Update—Some good, and some bad…

Mitch here to report that it’s been an interesting couple of days…

Good News - The race we had yesterday afternoon was amazing. The whole scene is a vast departure from the races we are used to attending stateside. Let’s start with registration—held in a tent with a full service bar/pub open for service inside. It’s bustling with the townsfolk who sit smoking and drinking as they study each and every racer as they approach the officials' table. The reason—so they can place bets on you. The average age of the race’s spectators—about 70.

Registration was a bit of a problem as it turned out that more than half of the nine of us did not have all the documents needed for securing our new Belgian racing licenses (oops!), and because we were a bit late getting to the race (we got lost a bit on our 30 mile ride to the town—one always gets lost here) we had very little time to rectify this. In a panic I (Mitch) went into the butcher shop and asked for a computer to print what I needed off the web. The butcher fetched his wife (she spoke English) and once I explaned my situation to her, she kindly obliged my request after they locked their mean/mongrel looking dog in the backyard so I could come into their house behind the shop without being eaten.

With minutes to spare I raced back to the reg tent, got licensed, got my race number and raced back to the start line. I got there just in time but by now I was already winded. Unfortunately Ryan could not race this one—only four of our nine did. This was ok as he has been getting over a cold since he got here and the extra bit of time to recover without taxing his resources is probably a good thing.

So the race was on. Wow!!! No matter how many times I’ve told Ryan and the others what to expect, they’ll have no idea until they experience this for themselves. These races are absolutely nuts!!! My description of a kermis has evolved to ‘all out Bicycle Warfare.’ I’ve never been more miserable on a bike in my life. That said, it was awesome and for some strange reason (that only bike racers might understand) I can’t wait for the next one. I think these races are just so damn hard that there is something compelling about them—something that makes you want to come back to prove that you can withstand it all.

First off, the race was at least a quarter full of international athletes. Other Americans, South Africans, Brits, Germans, French and on and on and on. The Belgians themselves, the locals, are flat out strong and their tactics are completely opposite the ones we are used to in America. They make the hard sections of the race course (the ones with the headwinds, side winds, etc.) so damn hard. No Mercy, never, not at all—Insane!!! They fly full speed into every corner, hit the brakes at full stopping power, corner like your grandparents and then go full throttle plus five percent down the next straight. This is extremely taxing on your body. Only the toughest can survive. The roads all narrow and are all covered with hazards. Remarkably—there was not a single crash in the race. These racers are also extremely sharp and reliable bike handlers (parents, grandparents and loved ones—worry not) it seems there is not even as much concern for crashing as we were expectng and not talking to you about. ☺

When all was said and done three of the four of us made it through most of the race. None of us made it to the finish line with the leaders. To our credit we were only 48 hours off the plane. I was second to last to loose contact with the contending racers. While I’m wanting to blame it on the wrong drink mix being in my bottles and making me sick, the full truth is that when I finally threw in the towel and dropped the pace(at about 6 laps to go) my legs weren’t going to turn over anymore no matter how I might have been feeling.

The 117k race started with over 150 riders. More than half were blown off the back before five of the seventeen laps were complete. The lead group was only about 7 crossing the finish line and only about 25-30 were placed in the results and considered finishers. Our friend Gavin from Stanford’s team came in about 15th as the hero of the day. The rest of the racers left in staggered groups of four or five. A really hard race—even for the Belgians.

More Good News – (uhh—actually this is debatable) We petitioned for an invite to a pro calendar race being held in the next town over tomorrow (Tuesday) night. We got an invite for six riders. YIKES!!! Ryan and I are both on that list (he’ll have his paperwork in hand and should be able to race this time). So anyway, we’re going to throw ourselves in an even harder race than the one I tried yesterday. Our acting team director who lives in the town that the race will be held in saw a QuickStep team car scouting the course today. For those who don’t know—Quickstep is arguably the best team in the world (depending on the variety of racing you are talking about) and based here in Belgium. They have the current and past world champions on the team (that’s the best cyclist on the planet). Oh dear!!! What are we getting ourselves into?

More Good – This afternoon we rode portions of the classic race Gent-Wevelgem today includng the cobblestone climb of the Kemmelburg. Atop the climb I got my first look at France. ☺

And the Bad News – Our new friend Andy who joined us from Ohio is an incredibly nice guy and a stong bike racer (he was one of our three late survivors yesterday). We’ve really enjoied getting to know him so far. The bad news--Andy had to take an emergency trip home this morning. This is an incredible shock and an outrageous tragedy. Unfortunately his mother suffered what seems to have been a freak heart attack and had passed away sometime late Sunday night (Ohio time). As his teammates and new friends, we did everything we could for him—but it was obviously a really hard morning for everyone. Elliot (our trip’s organizer) and myself drove Andy to the airport in Brussels this morning and helped him square away his expedited travel as well as a cell phone to keep in touch with his family at home while he makes his way back. Andy’s about Ryan’s age—a young gent of 22 or 23. From the perspective of this older 27 year old—all I can say is that Andy is as strong off the bike as he is on it and a whole lot more. We’re really going to miss his good company. We all have and will continue wishing him all the best as he negotiates this very difficult time.

We’ll have more soon - Ryan will be on the keyboard next time to tell you about his first round of the Belgian fury—it’ll be good news!!!