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.