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