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Yea, sorry for the late blog. I was out all day yesterday at a race and I didn't get home till late and I still had to have dinner and then I was too tired to write this. It's a rainy day today so it's a good opportunity to clean the house and bike and write a blog. So yesterday I had another Pro Kermesse yesterday in Viane which is just over an hour drive away from where I live. I checked weather the night before and they were calling for rain so I packed all my wet and cold weather gear but it turned out to be a pretty stunner day. Cold but the sun was out. I hadn't been riding too much this week because the weather has been pretty bad with rain all day and real high winds and also a bit of lack of motivation. It's getting pretty boring being by myself so I am moving up to the other team house soon. But yea, at the race I wasn't feeling to motivated and my legs were feeling quite meh and heavy so I wasn't quite sure how I would go. The first couple laps I just cruised in the bunch but I was just not motivated at all. As the laps ticked over and a few things started happening like splits and break aways, I started to feel more motivated and excited and my legs started to come right. It was a real windy day and the course had a few long hills in it (well long for a Belgium so the longest was about 400m) so there were a couple big splits in the bunch. I decided to try have a crack at catching a split up one of the small climbs so I tried drilling it on the front and I formed a small bunch with about 5 other guys but we got caught pretty quick. That attack I did though cracked me a bit cause when I looked down my heart rate was at 202bpm and my lungs and throat were screaming! I think the cold air was effecting me a bit cause my lungs and throat were so sore and then I started tasting blood and had lots of mucus so I might be starting to get sick which is not ideal. It took about 35min for my lungs and throat to stop hurting. While I was trying to recover, a small group managed to catch up to the break up the road. Later on I tried having another crack to try and catch up to the break with a number of other riders but no one was working in the small break and we got caught not long after. We all got pulled out not long after cause the break wasn't gonna get caught. Luckily one of the riders from the team had bridged across to that break and finished the race which is a good result for our team in a Pro Kermesse. Just a couple more Pro Kermesses and then home time. In the mean time I'll just do some local kermesses.
But summer has definitely disappeared. All of last week was pretty much rain. It would constantly rain all through the morning until later that afternoon and it would be too late to go for a ride and I just wasn't motivated to ride in the wet. It's gone freezing cold now too. Last last Thursday it was boiling hot at over 30 degrees! And within a week it has well halfed that temperature. At night it gets down to single digits.
Gave the house a solid scrub down today cause I was bloody bored. Never seen this place this clean.
Just gonna do a local kermesse on the weekend cause there's no team race this weekend.
So yea. That's basically it. It's just bloody wet and cold and windy here. Sucks. Not long though until I'm home. Counting down the days.

Thanks for reading

Nick

Hectic But Awesome Week

This week has been a pretty fun and hectic week with 2 races and a music festival.

I went out to a race on Tuesday to try and win some money cause I'm nearly out of it. I had learnt from other races that a breakaway very rarely gets away in the first couple laps so I had decided to stay in the bunch and do nothing for the first couple laps. Sure enough, a bunch of guys smack it right at the very start of the race. I just thought "psssh, this isn't gonna work. I'm just gonna sit here and let everyone chase it down." But the break kept getting further and further. After a while I thought "shit! This break is gonna stick so I have to catch up to it!" The bunch was never working together to try catch the break but everyone wanted too attack the bunch and go solo which never works. So I tried doing that... I tried going solo and stupidly enough, some guy was sitting on the front of the bunch and chasing me down and once he caught me, he and the whole bunch sat up. It's so frustrating and stupid because the bunch is willing to work together to catch some lone rider who is trying to bridge to the break but they won't work together to try and catch the breakaway. I don't understand some of these Belgy riders. They frustrate the hell out of me sometimes. I tried a couple more times with some other riders but we just kept getting caught. The break was long gone so I just thought "screw it, I'm just gonna use this race as some good training" so I just sat on the front of the bunch and rode the front. Yet riders were attacking each other and other riders would chase that person down... Don't get it at all! Ah well. I came out with more money than I went it there with so all good. It was good training leading up to Thursdays Pro Kermesse in Izegem. 

It was a bloody hot day on Thursday topping over 30 degrees. It was so hot riding especially with our kits that are black. Had my shirt unzipped for the whole race. It was a bloody tough race too. Legs weren't feeling to fantastic at the beginning of the race and the pretty much stayed like that. Only managed to last over 70km but in that 70km we average 45kph which is fast for a kermesse that has a lot of tight corners. There were about 230 starters and I think when I dropped off there were only about 130 left. Managed to avoid a big pile up to that took down about 30 riders. It was a pretty hectic race but good fun.

Then on Saturday, Tom and I meet up in Antwerp South for the music festival 'Laundry Day'. Had been looking forward to this day for a while. The festival was all set up outside with about 6 or 7 stages including the main stage that had all the headline acts. It was awesome to be able to see all the famous artists that you see on the TV or computer play right in front of you. So yea it was a pretty awesome day.

My computer is skitzing out at the moment and it's taking ages to write this blog so I'm just gonna call it. 

Got another Pro race I think on Monday.

So yea. Sorry for making it short. My computer is not liking me at the moment.

Thanks for reading

Go the All Blacks and Team New Zealand for the sailing!

Nick

Pretty Lazy Week

I've started this blog pretty early today so I've got no pressure of writing and publishing it before everyone gets up. So yea, it's been a pretty lazy week this week. Haven't raced since last Saturday but I did some good training and I've two races this week. Racing tomorrow at a local kermesse and then another Pro Kermesse on Thursday. The race on Thursday is in the town that I basically live in. It's in the town of Izegem and I live in Lendelede but I live closer to the center of Izegem than the center of Lendelede. After the race all the guys from the team are coming over and having pizzas and just chilling out which will be pretty sweet.
So I've got nothing really to talk about this week cause I haven't raced yet so it could be another short blog if I can't think of anything to say. Well, Taylor is back in NZ so I'm ol' Nigel-No-Mates for the next little while. I'm going to head over to the Zottegem house with the other boys some time so I don't die of boredom.
Next week I think I should have a pretty good blog cause I would've had two races and I've also got that music festival this Saturday with my mate Tom so I'm definitely looking forward to that. Been counting down the days for that for a while now.
It's just over a month now until I get to head on home. A few more big races left in the season. Nothing too exciting has really happened in Lonely Lendelede. One of the chickens keep escaping and I think he might get the axe cause he's escaped so many times and I think he's ripped up a heap of the grass on the outside of the chicken fence so I don't think Andrew will be too happy. I don't think Andrew has seen it but he's just got home right now so he might see it now. There's some road works up the road that are quite annoying cause they've closed the road off... Yea, not a lot happens in my area and a small change in the town I think excites a few people cause they're not used to change.
I've been looking at the computer for about 5 minutes trying to come up with something to say but not a lot has happened this week so there's not much to talk about. Oh! New tv show is on; Modern Family. Better than Road Wars with the British Police. This kinda just made my day.
But yea, I'm gonna go finish off my mince pie that I made a few nights ago. Is good kai my pie.
So yea

Thanks for reading

Nick