6/26/2003

Hello Everyone.

Well, I am yet again writing to keep you all posted on my racing here in Belgium. Today is one of those wonderful COMPLETELY off-days. It is really nice for me to be able to sit down and re-think yesterdays race…and kill some time. I am headed towards a period of some light training and less racing to make sure that I am ready for the final part of the season. The previous six weeks have been great in terms of my fitness and racing, but I am now re-building so that I can be on top form again in the end of the year.

Yesterday was one of the most memorable days that I have ever had on the bike. I think the only more memorable day was my first race at Greenwood two years ago. The race was called Brussel-Ingooigem, and yeah you guessed it…the race went from Brussel to Ingooigem (In-goo-e-hem). It was a UCI 1.5 185km…but just slightly different in that the race was “Met contract” or with contract…most UCI races are, but often there are more amateurs than professionals.

We got to the race, parked, and went to the changing rooms. As I walked into the changing rooms, Wilfred Peters walked in right next to me. That doesn’t happen every day. Our director for the day was Eddy from the national team. Eddy said ‘hello’ to Mr. Peters and in a booming voice Mr. Peters said ‘hello’. To that point in my life I have met only a couple of people more intimidating. We change, go outside and get things ready to sign in. There is an abnormally large crowd, but we just sign in like normal. Then before the start we are waiting along with all the other riders…I look to my left, Quick-Step, Vlaanderen T-interem, Marlux, Lambouwcrediet, Bankgiroloterij…all of the big teams.

The most frightening part was who showed up from those teams. Musseuw, VDB, Tom Steels (Belgian champ). I think you could see a dozen riders with world champ bands on their arms. I mean are you freaking kidding me? Pinch me now…please, cause this is NOT real. I am lining up against these guys to race? I cant do that…can I?

The race rolls out for about 5k of nuetral. Once we are racing, we eventually get a wide rolling two lane road…I didn’t take it out of the 12 or 13 for the next twenty minutes. We were basically spun out, the hardest sections being the downhills! I think my overall feeling for the race was “finish”. So with that in mind, a break of about 17 rolled off the front in the first 30km. The bunch was happy to let them go for now, about 150k to go. The pace was hard at times…really hard. At one point we turned right, and we were drilled in the gutter on a flat cross wind section…spun out in the 12…bleeding from my eyes. Then it stops. Thank you! I look over and see Musseuw pull off and take a bathroom break…I am thinking is he crazy? We are full on right now! At that moment, the pack pretty much stops and goes about 35 for a while. That is respect. This happened quite a bit…we went 35 for quite a long time, most notably during the informal rest stops, and the feed zones. The entire day I had to tell myself not to stare at Musseuw or VDB…If I did, I would probably touch wheels and crash!

I quickly realized that they are just like me…I mean they have two legs, two arms…and they pedal the bike just like other people. I mean Musseuw is a big strong fellow…he has something that you cannot see on the outside that makes him the champion that he is…heart, determination, balls, guts, grit, willpower, whatever you want to call it. I can admire that…that is something that is hard to come by, but it is not impossible to have. Your god-given abilities are basically fixed…you cant change those. But your heart, your guts, those are things that you can make larger, and they to can allow you to achieve whatever it is that you strive for in bike racing or in life.

OK, back to the race. The break rolling off the front was really a saving grace. Yeah I know that I should have been in it if I were truly racing. But the peloton wasn’t real antsy until about 70km into the race when we got a 2k section of pretty nasty cobbles. The local laps were 90km into the race so that meant that you needed to be at or near the front if you were going to make the laps. I was told by Noel that the back 50 guys out of the cobbles probably wouldn’t make it into the laps, but that the front 100 guys or so would probably come back together. He was exactly right, and I was still around in the bunch when we got onto the local laps. 6 laps by 15km each. Each lap was a lot of exposed sections, and the tiegenberg which is about a 600m climb at 6%. That is not steep, in training it feels very shallow. It doesn’t feel so easy when your in the 15 going 40kmh.

With Four laps to go (60km), the break built up a lead of about 6 minutes. Bernard comes on the radio and says that if the pros want to bring it back, they will need to do it now. That made sense to me, one minute per 10k being the usual rule for bringing a break back. I was sitting there hoping that nothing would happen… and it didn’t. I want to make sure you all know that this didn’t mean it was easy…just not terribly painful. We still got guttered and we still went fast. The five of us from the national team were sort of in the right place at the right time. I mean the reality of it is that we cannot truly race against these guys…we can try but we are not likely to survive. The belgian national championships are Sunday in Vilvoorde, so many left in the group I was in didn’t really want to bury themselves to get the break back. I mean the big time riders didn’t seem to really care about the break. They were out for some race speed and kilometers four days before a big day.

So the race wasn’t brutally difficult. But you know what? Don’t care. I was in the right place at the right time, and I finished somewhere between 40-50. Being in the right place at the right time is something that just happens…but you take advantage of what you get. That result doesn’t really mean anything to me in the big picture. I will not get a contract to race because of it. I did however learn a lot, and I can say that I raced my bike in the same bunch as those guys. I also found out that the those guys are really really fast…much faster than I am, but they are human. I may never be as fast as some of those pro’s but it is a possibility. Hard work and the right mind can get you very far in cycling. Of course the right break here and there is pretty darn important as well.

I want you all to know that I am still cherishing the experience. I am aware of how cool and rare that oppurtunity is. I will never forget it, and I did what I could to remember all the feelings…watch Musseuw as much as I could. I will not forget it. I am sort of blind to the fact that I have gone from Greenwood to this in about two years. I have been super fortunate and I have had very good fortune. Some of that good fortune is made by me…but a lot of the credit goes straight away to all of you. If you are a friend, supporter, or you just want to help out a kid with a shot, some of this goes out to you. Thanks. That is all that I can say.

I will finish for now, I hope you have enjoyed. I am planning on racing Saturday in the under 25 version of Het Volk, so no doubt a report will come your way. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to use what you cant see in the mirror…that can be all the difference.

bryan