Learning the Trade

So just over two months have passed since I made the move to Belgium, since my last post I have been mostly ‘learning the trade’ at kermesse races with a couple of Interclubs thrown in for good measure.

Kermesse racing consists of around 120km’s of flat out racing on circuits ranging from 4km to 12km’s long. It certainly requires some time to get your head round the tactics of these races and who to follow (as most of the time there are over 200 guys lining up on the start line), there is a little bit more to it than two and a half hours of full gas racing although this could provide a quick summary of how these races are. Typically the first hour of these races will be the hardest until a break finally forms, it can be hard to know which break to get into as you think any of them will stick it to the end and then inevitably the one you don’t go with ends up staying with.

Over the past couple of months I have been learning this process and have had mixed fortunes in these races, my best result being 15^th out of 230 riders in Torhout.  From there it went slightly downhill results wise as I was involved in two crashes, the first not too bad (just a few scratches), the second took me a week or so to fully recover from as I was forced down a drainage ditch at 60kph and came out with a fair few cuts and bruises. However over the past couple of weeks the form seems to be coming back and I have been moving up the results sheet again, my latest being 24^th last weekend in Heule.

Besides from the diet of kermesse racing I have also competed in two interclubs, the Handzame Challenge and just last week at the GP Wouter de Wilde. In Handzame the weather gave us all seasons in one and was decided by plenty of crosswind sections. Lotto Belisol and the Omega Pharma U23 teams had fun splitting the race in the winds while the rest of us suffered in the gutter just hoping to hold the wheel of the rider in front of us. I managed to finish in the peleton though and came 5^th in the bunch kick at the end something which I was pleased with. Last week, the GP Wouter de Wilde was another interclub, I spent the first hour of this race trying to get into a break and used up quite a lot of energy. Typically the break I didn’t end up going with ended up being the main one of the day, from then on I did as much as I could for our teams sprinter and finished in the front part of the peleton.

Coming up over this weekend I will be competing in Pittem at another kermesse, following that I will be preparing for my main goals in the last couple of weeks of June. Thanks again has to go to the Dave Rayner Fund for supporting this year, without them this wouldn’t be possible for me and many others that they support.

Adam.

The hardest kermesse of the year at Ledegem, over 70 guys ended up not finishing.

Bandaged up at Ardooie

Heule

Paris - Evreux

After a week of getting settled and learning my new surroundings for the next seven months, last Saturday marked the start of my 2014 road season. The race, Paris – Evreux was a French National 1.12. The team left for the race on Friday afternoon to make the three and a half hour trip to Evreux.

8 o clock was wake up time on Saturday morning to head down to breakfast, a typical French breakfast greeted us when we arrived downstairs, an all you can eat buffet...of bread.

After we had eaten enough bread to last us a year we headed off to the start, signing on we saw that many big teams would be racing including Big-Mat Auber93 and the French Army. Once I had done the usual things sign on, pin the numbers on, there was just enough time to go for a quick spin to loosen the legs and then on to the start line. We started at 12:30 and headed out to do two local laps of around 18km, before a further 130km of lumpy roads. With this being a long race and bigger teams able to control it I imagined that a break would go early on, get a lead, and then be wound in. However, my imagination could not have been more wrong as from the gun we were lined out doing 45-50kph in the gutter. Looking down at my Garmin I dont think my heart rate dropped below 160bpm for the 1st hour.

The main split of the day happened coming into a small village from a descent, unfortunately I was too far back to make the front group as we negotiated the technical corners. We chased and held the front group at around 30seconds for a number of km’s, but when we hit the valley the bunch just sat up and let them go. Not content to stay in the bunch for the rest of the race, I decided to show my face at the front and attacked with about 60km to go, I was soon joined by a two French riders, and later on another and fellow Dave Rayner supported rider Eoin McCarthy. Soon enough we had a decent lead and the peleton were out of sight behind.

As we entered the two finishing circuits we still had a good gap but it was only me and Eoin really contributing to the group and soon enough two French riders dropped back leaving just the three of us to plow on. It was a tough little finishing loop, windy and with a drag up to the finish. It was the wind that eventually played its part and we were caught at the start of the final lap. I managed to stay in the bunch but didn’t really have any legs left for the sprint and came in 41^st. Overall I’m happy with my performance and with a local kermesse lined up this weekend hopefully I can aim for a good result.

Coming up the finishing climb for the first time

2014, Big Year

2014 is upon us and is set up to be a big season for myself. For 2014, I am pleased to announce I have signed for Terra Safety Shoes (formerly Terra Footwear - Bicycle Line) meaning I will be based over in Belgium from the start of March. The team is a very professional outfit with a very good race programme lined up consisting of many UCI one day and stage races.

New team kit for the season, staying in black and yellow

I am also pleased to announce that for 2014 I will be proudly supported by the Dave Rayner Fund. A fund which enables riders like myself to race and live abroad, to give them the opportunity to attempt to make it to the professional ranks. Without the help of the fund I would not be able to experience living and racing in Belgium. I hope to obtain some top results as a way of saying thanks for the support received.

 I also have to thank Paul Wright from Brotherton Cycles for supplying me with some specialized kit to use out in Belgium. I will be posting regular updates throughout the season to keep you updated on how things are going over in Belgium.