So I'll start this blog off with the Kermesse I did Sunday, 28th April. I was pretty keen to get a good result in this race and my legs were feeling pretty good. I had put my carbon wheels on so I get bit of an advantage over just using my training wheels. The course was only 10k north up the road from where we live. I had just put brand spanking new tyres on my wheels that cost me a bit of money so I was hoping for a victory to help pay them off. We got to the Café where the sign on was and as we were slowing down I could hear what sound like the rim slightly rubbing on the back brake. I jumped off the bike and gave the wheel a little spin and I saw that the deep carbon rim had like a little wobble in it; like in one spot the carbon was kind of stinking out. I was just like aye? What's going on here. I had a close look at the room and saw a 1cm crack in it from the top of the rim where the braking surface is. Ahhh bugger! Not a good way to start a race but I won't let this stop me. I gave Andrew a ring and he brought me up a spare wheel. He wasn't too happy as he had to leave his 'woman friend' at the house by herself. The race was 112k with 28 LAPS!!! I was so sick of that course after we had finished. Managed to pick up a couple prime laps so I got some money in the bank. There was this one corner in the race that I just couldn't get right. I went on to the grass twice and I was dropping wheels going around it cause I couldn't find the right gear to use to come out of the corner with; it was either too small of a gear or too big. That corner just didn't like me and I didn't like it. Even after doing it 28 times I still couldn't quite get it. After working quite hard at the beginning of the race picking up those primes and trying to get with an early break I decide to save my energy by staying in the bunch and maybe have a crack a little later. As the race went on I kinda just felt average. I think it was because I was always trying to chase back on to the back of the bunch after that one corner. But I tried having another crack with a couple laps to go but it all came to nothing and I was starting to feel a bit tired so I decided to work on my sprinting in the bunch sprint. Needless to say I need to work on my sprinting. Ended up 27th overall and a bit of money to go towards a new wheel...
The weather here this week is definitely improving. It was quite a warm week. I'm riding without leggings or a jacket most of the time now. Went and did another Kermesse yesterday which was only 7km south from where we are. It was 106km with 15 laps so it wasn't as boring as last week but it was the most frustrating race I have ever done! I was trying to go with a couple riders early on and then we would be chased down pretty quick and then another group would go and I would go with them but then we would be chased down again, then I would have a go and a couple riders would come up but then we would be chased down again. Nothing was working early on so I thought of maybe having a crack later when everyone is tired. I was sitting mid pack and then a big bunch of riders got away. No one was really chasing so I thought this is dangerous and tried bridging across. The rest of the bunch would then just chase me down and then sit up. I would have a crack again to bridge across, and once again, I would be chased down and then sat on. It was super frustrating! A couple times I would have a crack by going solo cause I was stupid and annoyed at everyone and maybe one or two people would eventually chase up to me and when I lap off they would roll through and crack or just sit on me and not roll through at all. FRUSTRATION!!! In the last couple laps I was pretty knackered after failing so many times to bridge across to that group. All in all, that group stayed away and I was not a happy chappy. At the beginning of the race when were waiting at the start line, we all took our helmets off and had a minutes silence because during the week at some other Kermesse there was a big crash and a rider died which was really sad to hear. A couple riders at the race that I was at were wearing black arm bands.
It has been another nice as day today. During our ride, Taylor and I stopped at a kebab store in central Kortrijk and got a kebab to munch on in the sun. It was so nice to chill in the sun and I'm wearing shorts and shirt now. I've got my first pro race on the 15th which I'm super excited about. Philippe Gilbert won it last year and he's racing it again this year which will be awesome as I get to ride with the World Champ. I'm gonna try and get a selfie with him if I can. Had a good clean up for of the house the other day too. Cleaned up the toilet so there's no more stains on there anymore and had a good clean of the shower too. It's a pretty clean and healthy home once again. Things got pretty exciting at the house the other day. Taylor came up with "a brilliant idea". When we have dinner we would usually sit on the couch and watch TV but Taylor thought it would be a great idea if we push the dining table against the back of the couch so we have room to put the dining chairs on the other side of the table so we can eat at the table while watching TV. That idea kinda made our week so now we are being pretty posh by sitting at the table for dinner. It also stops us from dropping food on the floor and ourselves.
Yea, that's about it from me. Pretty damn keen to get a win under my belt to help boost the confidence level leading up the big team races and tours. I'm gonna make a vow to myself to update my blog every Monday so stay tuned.
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