First UCI Race at Geluwe

Tuesday was my first UCI race this season over here in Belgium. The weather has been extremely hot and unfortuanly has brought on some nasty allergies. I have been conjested for a few days, but decided to race anyways with the hope that it would clear out once my body temp began to rise. This proved to not work well, about an hour into the race my sinus started running really badly and i wasn't able to breath at all. This is pretty tough thing in pack of 230 some pro's racing over cobbles. It was a disapointing race but i am understanding enough of the situation to not get too down on myself. I still have a lot of racing to do over here and a lot to learn. More to come on my next races. Mean while i have been training hard and getting a lot of time in on the bike and relaxing a lot. I have also been hitting the steam room pretty heavy to try and clear up my sinus passages. Well, more to come later, thanks for reading.

Oudenburg Kermis

My 3rd race here in Belgium was a Kermis in a town called Oudenburg. It was a very windy day with a large field of some of the best riders i have seen so far. It was a 8km course we had to do 18 laps on. The course was pretty crazy with some sketchy sections through the town with barriers and racers hitting the barriers at 60k and hour. The race went really well for me, i felt really comfortable in the field and had made my way to the front of the race with 5 laps to go. On one of the farm roads there was a sharp left turn with some buckled pavement that a lot of riders were having trouble with. A rider tried jamming through it on my inside and lost control and hit me and sent me to the pavement at 55k and hour, accross the road and into a briar patch. I lost some skin on my shin, knee and butt. The bike was ok except for some bar tape and the usual shifter scratching. I was pretty disapointed because at this pint in the race, there had already been a pretty tough selection made and i was feeling really well. Oh well, better luck next time. My next race is this saturday, so wish me luck and no more spills.

Josh

Lactic Power Test and Bike Fit

Yesterday I went with my director Bernard and 3 other teammates to see Dr. Dag. Dr. Dag is the Discovery Channel team doctor who performs test for the team and is also Lance's personal Doctor while in Europe. We went to get our Lactic Acid Power Test done. Basically you bring your bike and hook it up to his machine and start at 100watts. Every 3 min the maching automatically adds 50watts. Dr. Dag is busy pricking your ear and taking blood sample for lactic acid and the machine is recording all you hr and other information. I was told the Cycling Center house record at the moment was set by Justin Morgan at 500watts and 2 min or so. I was able to hit 550watts and a few seconds for the new best. The only negative part of the test is that i start to produce lactic acid a little early in my power output, mostly due to how short i have been a cyclist. The rest of the guys all hit 500watts and was a succesful day for the new guys. Today, i went and Franze the old belgian bikefit master. He is responsible for the bikefit of such pro's and Eddie and Axel Merckx, Nico Mattan, Tom Boonan and some others. He is an older guy with a great garder and expersive cars in a town called Isagem. He doesn't speak a word of English, so Ann has to translate for you. First you go through a series of measurements which he does twice. He inspects your feet for arch, and adjusts your shoes. He then spends about an hour on the calculator setting up your ideal bike fit and then if you agree, goes to work making your bike perfect for you. In the end, he moved my seat up about 1.5 cm, and forward about 2 cm. He put a 10mm shorter stem on my bike and adjusted my hoods a little bit for a more ideal fit in the drops. All in all it was about a 4hr fit and only cost 40 Euro, plus the price of the new stem. I went for a short ride on it today, it definatley feels different, it will be an interesting race tomorrow on a newly fit bike. That is all for now, more to come on my next race. Thanks for reading

Tourhout Kermis

Yesterday i did my second race since i've been here. It was a 30 lap Kermis on a 3.8K circuit. The race was full throttle from the gun and never really slowed down. 2 Lords of the Kermis attacked from the gun and i spent the whole first lap bridging accross to them. I got within about 15meters when one of them looked back and saw me and said something to his companion and they both jumped and rode away from me. This was pretty demoralizing considering it was only 5 min into the race and i was already afraid i would get dropped because of my all out effort. I got swept up by the field and went immediatly back to the front where i covered a lot of attackes and launched counter attacks. After about 1.5 hr i was starting to get a little tired so i moved to the more of the middle of the pack to relax a little bit. The hard part is there really is no such thing as sitting in in these races because the attack are constant. with about 6 laps to go I went with a pretty strong move and over commited to driving the break. There were already 6 guys up the road so this was a counter attack move. Unfortunalty it only lasted about 1 lap and we were quickly picked up by the pack. I was pretty thrashed at this point and was dropped. I clawed my way back on the group and with the momentum i had i follow some wheels and cut right through the pack and back off the front instantly into another move. At this point I was absolutely fried and digging as deep as i could go. I knew that if this one came back i would probably be dropped for good. Of course it did come back and i was dropped hard again. This time i couldn't get back i dangled just off the back and was pulled from the race with about 3 laps to go. I was pretty close to finishing but with all the work i did it was pretty difficult to be there at the end. Bernard said i did a good job, but i had things to work on in order to conserve energy. I am pretty sore today and am looking forward to my massage on monday. Til next time thanks for reading.

Street with cafe in Brugge, Belgium 

street corner in Brugge, Belgium 

Center of Brugge, Belgium 

First Race in Belgium

Yesterday i did my first race here in belgium. I still have not gotten over the jet lag and am having a little stomache problems, but i decided to do the race anyways. The race was a Kermis in a town called Dudzele north of Bruges. The race was a 118k in 15 laps. There were about 120 racers on the line for the start. The race started just like a crit ans was immediatly down to business. I got to the front of the race right away and was in the top ten going into the first heavy crosswind section. The field split right away and i made the first move. Groups began moving up to us and i did enough work to keep myself in good position the front. You kind of have to make a decsion to work slightly and keep good postion near the front or, don't work and get stuck in the gutter. The group split again and i missed the next move by a few riders. I wasn't feeling very well so i didn't try to cross to it. My legs felt ok but my body was pretty sore and my stomache was hurting alot. I made it about 1.5 hrs before they pulled the group i was in. In the kermis they pull your group if you fall more than 3 min behind the leaders. In this particular race only 4 guys finished. I have been told this is pretty common in these races. One cool thing about these races is that they only cost 3 euro and they pay 50 riders deep for payout. Well thanks for reading and more to come later.

Josh

Riding From Belgium to Holland

Today a few guys on the team took me on a 3 hr ride that took us to the town of Sluis in Holland. It is pretty weird to be riding along and come to a town and oh, your in Holland now. We followed this little canal for most of the ride. The bike lanes here are pretty interesting, most roads have a nice bike lane that takes you along most of the roads, and if there isn't a bike lane then the people on the roads are usually pretty nice. The only conflict is that the roads are about half the width of ours and they all think they are F1 race car drivers. The people around here just fly. Today Jason, Ron and I had to bail down into a ditch to not get hit by an oncoming garbage truck. The weather has been great so far, temps have been good with only a little rain. I haven't been rained on the bike yet. My first race is suposed to be this Saturday. I have been talking to alot of the guys here and many of them have trouble finishing the races. The Kermesas are very fast with many turns and aggressive riding. If you get more than 3min behind the leaders you get pulled from the race. Well more to come after my first race. Thanks for reading and wish me luck