Been a pretty average week this week I reckon. Had some good days and had some bad days. Riding has been good but just other small stuff has been pretty average. Matt Zenovich, who's a mate from Invercargill who is riding for the team this year, was arriving on Monday afternoon. What everyone had to do this year that was flying to Belgium was catch a train from the airport to the town they were living at and Zeno hasn't been to Europe before and wasn't too keen on catching a train to a town he's never been to in a country that he's never been to so he asked me if I could meet him at the airport and we catch the train back together. So I got down to the train station in Kortrijk a little late so I didn't have too much time to catch my train so I was rushing a bit. I got my ticket and tried finding what track I had to be at to get my train. I guess I got a little bit cocky thinking I knew exactly how the trains worked and I found the train that was going to Antwerp because to get to Brussels airport you have to get off at Antwerp and switch trains so I was like sweet, to Antwerp I go. But I was wrong... I was meant to find the train that says going to Brussels and then that will take me up to Antwerp and then I'll get off at Antwerp. Well I think that's how it works anyway. When I was looking at the board that has all the trains and the platforms I couldn't actually find a train saying to Brussels Airport... I'm kind of confused just writing this now. All in all I got on the wrong train. Well it wasn't the wrong train, it was just a train that took ages to get up to Antwerp. But lucky for me the train went through Brussels Central. So I got off there and waited for a train to Brussels Airport. Zeno had been waiting for about an hour but I still got there in the end. Was a bit confused getting a train on the way back too but in the end I had no problems getting back. On the plus side I saw some nice Belgian country side on a nice day and it killed a bit of time. It's good to have another kiwi in the house. Hadn't seen Zeno in a few years either so it was good to catch up.
Decided to go do a race on Wednesday but the only down side of doing that race was that it started at 6pm so I was still pinging late at night after the race. Finally fell asleep after midnight that night. But it wasn't too bad of a race. I guess I was pretty happy with the race. Felt really good for the whole race but I just did typical me and did a bit too much attacking. It was a fairly windy, wet and cold night so I thought it might be a good opportunity to get in a break away that will stay away but nope. It just doesn't work like that. It's same old Belgium style of racing of attack, chased down, attack, chased down. Frustrating! I got in a break of about 6 riders and we stayed out for a lap but it's frustrating because people just stop lapping through in the break and it just screws everything up so we got caught. All the effort for nothing. It's still good training though. It was a bunch sprint in the end but I had pretty poor positioning coming into the last lap and ended up 22nd and 11 euros up. I wasn't too disappointed because I felt good and did some solid efforts.
Went for a pretty cruisey ride on Saturday (just killed a fly. Still got my fly killing ninja skills) with one of the Poms, Adam, and Zeno. Decided to stop and grab a coffee in Kortrijk and as we pull up to the Kortrijk center, we see big side netting and sand and a grandstand in the center courtyard of Kortrijk. We get a little closer and they are having a beach rugby tournament. So we sat at a cafe next to the rugby pitch and watch a bit of footy. It was a bit weird not seeing any massive Tongans bowling over the little white boys but there were a couple big fellas there. And some real chunky girls to. They had men's and women teams. It wasn't quite the same as NZ rugby but it was pretty funny to watch. They were pretty useless.
Gonna have bit of a rant now. I decided on Saturday night I would make fish cakes like what Mum made at home once. So went down to the ol' Delhaize and picked up all the ingredients like tinned salmon and kumara. Open up the tinned salmon and she wasn't even pink like salmon. So I was like ok then, should be right, chuck her in. Chucked it in and I saw all this black looking stuff. There was still bloody fish skin all in it! Opened up the other tin of salmon to see if it was the same. Chopped through it a bit with a fork and there was skin and stuff in it as well!. Dug through it a bit more and the fish still had its spine in there! Tried to pick out the vertebrae in it and I just found more bones it. Looked through the salmon that I had already put into the mashed kumara and there was vertebrae and other bone parts in that too! Pissed me off! The tins were 3.50euro each and I bought three, two for dinner and I thought I would use the other one for a lunch or something. I was pretty excited cause I love me some salmon but bloody hell that was shit! Read the tin and everything and it said salmon from Canada. Bloody Canadians! Just had to settle for tuna. Didn't turn out too bad but I just made the patties a bit too big so they crumbled apart a bit.
Had another race today and before the race I promised myself, no work or getting into breaks in the first 1.5 hours. No matter what, I was going to do nothing because I knew a break wouldn't get away on a day like this (there wasn't a lot of wind) and a course like that (It was dead flat and only had 3 corners). And as always, lots of attacks at the beginning of the race that just turned to nothing. I was really trying to race smart today, learning from all of my mistakes of doing work too early and blowing at the end of the race. So I stuck to my word and did nothing even with attacks that looked like they could stay away. Every attack got shut down pretty quick, except for one... At an hour twenty into the race, a big break went up the road. I watched it go and thought 'no'. '10 more minutes, then I can start doing some work, it will get caught.' The break got further and further away until you could hardly see them. I started to panic a bit because I thought that was it. What are the chances that a break away would stay away at a race like this... It's very rare and of course it was the race that I decided to not do any work until 1.5 hours in. But some how, with 2 laps to go, we caught them. I did not expect that. They were ages ahead and the bunch wasn't doing anything. I was stoked though. Tried doing what I do best and do the 'million dollar dash' where you go solo off the front of the bunch with a couple K's to go. It's worked a couple times at home but the racing is so much harder over here so I got shut down after a couple K's. So I had to just settle for a bunch sprint which I'm not too good at but I thought I would give it a crack. Was a bit too far behind in the bunch but I was passing quite a few people on the outside. I was coming up the outside and another guy was riding just ahead of me on my left. Another guy was coming back at a rate of knots because he must of lead someone out for the sprint. The guy who was next to me was heading straight for the guy going backwards so he swung right into me and his thigh hit my bars and I had to swing really hard to the right so I wouldn't crash. Only problem was that there were trees every couple of meters on the side of the road and then the footpath was next to that. So I had to swing out on to the footpath and that was pretty much it for me. Didn't crash but it put me out of contention for the sprint. Little bit gutted but ah well, didn't die. I was happy that I stuck to my word as well and the break came back.
So yea. Got my first Interclub race in France on Thursday so we are leaving Wednesday and staying the night over there. Should be a good race and the course suits me so definitely keen to give it a crack. Few cobble sections in the race so I'm excited for that. So what I learnt from this week is don't trust Canadians with their fish and that to win one of these kermesse's, I just need to be patient. Wait for the second half of the race before attacking everyone.
Yeap that's pretty much.
Thanks for reading
Nick
Sunday 25 May 2014
Sunday 18 May 2014
Solid As Week
Left this a little late. Got back from the race at about 7.30 and then had dinner and then Andrew came round with a few beers so she might be a short and sharp blog toady with a few spelling errors.
The first few days of this week were really average. It was just pissing down with rain for most of the day and it was hard to get out for riding.
On Tuesday I had to go on the rollers cause it was thundering and lightning. Wednesday was supposed to be a bit nicer of the day so I planned to do a decent ride and do a few hills. As I left the house it was looking like a fairly nice day but the more I rode the crappier it got. Temperature dropped and it started raining again. Whoopy... Soldiered through the rain and cold though.
Thursday was meant to be a lot nicer and it was. 20 degrees and fairly clear skies. It was too nice of a day to spend inside so again, I went for a decent sized ride.
I hadn't got my new riding kit yet so on Friday I decided I would ride up and get it. It was up at Hans's house who lives about 75km away from where I am so I decided to make a day of it. Just chucked my bag on my back and headed off. She was a bit nippy outside in the morning so I had roll out with arm warmers on. Han's wasn't home when I arrived so I went to the little house connected to Han's house where some of the riders from last year live. It was the first time I had seen them since last year so it was good to catch up with them again. Once Han's got home he invited me in for lunch with his wife Ingrid who also helps out with the team behind the scenes. It was the first time I had seen Han's and Ingrid since last year too so it was nice to catch up with them again and they are both very supportive to me which is nice. But yea he gave me a feed and we just talked for about 1.5 hours and he gave me my kit that I just stuffed in my bag and I dawdled on home. Had to take my arm warmers off it was so warm. It was a nice day out on the bike. Took up most of the day which was good cause there is nothing to do at home.
Yea Saturday = Nice day + cruisey ride.
Today we had a team kermesse that we had to do to be selected for the upcoming Interclub race for next weekend. I was really eager to do well at this race because I really want to do this Interclub next race. But I don't think it was meant to be... I was getting all mentally prepared this morning and getting my bike and gear all organised, feeling good. Once we got to the race we have to go enter and hand over our bike licenses and what not. As I'm handing my licence to the commissair he then asks me where is your race insurance papers. I then ask him what insurance papers? I have none? I never had to show this paper before at any race. "No insurance paper, no race." You kidding me!? I was so hungry to race and now I can't race because I don't have a stupid piece of paper. So I was discussing about it with the other guys and they had there papers with them and I thought with BikeNZ you have to get race insurance when you buy your international licence or something. So I was really angry and confused and panicking. Then one of the Aussie boys who's living at one of the other houses went and signed on and came back and said he didn't have to show his insurance papers and he got entry but he had said that he rides for a Belgium team. So I went back down and said I ride for a Belgium team and that it says it on my bike license and straight away they were like "Ohhhhhhhh why didn't you say so?" Kidding me! It says right there that I ride for a Belgium team on my license and you didn't even check that! So then I had no trouble signing in... Munters. Bit of excitement to start the race. Ah well. But yea I had a really good race. Again a little bit disappointed with how I raced but I felt super strong that I didn't really regret my decisions that I made. Even though I said to myself that nothing will really go in the first half an hour, I got into a break within the first half an hour. It kind of just happened. It was a pretty big break with maybe 25 - 30 riders which really isn't good. It was much too big of a group to stay away for the whole race because a lot of people were missing a lot of turns on the front and then people who were doing lots of turns on the front would get grumpy and then pretty much just slam the brakes on and go to the back of the group because 'why should I work hard on the front and give everyone else a free lift and then have them come past me at the line' is what they think. We still managed to spend 60km out the front which is a lot longer than I expected us to be out there for. I did spend a bit too much time working hard but I prefer to be in a breakaway group rather than be in the peleton; a lot safer in a break. (Finally starting to down buzz from my race. Getting tired now.) Once we got caught I decided to save my energy in the bunch and maybe have a crack later on. I wanted to stay up the front so I can keep out of trouble and watch for any breaks but the only bad thing about sticking round the front is that you often have to ride on the front so that sort of took it out of me. But when my legs were hurting it was a good sort of hurt. It was a hurt that I could easily dig deep and get through it. Sometimes last year I would just give up in those situations. They training and mental prep has really payed off. I fairly big group rode off the front of the bunch and I thought with the way this race had played out so far, I really do think that this breakaway will be chased down and caught. I was wrong... They rode away with about 4 laps to go and stayed away. I ended up in 39th place overall out of I think over 150 riders and managed to score 5euro prize money! Stoked! Didn't make any money but I didn't loose money from my entry. I was also the first rider from our team so am really happy with that and I'm sure that should be enough to get me selected for the Interclub race next weekend. But yea really happy with how was feeling throughout the race. Was able to recover quite quickly, able to dig really deep like at the top of the climb that we had to do 15 times, feeling super strong and being able to ride off the front, not just riding in the bunch all day.
But yea I've hit the wall now so that's it for me. I was buzzing about 45mins ago and felt wired as but now I'm gone. Adrenaline has finally worn off.
So yea bring it on.
Thanks for reading. Sorry about the errors too, sure there's a few.
Nick
The first few days of this week were really average. It was just pissing down with rain for most of the day and it was hard to get out for riding.
On Tuesday I had to go on the rollers cause it was thundering and lightning. Wednesday was supposed to be a bit nicer of the day so I planned to do a decent ride and do a few hills. As I left the house it was looking like a fairly nice day but the more I rode the crappier it got. Temperature dropped and it started raining again. Whoopy... Soldiered through the rain and cold though.
Thursday was meant to be a lot nicer and it was. 20 degrees and fairly clear skies. It was too nice of a day to spend inside so again, I went for a decent sized ride.
I hadn't got my new riding kit yet so on Friday I decided I would ride up and get it. It was up at Hans's house who lives about 75km away from where I am so I decided to make a day of it. Just chucked my bag on my back and headed off. She was a bit nippy outside in the morning so I had roll out with arm warmers on. Han's wasn't home when I arrived so I went to the little house connected to Han's house where some of the riders from last year live. It was the first time I had seen them since last year so it was good to catch up with them again. Once Han's got home he invited me in for lunch with his wife Ingrid who also helps out with the team behind the scenes. It was the first time I had seen Han's and Ingrid since last year too so it was nice to catch up with them again and they are both very supportive to me which is nice. But yea he gave me a feed and we just talked for about 1.5 hours and he gave me my kit that I just stuffed in my bag and I dawdled on home. Had to take my arm warmers off it was so warm. It was a nice day out on the bike. Took up most of the day which was good cause there is nothing to do at home.
Yea Saturday = Nice day + cruisey ride.
Today we had a team kermesse that we had to do to be selected for the upcoming Interclub race for next weekend. I was really eager to do well at this race because I really want to do this Interclub next race. But I don't think it was meant to be... I was getting all mentally prepared this morning and getting my bike and gear all organised, feeling good. Once we got to the race we have to go enter and hand over our bike licenses and what not. As I'm handing my licence to the commissair he then asks me where is your race insurance papers. I then ask him what insurance papers? I have none? I never had to show this paper before at any race. "No insurance paper, no race." You kidding me!? I was so hungry to race and now I can't race because I don't have a stupid piece of paper. So I was discussing about it with the other guys and they had there papers with them and I thought with BikeNZ you have to get race insurance when you buy your international licence or something. So I was really angry and confused and panicking. Then one of the Aussie boys who's living at one of the other houses went and signed on and came back and said he didn't have to show his insurance papers and he got entry but he had said that he rides for a Belgium team. So I went back down and said I ride for a Belgium team and that it says it on my bike license and straight away they were like "Ohhhhhhhh why didn't you say so?" Kidding me! It says right there that I ride for a Belgium team on my license and you didn't even check that! So then I had no trouble signing in... Munters. Bit of excitement to start the race. Ah well. But yea I had a really good race. Again a little bit disappointed with how I raced but I felt super strong that I didn't really regret my decisions that I made. Even though I said to myself that nothing will really go in the first half an hour, I got into a break within the first half an hour. It kind of just happened. It was a pretty big break with maybe 25 - 30 riders which really isn't good. It was much too big of a group to stay away for the whole race because a lot of people were missing a lot of turns on the front and then people who were doing lots of turns on the front would get grumpy and then pretty much just slam the brakes on and go to the back of the group because 'why should I work hard on the front and give everyone else a free lift and then have them come past me at the line' is what they think. We still managed to spend 60km out the front which is a lot longer than I expected us to be out there for. I did spend a bit too much time working hard but I prefer to be in a breakaway group rather than be in the peleton; a lot safer in a break. (Finally starting to down buzz from my race. Getting tired now.) Once we got caught I decided to save my energy in the bunch and maybe have a crack later on. I wanted to stay up the front so I can keep out of trouble and watch for any breaks but the only bad thing about sticking round the front is that you often have to ride on the front so that sort of took it out of me. But when my legs were hurting it was a good sort of hurt. It was a hurt that I could easily dig deep and get through it. Sometimes last year I would just give up in those situations. They training and mental prep has really payed off. I fairly big group rode off the front of the bunch and I thought with the way this race had played out so far, I really do think that this breakaway will be chased down and caught. I was wrong... They rode away with about 4 laps to go and stayed away. I ended up in 39th place overall out of I think over 150 riders and managed to score 5euro prize money! Stoked! Didn't make any money but I didn't loose money from my entry. I was also the first rider from our team so am really happy with that and I'm sure that should be enough to get me selected for the Interclub race next weekend. But yea really happy with how was feeling throughout the race. Was able to recover quite quickly, able to dig really deep like at the top of the climb that we had to do 15 times, feeling super strong and being able to ride off the front, not just riding in the bunch all day.
But yea I've hit the wall now so that's it for me. I was buzzing about 45mins ago and felt wired as but now I'm gone. Adrenaline has finally worn off.
So yea bring it on.
Thanks for reading. Sorry about the errors too, sure there's a few.
Nick
Sunday 11 May 2014
First Race Back
It's been a pretty boring week this week because of the weather. It has been non stop windy and rainy and cold. Before I arrived, the weather was great with temperatures in the 20's and the tiniest amount of rain so I think I've done something. But I'm sure it'll get better soon.
Done a few good rides since being back here so jet lag hasn't affected me too much. I caught up with a mate from back home on Monday and we went for a coffee ride together which was pretty sweet and I was feeling pretty good so I decided to carry on and do some extra K's after he went home. Ended up being a pretty big coffee ride 4 hours later. It was a pretty nice day that day, only wearing a short sleeve jersey and a jacket but then the weather went downhill pretty much from there. It got freezing cold, wind picked up and the rain came. Had to buy some leg warmers because I still don't have my new riding kit. I have to go and get it from the other house in Zottegem so I might just ride up there with a back pack and make it a solid training day. It's about 80km there so it'll be a decent ride.
Went for a biggish ride with my roommates on Wednesday and did a few hills and cobble sections, it's nice to be riding on the cobbles again, they're fun because everyone else hates them. It rained a bit that day. Or it was on Thursday? Can't remember but either way it rained on both days.
There is a tour on at the moment in France that our team is at so Andrew is away till tonight and that means we have no one to do our washing (because we're not allowed to do our own washing) so Andrew's mum had to come collect it on Friday and I was all out of kit by Friday so it was a good excuse to have a rest day. It was another windy as day so I wasn't complaining. I decided to take the towny bike and ride up to Kortrijk to get my sim card sorted cause I forgot my sim passcode and I entered the wrong code too many times and it locked me out so I needed to go to the mobile company to get my Puk Code to unlock it. I slowly made my way down there because it was blowing a gale from the side of me and then it started raining on me but luckily I had my sort of rain jacket on that I bought back home that was $200 but I got it for $100, Score! Had to wait 45 mins to talk to the lady and it was only a 5 min job but it took up a bit of time cause there's nothing else to do at home anyway. Thought it was going to be a tail wind on my ride back home but na head cross wind all the way home so I didn't really have a rest day cause she was a hard ride there and back.
Saturday, she was pouring with rain and cold and I don't have too much wet weather gear and I wasn't too keen to ride in crap like that so I just did a roller session in the garage for 1.5 hours and that was tough. It was so boring! There's nothing exciting to look at like when I go to my coach's house and do erg sessions I just stare at the Asians who live in the house next door, it's better than looking at a door. I just threw in a few efforts just to make time go a bit faster but I mentally cracked at 1.5 hours.
Today I was thinking of just going out for a big ride but one of my roommates was going out to do a race so I just thought why not give a race a crack. Not sure how I'll feel but ah well, bit more fun than training or so I thought. It was blowing a real gale today, leaning 45 degrees in the crosswind and a bit of rain here and there. The race started full gas as normal and a lot of riding in the gutter and I was feeling pretty good as well but I did the typical me and tried attacking fairly early because I knew that the bunch would split up heaps with the big crosswinds and it would be easier to ride in a small break because I would get a lot more shelter from the other guys in the break and not have to battle for position all the time but nothing was really sticking. I worked a bit too hard trying to set that up and I moved a little too far back in the bunch once I got caught. While I was in the bunch a fairly big split happened with about 20 guys up the road. Typical Belgium racing; no one in the peleton was lapping through and the bunch slowly got further away. The break was probably 15 seconds up the road so I thought I might have a better chance at bridging the gap by myself but again, typical, the bunch just chased me down and then sat up once they caught me. Another big split happened and I was in it this time and the lead break was probably 30 secs ahead. The bunch was not working though because of all the big crosswind and headwind sections so I ended up on the front too many times out of frustration. Whenever I went to the back for some rest, riders were dropping in front of me on the crosswind or headwind sections so I would have to try and bridge back up to the group which really took it out of me. Half way through the race, the rider ahead of me couldn't hold the wheel on the crosswind section and I was already redlining just riding on his wheel so I couldn't quite bridge up to the bunch again. So that was my day pretty much done. The bunch got pulled out of the race the next lap anyway because the break got too far ahead but that was probably one of the hardest races I've done in a while. There was just no time to rest because you were always hanging on for dear life in the gutter. Still fairly happy with it being my first race and I've only been here just over week. There's plenty more races to come and I'm confident I can win hopefully a couple of these club races I just have to be patient and think smart. Happy to be racing again.
The Giro d'italia is on at the moment too so now we have something to do in the afternoons after we come back from riding for 3 weeks. Just sit back and watch some good cycling.
But yea, everything is good here and I might do another race on Wednesday.
Cool. Thanks for reading
Nick
Done a few good rides since being back here so jet lag hasn't affected me too much. I caught up with a mate from back home on Monday and we went for a coffee ride together which was pretty sweet and I was feeling pretty good so I decided to carry on and do some extra K's after he went home. Ended up being a pretty big coffee ride 4 hours later. It was a pretty nice day that day, only wearing a short sleeve jersey and a jacket but then the weather went downhill pretty much from there. It got freezing cold, wind picked up and the rain came. Had to buy some leg warmers because I still don't have my new riding kit. I have to go and get it from the other house in Zottegem so I might just ride up there with a back pack and make it a solid training day. It's about 80km there so it'll be a decent ride.
Went for a biggish ride with my roommates on Wednesday and did a few hills and cobble sections, it's nice to be riding on the cobbles again, they're fun because everyone else hates them. It rained a bit that day. Or it was on Thursday? Can't remember but either way it rained on both days.
There is a tour on at the moment in France that our team is at so Andrew is away till tonight and that means we have no one to do our washing (because we're not allowed to do our own washing) so Andrew's mum had to come collect it on Friday and I was all out of kit by Friday so it was a good excuse to have a rest day. It was another windy as day so I wasn't complaining. I decided to take the towny bike and ride up to Kortrijk to get my sim card sorted cause I forgot my sim passcode and I entered the wrong code too many times and it locked me out so I needed to go to the mobile company to get my Puk Code to unlock it. I slowly made my way down there because it was blowing a gale from the side of me and then it started raining on me but luckily I had my sort of rain jacket on that I bought back home that was $200 but I got it for $100, Score! Had to wait 45 mins to talk to the lady and it was only a 5 min job but it took up a bit of time cause there's nothing else to do at home anyway. Thought it was going to be a tail wind on my ride back home but na head cross wind all the way home so I didn't really have a rest day cause she was a hard ride there and back.
Saturday, she was pouring with rain and cold and I don't have too much wet weather gear and I wasn't too keen to ride in crap like that so I just did a roller session in the garage for 1.5 hours and that was tough. It was so boring! There's nothing exciting to look at like when I go to my coach's house and do erg sessions I just stare at the Asians who live in the house next door, it's better than looking at a door. I just threw in a few efforts just to make time go a bit faster but I mentally cracked at 1.5 hours.
Today I was thinking of just going out for a big ride but one of my roommates was going out to do a race so I just thought why not give a race a crack. Not sure how I'll feel but ah well, bit more fun than training or so I thought. It was blowing a real gale today, leaning 45 degrees in the crosswind and a bit of rain here and there. The race started full gas as normal and a lot of riding in the gutter and I was feeling pretty good as well but I did the typical me and tried attacking fairly early because I knew that the bunch would split up heaps with the big crosswinds and it would be easier to ride in a small break because I would get a lot more shelter from the other guys in the break and not have to battle for position all the time but nothing was really sticking. I worked a bit too hard trying to set that up and I moved a little too far back in the bunch once I got caught. While I was in the bunch a fairly big split happened with about 20 guys up the road. Typical Belgium racing; no one in the peleton was lapping through and the bunch slowly got further away. The break was probably 15 seconds up the road so I thought I might have a better chance at bridging the gap by myself but again, typical, the bunch just chased me down and then sat up once they caught me. Another big split happened and I was in it this time and the lead break was probably 30 secs ahead. The bunch was not working though because of all the big crosswind and headwind sections so I ended up on the front too many times out of frustration. Whenever I went to the back for some rest, riders were dropping in front of me on the crosswind or headwind sections so I would have to try and bridge back up to the group which really took it out of me. Half way through the race, the rider ahead of me couldn't hold the wheel on the crosswind section and I was already redlining just riding on his wheel so I couldn't quite bridge up to the bunch again. So that was my day pretty much done. The bunch got pulled out of the race the next lap anyway because the break got too far ahead but that was probably one of the hardest races I've done in a while. There was just no time to rest because you were always hanging on for dear life in the gutter. Still fairly happy with it being my first race and I've only been here just over week. There's plenty more races to come and I'm confident I can win hopefully a couple of these club races I just have to be patient and think smart. Happy to be racing again.
The Giro d'italia is on at the moment too so now we have something to do in the afternoons after we come back from riding for 3 weeks. Just sit back and watch some good cycling.
But yea, everything is good here and I might do another race on Wednesday.
Cool. Thanks for reading
Nick
Sunday 4 May 2014
Back To Belg
Just dusting the cobwebs off this blog, it's been a while.
Ah yea so I finally arrived back to Belgium late Friday night after 25 hours flying, 14 hours of waiting at airports and a 2 hour train ride. I still hate flying. Such a long hard trip and not having an isle seat on any of the plane rides meant I was stuck in my seat for most of it. The hardest leg was definitely the Melbourne to Dubai, 14 hours of boredness. I luckily managed to sleep for quite a bit the journey though so it didn't seem to long and I was feeling pretty fresh for the rest of the journey and it helped me stay awake on the train ride down to where I am staying. I'm living back in the house I lived in last year in Lendelede but this time 6 people will be living in it. The place has been 'renovated' but it is going to be very tight living with 6 people. At the moment there are 3 other guys living here; one Aussie and two Poms. I want to move to one of the other houses but my mate from back home who is riding for the team arrives here on the 19th May and he's staying here at the house and I don't want to ditch him cause it's his first time in Europe so I'm not sure what I'll do at the moment. I think it's gonna be way too tight living with 5 other guys, cause it's pretty cramped as is at the moment. She'll be interesting.
I had a good sleep the night I arrived but I woke up just before 7am the next morning and felt fresh as. Mum told me to take these jet lag pills cause she kept saying "They are amazing!" and they are pretty amazing, felt so good the next day and felt good for the whole day. I just had to build up my bike cause it was in pieces so that took up a bit time and I went down to the supermarket in the morning to get some breakfast and lunch stuff. Seems quite funny how quickly I have picked up on things again like with last year I was sort of scared to go outside cause I didn't know where to go or what to do and it was freezing cold but now I know everything. I just woke up, got my things, hopped on the bike and rode down to the supermarket like I had done just yesterday. I didn't even have to think twice what side of the road I had to be on. It feels like I was here not to long ago.
Went for a nice ride today. First time in a few days so the old pins where a bit stiff but the loosened up after an hour. The wind is pretty cold but the sun is really warm so still have to dress warm. Really keen to get some racing under my belt, just have to wait maybe a week so I can fully recover from the flight and everything.
I think I might have a little jet lag because it was my time to cook tonight and after my ride I was about to head down to the supermarket to get some stuff and one of the boys at the house asked me if I was going to the supermarket and that it was closed, everything closes on Sunday. I remember this from last year but I had no idea it was Sunday today. I thought it might have been Saturday or something but I had no idea what day it was, all I know is that it's the 4/05/2014.
The renovations to the house is there is now an upstairs. Andrew has cut a hole in the roof and put some pretty dodgy home made stairs in that creek super loud and the hand rail doesn't have sanded edges it's just a square 2X4 so it's a pretty sharp hand rail. I have my own, sort of, room with a double bed so I'm not complaining about that at all. So you go up the stairs and there's a small room with cupboards and a drying rack in it then you go through a doorway with no door and that is my bedroom. My bed is just a mattress on top of a homemade wooden stage sort of thing. It's really high up and it's got no bottom so there's a heap of bike bags and things under it. Then if you keep walking straight there's a door and that's where the rest of the guys are staying. There's two single beds and a bunk bed in there. So yea it's pretty nice that they gave me the big bed in my own room. I do snore a little bit so I think it was a smart choice for me to have my own room. Where we slept last year is now the dining room so you get a nice view of the bog while eating your food.
Yea, everything is going alright at the moment. Keen to get riding and racing again. Really want to smash these races and pay off all the training I have done. Weather has been pretty good too, just blue sky days. Still pretty cold in the morning and then it slowly warms up by midday. Oh yea, I'm pretty sure I saw David Bain at Auckland Airport too with his Mrs. He wasn't wearing a snazzy jumper so I'm not entirely sure it was him but I'm 80% sure it was. Nice to see old Uncle David.
So yea
Thanks for reading
Ah yea so I finally arrived back to Belgium late Friday night after 25 hours flying, 14 hours of waiting at airports and a 2 hour train ride. I still hate flying. Such a long hard trip and not having an isle seat on any of the plane rides meant I was stuck in my seat for most of it. The hardest leg was definitely the Melbourne to Dubai, 14 hours of boredness. I luckily managed to sleep for quite a bit the journey though so it didn't seem to long and I was feeling pretty fresh for the rest of the journey and it helped me stay awake on the train ride down to where I am staying. I'm living back in the house I lived in last year in Lendelede but this time 6 people will be living in it. The place has been 'renovated' but it is going to be very tight living with 6 people. At the moment there are 3 other guys living here; one Aussie and two Poms. I want to move to one of the other houses but my mate from back home who is riding for the team arrives here on the 19th May and he's staying here at the house and I don't want to ditch him cause it's his first time in Europe so I'm not sure what I'll do at the moment. I think it's gonna be way too tight living with 5 other guys, cause it's pretty cramped as is at the moment. She'll be interesting.
I had a good sleep the night I arrived but I woke up just before 7am the next morning and felt fresh as. Mum told me to take these jet lag pills cause she kept saying "They are amazing!" and they are pretty amazing, felt so good the next day and felt good for the whole day. I just had to build up my bike cause it was in pieces so that took up a bit time and I went down to the supermarket in the morning to get some breakfast and lunch stuff. Seems quite funny how quickly I have picked up on things again like with last year I was sort of scared to go outside cause I didn't know where to go or what to do and it was freezing cold but now I know everything. I just woke up, got my things, hopped on the bike and rode down to the supermarket like I had done just yesterday. I didn't even have to think twice what side of the road I had to be on. It feels like I was here not to long ago.
Went for a nice ride today. First time in a few days so the old pins where a bit stiff but the loosened up after an hour. The wind is pretty cold but the sun is really warm so still have to dress warm. Really keen to get some racing under my belt, just have to wait maybe a week so I can fully recover from the flight and everything.
I think I might have a little jet lag because it was my time to cook tonight and after my ride I was about to head down to the supermarket to get some stuff and one of the boys at the house asked me if I was going to the supermarket and that it was closed, everything closes on Sunday. I remember this from last year but I had no idea it was Sunday today. I thought it might have been Saturday or something but I had no idea what day it was, all I know is that it's the 4/05/2014.
The renovations to the house is there is now an upstairs. Andrew has cut a hole in the roof and put some pretty dodgy home made stairs in that creek super loud and the hand rail doesn't have sanded edges it's just a square 2X4 so it's a pretty sharp hand rail. I have my own, sort of, room with a double bed so I'm not complaining about that at all. So you go up the stairs and there's a small room with cupboards and a drying rack in it then you go through a doorway with no door and that is my bedroom. My bed is just a mattress on top of a homemade wooden stage sort of thing. It's really high up and it's got no bottom so there's a heap of bike bags and things under it. Then if you keep walking straight there's a door and that's where the rest of the guys are staying. There's two single beds and a bunk bed in there. So yea it's pretty nice that they gave me the big bed in my own room. I do snore a little bit so I think it was a smart choice for me to have my own room. Where we slept last year is now the dining room so you get a nice view of the bog while eating your food.
Yea, everything is going alright at the moment. Keen to get riding and racing again. Really want to smash these races and pay off all the training I have done. Weather has been pretty good too, just blue sky days. Still pretty cold in the morning and then it slowly warms up by midday. Oh yea, I'm pretty sure I saw David Bain at Auckland Airport too with his Mrs. He wasn't wearing a snazzy jumper so I'm not entirely sure it was him but I'm 80% sure it was. Nice to see old Uncle David.
So yea
Thanks for reading
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