Kings North International

So my newest move in cycling has been to relocate to Belgium where I am racing for Kings North International the same team that produced Jack Baur a competitor in this years Tour de France.

Race’s in Belgium are organised like a criterium in the UK but are longer and have a significantly larger turn out.  

The course’s are usually between 5-10km long with 15-30 laps,  passing through the center of the nearest town for the spectators benefit.  Technically there is always a great amount of curbs, drains,  poor quality roads and frequent attacks over such terrain to deal with.

Each race has a rolling road block (included in the convoy is police, ambulance, officials plus the broom wagon) so that traffic does not interfere at all with the race,  if a break establishes a larger than 2 minute gap the remainder of the bunch is pulled out by the broom wagon so that traffic isn’t stopped for too long.  Race entries out here is 5 Euro’s which you can win back, plus another 5 Euros if you finish in the top 20 depending on the level of race and sponsorship.  In addition to finishing the race for money,   every lap “primes” give riders the chance to earn a bonus if they cross the line before other competitors. 

02/08/2013

My Belgium trip began by leaving the ferry which arrived in Dunkirk circa 15:00 HRS.  Bike loaded up with tires wrapped round my frame with inner tubes and a pannier rack attached to my bike using cable ties in addition to more inner tubes,  I headed East.  Luckily I was aided in my journey by a consistent tail wind and slight cross wind,  passing through France and into Belgium within an hour and a half progress felt smooth.  A big thank you to Beeline Bicycles and the lads,  could not have made it out here with out all the help and guidance of recent.

  I arrived in Ghent around 20:00 HRS after a fairly uneventful ride,  consisting of very similar scenery,  using rough directions that I had googled the night before.  Temperature remained at 27 C until 10pm.  I was greeted by Janje and Bee; the some of the team’s keen and experienced pioneers who were getting the team presentation set up for the 180 sponsors, supporters and friends of the team arriving the following day.  I was introduced to the other riders: Peter a strong domestique from Russia and Michael a boisterous sprinter from the Ukraine.  They have been with the team for 3 years each.   I made small talk and then headed for the shower,  hit the sack and slept very well indeed.

The team presentation was great fun,  met a huge variety of cycling fanatics with stories from racing with Bradley Wiggin’s father (Garry Wiggins) and more recently Jack Baur.  Our photo’s were taken for the local news paper,  we were fed via the huge BBQ manned by chefs.  Novelty pudding was supplied by Mally’s Ice cream van and bed by 11:00pm to be fresh for the first race the next day.  I also met Jonathan a small rider from Hull over for the summer also (sponsored by team Jewson).

My first race out here with the team resulted in me supporting an attack for Michael to aid him to scoring a prime,  then counter attacking to secure a place within the break.  Unfortunately I then was pushed off the road and onto the gravel which I used to my advantage and rode up the bunch sheltered by the wind and back onto the road about to make an attack I realised I had received a double puncture.

I have done 6 races sp far but thought  I would put on my most recent race reports as we raced three,  one after the other.

  Sunday's race in Bezele sat around 29mph average speed for 72 miles, average power was 270 watts,  technical course, massive side winds and riders riding off the road at points at around 35 mph.  Played role as blocking for my team mates in a break that got away after lap 3/20.  Finished top 20.

 Mondays race, Hilly but very technical and there were very excited corners over cobbles for me (managed to make up 10 m on the bunch attacking through most of the corners) hills were short and steep but the descents were long and windey again something I enjoy more than I should.  Fairly hungry and during a fairly tough drive to close down a move that was looking a little too successful down the road,  I begged a gel off a Omega Pharma feeder team rider,  this did the trick and we closed them down,  attacking through their bunch also managed to shell  half of their riders too.  They were later swept up by the broom wagon as I didn’t see them on the finish sheet.  Average power was circa 290watts,  average speed 27mph.

Tuesday’s race,  was fun,  feeling fairly sore in the bum from before Monday and fairly tired anyway we rode out to Evergem (15K away),  where we tackled a flat very open course,  with a lot of wind.  Corners were fast and sweeping,  Really dug myself into a hole,  First lap secured prime with 2 other team mates taking 1^st,  2^nd and me 4^th.  Sounded great as they announced our attack over the tanoy system to the crowds. 

 *AHHH LAPTOP BATTERY IS GOING TO DIE*  Average power 300 watts,  71 miles,  average speed 30mph. 

It is inportant to note that although the race went fairly well,  in the 2nd lap I wasp flew into my jersey and began stinging my neck (5 times),  then at the end of the race when I was removing my jersey I found him again where he stung my belly.  To make matters worse he then fell into my lycra shorts so so so close to delicate things with unimaginable and catastrophic circumstances arising if I did not act swiftly to remove said wasp from my chammy!

 To sum up I took 2^nd place in our break out of 8 guys, most of which had stopped working for the last lap.  Now in bed with lots of cream applied and raised legs to protect my “BIG BIRD”  duvet cover which I treasure!  Belgium is FUN but as the picture below suggests pretty shattering!

Wednesday Jono and I rode to 60 miles at tempo pace to Van Eyc- Aalst,  a very impressive bike shop with very good deals on tires,  hot day too,  good to keep the legs moving too after the heavy few days preceding.

Thursday I rolled down the canal for 30 minutes and that felt adequate,  I then tuned up my bike for tomorrow’s race in Holland,  where we are driving 2 hours to race at.  Our team is actually paid to enter in addition to further pay too depending on our finishing position,  so that could help on the weekly shop,  and protein cost!  The race we are competing in apparently attracts several thousand so is well supported and a great event,  with a very tight course round the town,  large coarse cobbles and many crashes from previous years I am sure we are in for a rough ride!