Franche-Comte

After getting 11th in a local kermis race on the Sunday, it was time to head to the south of France for the Tour de Franche-Comte. It was savage. Its the first time for over a year ive even seen mountains, never mind try and race up them. Stage 1 didn't start well. I punctured on the first climb, and spent a good 15min chasing to get back to the bunch. Although i cant complain too much, it was even worse for my team mate Gus who was on a really bad day and was getting dropped as I was trying to get back into the race. I ended up getting dropped on the first mountain of the day but then somehow fluking it and getting back on through the convoy, as they came past quicker than normal, meaning i could use the cars to get back up. I eventually blew my doors and lost 13min in the last 15km or so. Somehow to everyone's surprise a severely drained Gus finished inside the time limit, spending almost 140km off the back of the bunch. What a hero.

Pre race ride with some 'skaters'

Stage 2 went even better, when i managed to get 4 punctures, yes you read it right, 4 punctures in the first 50km. We then realised my brakes were in the wrong place, so we moved them on the side of the road, and 15min later i was back in the bunch. By now i was pretty sore from 3x 10min efforts off the back of the bunch, so it wasnt looking too promising for the last climb of the day. I lost 8min i think this day. GC hopes obviously out the window. 

Stage 3, not much happened personally. Doug managed to make the break of the day but got caught in the last few km's, and i finished safely in the bunch. Stage 4 however my luck changed. Me and doug went on the attack early and made the break of 20 or so riders. Most of the stage was a tailwind and at one point we had almost 5min on the bunch. The last 25km was one of the hardest ive ever done, with me and Doug taking turns in attacking the foreigners, but unfortunatly the other guys were too strong and we couldnt get away. Doug made a last ditch attack in the final 2km but it came back again and i managed to scrape 6th in a cramp entailed sprint for the line.

Stage 5 was the 'queen stage' of the race. And with 3 mountains, 2 being HC climbs, i wasnt expecting too much. I got over the first one safely enough, but it didnt take much shouting of "grupetto" with 20km to go on the climb for me to nicely slide off the back, and grovel my way up the final 2 mountains. It was all my plan though as i sat on Doug's wheel all the way up the final climb and lunged him. Get in!

Looking back on the race, i was happy with stage 4 getting in the move, but cant help think we could have taken the stage win somehow. Finished the race was an achievement in itself, but i clearly need some more climbing in my legs, which is easier said than done in the land of Belgium.

Since the race ive had a rest week. Doing at most 2hr rides, and spending the rest of time sat in cafes or sat in the garden getting some serious tannage in by our lake beach at Trot 3 here...

Trot 3 beach

I did do a local kermis yesterday but blew and pulled out after 2hrs. Wasnt really expecting much else after a rest week, but hopefully ill come good for a pro kermis tomorrow. I then have a 1.2 race this Sunday and then Tour de Savoie before heading back home for the national champs. Until next time...

Also check out my calendar/results page. Just click on the link on the right hand side and BAM your in.

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"This is the best echelon everrrr"

After bad luck in Zelik-Galmaarden with a puncture, and a broken gear cable in GP Affligem, it was time for a change of scenery. The team had 6 of us down for 2 Elite national races in France. A one day race, GP Beauchamps on the Monday, and then Tour de la Manche, a 4 day tour Thur-Sun. The journey out to Beauchamps was quite long but i think the rare sight of sun for us Belgian habitants lifted our spirits. Motivation was high and i was hoping for a bad luck free race, with nice smooth French roads, and no cobbles or gutter riding. Now i did this race last year and got dropped. This year however, with maybe an extra incentive to prove something to myself, i made the split. Crosswinds and a 1km climb each lap seemed to suit not just me but the whole team well, and we had 4 guys in the split of 20.

left to right. Doug, me then Kinch 

We was clearly the dominant team and mid race we managed to get the group down to just 12. Still with 4 of us there. Our job for the last 20km was to simply get a rider away to win the race. Bjorn was that man, he rode away with another rider and won the 2up sprint for the win. I managed to fluke a perfect attack with 1km to go and take 3rd, with Doug and Kinch taking 10th and 11th respectively after attacking in the last 5km. Heres me on the podium looking pretty pale. Must have gone pretty deep...

So with another win for Bjorn it was time for Tour de la Manche. A report for me personally is quite brief. Crashed on stage one and snapped my bars in half. (Doug snapped his forks), i then suffered like a dog for 4 days to try and hold my 9sec advantage on Gus on GC for a top 60. The trip though overall was a successful one. Bjorn won stage one and took the yellow jersey. Kinch won stage 4 and got a solid 3rd on GC. Doug managed 12th in the hilly TT, and we all had a dirty mcdonalds on the way home.

The dream team before stage 2

Since the tour i had 3 days recovery with a trip to the chiropractor to straighten me out after the crash. A pretty easy week all round with a local kermis race at the end of the week in Oordegem where Bjorn took win 5 or 6 of the year, and i managed a reasonable 11th. A weeks shoppings worth of prize money.

Next we have another 4day tour in France starting on Thursday, Tour de Franche comte. And with the first stage finishing in Switzerland and the rest pretty unknown i better get my climbing legs on and prey for some good form.

Finally a quick shout out to Doug, the man who made this blog title possible...

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Cobbled classics

After a big 23hour week including 3 races i had my 'birthday week'. This week basically consisted of recovery rides and a night out in Gent on the night of my Birthday. Me and the lads in the house had originally planned to have a few beers and play poker on my Birthday, the Tuesday, and go out properly on the Thursday, 2 days after my birthday and stay over in gent in a cheap hostel somewhere. This plan was quickly scrapped on the Tuesday evening when we put on some "massive tunes", had a few drinks and before we knew it the beers were all gone and dougs secret litlre of vodka was empty. Luckily for us Kinch had been on a evening training ride and so we had our ticket to Gent. Kinch drove us there and the rest is history as they say.

Taking 2nd in the Bunch kick after a lead out from Kinch

Back on a serious note though, I then had a few more 'recovery rides' and then straight into the '2 days of Gaverstreek'. This race was basically two cobbled classics in 2 days with a GC at the end of it. The first day, as you may expect, i felt pretty horrendous. I could feel i was fresh and reasonably strong but i new i wasnt 100% when i was almost sick at the top of the Kwaremont. Too be fair its not exactly an easy section of any race but i put it down to the night out on the Tuesday. I managed to get round in the main group on the first day and then took a respectable 20th on the second stage, which included the full kwaremont (a 2km cobbled climb), with help from a lead out from team mate/housemate Kinch to get me 2nd in the bunch kick.

Bars too low? Disgraceful back wheel?

I then had another 2 days easy, being a cyclist is hard i know, then 2 days hard with a kermis race in Herzele where i finished in the bunch again after some ridiculous spring hailstone. Racing 120km in the rain was almost a bad move as i felt pretty rough for the next few days, despite doing a 4hour ride on the Thursday. I didn't feel better infact until an hour into Sundays race. Zellik-Galmaarden UCI 1.2. Luckily for me the first time up the 'muur', which translates in English as "the wall", was quite steady, and i went just enough into the red to make me feel better somehow. I then hit, and came over the top of the muur second time round in the top 10, went over the bosberg top 20 and made the split of 30/40 over the Coeberg. Yes all cobbled climbs. I got stronger and stronger through the race in a sense, although i was suffering quite alot on the Bosberg as the laps went on. Going into the last 15km we had one last time up the Bosberg, 9 guys had managed to get away a little earlier and gain 40seconds so i was racing for 9th at this point (i think). This didn't matter though as i punctured over the top of the Bosberg and by the time id got a wheel and set off again the front group had gone. I got caught by the main bunch and my finishing place of 87th doesn't reflect my ride atall, but that's racing i suppose, and eventually my bad luck so far this year will stop and I will get a big result.

A short lived break with 2 other Englishman in Belgium

Some good photos from the past few weeks racing too. Im now just finishing an easy day, and should be back into training tomorrow, with plans of a solid week of training as we don't have a big race this weekend, so will probably just train and do a couple of Kermis's. Will update again when something good happens, or I get an amazing idea of what to write.

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