The weather is slowly starting to get warmer and the sun is starting to come out more often, really only had one maybe two average days last week so I'm happy. It's been nice to finish some of my rides at the cafe and sitting outside in the warm sun, the wind is pretty cold but the cafe is fairly sheltered so you get some pretty sweet vitamin D in ya.
Been cooking up some pretty mean feeds as well. I haven't really had to cook for just myself before, I'm used to cooking for two or more so I'm always over dosing on dinner cause I cooked too much. Not a bad thing I guess as lunch is normally sussed for the next day. I made burgers and roast potatoes and kumara for dinner 3 nights in a row cause it tasted so good. You can buy a cheap loaf of ciabatta bread so I used that for the buns and chucked some fancy lettuce and other stuff on there to create a fancy burger. Heaps better and healthier than Maccas.
I did my first Kermesse of the season on the Sunday. The course was in the same town where I got 2nd last year and we raced a little bit on the course from last year but we turned off and did a different circuit this time. I was feeling pretty good and quietly confident. When I got home last year I couldn't stop thinking about those kermesses that I did and how most them had a pattern. I think I figured out the pattern to win one of these race so I was quite eager to get out there and race. So I was just playing it cool and really concentrating on sticking to my game plane. I manged to make a split in the field going up the climb and there were maybe 20 - 30 guys so I was like sweet, that's good. Again, I just played it cool while up in the split, tried not doing too much work and to conserve my energy. I was watching everyone and I chose two guys who looked pretty dangerous, who could win the race. With 7 laps to go there was maybe only 20 of us left and attacks started going off the front. There was still over 45 km of racing to go when this all started happening and I knew there was still a lot of eager beavers who won't want to let those riders go so I just kept an eye on the guys up the road and just sat back and made everyone else chase. They would eventually be pulled back and then another attack would go but I had a game plan and I was confident it was going to work. We pulled back the break and with 4 laps to go, the guy that I had marked attacked up the climb so I jumped across and another guy managed to get across and we rolled well together, all taking our turn on the front. The guy who bridged across after me got a flat front tyre with one lap to go so he had to pull over and get a new wheel. So it was just me and the other guy for the last lap and basically he just beat me in the sprint for the line. I'm not the best when it comes to sprinting. I have to start my sprint for the line about 10 - 15km out. The guy who won was ex pro and got 5th at the World Champs at Cyclo Cross a few years ago so he's a good rider but yea pretty gutted I couldn't get my first win. 2nd place again in that same bloody town. God damn!
But yea, I am pretty happy that I stuck to my game plan and it sort've payed off. I really do think I can win one of these races now. I have to wait till next Sunday to give it another crack.
So yea that's basically my week.
I'll leave some pictures from Flanders and from yesterdays race below
Thanks for reading
Nick
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