Worlds and Vlaamse Gewesten

If you haven't already seen the result Worlds didn't go as well planned. The air pollution made it hard for me to breathe and I could never get a full breath. I was at my limit from the first kilometer and only lasted 7 of 10 laps. The rest of the team rode great Nate was driving a big break for most of the race and Rathe had a good finish in the end for 17th. Thats pretty much it about Worlds it was one of my worst days on a bike and there is not much to say about it. I have put it behind me by now and moved on to the next races. During the week Rathe and I did a Kermesse to make some money and get some training. I wasn't exactly looking for a hard race but, it is Belgium and there are no other types of races. It was a tough 7km lap with a lot of wind and a nice climb. I must have been in 50 attacks and breaks there was no hiding on this course. Rathe got away with two others on the second to last lap and stayed away to win the race in a great sprint. I attacked my group with 1km to go and almost held it but got passed by 2 riders at the line to get 6th. It was definitely more fun than training and after riding to and from the race we had a solid day and made some good money. Yesterday was a UCI 1.1 in Belgium called Vlaamse Gewesten. It was 134km of flat roads and wind. Nate made a break of 12 about halfway through. I tried to bridge with Eastman and a few others with 40km to go but the group was not working well and we didn't make it. Then on the last lap I bridged to a chase group containing Boswell and Rathe. We drove the chase group hard for the last 12km and got within 5 seconds of catching the break which was down to 7 at this point but never made it. Boswell lead out the sprint from the last Km and Rathe hit the front with 500m to go after that leadout my only option was to win that sprint for 8th, Rathe held on for 10th and, Nate was 3rd. Second on team GC not a bad day! Also, Edwig Van Hooydonck was at the race and said that Nate was the best rider of the race and name to remember for the future! Pretty cool coming from a 2 time Ronde Van Vlaanderen winner.

Liege La Gleize

The last week has flown by and Worlds are rapidly approaching. After arriving in Belgium last Tuesday most of the worlds team raced a hard 3 day stage race in Liege, called Liege La Gleize to prepare for Worlds. There was no pressure on the team other than to get some good training for Worlds and win the team time trial to show our team strength. Stage one was one of the hardest days for me on the bike. I had a small crash after about 15km. No big problem my chain was tangled but the mechanic fixed it quickly and I was back on the bike quickly. My brake was rubbing for a while but I eventually fixed it. I was almost made it back to the peleton after about 5km of chasing but could not close the final gap. I ended up back in the cars absolutely dying wondering if I would ever make it back. The field got slowed up around a roundabout and I finally was back after about a 25km chase, and I was dead. There was no way to move up in this 180 man peleton so I was at the back until Downtown dropped back with 10km to go to bring me up for the sprint. With 1km to go I was sitting about 7^th until a French kid took me off the road and into a gravel driveway causing a huge pile up. I lost about 10 places and ended up 11^th, not what I was hoping for. Next was the team trial. We started hard posting the fastest intermediate time, maybe too hard. We lost 2 riders out on course finishing with Lawson, Boz, and myself in 2^nd 24 seconds behind the French. The next stage was rolling with 3 categorized KOMs. Downtown made the early move and took each KOM. Boz bridged later and finished in the second group 1 minute behind a lead break. I was in the 3^rd group with Lawson and split the field with repeated attacks. Rathe dropped out, he was on antibiotics from a bee sting earlier. Boz was sitting in 4^th overall starting the last day, Nate in the KOM jersey, and Lawson 13 seconds out of white. There were 7 KOMs on this stage making it easily the hardest. I helped Nate secure his jersey for the first half. Then after a crash with the yellow jersey I chased back to help Boz. I spent the last 20km on the front hammering to reduce a gap to a break. The yellow jersey dropped out and Boz ended up 2^nd! Lawson took the white Jersey and Nate won the KOMs, not a bad weekend! No we are in Moscow trying to avoid being murdered or get food poisoning. Each meal has identical food some greasy meat, greasy potatoes, greasy fish, and some great desserts. I wonder what we are eating most of! The road course is super hard with many steep, steep climbs and twisty short descents with banked turns! Should be a great, tough race, I am looking forward to it!