So as Derrick has already posted about our results today. I'll give you a little more info on how the race went. It is pretty different racing in Europe, but some things are still the same, we got to the race with what seemed like lots of time but is never the case in cross. By the time I had my numbers on and was changed and everything I had 60 minutes to the start. I roled around for about 20 minutes trying to figure out when we could get on the course and the last race was ended. When I was on, Derrick and I did a few laps (not nearly or clearly enough time to figure out the lines in the sand) and then I had about 15 minutes to start. It is really ridiculously hard to get around a race venue in Belgium without going on the course, but I still managed to get to the start line.
So I get second line call up, which normally in a cross race, each line has 8 girls in it. Not today.........yeah there was 8 in the first, but then like 20 or so in the second, not only that, the girls in the second row, roled there bikes between the girls in the front row seconds from the start. I was trying to understand what the starter was saying and when we were going to go, obvouisly nothing makes sense to me in flemish. The race started, correction.....the race obviously was a false start and I was way back in 20 something going into the first corner. I guess the rule in Belgium is that false starts are legal. Unfortunately, my housemates (Wendy Simms and Barb Howe) and I didn't know this. Got around a few girls before the first sand section but not enough. Then I didn't get the line right in the second sand and it costed me a bit more time. Rode around the first two laps or so with a couple other girls and let them lead into the sand and crash in front of my face. As soon as the 3rd lap started I had figured out the right lines to follow and I dropped the 3 girls that I was with. Started gaining on the riders ahead but not enough time left to get them.
It was really good to be back racing again. I know I've only been off a couple weeks but it is really easy to loose the feel of the bike right now, especially when it's so cold in Canada and there is so much snow that you are lucky if you get one good ride done outside every week. I feel like I didn't go too hard today, just tried to ride smooth and not push the limits too hard and crash all over the place. Which is good, as I have never done 3 races in 3 days in a row. So hopefully I will gradually improve over the next 2 days.
So tomorrow is another day and another race. I am aiming on atleast one top 10 finish while I am here in europe, which I am thinking either this Saturday or Sunday is my shot at this. Derrick raced really well today. Accomplished the goal of not getting lapped by the superstars he was racing against. Koodoos to him!
Tomorrow looks pretty challenging. A huge sand hill, probably man made, looks really hard, don't think anyone will be riding it.......stayed tuned to see if my running legs are with me at tomorrows race!
NCE
Friday, December 21, 2007
Scheldecross...Elliott 13th
So the first race is in the books. We raced in Antwerpen today ,about 1 hour from where we were staying. Natasha came in 13th today while Belgian housemates Wendy Simms came 4th and Barb Howe finished in 9th.
It was totaly crazy to have done our first race on a friday afternoon and seen so many people out watching, a true sign of X-mas time in Belgium.
I finished 45th...which wasn't bad for a first Cross experience and the first 30 guys were totaly Cross studs so...
Housemate Nathan Chow finished a few seconds ahead and had a pretty solid ride.
We are stoked not have gotten lapped. K Hazzard flatted and was unable to continue.
Lots of sand, not a whole lot of running, about -4 deg C, frozen ground, a little hard to pass and I was on the brakes way too much and super nervous, wasted alot of energy, but that's ok.
Natasha tells me she will write a post of her race tonight or tommorow so I'll let her blab.
It was really nice to have infrastructure today. Having people take the bikes, clean the bikes, take your stuff. In North America we are so used to taking care of ourselves. Here it is, get in, do the job, get it done and get out. You can learn racing, but today what I learned was really more about ways to prepare for things like a European, or a really organized unit. Here the socializing is for the fans not the riders. This is not the "fun" atmosphere you find back home. It's serious, there is a lot of money, the job has to get done. This is a lot more professional, they run it like a buisness. As I am obviously not as good as some of these guys , I will really have to learn to stop the bad habbits that the North American atmosphere provides. Guess this type of aculturatution may take some time, but maybe we can focus on this kind of preperation and see what happens.
Tommorow, we travel to Huijbergen in Holland (Netherlands) and it's gonna be even harder than today. So baby steps, don't get lapped, get my head out of my ass in the first lap and I think this should be congruent with a better result. Not that I'm all about results, but it is a good measure to see if your comprehension of the necessary elements that must be present in this sport.
So, my belly is full of Spaghetti Bolognaise made by our host and time for a little snack.
DSJ
It was totaly crazy to have done our first race on a friday afternoon and seen so many people out watching, a true sign of X-mas time in Belgium.
I finished 45th...which wasn't bad for a first Cross experience and the first 30 guys were totaly Cross studs so...
Housemate Nathan Chow finished a few seconds ahead and had a pretty solid ride.
We are stoked not have gotten lapped. K Hazzard flatted and was unable to continue.
Lots of sand, not a whole lot of running, about -4 deg C, frozen ground, a little hard to pass and I was on the brakes way too much and super nervous, wasted alot of energy, but that's ok.
Natasha tells me she will write a post of her race tonight or tommorow so I'll let her blab.
It was really nice to have infrastructure today. Having people take the bikes, clean the bikes, take your stuff. In North America we are so used to taking care of ourselves. Here it is, get in, do the job, get it done and get out. You can learn racing, but today what I learned was really more about ways to prepare for things like a European, or a really organized unit. Here the socializing is for the fans not the riders. This is not the "fun" atmosphere you find back home. It's serious, there is a lot of money, the job has to get done. This is a lot more professional, they run it like a buisness. As I am obviously not as good as some of these guys , I will really have to learn to stop the bad habbits that the North American atmosphere provides. Guess this type of aculturatution may take some time, but maybe we can focus on this kind of preperation and see what happens.
Tommorow, we travel to Huijbergen in Holland (Netherlands) and it's gonna be even harder than today. So baby steps, don't get lapped, get my head out of my ass in the first lap and I think this should be congruent with a better result. Not that I'm all about results, but it is a good measure to see if your comprehension of the necessary elements that must be present in this sport.
So, my belly is full of Spaghetti Bolognaise made by our host and time for a little snack.
DSJ
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Training story
Natasha waiting for the Train
Good story from monday...
So we had to get on the train from the Brussels airport to Tielt, the day we arrived. So we're pretty tired from the flight and delays and such. We barely manage to buy the tickets and get the bikes in the elavator and then we almost get on the wrong train, but we get some help and get on the right train.
So we had to get on the train from the Brussels airport to Tielt, the day we arrived. So we're pretty tired from the flight and delays and such. We barely manage to buy the tickets and get the bikes in the elavator and then we almost get on the wrong train, but we get some help and get on the right train.
So the train was empty, I thought this was great, we throw the bikes and bags in one corner and then then sprawl out
across a couple seats (that's a pic of the bikes in an empty car on the train). Not three minutes after we started what looked to be a doldrum of a train ride, doesn't half of Brussels then get on the train. Well then at every approaching stop our baggage that was in a corner of the train seemed to disappear in front of our eyes.
Generally speaking I am a pretty paranoid person, multiply that with jet lag and lack of sleep, add in that I have no clue what the people on the train are saying, well, this makes for a pretty paranoid Canuck on the the train.
The guy standing closest to the bags, the guy that looked pretty shady to begin with, his cell phone goes off...yah his ring tone...the sound of a bomb dropping. I decide that acting cool is no longer an option, I pretty much jump over the guy that was sitting beside me and grab the bags and then sit on them for the rest of the ride. That is until we are 5 minutes from our stop. We have only 60 seconds to get all our stuff out, so we eagerly move it between cars, then we mangage to block two exits from the train and get a lot of funny looks from all the Belgians going home from their office. We give them half smiles as we feel shame and embarassed that we look like total amatures, we bow out at our stop and thankfully Bernard is there to greet us and takes us to what will be our home while we are in Belgium.
Good story from today...
Natasha and I went for a little ride into Oostkamp today to pick up some essentials that we forgot to get yesterday. Apperently I bought Kammelmilk, which apparently is the product you get when you beat milk before you make yogourt. So not really that great in coffee. Also I did have some dreams about walking in the sand? Anyways Tasha went into the Delhaize to buy some non Kammelmilk, we got it right this time.
We then had to go to the local ATM, where NATASHA felt the urge to say extremely loud "I took out the maximum amount that it would let me", as she tucked the Euros into her jersey pocket. I know blue collar crime is low in Belgium, but I think this pushes the limit of how do you say "asking for trouble" in Flemish.
Close call, lucky the two guys in back of her were probably just staring at her Steven's tights which are now probably thining.
So one more day of training before the first race in Antwerpen. So far among the people staying at house, there is ; Barb Howe from the US, Wendy Simms, Nathan Chown and his wife Leslie. Future Jet Fuel teamate Kevin Hazzard will arrive tomorow and one more American is arriving later. So we will be getting some great support at the races and we should be all taken care of with support crew and mechanic as well. So looking forward to getting smacked around a little.
Good story from today...
Natasha and I went for a little ride into Oostkamp today to pick up some essentials that we forgot to get yesterday. Apperently I bought Kammelmilk, which apparently is the product you get when you beat milk before you make yogourt. So not really that great in coffee. Also I did have some dreams about walking in the sand? Anyways Tasha went into the Delhaize to buy some non Kammelmilk, we got it right this time.
We then had to go to the local ATM, where NATASHA felt the urge to say extremely loud "I took out the maximum amount that it would let me", as she tucked the Euros into her jersey pocket. I know blue collar crime is low in Belgium, but I think this pushes the limit of how do you say "asking for trouble" in Flemish.
Close call, lucky the two guys in back of her were probably just staring at her Steven's tights which are now probably thining.
So one more day of training before the first race in Antwerpen. So far among the people staying at house, there is ; Barb Howe from the US, Wendy Simms, Nathan Chown and his wife Leslie. Future Jet Fuel teamate Kevin Hazzard will arrive tomorow and one more American is arriving later. So we will be getting some great support at the races and we should be all taken care of with support crew and mechanic as well. So looking forward to getting smacked around a little.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Belgium
All is well. Bikes are good, legs soon to follow. The place is great. Have managed to not go to Bakery yet. Rode outside. Very cold. Place is great, will put pictues. Time for sleep. Some funny stroies, will tell later.
DSJ
DSJ
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Belgium bound
Instead of having a raffle we should have just placed bets on if our plane would leave today, on time or at all. Fingers crossed, it's slightly delayed at the moment...hopefully the flight is still a go. After all I manage to freak out at least once this morning trying to get three bikes packed after a hard workout. Thank god it was Minute Maid and Perrier at the Cyclery party and not Stella and porcelain prayers like last year.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Rhode Island -Round 6-Chain Buster
So as I predicted the crew had a good day today. Riders other than the duo..
Young Karl Hoppner laid some smack down to finish 3rd in his 1st US junior race! They start em young here, so that is a really good sign of things to come from this youngster from Ottawa. Tash and I saw Connor (The Condor) O'Brien and Karl sprinting their brains out last week at the PEAK centre in Kanata..just as we were getting into our sprint session. Good to see that the kids are working on their high end. I think this training comes from OZ (the Wizard Wild man) Bakker. Who incidentally put in another solid ride to round out the top ten today. Knowing Oz he's probably pretty happy with another good ride, picking up another UCI point and making some bling!
Steve Proulx said he "crashed a million times" and ended up in the top 20. Word on the street is he'll have a better day tomorrow.
So for us, a good day as well. Natasha must have brushed against Steve and got some of his crashilitis...cause my girl had more crashes than the Daytona 500. But she muscled her way back and scooped up a 4th place podium...1 second shy of third.
I had a solid ride, started off a little slow...we arrived to the course a little too late today and didn't really pre ride enough, had to rush the warm up and blah blah.
Never the less found my groove on the 2nd lap, was on the tail end of a group in about 17 th place or so, then started riding through people, found a group and rode as hard as I could on each uphill, flat and twist. It worked really well, ended up dropping some of the guys I was with. One guy was with me and he stepped on the gas out of a corner and busted his chain. Ironically I brought the bikes in to the shop this week and Steve (Cyclery mechanic extraordinaire) said the chains were finished and put on some new ones. Man when I saw this guys' chain break, I thought it was as ironic as a fly in my chardonnay. It sucks when things like that happen. We were going at it pretty hard, it would have been fun to duel to the end. Anyways I finished 12th which was pretty close to the objective today.
Got some air time and props from the announcer today...he said I was having a great ride. That was nice. I mean I don't do this to get famous or for recognition, but it sure is nice to get some R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
So tomorrow will be hard, a little bit more technical, lots of running. That's ok. I've been running a lot lately and my legs feel great. I guess Ken's training is working. Tasha will go well if she gets the job done as I know she can..later.
Young Karl Hoppner laid some smack down to finish 3rd in his 1st US junior race! They start em young here, so that is a really good sign of things to come from this youngster from Ottawa. Tash and I saw Connor (The Condor) O'Brien and Karl sprinting their brains out last week at the PEAK centre in Kanata..just as we were getting into our sprint session. Good to see that the kids are working on their high end. I think this training comes from OZ (the Wizard Wild man) Bakker. Who incidentally put in another solid ride to round out the top ten today. Knowing Oz he's probably pretty happy with another good ride, picking up another UCI point and making some bling!
Steve Proulx said he "crashed a million times" and ended up in the top 20. Word on the street is he'll have a better day tomorrow.
So for us, a good day as well. Natasha must have brushed against Steve and got some of his crashilitis...cause my girl had more crashes than the Daytona 500. But she muscled her way back and scooped up a 4th place podium...1 second shy of third.
I had a solid ride, started off a little slow...we arrived to the course a little too late today and didn't really pre ride enough, had to rush the warm up and blah blah.
Never the less found my groove on the 2nd lap, was on the tail end of a group in about 17 th place or so, then started riding through people, found a group and rode as hard as I could on each uphill, flat and twist. It worked really well, ended up dropping some of the guys I was with. One guy was with me and he stepped on the gas out of a corner and busted his chain. Ironically I brought the bikes in to the shop this week and Steve (Cyclery mechanic extraordinaire) said the chains were finished and put on some new ones. Man when I saw this guys' chain break, I thought it was as ironic as a fly in my chardonnay. It sucks when things like that happen. We were going at it pretty hard, it would have been fun to duel to the end. Anyways I finished 12th which was pretty close to the objective today.
Got some air time and props from the announcer today...he said I was having a great ride. That was nice. I mean I don't do this to get famous or for recognition, but it sure is nice to get some R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
So tomorrow will be hard, a little bit more technical, lots of running. That's ok. I've been running a lot lately and my legs feel great. I guess Ken's training is working. Tasha will go well if she gets the job done as I know she can..later.
December Update
So here we are in Rhode Island waiting to race this 'avro. Just thought I would write a little blurb to let everyone know what is happening.
NB draw....ticket sales are going pretty well, if we had another week or two I think we could have sold them all. I must have given my ticket blurb over 200 times...you know that feeling you get when you tell a story over and over...yah well I'm to the point where I annoy myself when I hear my voice. Oh well...could be worse.
Everyone at work has been especially supportive and it's great to see so many people step up and help us out. It's awesome to be supported by so many people who have confidence in us. Also Natasha's family has been pushing tickets to everybody from Bellville to Calgary. Word on the street is some guy at The Royal Bank bought a whole bunch and is giving them out at his X-mas party as gifts...nice.
Racing...The picture above is last weeks -17C race in Ottawa...fun as it was not sure how many times a year I would want to do that. Thank God we chose Cross and not Cross Country skiing.
Tasha is riding the trainer right now in our hotel room as we get ready for the last official race weekend of 2008. We calculated that Since October we have spent almost 100 Hours in the car together traveling to races...OMG! We have had some pretty interesting conversations. Some not so interesting, some near death experiences and I'm pretty sure a couple times she wanted to decapitate me! If looks could kill, well there would be no blog.
So today should be good, probably about 40 degs F or so once we race so thats about 6-7 degs C by the time we race. Looking forward to putting everything together today.
DSJ
NB draw....ticket sales are going pretty well, if we had another week or two I think we could have sold them all. I must have given my ticket blurb over 200 times...you know that feeling you get when you tell a story over and over...yah well I'm to the point where I annoy myself when I hear my voice. Oh well...could be worse.
Everyone at work has been especially supportive and it's great to see so many people step up and help us out. It's awesome to be supported by so many people who have confidence in us. Also Natasha's family has been pushing tickets to everybody from Bellville to Calgary. Word on the street is some guy at The Royal Bank bought a whole bunch and is giving them out at his X-mas party as gifts...nice.
Racing...The picture above is last weeks -17C race in Ottawa...fun as it was not sure how many times a year I would want to do that. Thank God we chose Cross and not Cross Country skiing.
Tasha is riding the trainer right now in our hotel room as we get ready for the last official race weekend of 2008. We calculated that Since October we have spent almost 100 Hours in the car together traveling to races...OMG! We have had some pretty interesting conversations. Some not so interesting, some near death experiences and I'm pretty sure a couple times she wanted to decapitate me! If looks could kill, well there would be no blog.
So today should be good, probably about 40 degs F or so once we race so thats about 6-7 degs C by the time we race. Looking forward to putting everything together today.
DSJ
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