Update from Beglium/race weekend 2

I have been taking in everything that Belgium has to offer in these past couple weeks. Over this past weekend I did two more races. The race on Saturday was 10 laps of 6.3 km. It went through small narrow farm roads, had two hills to climb up and two downhills that were very fast. There was also "road furniture" like concrete curbs in the middle of the road. There were 90 starters and about 16 of those were other Americans from the USA national team, slipstream/garmin junior devo team, and others from the trip I'm on. It was sure to be a fast race. For the first 6 laps I sat comfortably in the middle of the pack making sure to conserve my energy. On the 8th lap I followed an attack up a hill on the backside of the course and the two of us quickly built up a gap. Later on in the lap I messed up on a turn and the other guy gapped me and I was stuck by myself. I gave it my all to stay away, but I was caught early on during the last lap. I finished up a minute behind the field. I am proud of my effort in this race because I gave myself a chance to win. It didn't work this race, but it may work in my next race.

My other race was the next day on Sunday. I woke up with a sore throat, headache, and a stuffy nose. It was one of those days where I had to man up and just do the best that I could in the race. This course involved 12 x5 km laps. Each lap involed a little over a km of a very hard cobble section on the finishing straight. There were 105 starters in this race and it started off fast. The first 4 laps I was dying and trying to hang on to the back. I was getting whipped around every corner and I thought about dropping out. On the 6 lap I started feeling a lot better though and I made my way to the front. I made some attacks during the last 3 laps, but it was clear that it was going to come down to a field sprint (while I was on the back 8 riders got away). I positioned myself at the front and stuck my elbows out. I gave it my all and I finished 41st.

I am disappointed with how this weekend went, but I have another race on Tuesday. Hopefully I will feel better by then. I am truly becoming a better racer over here and I am seeing a lot of improvement in myself. Thank you everyone for reading my blog and supporting me. I have the best friends and family in the world!