Day 23 Rest day

A rest and recovery day and boy do my legs need to recover, three hard races in 5 days is pushing it a bit for me. I kept getting cramps in my legs last night so that kept me awake!

Since I had no specific plans for the day I took my time going for breakfast, I might get up a bit earlier tomorrow, the breakfast buffet looked like a plague of locusts had swept through! It wasn't locusts but a group of cyclo tourists on an organised tour of the area, apparently its hugely popular with mostly older Germans, and they take a long leisurely day to ride about 50km around the many marked scenic bike trails.

Jurgen told me that one of these riders had consumed 4 litres of beer and 3 Leffe's the previous evening after dinner, Leffe is a premium Belgian beer at 7%, pretty strong stuff! So you can see that they aren't a particularly athletic group.

I decided my legs were so sore this morning that I would go for a one hour very easy ride to spin out some of the rubbish from my legs. I was going to take a complete day off but I think my body copes better with recovery rides rather than days off.

When I was riding today I got quite cross with myself about the finish yesterday, the more I think about it, that was a definite win opportunity and they don't come along that often. Morale of that story is that you are never as tired as you think you are when it comes to a sprint!

A bike clean (yet again) this afternoon, an early dinner and early to bed for me tonight.

Day 22 Last Preparation Race

Today's race was on a much more Ray friendly course, not dead flat but no more than rolling, definitely big ring all the way.

To cut to the chase, I went from completely stuffed over the last couple of laps through 'I'm going to win this' with 300m to go to getting savagely chopped approaching the last corner, through to third at the line!

I had a plan, which was to race as hard as I could and not really worry about the result, I wanted this last race before the championship to be as hard as I could make it. I think it was the biggest age group field I have raced in, it had one world champion, 2 Belgian champions? and one European champion. None of these gentleman featured in the finish.

Unfortunately we had a minutes silence on the line for a rider who died in his sleep last night, aged 61, he had raced with us on Monday!

The course laid out with a short 250m finishing straight (with 'street furniture' that made passing a real challenge), left up a hill and along a straight to a left turn with a traffic 'calmer' to negotiate mid turn, straight into a repeat 100m later, then a long fast straight about 3km long with the middle km being a not too lumpy cobbled run before getting into narrow uphill section until a fast left turn which took us down through a built up area, with two lefts and a right turn in quick succession followed by two rights and a left out onto a main road with some bad concrete gaps that had the bunch snaking right and left, a fast left across 50/60m of bad bad cobbles onto a fast down hill with a right then a left, 300m of uphill, sharp narrow right hander into the finish straight, about 8 and a bit k.

We did the first 500m reasonably sedately but as soon as we hit the long straight it was on for young and old, or in our case, old and old! Having started at the back I had used the modest early pace to move nearer the front which was just as well because there were gaps opening immediately. For the next four laps it was attack after attack, I made sure that if I wasn't in the break attempt that I was with the next group trying to get across, I know I put myself deep into the red often, my downloaded data says I got my heart rate consistently 3/4 beats above what I thought was my max!

The organisation threw a 'primie' up at four laps to go that got some action on the front from 3 guys that had been hiding out at the back, having stretched the bunch out, 3/4 of us counter attacked and went clear that drive lasted almost 2 full laps, a few riders had clawed their way across, 2/3 at a time, but we just kept battering away. At two laps to go there was a bit of a lull and I looked around for the first time and realised that there were only 12 riders actually 'in' the race now, which was good but I'd spent a lot of 'pennies'. I managed to get off the front for a while on my own on the fast run through the built up area, well it was either gently downhill or flat and mostly out of the wind, I'm good at those bits!

We were all back together, well the 12 of us, for the bell, then it got a bit odd for a couple of k with some chatting going on before one of the riders sidled over to me to tell me what had been discussed. In tribute to the rider that had died they were going to 'give' the win to his best friend and team mate who was with us in the dozen riders. I couldn't really argue with that and if I'm honest I was feeling really stuffed and figured I wasn't going to feature in the tricky sprint anyway, I'm more of a straight line sprinter, I don't generate the power to get out of slow corners and up to sprint speed quickly. So for a couple of K we cruised along although there was more 'chat' going on, I assumed that they were working out how to deliver the win, I thought we would need to let the chosen rider go quite soon so the rest of us could fight out the placing and not catch him in the process.

However it turned out differently, the chap had decided he didn't want the win and we were racing again, they did have the decency to let me know before we started jumping around again. Coming along the main road section I was trying so hard I was definitely moving into nauseous territory, left across the cobbled section, for some reason I was fast across those, down the fast downhill with a right and left and onto the last 300m up hill into the last turn. I seemed to go from 'stuffed' to moving past everybody without really hurting myself, so then I committed to getting into that last corner first, however with only two riders left to pass, as I moved to pass them they came left on me forcing me into an erratic line on the inside for the corner. Of course I was going to get around it slower than most on that line, even worse by moving to defend against me they gave two other riders a fast run around the outside.

So I beat the two who had blocked me, sheer bloody mindedness I think, the two with the fast line where away and gone. Initially I was a bit p....off but then I decided I should never have been that far back at the start of the final hill, if I had been nearer the front it would have been me first into the corner and .......

I'm sorely tempted to race again on Friday but I feel I should resist and give myself the best chance on Sunday, on the other hand Sunday is going to be a bit of a lottery and can you imagine a full field sprint of circa 120 charging down the finish straight? That will get the adrenalin going for sure, not a place for the faint hearted but I doubt whether it will come to that.

Tomorrow will be an easy day, spend some time getting my bike in the best order I can, another recovery day on Friday, I'll do my pre race day intervals on Saturday then the big one on Sunday. I definitely feel I'm a chance if I can ride to my capabilities on Sunday but I I've still got to put myself in the right places at the right time. I'm not going to lose sleep over it and I've already had a great trip and got some good results, so I'm content however my last two races pan out.

Day 21 - Recovery day

Nice easy day today, plan was for 2 hours easy endurance, nothing hard, just get my legs spinning. I almost achieved it, Jurgen, my host, is building new house in Dendermonde a pretty spot on one of the main canals in Belgium He's been on at me for a few days to go and see it, I guess he's pretty proud of it. He's building it 'owner- builder' style, you don't seem to need qualified tradesmen and apparently the inspection process is pretty light as well. The thing that did strike me was that there is an in-ground pool, no fencing, but I guess there are so many canals and rivers in the country that fencing might be seen as irrelevant, but is odd to see.

Even though Jurgen printed me out a map and marked my route on it I still managed to miss one key turning which meant I was on the wrong side of the canal and had to do extra K's, not the end of the world and I managed to find the house OK once I got myself back on track.

I'm not a 'construction' person and had really only gone because he kept onto me and he has been very helpful in all sorts of things. The style he described as typical Flandrian, I might call it mock chateau, a bit pretentious for my taste. The actual construction is an interesting mix of carved stone, exposed wood worked in the old style, you know wooden dowels and all that stuff, mixed with breeze block interiors and concrete slabs. Jurgen was proud of his wiring and has even installed fibre optic interior data cabling for his Internet and TV distribution. That's about the only thing I know a little about and I did point out to him it's OK having the fastest cabling you can get internally but if he's delivered data at 4 or 8kb it won't make any difference what he has internally. I guess he knew that but he was kind of hoping that Belgium Telecomm would upgrade the national system sometime in his life time, a bit like us hoping that Telstra will do the same, fat chance.

So having paid a visit to the new mansion I headed home another way, I was doing great until I was forced off my planned route by a road closure and detour, the problem there was that every junction wasn't signposted so my ride back was again a little longer, still it all only added up to two and a half hour's and it was a sunny day if a bit windy.

I must say that although I was trying not to push on, the few times I was required to press harder my legs responded by feeling pretty dead, I think those two hilly races and two laps solo really left their mark. Hopefully an afternoon lounging under the sun umbrella and another good nights sleep will set me up for tomorrow's race which I have been assured is much flatter! Assuming that it is flatter and my legs have indeed recovered it is my intention to be very aggressive from early in the race and not be coming from behind in the second half because I'm feeling strong.

I've still got to finish my bike for the race, I may leave that for the morning, the girls chase me out of my room anyway to clean it etc. I've been shopping laying in what will probably be my final supply of fruit, some packing materials for the extra wheels I am now bringing back and some degreaser so I can clean the running gear properly, its very sandy here especially when its raining and its difficult to clean properly any other way.

Day 20, Another ****** hilly race and very wet too!

Today started as a brilliant sunny day with the temperature quickly reaching 24c, absolutely perfect, not too windy either. Having checked the weather prediction for the whole week, up to and through Sunday it is the same, sunny with temperatures ranging from 23c to 27c.

So I tinkered with my bike in the sunshine, an extra polish and checked out my new wheels and how they set up in the bike, it was also an opportunity to pull the cassette apart and clean that too. So the new wheels look a treat, the rear mech will only require the smallest adjustment for the new wheels and the result is a very very light bike, I hope its going to be fast too.

The race today was only 20 minutes drive from the hotel, there are a few Brits around and some of them were trying to persuade me to race elsewhere with them, I opted for the 20 minute drive rather than an hour or so, that could have been a mistake. I signed on no problem and started to get ready, in honour of the warm sunny day I opted for a nice white outfit and off I headed on a warm up lap. I was 300m into the first lap when there was an almighty clap of thunder!!! as I looked over my shoulder all I could see dark black clouds and the rain sweeping in, what happened to the sun?

That wasn't my only shock as I worked my way around the lap I realised that the course was as hilly as the last race that I 'bitched' about so much, the only thing it lacked was a really really steep bit, how disappointing! The lap was 7km around with three stretches of climbing the first and third stretches being the hardest, coming off the last and longest climb it was fast down and through to the finish which also kicked up to the finish line.

For some reason I actually had a second set racing clothes in the car and after one warm up lap I opted to change out of white into black, a good move I think. I also opted to adjust the tyre pressures as well, it was extremely wet, with various sorts of muck, standing water and all the concrete gaps one could want.

Another warm up lap, pushing a bit harder this time and feeling that my legs hadn't fully recovered from the hammering they got two days earlier, by the time I got back to the line I was wet, I'd slipped a couple of times and my legs felt rubbery, so I was ready. On the line one of the officials was demonstrating how slippery the concrete had become by finishing on his bum! Just what I needed but I did notice not too many of the boys actually laughed.

We were off with 8 laps to complete, for the first three laps I felt like I was hanging, certainly too far back but I didn't feel like this was a race I was going to finish, you know how it goes; mentally looking for a good excuse, well maybe any excuse. The good thing was the boys were taking corners very gingerly which was good and really without making a conscious effort I found I was moving up nearer the front on the climbs which was also good. Just after half distance a break of five moved off the front and quickly got a big margin, at that moment I still wasn't feeling that good, still looking for that elusive excuse to climb off .

I don't actually remember thinking I feel good now, possibly cos I didn't? I did notice that the bunch was whittling down nicely, every time we accelerated up a climb we lost half the bunch some would struggle back on each time the road tilted down.

Three laps to go up the longer third climb of the lap I was sitting fourth wheel as we came to the last 200m which was a tad steeper but nothing like earlier in the week, I attacked, well it seemed a good idea at the time. So I was clear, consolidated a gap down and through the finish, grovelled along the headwind straight to the first climb of the lap. Now at this point it became clear to me why it is that I never do solo breaks, they're too hard, I'd much rather be in a small break working well and take my chances in the sprint. However the bunch had not really made up any time on me so I buckled down a rode tempo up the hill, by the top I had a quick look and they did look closer but soon I was flying down the other side and along a tailwind flat stretch to start the shorter second climb, the bunch was out of sight again now. Turn right at the top of that climb along a 200m straight to turn left to start the long climb again now. I really thought they might get me on that it was all getting a bit hard. I didn't look back until I was turning at the top and I was still well clear, down the other side and right onto the fast run down to the finish.

Latste Ronde! Latste Ronde! Music to my ears but I had to do it all again now! The headwind straight after the finish was hard but I got to the first climb with my lead intact, riding the hill I was trying to not give it 100% and keep a little in hand, I was probably doing 98% in reality, they seemed to close up on the climb but I think that was a bit of an illusion, I was probably about a minute up at this point. I flew down the other side and around to the shorter second climb which I managed at a reasonably good pace which just left me with the last longer, harder climb to do. I managed to settle into a good rhythm, although I was making a good impression of a steam train with leaky valves by this point. I had to get out of the saddle for the last 100m or so. I tried to kick it over the top and get it into the 11 for the fast descent by this point I knew they couldn't catch me but managed to keep it at around 50kph all the way to the finish.

The break was well clear and there was never any danger of me catching them, although it seems that they had blown out one of their number on the last lap and I had passed him somewhere. Since I didn't really know who was up there anyway and the last laps were littered with lapped riders that I was using as 'carrots' to pull me out I wouldn't have noticed him.

Fifth again, almost a replay of the race two days earlier except I was chasing on my own! Typically while I was changing out of my wet, mucky gear it stopped raining and the roads dried quite quickly. I'd already made sure that the judges were aware that I was off the front of the bunch and not a lapped rider, so by the time I was clean(ish) again I didn't have too long to wait for the results to be declared 'official' and collect my envelope and deposit on my race number.

I had been thinking that I would go into Aalst to have a look at the first post tour pro criterium, however I decided that I didn't have enough warm clothes to stand around in after getting pretty wet in the race and according to the website the only tour 'star' they had signed up was Thor Hushovd, everybody else wanted way too much money. I guess that's another way of saying they don't want to do it. The website also says it's probably the last time they will organise it since although they have a local brewery as a major sponsor they can't afford the rider's fee demand anymore.

So I came back to the hotel washed the muck off my bike, I'll still have to clean and oil it tomorrow. Then I got to wash through my bike clothes, except a previously perfectly good pair of white socks that go straight into the bin, second pair in a week!

Reviewing my power profile in the race it was very encouraging to see my best ever 10 min and 20 min average power outputs, means that my Threshold power is still creeping up.

Day 19 A very restful day

It's Sunday again already, doesn't time fly when you're enjoying yourself.

So it was a very leisurely breakfast, I'm still the only guest at the moment, and you should have seen the size of the custard filled croissant that was at my table this morning. I did um and ah as to whether I should eat it or not for at least a nanosecond, it was delicious but I was still feeling it on my stomach 2 hours later!

I did 2 hours at easy endurance pace (lower half of my endurance zone) and for the first 30 minutes I could really feel that flipping hill in my legs. I tried some new roads today which always make a ride go by quickly. Saw one enormous club group all out in a blue strip, there were at least 60 of them, I counted as best I could, complete with a sag wagon, they do look impressive all decked out in club colours. There were plenty of smaller groups as well, diving in and out of the tiny little lanes.

There were family groups out and about doing their Sunday bike rides and a number of horse riders which I always try to give a wide berth to, horses and bike riders don't mix well, although perhaps Belgian horses see more bike riders than your average horse. Better safe than sorry for me though.

There were also an inordinate number of team cars on the road today, all travelling in the same direction, as far as I could work out they were Continental Pro teams, I definitely spotted Baden Cooke's Vaconseil ? Bodysol, Shimano neutral service cars plus some others I'm not familiar with, I'm not sure where exactly they were going but I wanted to watch the last stage of the tour anyway.

Cleaned my bike again today ready for another race tomorrow afternoon, which is unfortunately going to clash with the big post tour criterium in Aalst tomorrow evening. I notice that they have Robbie signed up to appear, not that these thing are real races more celebrity events. But the 80,000 strong crowd had a ball last year and cheered everything that moved, I hope I will be able to get there for some of it at least.

I was reflecting on yesterdays race while I was riding today, deciding that I was pleased with myself getting over that rotten hill and staying in the race. However there was one thing after the race that made me chuckle to myself again this morning.

After each race you have to hang about for a bit to claim your prize money, they need to get the photo finish sorted out and all that good stuff, nobody gets paid until the result is 'official'. Wasn't an issue that I had to wrestle with too much last year but I seem to be doing better this year. So sign on and pay out was in the obligatory bar, I had got changed and cleaned up and was having a coffee sitting in the sun outside the bar chatting to some ladies who were the wives of other racers. One of the guys came up and said something and his wife said I was Australian. To which he said ah yes you were in the white jersey, to which I said yes. He then told me that I peddle too low a gear, same as I was told last year, to which all I could do was my best Euro shrug and nod, its true I don't try and mash the monster gears that some of the boys do in these races. Then I had a thought and asked him what position he finished, he said 11th (I think) So I suggested to him that perhaps he was pushing too big a gear, he didn't really know how to respond to that so we both had a good laugh.

Day 18 Another Race Day

I couldn't believe my luck! today I managed to turn up at one of only 2/3 races in the annual calendar with real hills in it, that was lucky wasn't it. However it was a warm sunny day with only a light wind blowing so that was good, the road surfaces were all good as well so I ran my tyres at what I would normally for a race for the first time.

Due to some cancelled races in other places there was a big field in the race with riders 'guesting' from other associations. The course was 6.8km around and started straight up hill and kept climbing for 2.5km, with a real steep 'pinch' at the top lasting about 200m then it dived down hill for around 1.5km before climbing, more gradually this time, for around 1.5km then a flat straight of about 1.5km before diving down to the finish. The finish line was about 100m up the hill.

I dreaded the start and just as I feared we were straight into it with the bunch going into a pretty long line almost straight away up the hill, although I had been chatting at the back I managed to move into a decent position before we got to the final steep ramp. As we hit that all the climbers took this as their opportunity to attack, sprinting away as skinny little climbers can do, me I hate it when I have to climb out of the saddle, I'm generally not good at it. I managed to stay close and as we turned the corner at the top the climbers slowed having not really got clear. For some reason I attacked at that point, why I don't know but I much prefer going down hill and fast is good, although I didn't really get to far off the front I did seem to chop a few guys off the back who had struggled on the climb and never managed to rejoin.

That was pretty much how the race went really, lots of attacks and I must admit after 3 times(with 9 to do) up that hill I was feeling I couldn't go the full distance today but eventually I found a technique that worked and kept me at the front of the race at all the important moments of the race. Basically I would go to the front approaching the steep bit and then sprint as hard as I could for the really hard bit and only the real climbers would come past me but not so as I didn't manage to jump on a wheel. Inevitably splits were appearing there and I felt it was only a matter of time before one stuck.

Personally I was much happier on the more gradual climb that came after the downhill or even better the flat bit that ran across to the final drop down to the finish line. I did think that the finish might suit me if I could stay at the front, a fast down hill with a short uphill sprint with no corners to deal with was more my sort of thing.

Anyway the race kept splitting and reforming on both hills as well as the flat straight and even the downhill run to the finish, shedding a few riders each time. It paid to stay as close to the front as you could, but each time up that steep pinch I thought would be my last, I really hated that bit.

At two laps to go a group of six riders moved clear on the hill and at the point that they went I didn't have the legs to follow but eventually pulled some big turns as my legs recovered a bit so along with 3/4 others we were keeping the gap manageable but not closing it much. Of course by this time there were also riders that hadn't been seen until this point, firing off the front trying to bridge on their own. They all failed but did serve to keep momentum on the front of the bunch.

Last time up the big hill was pretty full on and the gaps started appearing pretty early, I managed to bridge a few small gaps as riders fell away to hit the front about 400m from the top and did my by now usual fast lead in to the steep bit, then sprint as hard as I could. Five riders came past me but I managed to grovel onto the last wheel as we came to the turn for the really fast downhill, as I made the turn I realised we actually had a good gap, so I stuffed into the 11 sprocket and went as fast as I could down the hill while still allowing myself to recover a bit before we hit the next bit of climbing. Now I'm not sure whether the guys I was with were pulling turns or attacking but the nett result was positive and we stayed clear of the strung out bunch, towards the top of the gradual climb we started to lose momentum so I went back to the front pulling as hard as I could.

When we got onto the flat stretch we picked it up again, two guys had managed to get across to us so we were now 8, although not all pulling. We started to look at each so I jumped it hard and pulled us through the last corner and onto the final down hill run to the finish, about 1.5km away, now only 100m behind the leading break. Predictably my chasing 'pals' attacked me as I pulled over to let someone else have a go at the front, I had been expecting it and had saved a little to grab a wheel. The individual attacks were coming left and right and I was gradually coming back to the front of our group, unbelievably at 528m to go, still with a 50m gap to close, they 'propped' to have a look at each other. I didn't, I launched immediately, I mean carrying speed and downhill what else would I do, my group hesitated so I was clear and catching the break 'hand over fist', not quite fast enough though I only managed to get past one of them to take 5th.

You may well ask why 528m? the answer is of course my SRM power meter records all that stuff and I was able to review it all this evening. Still after thinking I couldn't do that hill again on each lap after the third time up it, I was actually pretty pleased with that.

Day 17 Recovery Day

Nice easy day today with a late start. I'm the only guest in the hotel this weekend which is quite alright with me and I get extra special treatment at breakfast

So it was an easy paced recovery ride this morning just turning my legs over, getting yesterday's race out of my leg's and setting up for my next race tomorrow, There's one thing I found out yesterday that I should mention. Earlier in the week I won a bunch sprint and had to shift a chap out of the way with a little head nudge. It turns out this chap was a certain Jan Ullrich's soigneur and was the guy that wrote the big expose book into JU's, Telecom's and Rudy Pevenage's 'practices', there was a court case about the book I recall. Well that was interesting enough but it also seems that this chap has just returned from a two year doping ban of his own! caught whilst racing with the Vet's, how sad is that? I must admit I've never seen a doping control here but they obviously turn up sometimes, probably on a tip off I suspect.

I'm racing near Brussels tomorrow, the race is around midday so I'm hopeful of getting back in time to watch at least the finale of the Ventoux stage. That Cavendish is something else isn't he? 5 stages and still the Paris stage to go, can he make it 6? Makes Hushovd's Green jersey look a little silly doesn't it.

Day 16 Another Race Day a wet one too

A wet race today on a bit of a hot dog circuit too.

The race was an O60 race only 20 minutes drive from the hotel, luxury. Long leisurely breakfast, long telephone conversation and still had loads of time to get to the start to sign on. Contrary to my expectations I was not punted into the next age group, but given we had the reigning O60 World Champion, the new European Champion and the new Belgian Champion on the start line to push me up a grade might have been a bit tough.

I rode this course last year and found it pretty tough, some really slow corners with sprint type efforts to get back up to racing speed. Two major differences this year, I'm not having to race with the 30+ year old's in the 'open' category and I'm a lot stronger and fitter this year.

The race started dry but got wet with heaps of standing water but fortunately not on the corners. To be honest this race was never going to finish with me not at the front and in the mix, however from my perspective it was a very negative race that it's really hard to enjoy. Every single time I jumped across to a break, the break stopped working it was ridiculous, every rider was prepared to not pursue their own chances as long as it meant that I wasn't at the front, really bizarre.

The WC was sporting some new bandages so didn't really feature presumably because of his injuries, I never really saw much of the European Champ, he was pretty invisible assuming he finished the race and the Belgian Champ was really p****** me off, he was riding like a schoolboy. He kept leaving me gaps and trying to back me off, really juvenile stuff that was unworthy of somebody wearing a champions jersey. He wasn't so happy when I gave him two barrels of good old anglo saxon invective, even his mates were laughing at him then, he wasn't too keen about my knee nudging his handlebars occasionally as I brushed past him either.

The last three laps it was really tipping it down, warm enough but very wet indeed and given that the finish sprint consisted of a sweeping 90 degree turn a further right kink and then a left kink all in the last 300m , I had already decided to opt out of that sprint. I wasn't going to get into any heroics over 40 Euros on tight wet corners. Two laps to go there were 6 riders away with nobody interested in chasing, just after the bell I jumped away and took half a lap to catch them and they were trying very hard to stay away from me. As I coasted onto the back looking for a bit of a breather before setting up for the sprint, they propped wanting me to go to the front, then the bunch caught us, they had certainly been chasing me. So I sat up. Straight sprints are more my thing anyway.

Last year when I was here I didn't notice any negativity but then I was always in a grade that was way too tough for me and just about hanging on in each race. This year I am extremely competitive and not enjoying it so much.

I also discovered today that the race I did the other day was for 40+ year old's, not 50+ as I thought, that would explain all the 'baby faces' in the bunch, no wonder it was tough up that hill!

There is apparently another association that I can race with that has a greater degree of split between age groups, so I may try them for my next race, they are pretty local too. Hopefully they will give me a run in my age group, the one thing I really would like to do is get a win and get a photo of my two handed victory salute for Harry! First things first though I need to cross the line first!

Day 15 Yet another recovery day

A very relaxing day, I even slept late, so I guess I did try yesterday. Breakfast was a very relaxed affair, I'm the only guest at the moment so I was just chatting with Jurgen and his Dad, mostly about the tour.

My ride was 2 1/2 hours easy endurance, that's in the lower half of my endurance zone and at the beginning my legs felt like they were well used yesterday but by the end of the ride were turning over OK. It occurred to me on the ride that I probably should have given my new wheels a try, the reduced weight (I checked the website, 1015 gms the pair) would have been really useful on that climb which according to my computer was 75m of altitude gain in 2.5km, not a lot compared with the tour boys but done 8 times at close to full gas every 6 km's was enough for me.

Tomorrow's race is a circuit that I know from last year, assuming it will be the same, and I don't like it that much, too many really slow corners. I'm OK with the bike handling but its all the sprinting back to race speed from almost dead stop, I know its going to hurt my legs, I also know I have to do it and it will stand me in good stead next week.

Spent the afternoon chilling and watching the tour, cleaned my bike, then dinner.

Day 14 - Another Race Day

The day started out with a few surprises. Surprise one was when I looked at the race location on the map, Wulvergem is the next village to Kemmel! For those of you that watch the early season classics from Belgium will know that the Kemmelberg features large, so my confidence in a flat race was already dented!

Surprise two came from Jurgen, my host, who informed me that today was a public holiday in Belgium and there would be a big military parade and fly past - and all shops, garages etc. etc. would be closed, Bugger I needed petrol but freeway services would be open so that was OK. To be honest when I'm at home I hardly know when a public holiday is looming, well I don't get a day off do I!

Surprise three came as I pulled onto the freeway straight into an 8km go slow! I think all of Belgium seemed to be trying to get to Oostende, going to the beach maybe? Problem was the services were an absolute zoo everybody wanted petrol.

Fortunately my route took me off the main East - West freeway to head South to Wulvergem which with my SatNav working a treat was painless. Parking up in the village I could see the wooded Kemmel hill looming behind, so still hoping that we were going the other way I signed on for the O50's race. Funny, now that I'm booted out of my age group they all want to come and say hello and shake my hand! All I'll say about their race having seen how it turned out, is that I would have won it by 5 minutes! but I wasn't in it so that's that.

Briefly the course started with a 2.5km climb, the first kilometre on a two lane concrete road then turned into a lane, the first 50m of cobbles, then up towards Kemmel on a winding hot mix road, only three riders wide. Fortunately it plateaued and turned right instead of left up to the top of the Kemmel climb, so we were into the wind on a more gradual descent which nonetheless was fast and very winding. Then along the flat, back into the village to cross the finish line and back onto the climb. Essentially the climb we had is the descent that the 'big guns' have after they have climbed the steeper cobbled side of the Kemmelberg hill proper. We had 8 laps to do up the hill!

I was number 70 and I wasn't the last to sign on, on the line for my race and looking around it struck me that there were either a lot of fugitives from the 40 year old race or the Belgians are a baby faced lot! The former is the right answer. Looking around I realised I was the oldest by a long way and apparently old enough to have the race caller commenting on it each time I came through the finish.

Anyway, the first lap was fine, I even surprised myself by climbing comfortably in the first 10/15 riders, I lost some places on the descent by not taking the corners too well, subsequently no brakes at all turned out to be the right technique when I eventually got a little more confidence, However the front of the race was full gas through the finish line and all the way to the top of the hill, I was in real trouble on the wide road straight into the wind, I could only hang on a wheel, I couldn't do anything about the gaps appearing all over the place. When we turned onto the winding bit I found I could make up positions, basically jumping across from one small group to the next, mind you by the time I got to the top of the climb I was pretty stuffed and then we were going down hill pretty fast. I had to let some riders pass me there I didn't have a lot of power to spare right at that moment and definitely needed a wheel to follow.

At that point in the race there was a bunch of about 20 at the front, a bunch of about 10 about 100m behind and my bunch which swelled a bit on the descent to about 20 a further 100m behind? No idea where the rest where. The style of chasing is a bit different but has always been the same, there is a guy on the front chasing as hard as he can, as he slows one or more rider's will attack to try and bridge the gap on their own. So we did this for a lap or so before the front group was well gone, we caught the group in between but lost a half dozen who formed another intermediate chase group up the road and seemed to be a bit more organised.

We were a group of 20+, most sitting on, by this stage I was determined that I was going to achieve my main aim, finish the race, get some tough racing k's in my legs. Then it was kind of funny, it was a bit like 10 green bottles or bike rider's, I didn't see them all go but a working group had formed on the front and we were going through pretty hard and in fact I towed the group up winding climb each of the last 4 laps, I was feeling good on that climb and going pretty strongly holding 360 - 380 watts for 5 minutes. So we whittled ourselves down to 5 riders for the last two laps. We did pass 3 of the riders that had been stuck in the middle, they didn't even try to join us.

My temporary 'pals' let me pull the whole of the last lap and then attacked with 400m to go, so I was last in the group, but considering I figured that there were at least 20 riders up the road for 15 prizes I was more than happy with my outing, not quite sprinting for a win but much much harder.

The weather had been brilliant, 28 degrees windy but not gale force, but 10 minutes after we finished, the 'young blokes' had just started the sky went black, thunder and lightening and absolutely tipping it down with rain, it had stopped by the time I got back to the hotel but the drive, with wipers going flat out was interesting to say the least.

Day 13 Check out the Championship course day

Went to check out the course for the 'big' day. It's flat, really good surface all the way around, I think it should be fast which I think is going to suit me as well as any course could, The BIG drawback is the amount of 'street furniture' around the course, potted trees, traffic calmer's, directional arrows, centre refuges, guard posts, you name it has it. I think some of it may be removable and I suspect that will be the case on the day, other stuff maybe covered by the ubiquitous hay bales but vigilance will definitely be the name of the game, stay up front I think which was my plan for the day anyway.

Of course its not really possible to ride on most of it because I had to stick to the bike paths and most of it is very urban so pretty busy, it will all be closed down on the day. Still I do know where the parking and changing rooms are (yes changing rooms in Belgium) and of course the all important 'Permanence' where need to sign on, I expect to get number 2, reigning champ gets 1, since I think Mel Davies will have signed me on very early.

Went to the big bike shop, Van Eycks, in Aalst just to get some more energy drink. It was mobbed a real zoo, it's their annual 20% of everything sale, just as well they don't take credit cards or I could have been in trouble. They, (like many shops) only take cash cards and pin numbers, drawn on Belgian banks , or cash which I didn't have a lot of today. I was going to go the bank in the village but they were closed for lunch? There's lots of stuff that catches you out, even in Maffra the bank's don't close for lunch, but I guess when you get used to it it's not a problem.

Going to race in Wulvergem tomorrow, which is south of me and deep in the WWI battlefield sites, some spots in the area can be quite hilly but I'll be surprised if we get anything too serious and it will be my first race race having been promoted to race with the 'younger' blokes!

Day 12 - Recovery Day

I have difficulty keeping track of days at the best of times, one of the benefits of being retired, every day is a holiday! While I'm here its even worse I think, I'm just planning from one race day to the next and since I can race most days if I chose to its very difficult to keep the week in sequence! Today is Sunday.

I know that because breakfast is later and on my ride today I saw loads of club groups out on their Sunday rides, they all wear full club/team colours and many have following cars as well, they love to emulate the pro's. I must admit that they always look impressive groups of 20 to 40 I think I saw today and the fact that they are diving in and out of the narrow winding farm lanes makes me envious. My map isn't really good enough to take me 'cross country' easily, the lanes wind so much that I'd be lost in no time, I know I've tried it, or else I'd be stopping at every junction and even then I'd need a detailed knowledge of how each every village and hamlet lies in context with the others. That's otherwise known as local knowledge and I don't have it, so I stick to the (slightly) more important roads which tend to be straighter and the signage to be more consistent.

Today I elected to ride down towards Geraardsbergen it gets a bit lumpy the nearer you get to the town and whilst earlier I had harboured thoughts of racing again today, the way my legs felt pushing up and into the wind proved to me that I made the right decision.

Best thing I saw today was a chap taking his Donkey for a walk, yes a donkey, he had it on a lead, or would it be called a halter? and was strolling along the bike path! Cute little dude, the donkey that is! I also came up behind a chap who sawing back and forth across the bike path, on his bike, making it impossible to pass due to the parked cars. I gave him a 'hop hop' as a warning and when he looked round I realised he was autistic (I think) and had a big smile on his face, so I waited and passed him a bit further, saying hello as I passed and was rewarded with a huge smile and was struck with the thought that everybody can enjoy riding a bike and this chap was having a whale of a time and was pretty safe on the bike path.

Again the weather forecast called for rain all day and whilst there were showers about, I was lucky and didn't get rained on and this afternoon it is sunny again.

Going to clean my bike this afternoon and there are some minor adjustments I need to make to the gears then I am going to chill and watch some TV. This afternoon I'm spoilt for choice, the Tour obviously but also the final day of the British Open golf and the GP bikes as well, I have to say with the way the tour has been boring me this week I may just watch one of the others and check the result later.

Tomorrow I was going to take the day off the bike completely and race again on Tuesday, however I think I will go and check out the championship course and ride a couple of laps to start to get the feel of it, I know that race will start fast so knowing what's coming will be important.

Whilst I was riding today I was thinking that it would be pretty easy to get complacent about the WC 60+ race but I have the feeling I haven't seen the best over 60's, plus of course there are other nationalities involved and the Dutch in particular will be there in force, there were a lot of Brit's last year including former pro super sprinter Sid Barass, while I sprint OK I'm not in his class.

It also occurred to me if the 'rules' are being applied evenly then the best local over 60's must also be riding in the 50+ races so its a good thing for me to be put in there too, I will be better prepared to race them, I hope.

Day 11 Another Race Day

Well I'm pleased to say that the weather forecast in Belgium is no better than it is for Gippsland, the forecast said rain all day (again) and we had sun all day and 20c. It was hellishly windy again which always makes the racing interesting but does tend to neutralise it somewhat.

With my new SatNav finding my way to Beveren for today's race with the OVWF was a piece of cake, just whizz along the E40 freeway to Ghent then hang a left down the E17 freeway and so on. Sign on today was in a huge barn converted into the village 'Feestent' complete with a bar, snack bar and barbecue with monster sausages cooking plus plenty of seating.

As with the last race with the OWVF I signed on for the 60+ race and went to get myself organised, the benefit of being in the first race of the day is that you get the pick of the best parking spots. So having got ready I headed off to check out the circuit, we have 13 laps of 4.7km to today, I should point out that my 'info' was that there was a hill on the course, no chance, it was pan flat all the way round. A tricky course with what seemed to be very little tailwind, a lot of crosswind and one straight of about a kilometer and a half block headwind, absolutely full into it.

On the second of my warm up laps, I was flagged down at the finish line by an official who using a combination of Flemish, French and pidgeon English informed me that from the next race on I was 'promoted' to the 50+ race! To be fair I think its probably right but maybe a bit precipitate after only one race, but on the other hand in terms of the championships its probably better to do a couple of races where I'm really being drawn out, it seemed to work OK last year.

Anyway into the race which had a similar if slightly larger field today and from the briefing I understood that there were some 'premies' up for grabs, I wasn't going to bother with them again today but they do always present a chance to counter attack. To be honest I wasn't sure how my legs where at the start of the race so I just went with it for a couple of laps to see if they would come to life. Of course once you are into the race you find yourself responding and making moves as the good old 'redmist' comes down down, so after a promising looking group had clawed a couple of hundred metres I jumped across, closing the gap very quickly and going straight to the front and pulling a turn, swinging over they all snaked across after me! Unfortunately that set the tone for the race, nobody, absolutely nobody would work with me in a break. To be honest at this point I was a bit fed up, well a lot fed up really, if it hadn't been so bloody windy I would have given it a lap at full gas just to break the race up but in the wind that would have been suicide.

So I just continued sitting 4th/5th wheel jumping across to every move and just sitting on it, to be fair the field was whittling down all the time but I still wasn't sure how good my legs actually where. We got the 5 laps to go board, I put in a big attack down the home straight and through the first couple of corners, the field was split as a I swung over to let the lead group pass me, they still had some momentum but weren't opening the gap anymore but where holding the gap, so I went straight back to the front and pulled half a lap, I made sure that my power output was at threshold and held it. I knew that I could cope with that without burying myself and it should open the gap even more, hopefully for good, round to the finish straight again it was definitely job done and whilst the others weren't actually giving it full gas they were starting to pull, all except the former World Champion who was doing nothing! I recognised all the guys that were with me from the previous race, they included the ex WC and the strong guy (who it turned out was 50 yr old) who I deemed to be the big threat.

From there on it got really interesting, they basically attacked me one by one, all except the ex WC who was childishly trying block me and take me out the back? I chased each one, what choice did I have, but basically I did it on my terms. I just kept it at my power threshold and pulled them back slowly making sure I had everybody in the gutter in the crosswind and in the headwind I tried to close it quickly cos I knew that they wouldn't attack me on that straight.

Anyway just after the bell the last guy went away and I pulled the last lap trying to chase and save something? I knew that if I caught to soon, I'd be chasing somebody else who was even fresher. I was trying to keep the escapee close enough where the finish sprint would bring him back. I pretty much knew that the strong guy with the 'legs' was going to go long just as he did earlier in the week, so here we were one guy 50m off the front, me towing 4 others as we start the finish straight, maybe 1km. I started to pick it up, I know I don't have a great 'jump' as such but can accelerate OK of a bit of speed, we got closer and closer, then at 400m my man went, I hadn't changed my gear up at this point, preferring to do it on the fly after I had got the wheel.

My man had 2/3 lengths and was levering his bigger gear, I put my legs into buzz mode and doing 130+rpm closed on his wheel, everybody else was already out of it. Here I made my mistake as I changed up to the gear that I wanted to sprint on I hesitated on the wheel a fraction before launching my own sprint. When I did go I put the watts over 1100, not exactly Mark Cavendish but reviewing it after I was pretty pleased particularly at the end of a race, so I blew past my 'lead out man' but failed to get the break away by one length. Bugger again!! Double bugger in fact.

At least I kept up my record of getting to kiss the "Ronde Miss" again today and a gift wrapped bowl of fruit along with my Euros. Chatting with one of the 'final selection', who happened to be parked next to me, after the race I asked him why he wouldn't work with me and his response was well he had a 'friend' up the road!!!! In other words they all wanted anybody to win except me. I suspect that won't be a problem in the next race, I'll be to busy hanging on.

I have to say something about the drive to and from the race. This is the week that Europe goes on holiday, schools are closed, the building trades down tools for 3 weeks and lots of factories close too. The effect on the freeways is that everybody with a caravan, trailer, top box or just a car loaded to the gunnel's is heading south. So streaming south were cars mostly from Holland, but augmented by Germans and of course Belgians, it is a truly remarkable sight. Fortunately the usual heavy loaded mass of lorries was missing, probably the drivers were towing caravans!

Finished the day with a very nice Chinese meal and two! glasses of red wine.

Day 10 Training Day

I woke up to a forecast of a wet day, 100% chance of rain all day!

I wanted to do a couple of hours and 3 x 3 minute threshold intervals and a couple of full on sprints. Boy are weather forecasters rubbish at their jobs. I was dry all morning and the sun came out when I cleaned my bike this afternoon.

What the problem here is for me at least, since I don't know the roads, is finding a stretch of road to do intervals of any length. If I start a 3 minute interval at threshold just outside one village I would be into the next before I finished and its really not sensible to thunder up the inside of parked cars with shops and shoppers dotting in and out, riding defensively is best. I did find a new stretch of road which served a treat. There must be places I'm sure but to do the 20 minute intervals I have been doing to punt my FTP up, would be very difficult.

So all in all a very restful day, perfect with a race tomorrow, which I believe has a hill in it, not my favourite but a hard race won't hurt me at this stage, unfortunately the weather forecasters are saying wind and rain again, I will settle for just wind.

I spent the afternoon watching the tour, I was happy to see Hausler win the stage and I know it was wet but when are the 'heads' going to start racing? it's so boring. I think the course isn't tough enough and the team time trial has played right for Astana, not my favourite team I must say. Although I am sorry for poor Levi, going out like that is never good, not that he could ever be accused of 'making' the race.

I was interested to read that Armstrong has said the the race is now between he and Contador, I guess he hopes it comes down to the TT, he has been known to turn in a good one from time to time, I might be asleep if they don't start racing before then!

Day 9 Recovery day

Today was a nice relaxing day with a 2 hour easy endurance ride.

The day started with a trip into Aalst to buy a SatNav and some inner tubes. Fortunately for me there are two big electrical stores on the way to Van Eycks mega bike shop so apart from not wanting a Navman, that's the one that's let me down already I was open to suggestions in the store, providing it was cheap.

So couldn't have been easier to walk out of the store programme in my 'preferences' and fire it up. Shouldn't get lost anymore this trip anyway. On to Van Eycks ostensibly for some inner tubes with a 60mm valve stem whichh I got OK except when I got them back and compared them with the conti 60mm's I have been using they seem a bit short, so I'm not sure now if they are really to short I won't be able to pump them up. Of course its hard to go into Van Eycks just for inner tubes, they have a great display of new bikes and frames, they also had just put out the Cervelo team summer (white) gear which I think looks quite good but when I examined it closely I wasn't impressed although its made by Castelli it's cheap replica gear, nothing like the team gear.

I rode towards Oudenarde, its a reasonable ride with some rolling hills for a bit of variety. I didn't go out til around midday and discovered with all retail closing down for a period at lunch time it was really quite quiet.

Cleaned my bike this afternoon and watched the tour. Is it me or is the tour this year incredibly boring? If it weren't for Mr Cavendish's incredible sprinting I might give up watching. Something has to happen in the Alps doesn't it?

Day 8 Race Day

Well my SatNav paraphernalia turned up in today's post and I've proved that I did have the right files, phew, but being able to interrogate it with the software on my PC I have discovered that unit has a terminal software error and with no fix on their website the unit is stuffed. So I think I will have to go shopping tomorrow I'm fed up with getting 'misplaced' on the roads, I always sort it out in the end but its so time consuming and probably a bit dangerous driving with a map on my lap.

Managed a lazy morning, I'm good at lazy, since today's race started at 3:00pm, it was in a place called Koecklare which is up towards Oostende quite near the coast. I only got lost once on the way there, so was there in good time and parked up. Found the sign on, there were signs "Inschriving" I think, and that was a fair give away. Today's race was with the OWVF and I hadn't raced with them before and it was very easy as usual, the lady doing the sign on had enough English and my Flemish vocabulary is coming on, maybe 10 words now!

I managed to sort of chat with some of the racers before the start, they seemed much more interested in me than in other places I've raced. One of them told me he'd been World Champion 3 years before, so I immediately marked his number!

The old dudes were off first, although I'm not sure what the start age was, since there were definitely under 60's in the race, and I should say that although it was very sunny the wind was absolutely howling and we were racing in flat open country side. We had 10 laps to do, and there were some intermediate sprints for 'premies', I tend to ignore them I prefer to focus on the race.Some of the guys spoke some English and I was given some 'instructions' on the start line from some of the riders which went along the lines we want to start steady I think for the first 3 laps or it might have been twee (two).

As it turned out we started pretty steadily and I just sat on the back of the circa 50 rider field. The course was fairly typical made much much harder by the very strong wind. Starting on the finish line (we don't always) into the wind, we did a 180 degree corner in about 100m to pick up the tailwind through a really fast winding bit, slaloming left and right, which turned as we headed out across the fields on a really narrow bumpy track, this was a tough left side cross wind for about 2km, turn tight at the end pick up the tailwind again for 200m before turning into a cross wind on a wider road with the wind off the right this time instead of the right, another really tough straight, last turn right bought us into the home straight for about one and a half k of block headwind, it was like hitting a wall.

I'm not really good in headwind sprints so I was wishing that we were finishing the other way, however they weren't going to change the course for me!

Anyway back to the race, there was a sprint prize at the end of lap 2 which I decided was going to be the start of the race proper, I let a couple of guys blow their doors off sprinting into the wind and as they sat up on the finish line I went, fast, through the tailwind section and hammered through the cross wind bumpy lane, not even looking around, I swung over in about 2km as we picked up the tailwind again, there were 5 of us left, you beauty job done; lets go guys, nobody would come through. When I started having a go at them I realised it wasn't so much wouldn't as couldn't, red faces and hanging heads told its own story! We never saw half the race again, we seemed to stabilise on about 20 riders, several riders came along side and told me I was number one, initially I thought they were taking the P... but I think they were acknowledging that I was strong. One guy even gave me tips on who I had to beat, pointing out a rider with an impressive pair of legs and definitely was not over 60. Remember this tip for later.

The race went on I was in every break or waited and jumped across to every break, I was very strong, we whittled the bunch down alarmingly with each acceleration but the headwind was tough and bought the survivors back together each time, indeed whilst I was good in the tailwinds and crosswinds I didn't fancy my chances on my own into that headwind.

The ex World Champion went off the back in the crosswinds of the final lap.

So we had a sprint, the finishing straight was so tough I wasn't really worried about anybody going long ,that was suicide and I felt confident I could cross any gaps quickly enough. Inevitably some of the non sprinters started popping off from about 500m, I was calm and maneuvered onto the wheel of the guy that had been pointed out to me. Sure enough he fired off at about 350m and he was kicking very strongly, a really punchy rider, he was making the back wheel jerk with each pedal thrust, but he was in a big gear, I hadn't even changed up at this stage and knew that I wasn't going to go myself until the barriers started at about 80/100m to go, headwind sprints go short is my rule.

Well I changed up and came of his wheel right where I wanted to and slammed straight into the side of another rider who hadn't been there when I looked through my legs seconds before! He and I spent the last 80m banging elbows, hips and shoulders but, having jumped a fraction before me he carried a tad more momentum and got me by inches! Bugger.

Of course the funny thing is it was the chap that had told me I had to beat the guy with big legs! He set me up a treat and obviously keyed off my last look to get his jump in before mine, I am disappointed but I have to say I would have done the same thing so Chapeau to him.

Day 7 Recovery day

Wow Day 7 already doesn't it fly by?

Brilliant sunny day today, light winds and a 90 minute recovery ride to do.

But first of all I had to go and pick up my new "Lightweight' wheels, choice of the Pro Tour peleton, allegedly. They are wickedly expensive but I managed to get a 400 Euro discount and a pair of Conti's glued on for me. 16 spoke front, 20 spoke rear, stiff as anything and weigh 1030 grams (I think), it is my intention to save them for the championship but I still have to reconnoitre that course and in the meantime if I come across a course like I raced yesterday I may just 'try' them out, can't wait.

Mind you after that the day was a bit downhill, 20 minutes into my ride happily spinning along then bang! bang! two punctures! Now I've always carried two spares, sometimes more in the 'wilds' of Gippsland, so I new could at least get back to the hotel. I wasn't game to try my hand at completing the ride without any further reserves. Now I need 60mm valve stems on the wheels that I am using so I headed to the nearest bike shop to replenish my stock and then finish my planned ride, well that was plan A. However shops shut here at lunch time for at least an hour, sometimes two, so back to the hotel for me, make myself a drink and chill for a bit.

Two o'clock arrives and I have choices as to where to go, bike shops catering for 'racers' are quite plentiful and I could think of four within the riding range that I wanted to do. One is the mega shop in Aalst but that is a ride that's all built up without and parking, bike or car is always difficult but I was sure that they would have them; or I could head in the other direction, nicer riding and take my chances at smaller shops.

I opted for the other direction checking in the bike shops as I went. I should have gone to Aalst! Absolutely no 60mm valve inner tubes, I managed to get one 80mm in two of the shops so that at least I could cope with a puncture. I have never seen an 80mm valve stem before, its so long it looks a bit fragile but I only need them in an emergency and I guess I still need to go into Aalst.

In the process I think I've gone off Michelin Pro 3's, that's 3 punctures I've had now, plus a spate before I left home. I had absolutely no punctures when I was here last year but I was riding Conti's, perhaps I should have stuck with them?

I'm going to race tomorrow with OWVF (I think), I believe they are new into the ICF and apparently the largest of the Belgian Vets organisations. So I've never raced with them before, can't imagine there will be a problem and I hope there won't.

The race is a relatively long way for Belgium it's over by Oostende on the North Sea coast but it will be an extremely easy drive since 90% is on the freeway and even I can't get lost on the freeway. Famous last words! I hope that Satnav disk I need turns up soon, it might have been easier to buy a new one with European maps loaded.

The road I have to take tomorrow should bring back memories of when we had the team and the late night dashes to get to ferries after racing forays into Belgium or more commonly Holland. Those drives were always frantic affairs to try and get the last ferry or whatever to avoid a long wait at a deserted ferry terminal. Happy days bombing along in the team van we had or the Mercedes estate team car festooned with bikes and wheels or on occasions both of them in convoy. Happy (if very tiring) days.

Day 6 Race

I raced at Mendonk today with the WAOD and finally got put in the right race! Apparently the head man, Henry, has the title of chief handicapper or some such? Last year he just kept sticking me in an open category which was frankly too hard for me. This time he just put me straight where I should be, I don't really understand why but I'm not complaining.

The race was on a 5km course, the usual mix of wider village streets and winding narrow country lanes, just wide enough for 3 people riding abreast. One short 50m stretch of 'real' cobbles through a corner and some clinker in the village, overall the surface was pretty good although there were three desperately slow and difficult corners on the narrow roads out of town. There was a bit of wind but it was a warm sunny day into the 20's which was nice, even nicer was the run back into the finish on a wider road with a cross tail wind.

I always find it a little difficult going into race where you don't know who the players are, although the Belgian and European age group champions where both on the start line resplendent in their respective champions jerseys. (AVCC, VVCC please take note). Having decided that my aim for the day was to finish; I set off with the intention of staying unobtrusively in the middle of the pack, learn the course lines and see what happened at the end of the race. Well that's plan A, by the end of the first lap the Belgian Champion at eased off the front and taken a 200m lead with no one apparently interested in chasing him, without actually thinking about it I launched off after him along the fast run into the finish line, surprising myself how quickly I crossed the gap to him. The only trouble was that bunch of about 40 decided that they would chase me and that was that!

With the benefit of hindsight I should have stuck to plan A, done enough to keep it all together, then launch a last lap attack I am sure I was fast enough to make that stick, however that's not what happened but I was now in the race using my speed to jump across to every promising looking breaks which all seemed to founder when I got there. There was only one guy in the race who would work with me and whilst he was willing, he wasn't fast enough to work with so that we could stay away from the bunch.

At two laps to go the Belgian champion was away again, I can't say he jumped because he more or less crept of the front in the right hand gutter whilst we were all on the left, I saw him go OK but decided to bow to the inevitable, since I knew if I chased him the bunch would chase me. At the bell he was still only 300m off the front so I started to think that maybe we could catch him as we wound up for the sprint. A couple of guys tried their hand to get across to him just after the bell, nobody chased so I closed them down myself and in doing closed back up on the lone breakaway as well. I decided that it was all looking quite promising and I fancied my chances in a sprint, at this stage I didn't know how well anybody else sprinted but I've been known to win sprints in my time! Of course the challenge was all the guys that hadn't been seen before in the race were now percolating towards the front, were they the sprinter?

So for the rest of the final lap, I was going to do nothing but follow wheels and hold a decent position and see how it played out down the finish straight. Coming through the last cobbled corner another guy sort of wobbled off the front, not what you would call an attack but nobody chased him so I just stayed where I was trying 'surf' along near the front of the bunch as the tempo inevitably increased into the last kilometre. The two escapees were now in plain sight in front of us as we accelerated, I was just making gut decisions as to who to follow, switching from wheel to wheel depending on who was moving forward, not prepared to commit to an all out sprint until I could see everybody else committed.

When we hit 250m, where the road side barriers started I was 3rd wheel and saw that the guys in front where indeed giving it all they had, so I launched my own sprint along the right hand barrier, one guy tried to put me into the barrier to stop my run, I said 'don't do that' or something similar! but in any case was along side him, gave him a little nudge with my head, then blew past on the right.

I Just failed to catch the second attacker by half a wheel, should have, could have started my own sprint earlier, and the winner was only just 20 m ahead of us, so I am totally confident that if the race had panned out just a little better for me I could have won, so winning the bunch sprint for 3rd was a big boost to my confidence after Saturday's race. I also have to be honest that being in sprints like that, especially that turn out succesfully, is fantastic, lots of adrenaline that's for sure, probably the best fun you can have not in your bedroom!!

What was more I had done the whole race just under my threshold, so as I always felt in the race had a little more to give and went over 1100 watts, which isn't very much if you are Mark Cavendish or Tom Booned but I am over the moon with since I've been trying to that for months.

Having said that I just know these guys are going to be 'difficult' for the next races, so life could get tougher from here on in, but today at least I feel good about the race.

On a more mundane front, I got lost again on the way to the race and came home the long way, rather that get lost again. I will be really glad when the memory card with Belgium maps on turns up in the post, hopefully tomorrow.

Day 5

Very lazy day today, late breakfast. 90 minute recovery ride just spinning my legs to try and freshen up for another race tomorrow.

Cleaned my bike (again), did some washing, my bike kit mostly, the modern fabrics we use now dry so quickly its pretty easy. When I was a boy and using wool shorts with real chamois they used to take forever and I can remember frequently putting on damp shorts in stage races because they hadn't dried and nobody issued a lot of kit in days of yore!

Spent the afternoon with my feat up watching the tour with French commentary, probably my strongest language I think but not really necessary to watch the racing. From a personal point of view I think I'd rather anybody that Liggett and Sherwin but that's just my preference.

Day 4

Well race day 1 is here and after a leisurely start to the day I have to negotiate my way across Belgium to find the race still without my Sat Nav, I hope the new mini disk will turn up on Monday. I Google mapped it last night and have made some notes for a route that isn't direct but uses the freeway's as much as I can, that makes it a lot easier.

The race sure did have a 'berg', nasty thing a little bit like that hill on the Phillip island race track, about 40 seconds from top to bottom, I did a couple of 450 watt efforts in the warm up, that's what I was doing in my race at Phillip Island earlier in the year and finished 3rd. I though this would be tougher since the lap was shorter and recovery would be less but was reasonably confident until we started assembling on the start/finish. This was a race with 3 divisions starting together, over 40, over 50 and over 60, given what transpired it was no surprise that the majority where over 40's and they all seemed to have calf's bigger than my thighs! I'm sure they would have all seen Leigh Egan off let alone me. Well we started at a full sprint, within 200 metres I was at 50kph and we kept that up until we got to the corner at the bottom of the hill which had a slow exit, they basically charged up the hill from there! My plan to manage the climb itself went completely out of the window, I was at 800 watts out of the corner and 550 watts on the climb. To put that into context I can win sprints at 800 watts, here I was just hanging on! Over the hill and down the other side was a brief respite but very brief, since we were then into probably the worst corner on the circuit and I was 950 watts out of that on the first lap, subsequent laps settled a bit but always over 900 watts. The difficulty for me was that on such a short circuit with 5 slow corners and that hill was that there wasn't anywhere to recover.

So to cut the story short after 6 times up the hill I couldn't stay with the bunch and came off the back, I was just going to ride back to the car when I was picked up by 4 over 50's who kept going so I joined them. We were far from the first to come off and these guys led me to believe that if they kept going and were 'pulled' they would be classified and in these race the prize money is there and the same whether 1 rider or a 100 guys enter, its all done to a set down formula. So I won the over 60 division! Bit hollow and to be honest I would have rather finished the race and not got the 45 Euros.

The first six laps I averaged 43kph which on that circuit I find astounding, no wonder my legs where hurting, the 5 laps I did with the other guys was at an average of just on 39kph whilst not easy was manageable, I could have featured in a race at that pace I think.

Well a win is a win I suppose but overall I'm disappointed with today, I hope Monday brings me a finish at least.

Day 3

Well I think I could write a book about today's ride, but first I'll relate a little 'incident' at breakfast this morning. Breakfast consist of the usual continental European fare of a selection of breads, cheeses, cold meats, boiled eggs, yoghurt with cereals for English or Anglophile guests and a large tray of croissants, plus this morning a large tray of chocolate croissants.

Well like most bike riders I can eat! Indeed I sometimes feel a little guilty with the amount of the buffet that I can put away. This morning there were three large gentleman at breakfast, they were Germans but that's not really relevant. Now these tray's of croissants had at least 10+ on each, I didn't see them disappear but I did have to pay attention when Madame Host 'got' into these three guys, my German isn't good but with the tone of the harangue and the 'hang dog' look of this group I deduced that all the chocolate croissants had disappeared into them and there were only 3 ordinary croissants left, not to mention the damage they had done to the cheese and meat trays. I was quite impressed that they had demolished this lot so quickly my hostess certainly was not as she spent the next 10 minutes 'tut tutting' around the restaurant as the three guys slunk out.

Where to start with today's ride which was certainly a day for keeping my wits about me. Men with wheel barrows, ladies on shopping laden bikes, ladies with mobile phones! packs of school children with and without police escorts to mention a few of the hazards on the ride, everyday is different. In deference to tomorrow's 'Berg' prize I opted to ride towards Oudenaarde, the nearer to the town you get the hillier it gets, I thought I would do a couple of 100% intervals as well to get my body prepared for some race efforts.

I wasn't sure how my legs felt at the beginning of the ride but the further I went the better I felt and without meaning to I was really pushing on, I had to keep telling myself to back off. I did the intervals at 125% and they felt (relatively) easy.

To come back to the kids, I think today must have been the last day of school before the summer break, so all the kids seemed to be on something organised since they seem to have been led by a teacher and tailed by another teacher, otherwise they were riding in pairs. Since all the older kids where all heading in the same direction I assume that they were going somewhere specific, no school buses here, pedal power only.

I also came across a huge pack (50+) of sub 11 year olds' doing something similar, the only difference is that they had a travelling police escort stopping traffic for them, no wonder there are so many racers here, its a big part of their life.

Oh I also did my best to throw myself on the ground passing one of these groups whilst mid interval, because I had to cross over onto the road way to get around them and in doing so hit a lip too obliquely and came close to going down. How embarrassing would that have been dumping myself in front of a group of schoolgirls!!!! I was very careful with all the rough bits and the dodgy lips on the bike path after that - you have to pay attention.