack and rarely near the front. Eventually I really lost the battle when I got mixed up in *this* disaster and ended up riding the rest of the race in the car (summary here). Nobody on our development squad actually finished the race, but it was a good learning experience for all.

This year I was a little more prepared for what I was getting myself into so the shock factor wasn't there, but the battle from the gun still ensued. One of my teammates witnessed three crashes within the first 7km (the "neutral" part of the race). There were many more close calls throughout the race as we fought for precious space near the front of the peloton. But eventually we reached the climbs and the peloton spread apart and split into a smaller front bunch. The whole team survived the break up and rode a really strong race. Highlights include Megan off the front for half an hour, a Team Tibco and Cervelo chase down to pull in two attackers, and 4th and 10th place finishes by Brooke (aka trousers) and Mackie.

All around, this race was much more successful than last year. There were times of frustration being stuck in the pack, but also times when I was able to get to the front -- I definitely need to keep working on position, but compared to my first Gelderland experience, it was a world of difference being able to negotiate through a big pack. Being a part of an all around solid team effort also brought a new element to the Gelderland experience. Cycling is a whole extra level of fun when you are part of a cohesive team.

Next up tomorrow is Fleche Wallone...

Here is a glimpse of the finishing hill. The Mur de Huy is a 1.3km climb averaging over 9% grade with some sections spiking to 25% grade. Hopefully I don't have to walk the bike up :)

Germany!

With a week of no racing, we took a day to explore across the border into Germany -- my first time ever into the country of my grandmommy's ancestors.

For a pictoral recap of our explorations, check out Megan's blog here

Racing begins again tomorrow!!

More Drenthe!

Saturday and Sunday brought more Drenthe races with lots of cobbles, narrow roads winding through farmlands and quaint towns, and even a climb up a garbage mound (they don't have natural hills in this region, but there is a steep steep garbage pile).

The start of these races is a fight for position because once the race hits cobbles and crosswinds, it gets blown apart into small groups and you don't want to be stuck in the back. The start of yesterday's race highlighted this fight for position. We started outside of town and proceeded in a neutralized pack to the town square where all riders must sign in for the race and then line up. Sign in is on a stage with one set of stairs leading up to the stage. Now you might envision the pack rolling in and riders proceeding up the stage in an organized fashion and then calmly making their way to the start line. That's the scenario I was imagining as we came into town. But instead, people started getting off their bikes as soon as the stage was in sight, throwing them down in every which direction, and running toward the stage. There was a crazy mob flooding the stairs, crawling up the sides of the stage, and pulling themselves up onto the stage floor sans stairs. A pile of people surrounded the sign-in table pushing towards the pens. Then a run back to the bike and on toward the starting line. You'd think that we were late for the start or something, but we still had 20 minutes to just wait on the starting line.... everyone just wanted to be in a good position for the start.

So the goal of the race was position, position, position. Saturday's world cup was going along well -- the whole team was hanging out towards the front, ready for the cobbles. We were winding through Wezup -- the last town before the cobbles and I was pleased to be sitting towards the front and excited for the cobbles to come when all of a sudden a girl to my left decided to slide across the road, take out the girl in front of me and form a pile of bike and body right in my path! I was on the side of the road (a pretty tree lined road) and there was no where to go but into the mangled pile -- the bike hit and i took a dive straight towards a tree. KaBooM! I hit pretty hard and hurt all over.... but as I slowly assessed the situation, nothing seemed to be broken or bloody (no worries mom :). Just a lot of bruises. By the time I was back up, the pack was gone into the cobbles, i was in a haze, and my race was over. But I got to hop into the team car and watch the rest of the race live. I must admit that there are some boring moments driving along at 40km/hr when you can't see much. But also some very exciting moments -- like watching my teammate bridge to the winning break! And some amusing moments -- like when the caravan is forced to stop and I look out my window to see all the DSs and mechanics lined along the side of the road for a quick pee - ha! At the end of the day, the team had one crash and one flat, but also a 6th place finish in a world cup!!

The next race came quickly and brought more cobbles, more climbs up the garbage hill, and lots of wind. The wind proved to be the brutal factor for the day... lining the race out and splitting off groups forwards and backwards. In the end, there was a lead group of 18 riders, a chase group of 11, and a big pelaton... and many riders off the back. There were several times that I thought I was gone off the back of the race. In my attempt to stay very far away from the trees (all the roads are lined with them!!!!) I did not hold a great position. But I kept chasing and chasing and somehow managed to keep getting back to the peloton.... only to be pulled along with the rest of the peloton at 100km. So, in the end, only 29 riders finished. Two of my teammates finished in the chase group (they got soooo close to the lead group!). It's pretty crazy to start a race with 166 riders and finish with 29. I think Paris-Roubaix had a better finishing ratio yesterday!!!

Next up --- Gelderland. Until then, the team is enjoying a week of riding around Schoonard, playing bananagrams in our camp house, and eating frites mayo.

Drentse 8

1 down and 2 to go in Drenthe. Yesterday's race twisted around in dizzying loops through the narrow roads of Holland. The whole race was a fight for position and when it came to the moment of truth, I was not where I wanted to be... but I finished without mechanicals this time!

There was only a tiny itty bitty section of cobble yesterday, but in tomorrow's world cup race we will get cobbles for real! We checked some of them out this morning - here is a preview:

Flanders

Normally my spring classic is Hillsboro Roubaix, which is a pretty great race.... but this year I am excited to be doing the real thing! First race up for the team was De Ronde van Vlaanderen (otherwise known as Flanders). The race consists of several kms of cobbles and 8 notable climbs (three of them cobbled!). This would be my first time riding in the spring classics, first time racing in a world cup, and first time racing over cobbles... a lot of firsts for one race.

Position is key in Flanders and everyone is fighting to be in the front of the field... get too far back and you risk getting stuck behind crashes and getting caught in bad position when things break up. So the race is a battle from the gun -- everyone trying to squeeze through to the front as we zoom along narrow roads and weave through tiny towns. Before we had even begun the fun of cobbles and climbs, a girl on my left slid out into me... I veered, i teetered, i tried to stay up, but as I strayed off the road my tire got caught in a rut and plopped me down on my side. I popped back up and cyclocross mounted onto the bike still in the midst of the field and feeling ok. But my chain was off... so i stopped, got back off, and plopped the chain back into position as the remaining riders zoomed by and caravan cars proceeded to pass. I now had some chasing to do... my first time having to get through the caravan and back to the pack. I really wanted to get back to the pack!

I worked my way back onto the group (woohoo!) and as soon as I arrived, we took a left through town... coming out of the corner, I shifted up and went to jump back to speed when I heard ka-clunk-clunk-clunk-clunk. My derailleur was in my spokes and the shifters were not listening to my commands! I drifted back and came to our team car -- our mechanic tried working his magic as I drifted along the side the car (my first time getting repairs on the move). He adjusted the shifting the best he could... told me not to shift into my top gear... and sent me back on my way. I began chase #2 and realized "don't shift into the top" meant don't shift into the top 3 cogs! Then we hit the hills and my forward progress towards the pack started moving backwards. It was a grind up the climbs in my 19 tooth cog. At this point I realized the race was pretty much over for me...

But I was in Belgium on the Flanders course and how cool is that? -- so I kept pedalling along. I bobbled over the cobbles and trudged up the hills with a cadence of 10... coming up the cobbled climbs I was cheered on by hundreds of boisterous fans (this is when i told myself that i had to keep s-l-o-w-l-y turning the pedals over -- do not stop -- do not walk!). I made it 100km before the sag wagon came by. The guy told me I could keep riding if I wanted (and I really wanted to finish the course) but he failed to tell me that all the signalers and course directions would be gone! I took the next turn and noticed roads going off in every direction with nobody and no signs pointing which way to go. I was alone with no idea where I was and no idea where to go. And it was Easter so all the shops are closed and nobody is out and about -- oh s**t!

While trying not to panic, I found a nice man who pointed the way to the finish... only 20km down the road. At the same time the US car drove by and pulled up to give me a ride -- Double Rescue!!! YAY!

So not the best race, but quite the experience! And the team finished with two in the main group with Brooke the top American in 13th.

I'm looking forward to the Drenthe races starting in only two days -- and hoping for a bit more good luck.