6/23/2003

Hello Everyone,

Well I have almost been here for a full month. Thankfully it has been going rather fast lately, the racing of course has been hard, and the daily life has been pretty darn calm. I hope all of you are enjoying the Wisconsin summer and riding those bikes while it is so nice out. I think I will attempt to keep this report on the short side…not really for any reason, but it may not turn out that way!

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to travel with the national team to the ardennes (basically southeast of Liege) for the espoir world cup, Fleche Ardennais. On Friday I was minding my own business enjoying a day with no bike riding, when Ann came over to my room and told me that I had to be ready to leave in 30 minutes. It turns out that I would spend the night in Izegem at the national team house and we would leave early on Saturday to do a training ride on the course for Sunday’s race. Well I was not exactly prepared…and I scrambled to put things together. I actually made it over to Izegem on time (before their mechanic Danny left for the night…he needed to check out my bike). I ate some dinner and all of the guys went out to a movie in Kortrijk. It was a lot of fun, something that doesn’t happen a lot when your racing a lot over here. Saturday we left and went out to ride the final 60km of Sundays race.

Saturday evening we stayed at a super nice hotel and had a great meal. I must say that the trip was short, but we were treated very well by the team’s staff. The travel and stay at the hotel allowed us to focus completely on the race Sunday…no distractions, only race preparation. Come Sunday morning, I was feeling ready but I didn’t really think that I would have good legs in the race…don’t know why. We did the usual, ate a great meal, hang out for a while, and then off to the race.

Since the race was a world cup…basically means that there are a bunch of big teams, and big riders. For sign in your team gets called up on stage and they announce everyone, a few pictures…but no clapping for the Americans! The field was typical, maybe 180 riders or so, but the teams inlcuded Rabobank, Quick-step, ABX-go pass, Dutch Nationals, French Nationals…some strong young men. The course was a pretty tough profile with 8 GPM’s…basically 8 classified climbs. Most were not overly steep, but after about 40kms in the race the climbs came hard and fast. I should also point out that any uphill at all can be hard…if you really wanted to attack the front on one of these climbs, you had to do it in the big ring.

Our team was super strong, and we were trying to get Pat (McCarty) a top ten since he is third in the world u-23 rankings. We also were looking after Darby (Thomas) as he has some good form…and is a strong rider. Of course in an ideal world, all of our guys would be there in the final…but having two in the top ten…or three in the top twenty would be better than just finishing everyone. I was more than happy to do what I could for those guys, I hope that I helped some…but I also wanted to hang in as long as I could. In the beginning I felt terrible. I think I died a million times yesterday, but on each climb I was able to hang out in the top ten or twenty (not super easily I must add!). The field seemed really big considering the hills…and about halfway through the race I think half of the riders were still around. I think at around the fifth climb things were beginning to get strung out and eventually there was a group of about 40 established as the front. I was not feeling great, but I was still able to race, which feels really good…as opposed to just hanging out and trying to finish.

Later in the race with one official climb to go before the two local laps, Darby moved off the front with 7 others. Noel told us over the radio to block and watch the group of around 30. Darby was in a good move, with guys that were not super strong…well they were…but none were big shots. I think at this point the rest of us were pretty tired, and two groups of two rolled off the group. I didn’t think this was a good thing so I sort of accelerated and was off the group by about 100 meters. I put my head down and started to make progress on the group. After about 10 minutes, I got the group halfway up the climb and of course the field accelerated before I could recover a bit, and they were on our heels. So my effort was wasted, and from that point on, I was on the edge of complete failure. Those efforts are pretty tough after 7 climbs and 130km. We were pretty much at the local laps at this point, and about 25km to go. The front group was about 40 strong and included five Americans. On the first lap, Pat rolled off the front and a french guy and eventually a Go-pass guy went with him. They were chasing a group of five so lets say eight up the road. Our job in the group was to make sure we were with any more groups to roll off the front. Unfortunately, we missed a group of 7 guys (yeah I know that is hard to do…”miss” a group of 7) but we were all pretty dog tired at that point. After a coke and with one to go, I started to feel better. Unfortunately the race had gone up the road, and Pat was alone. The race finished rather uneventfully, Pat took 13th. He needed to get a top ten to get more world cup points…and the rest of us are partly to blame. We needed to send someone else up the road, possibly able to help him out more or just to get another rider in the top fifteen.

I finished with a 26th, and the rest of the guys were close behind. The full results are on cyclingnews for those interested. A rider from Finland on Rabobank won…I think his name is Juka Vastaranta or something like that…he had won a ton of races this year…he’s headed for a big time contract soon. On a personal note, I am happy with my race. It is the best race that I have had since I have gotten here, I dug deeper than I have before and pushed it past the usual. Afterwards I was completely wasted…which feels really good. I am now getting ready for a bigger race on Wednesday called Brussels-Ingooigem. I am told that it is a pro race…I think a UCI 1.3, 230kms…and supposedly the real big boys are showing up. Musseuw, Steels…We will see who really shows up…but I think it is safe to say that it will be a new level of pain, speed, and complete suffering. I am very grateful to have the experience, and of course I will get on a report sometime afterwards.

Until then, I wish all of you the best and if you have any strength, prayers, or good carma, send it to me at about 5:30am Wednesday morning! I will say good bye for now, remember to keep the 12 clean, and don’t be afraid to suffer. Have a great week.

bryan