Wednesday Race Night - what a blast!

So Wednesday was race day – not your normal day for a race (no holiday, nothing – just a race!), but it still looked promising. The race was in Harderwijk, which is about 40 min from Amsterdam. The start was at 16:30 along the canals of the old town, which was super beautiful – and it was actually a really fun start at the marina. We wound through the cities old streets during the roll-out, all the while policemen blowing whistles, people cheering, etcetera etcetera (it was so cool I almost peed in my shorts).

The day was beautiful and sunny, warm but not hot, and there was hardly any wind (just a few puffs), which was pretty amazing for here – these were great conditions for me. I don’t do so well in the wind – some of it’s probably psychological, but really, the Dutchies are super strong in the winds and they know how to ride them, so I always get burned :o(

This course looked pretty interesting too with most of it on narrow roads winding through the woods – which is what I LIVE for – so fun! After my past few performances I was interested to see how my body would respond though, so for the first 30 minutes of the race I was just sitting in the peloton as we cruised along at a steady 47kph (yup – that’s pretty freaking fast!). I was feeling pretty good, and at one point in the race we were coming out of the forest canopy and all we could see up ahead was the road veering steeply upwards and disappearing behind the canopy above us (we were basically in a tunnel). One of my teammates knows I LOVE climbs, so he got on the radio and said this was the only hill in the Netherlands…..and I took the bait :o) I made a couple quick moves and found myself attacking before the climb. I broke free pretty easily. It was still early in the race, so they figured (correctly) that I wouldn’t go the whole distance (oh yeah – did I mention it was a 185km race?!). At the top of the climb were a bunch of photographers because the scene was so neat with the whole peloton behind, so hopefully I’ll see my photo turn up somewhere! Sure enough someone bridged up to me and we pulled for a while, but after 5 minutes the peloton was on us again.

We rode and rode and rode and I was having a blast – I hadn’t felt that good in ages and was just happy to be there! However as the course narrowed one of the riders went down in front which caused a pile-up. Normally when there’s a crash somebody says something, but somebody had hit the ‘mute’ button with this peloton, so I didn’t know what was going on until everyone in front of me was blindly weaving to the side of the road. Unfortunately for me I was already near the side of the road and I was pushed off into some trees and an embankment – over the handlebars I go. Nothing serious though as I had a soft landing, but my handlebar and shifter we both turned pretty far. So after straightening them out I was back on my bike, but now I was at the back of the peloton (rats).

I worked my way back up just before the section along the dyke, which was the plan (you don’t want to be near the back when you’re in a potentially cross-windy section as the peloton can split!). But again, I was where I’d planned to be at this point in the race, so I was happy. So I started eating again, and with a mouthful of bar I came upon the 2nd pileup of the day. With only my rear brake to stop (the rest of the bar was in my hand at the time) I realized I was going to plow into the guys on the ground, so I threw myself to the side and down the grassy slope of the dyke. As I was getting further away from the road I realized I should get off my bike – I was only picking up speed! As I tried to dismount though things went wrong and I cranked myself in my right hamstring with the nose of my saddle.

Off the bike I scampered up the dyke and back onto the asphalt. I had to make my way through some cars to the back of the peloton again, but at least I was there…..or was I. About 5 or 10 minutes later, after the adrenalin had died down, I realized my hamstring wasn’t right, and shortly after it started cramping. This just as we headed into the woods and up a false-flat climb. I couldn’t follow – in fact I couldn’t even stay on my bike any more, so I flopped over on the grass like a fish out of water trying to release the cramp-of-a-lifetime. I couldn’t, so they threw my bike on the team car and me in the back of an ambulance and off we went to follow the rest of the racers. My day was done (fuck). Actually, double fuck – the course was awesome for me and I was feeling good up until that point. But I’d made it 2.5 hours at 46kph, which was the best effort I’d had in a while and did wonders for my confidence!

The race was tough on my teammates too – 3 others ended up dropping out before the end, and the only finisher was well back in the peloton (he’s been fighting a stomach flu for a week and this was his first ride back).

Oh well, better luck next time I guess. You should see my rear tire though – I have no idea how it didn’t blow – there’s a 2 inch part of it that’s down to the wire!!!!

Anyway, off to Paris now for the Paris-Roubaix ride. Can’t wait!!!!