Azencross/Nordzee Cross

So here is a little update on some more races that we've done.

Azencross in Loenhout, one of the better attended cross races in all of Europe. This race generally attracts more nations than the World Cup. My number was 171, so I think there were at least 100 guys signed up. For some reason they messed up my UCI number and I didn't get a call up. So back row. Well actually had the best start to date, threw the elbows out and squeeked my way up 20 spots throughout the first lap, but then could only move up here and there after. So for some reson I wasn't in the results page either, but I would have finished 1 lap down. This course was very interesting, lots of mud, lots of fly overs, tons of drunk Belgian fans littering the course with probably 50, 000 empty beer cups.

This leads me to one more conclusion. The popularity of Cross in Europe is definetly more so than in North America. But many of the 20, ooo fans that are there are not really there to watch the race. Sure a lot of them are die hard "SUPPORTER OF", fully decked out in Sven Nys coats, Erwin V hats or Bart Wellens buffs(a buff is some wierd material that is worn as a hat, scarf, bandana by everyone out here). But a lot of them are just there for the atmosphere, the party and the booze. It kind of reminds me of a cross between a concert and soccer game. Fans fill all local bars within a kilometer radius before the race, some are there for the juniors and women, but they mostly spill out for the Elite race while severly intoxicated and proceede to act a lot like soccer fans cheering on their favorites and heckling everyone else. Maybe in North America we should make a cross race beside a Nascar event. I bet everybody that is standing around drunk would love to watch funny looking people in spandex crash and throttle themselves through endless sand and mud.

Oh yah, back to the race, this is the one with the famous bmx style "woops". It's really twisty and turny and it is just lines with wall to wall people, it's pretty cool. Tasha jammed her wrist pretty hard in warm up, so she didn't get to do it, so we'll have to put that one in for next year.

Norzeecross. I think it is supposed to be the oldest cross race in Belgium. Nord meaning north, zee meaning sea, it is guess where...right on the North Sea in Middelkirke.

Mud, mud, mud. Man this was the one race that we did "low key" and just packed three of us in a car and didn't have any support crew. Haha, if we only knew. You couldn't even ride one lap without seriously needing a bike change. If they had a race like this in Ontario, which they never could less you irrigated a muddy field for a week, it would probably make a lot of people give up racing. They somehow actually manage to put some little hills in it as well, I guess there are indeed elevation changes here after all. So, like I said we have no support, so on the start our bikes are not the cleanest, but we wern't the only ones. After a whole season on the same tires...I flat. It's kind of ironic to flat in the mud the one time that I don't have my spare bike and there is nothing in the pit. I ran to the pit, mostly out of frustration, but it was over. I was actually on a good day considering my sinus are infected and I am coughing up yellow sputum and it was my 6th race in 8 days...ha..that really makes me laugh that I'm in an aweful state and I can still drill it. Kevin bit it hard on the one piece of pavement and Nathan broke his derailer, so none of us finished. Haha, good thing it was a whole 20 minute drive. I think some guy named Sven Nys won...

It was defineltly a race worth going to, if you want to learn what mud is...this is the race. I have a whole new respect for mud, there are just so many kinds of mud here.
Tacky sticky mud that actually is kind fast and soft and you can actually feel the tires stick to it. Thick hard rutted mud in the cold weather.
Frozen cow dung, tractor tire rut break your carbon rims mud.
Thick soupy rip your shoes off your feet if they are not on tight enough mud.
Then on top of those basic muds, you can have a combination of some or all of those muds at the same time, in the same 20 meters. Good thing about 99% of the races we did in North America had about 1% mud. Great preparation for going to Europe.

But the mud today was like a thick gluey grey semi-wet mud that made you regret eating too many stroopwafles and made you think your ass was fat.

Funny that I would race well and feel good, when I am probably on the verge of a bacterial pneumonia...cause all week its been warm up on the trainer, cool down on the trainer, healthy carbs blah blah blah. Yesterday got two frigin huge frites with about a gallon of mayo immediatly after the race , (So did Wendy Simms) chased it down with a 7up, then ate a whole buch of crepes, then had a beer(my only one so far) then ate cake. Today half a warm up lap and a little spin around the block to get a coffee, which I have not found anywhere that gives coffee to go, clearly a sign of an undercaffinated nation. I felt good unitl the flat. Oh well.

So, no coffee to go, but you can buy beer on the corner and everyone seems to urinate where ever they feel it is appropriate, mostly on electrical fences, this is something I take full advantage of. It's the the little things in life that are great.

Sorry there are no play by plays of the races, you can buy the videos if you really want to see them. I'm the guy with spit hanging off his chin that gets lapped at the World Cup in the sand. Got to have some claim to fame.

So racing is done and I'm on holidays. I wanted to race tomorow in the Super Prestige, but Natasha wants to get romanic and do real people stuff and go to Brugge. I promissed her that we could have one day off the bike, so if I want to keep my little stroopwaffle of a girlfriend I better be good to her cause you know she is the only one that can put up with me.