Belgium Adventure: Final Days

After Diegem, I had a two-day break from racing.

I took the first day as a recovery day, and did a one hour spin by the canal in Oudenaarde. Like most Belgium cities, Oudenaarde has a canal with a bike path beside it. On non-race days, it is a popular option for racers doing a recovery ride.

That afternoon, we enjoyed a coffee shop; actually, we enjoyed an large, cream-based pastry garnished with chocolate and whipped cream (and drinks too).

On the second off day, I did my racing openers on a trainer in the parking lot of our lodging, Hof ter Kammen. A word about our lodging: Hof ter Kammen is, for lack of a better description, a cycling house. Think bed and breakfast crossed with hostel, providing everything you need to train or race bikes. For one, the house is packed with cycling memorabilia (including at least one rainbow jersey), much of it left by riders who stayed there at one point. For a racer, Hof ter Kammen has some critical elements: an extensive set-up for outdoor bike washing, a kitchen, washer and dryer, and bike storage room. It also has other niceties: a community bike pump (it's hard to travel with one), work stands, and cruiser bikes to use to ride downtown. With the short turn-around time between races, the cycling amenities were much appreciated. (Washing bikes and clothes and making food in a traditional hotel is difficult to say the least!)

Our last two scheduled days in Europe were dedicated to racing.

On New Year's Day, we raced Bpost Bank Trophee Sven Nys, in the village of Baal. Baal is Nys’ hometown, and he did not disappoint by winning the 2014 edition of the race.

The course in Baal is laid out on a slope, so there is a lot of climbing and descending, which would not be so bad were it not for the mud. The course was extremely wet with 2 to 8-inch deep mud throughout most of it. Some of the climbs were barely ridable, while others became long run-ups. There were also some technical descents, which required relaxing and trusting the mud ruts to steer your bike.

During the race, I learned there is fine line between going hard and going too hard. The entire race was a sufferfest, but it also required constant skilled bike handling. Usually in a race, I can temporarily push the pace over what I can sustain and then recover in the corners or on a descent. Not so in Baal. I attacked when passing a rider only to round the next corner and slide into the fencing. I made minor mistakes like this countless times, pushing myself to a level of lactate where my skills abandoned me. Between repeated slides into the fencing and a somersault into a fencepost on the steepest descent, I came away bruised and battered, but satisfied with 24th place.  (Photos: Tom Prenen)

The last race was more of an adventure, as it was in the northern part of the Netherlands, a 3.5 hour drive from Oudenaarde. While it was a long drive, much of it in the dark, I thrilled at seeing the canals and a plethora of both modern and traditional windmills.

The race itself turned out to be my favorite of the trip. It was in the village of Surhuisterveen, and the atmosphere reminded me of the Mora Vasaloppet. It was not the biggest race, only a UCI C2, but don't tell the locals that! The city shut down and dedicated its center to the race. The start and finish were on Main Street, and they went so far as to dump several truckloads of sand onto the street to make 3 "sand dunes."

The pride and joy of the Netherlands, World CX Champion and Olympic Road Champion, Marianne Vos was in attendance with cameras and fans alike tracking her every move. After pre-riding, I followed her to the bike wash and in doing so probably ruined a number of photographs. Yes, she washed her own bike, while I did the same in the stall next to her.

The highlight of the race was a 150-meter mud bog, which we hit about 1000 meters into the lap. It was ridable for only a few meters and then a VERY long run shouldering a heavy, mud-covered bike. Through the bog, the course was 10-15 meters wide rather than traditional width (it was probably too wet to stake anywhere but the edges). The width did psychological damage as one tended to weave back and forth looking for a dry spot, but there were none; it was 6-10 inch mud everywhere. To add to the fun, they placed the pit to the right, in a spot equally wet. The pit was also a run through and pit crews handed off the bike to the riders' shoulder. It was agony. I would begin the bog at a pace that seemed doable, but by the end I was stumbling with fatigue.

Belgium was a learning experience and I learned my lessons well. The start and first lap were more aggressive than I was used to, and I improved my ability to scramble and put myself in the best possible position on the first lap. By Surhuisterveen, I had also found the line between hard and too hard, so I made just two fatigue mistakes. I finished 17th and felt I had ridden my best race of the trip.

Leaving Belgium proved just as difficult as getting there. Once again, we were delayed overnight due to weather in New York; this time, it was the snowstorm on the East Coast. Since the delay occurred after our arrival at the Brussels airport, we spent the day and night in Brussels. While inconvenient, we made the best of it. We ate a huge American breakfast at the hotel, watched the Tour de Ski on Eurosport, and went sightseeing downtown. After a trip much more heavily weighted toward racing bikes than sightseeing, it was nice to enjoy some downtime.

Now that we are home, it's time to build-up the bikes, and return to work and training. This is going to be a short week, as we leave for U.S. Nationals in Boulder on Friday!

About the author... A former elite skier for Madshus, Corey Coogan Cisek is now an internationally-ranked cyclocross rider for The Fix Studio, Minneapolis. She was the 2013 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Champion in Women’s 35-39. Though skiing and cycling have taken her many cool places, this is her first trip across the pond!