Sunday, March 25, 2012

Day 17 (My last day)

Today I am all packed up and about to go to the train station which will take me to the airport. I can't thank my parents enough for always supporting me and cheering me on. I want to thank Lucas Wall for his great coaching and making sure that I was prepared to race here. I need to thank Alexey Vermeulen for all of his advice and thoughts on Europe after kicking butt here last summer. Thank  you to the Chainstay for providing a great place to stay. I felt like I was at home with their amazing hospitality and their wonderful dog Belle. Their website is http://www.thechainstay.com/. Finally, I need to thank Tim Redus for providing the trip. I always had a great dinner to look forward to thanks to him. Tim also took me to some really cool cities, helped me out at the races, and basically made sure that I was having a great time. His website is  http://vertexcycling.com/. He is having another trip in August and registration is open for that right now. These last two weeks have been the best ever! Thank you everyone for your support and reading my blog. Im not looking forward to my flights, but It will feel great to hear English again.

Day 16

I had my last race here today.There were 124 starters. I have never been in a race with this many juniors.  The started off very fast and I had a very hard time trying to stay in good position. I made it to the front once, but soon I was in the back again. After 3 laps I got dropped and rode with three others. What made this race interesting was the fact that there were 2 sections of downhill cobbles. One had a turn at the bottom which force me to brake. Braking and shifting are very difficult when your hands and body are being vibrated at a fast pace. On the first lap bottles were flying all over the place on the cobbles which made it dangerous. I am disappointed with my results this past weekend, but it is a long season and I had barely ridden outside before coming here.

Day 16

As expected, today's race was super hard. It was on some really narrow, windy, and turny roads. I got caught at the back before entering the narrow roads and the yo-yo effect started. I tried to move up, but there was ditches on each side and absolutely no room to manuever. The courses here are insane. I wish I could have done better, but if anything, I got more experience and fitness.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Day 15

Today was everything, but boring. I woke up early and Tim and I went to the start of E3. One of the belgian spring classics. There were thousands of people walking around and surrounding the GIANT sign in stage. Everything about it was so cool. I was on a mission to get autographs and see my favorite pro riders though. I went to the street with all of the team buses and cars. It was packed with people. Every team had a super cool set up. Their buses are really big and look very luxurious (I got to barely peak inside). On top of the team bus, there were two team cars loaded with shiny new bikes and wheels. My favorite rider is Fabian Cancellara because of how he is able to just ride away from everyone else, so I waited outside the Radioschack team bus. Fabian was the last one to come out and when he did, everyone started screaming their heads off. Cyclists are rock stars over here! He didn't sign for anyone though. I even chased him down the street and begged, but he wouldn't even look at me. It is still cool to say that I have been right next to him, let alone even see him in person.

Once I found out that I wasn't going to get his autograph I went on the hunt again. I got Sylvain Chavanel, the French national road champion, and George Hincapie to sign for me. I have to say that George's jaw is very big in person. He was super nice to me and I think that he is a great role model. After that, everyone was at the start line. I was definately star struck after getting both of those two to take time away to sign for me. The start line was super crowded so I just decided to watch the big screen on the sign in stage.

Next Tim and I met back up at the car and went to a cool bike shop in Ghent. This bike shop had everything you could possibly need. It had hundreds of bikes, every single component group out there, and any clothing item you could dream of. American bike shops can learn a thing or two from the bike shops here.

After the bike shop we went back to the house to watch the rest of the race. Tom Boonen won it. I went on a hour ride to get my legs ready for tomorrow's race after watching the finish. We had beautiful weather today. It was super sunny and warm. I am super nervous about this weekend's races knowing that they are my last for this trip. All I know is that I will do my best and see what happens. Thank you for reading.

Day 14

Today was a pretty lazy day. I went on a ride and pretty much hung out for the rest of the day.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Day 13

Today I followed the pro race, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, in a car. It was Tim, Greg, me, and a photographer. First we went to a cobbled road and saw them go by, then we went to a short climb. If you happened to be watching the race on the T.V. or computer, you can spot me at the 42 km. I am the shirtless kid waving his shirt around. I never have the chance to see pro races in the U.S. so I decided to go as crazy as I could. There were so many people at this race and I also got to see Mark Cavendish go by. I only saw him for a second, but only in my dreams could I see the World Champion so I was super excited.

After the race, I went on a short 50 min. exploration ride to check out the town.  It is pretty confusing over here with roundabouts and so many different streets. When I got lost, I just searched for the town square tower and went in that direction.

Also, I have seen so many professional team cars either parked on the side of the road or just driving on some rural back roads. Yesterday I saw the Radioshack-Nissan bus parked on the opposite road of the grocery store. Also, there was a Quickstep car at my race on Sunday. Those are just a few instances. I find it super cool that they are all around.

Day 12

I had a pretty lazy morning today. At 1:00 I went on a ride with Jared, Ashley, a pro dude, and 3 pro women to recon the last 100km of the womens Tour of Flander's course. It is pretty safe to say that I hate cobbles by now.They rock your body like crazy. Your arms and hands vibrate at an unbelievable rate. I also have crappy water bottle cages that have my bottles fall out which is really annoying. Anyway, the ride was really hilly and hard. It was a lot of fun and it was a beautiful day outside. I came home to an awesome dinner made by Tim and relaxed for the rest of the night. Thank you for reading.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Day 11

Today Tim tooke me to Brugge, a really old mideivel city. The town square was huge and there was a really big tower and a ton of near architecture. There were a LOT of chocolate shops and the coolest ones (i'm a teenager) were the ones that had chocolate body parts.I was thinking about buying some, but then I asked myself a serious question: do I really need a chocolate penis? After a long debate with myself I realized that I didn't.  For lunch Tim and I went to a really neat waffle restaurant. I ordered a waffle with strawberries and chocolate syrup. Needless to say, it was AMAZING!!!! It was gone after 30 seconds into my tummy. We basically just walked around for a couple hours and took in the scenery. Today was really awesome and I really enjoyed being a tourist. Its my last week here so I am really going to try and make it a great one.

Day 10 (fourth race)

Today I got up early and went to a church down the street for mass. After that, I walked back to the house and got ready for my race. Today's race was about half an hour away. When we got there, it started raining hard, so I just got dressed in the car and waited it out. 20 minutes before my race the rain stopped, but the roads were slick. The course consisted of a long uphill and some flat, windy roads. There were 76 starters in this race and I was feeling very confident. There were 10 laps and for the first 7 laps I was feeling really strong and I was controlling the front of the race. I could see that I was stringing out the field around the corners and I just felt great.

Going through a corner on the 7th lap though my wheel hit some gravel and I slid out. It was one of those crashes where everything goes slow mo and you are thinking about how bad this is gonna be when your body slides against the pavement. Well, I got up, made sure my bike was o.k., and started chasing. The thing is, the pack was GONE when I got up, I knew that there was no chance of catching back up, but there could be some dropped kids up the road that I could pass up. My rule of thumb is that I will always go hard even when I'm dropped until I get pulled. I caught up to 4 dropped kids up the road and then dropped them and moved up to one more kid up the road who I also dropped. I got to do all 10 laps and I finished 39th.  Not the best result, but I finished and did my best.

CORRECTION: The ex-pro rider who I rode the Tour of Flanders course with is NOT in his early thirties. He turned 29 two days ago and his name is spelled Jered. I also found out that he only weighs 155 pounds (hes a lot taller than me) and can produce 400 watts for 20 minutes. No wonder my ride was hard with him.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Day 9 (third race)

Today was my third race here. It was an hour away and the weather was cloudy and cold. There were 74 starters! The only race in the U.S. where you can get 74 racers 15-16 years old in one race is nationals. This was just a local race. The course consisted of a downhill, an uhpill, narrow country roads, and a lot of hard turns. The race was 8 laps long to equal a total of 67 km. The race started off fast and stayed that way. If you want to stay near the front in a group of 74 guys, you have to take advantage of every open spot that you can move up at. This race seemed to go a lot easier for me than last week's did. I was more aggressive and used my energy more wisely. I even dropped the field a couple times and I bridged up to a break away up the road once. I was not only hanging on to my dear life in this race, but I was making things happen.

On the last lap there were 3 guys up the road and about 27 of us in the pack. A lot of kids were dropped in this race. I moved up for the sprint and I finished in the middle of the group. I am guessing that I got around 20th place because the results say that I finished in 36th. Belgian officials get the results posted a lot faster than the U.S. , but there is no protesting and they aren't as careful with making sure the results are correct. I am dissapointed that they messed up, but there is nothing I could do about it. I know where I finished and I am very happy with my result. My goal for tomorrow is a top 15.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Day 8

Today was a lot of fun. I got in a nice ride that opened my legs up for tomorrows race and then I went to go visit the Tour of Flander's cycling museum. It is only two miles away so Tim and I walked to it. This museum was really neat and had the whole history of cycling. I saw an autographed Fabian Cancellara jersey from when he won the race. There was so much cool cycling stuff there. There was really old bikes and helmets. I don't really know how to explain how cool it was.

On the walk back to the house all the kids were out of school and at the bars. The drinking and smoking age here is 16, but the driving age is 18. Anyway, they basically all get drunk after school. Tim made some really awesome salmon and shrimp for dinner that I quickly ate up. After dinner I got an awesome massage from Holly Germer (owner of the house with Gregg Germer), she made sure that my legs were ready to tear it up tomorrow.

Now I am here wrighting my blog and getting ready for bed. My goal for tomorrow is to do the butt kicking instead of taking the butt kicking. We will see how that goes. Good night.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Day 7 (Ive made it through my first week!)

Well, it has been a week since I have arrived here. Today I went on a ride with another guest who is staying here name Jared. He is an ex pro cyclist and now he is a cycling journalist and photographer. He is in his early thirties and he is a kick butt cyclist. We decided to ride the last 90km of the Tour of Flanders course. This included one time up the Koppenburg and three times up the Pattersburg and Ode kwermont(not sure if I spelled that right), and a bunch of other cobbled sections. Today was super nice, but this ride was torturous. My hands hurt so badly after doing a 2 mile section of cobbles. I can't believe that the riders are able to do this race. I only rode the last part and I can't imagine doing it after already having done 100 or so miles. So I got a new perspective on the Spring Classics today and I got some sore legs and hands.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Day 6

The days here just keep getting better and better! Today I had breakfast and then went to the nearby canal to do some intervals. I worked myself pretty hard during those efforts which felt good. When I got done with the intervals I rode back to the house to get a bite to eat, and then got back on the bike to ride 4 miles to watch a pro race. It was called the Nokere Koerse. This was a big deal for me because I have never seen a professional road race, nevertheless, be able to ride to one. When I arrived near the finishing circuit the streets were lined with people.There was a betting board and lots of beer tents. It was like a carnival with a ton of food stands and music. It was so neat watching all of the pro's go by and all of the team cars follow. It took me awhile to realize that this was actually happening. I have always wanted to see a pro race and I finally was.

After getting back from the race I got ready for dinner. This was not any ordinary dinner though, this was a dinner with Jonathan Page and his family at the house where Im staying. For those of you who may not know who he is, he is a big cyclocross superstar. He is from New Hampshire, but resides in Belgium for most of the year. I have seen him at races before, but never had the chance to talk with him. He was super nice and I even got a photo with him (check my facebook).

Today was pretty much the greatest day ever. I have never been more happier in my life than I am right now. I can't thank my parents enough for all that they have done for me and Tim Redus for providing me with this opportunity. I feel as though I am in a dream right now and I am just so happy. Thank you everyone for your support.

Richard

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Day 5

Today was an awesome day! It started out with a trip to the grocery store to get some waffles and bananas for me and Tim(my director) got some stuff for dinner later today. While at the grocery store I saw this special cereal that isn't sold in the U.S. that my friend has really wanted, so I picked up that too. I also got some chocolate to bring home for some friends and family. The real souvenir shopping doesn't begin until I take a day trip to Brugge where all the cool shops are.

After lunch I went on a ride with Tim and Gregg (the house owner) to ride the "holy trinity" of cobbled climbs. First I rode the Koppenburg, then the Pattersburg, and finally the Oude Kwaremont. These climbs are famous being part of the Spring Classics races such as Paris Roubaix and Tour of Flanders. These climbs are super steep and super bumpy. I couldn't believe that I was riding the same roads as Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen.

Today was really great and I just finished some really awesome spaghetti and meatballs. I am loving my time here and there is some really cool stuff planned for tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Richard

Day 4

Not much happened today. I slept in, had some food, and got in a nice recovery ride. Other than that, I hung out for the rest of the day.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Day 3 (second race)

Today was a lot like yesterday in the fact that I sat around most of the morning to rest up before my race. My race was 54km today and had 56 other riders.Today's course was a lot more technical in the fact that there was cobbles, super narrow roads,  and very tight turns. Today my goal was to stay in the top twenty in terms of positioning, but that never happened. Every time I got to the front, I saw myself at the back two minutes later. Positioning is really an art that you have to learn here. So, being at the back, I got whipped around every corner. After 22 miles I couldn't take it anymore and I got dropped with 6 others who rode the rest of the race with me. I got 3 in our little sprint. Overall I ended up 31st and ended up making another 5 euros. I can honestly say that I have never suffered more in my life than I did today. What matters is that I did my best and I never gave up. I have a cool week of training ahead of me and then I get to race again. Thats pretty much my day.

Day 2 (My First Race)

A lot happenned today to say the least. I woke up, had a bunch of waffles, and chilled out before having to leave for my race in the afternoon. When I arrived at the race I found out that registration was in a bar. There was a tiny room in the back of the bar with a couple officials where I registered.

I got my bike ready and warmed up for a couple minutes and then lined up. I got a front row start which was really nice and there were about 50 other 15-16's in my race. The race started off neutral for the first 400 meters and then it was off. The race was 65km long consisting of ten technical laps. I quickly found out that the pack is very aggressive and that you have to fight for every spot. Unlike the U.S., there is no yellow line rule here, anything with pavement is fair game. Many kids would hop the curb and then attack on the sidewalk! The course was very flat which made the race very fast. Every single corner you had to sprint out of. After 7 laps,  I blew up and rode solo for the next two laps before getting pulled. I finished 27th and even got 5 euros in prize money. The race was the hardest I have ever done and now I know what to expect for tomorrow's race. By the way, the race took place in a rural area and the smell of cow crap filled the air.

After the race, I had a cookie and got back in the car with my instructor to drive back to the house. On the way back to Oudenaarde, we had to go through Izegem, so we went a little out of our way to go see the USA national team house which was really cool. Those were pretty much my adventures for today and I am going to rest up for tomorrow's race.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Day 1 in Belgium

After some long and dreadful flights, I have made it here to Belgium. After leaving the airport with the camp manager, we took a train to the town of Oudenaarde. When I arrived at the house I will be staying at for the next 2 weeks I unpacked my bike and ate some lunch. Lunch basically equalled some really great tasting waffles. After lunch, I went out for an easy spin to loosen up my legs and make sure that my bike was working well. After the bike ride, I went to the local grocery store to stock up on some food. Me and the cashier had some trouble understanding each other because of our different languages so she had to have the next person in line translate to me.The main languages here are French and Dutch, but most people are able to speak English pretty well. The town square is really neat with a giant church in the middle. Well, that pretty much sums up my first day here. I am pretty tired from being awake for over 24 hours so Im going to hit the hay. My first race is tomorrow and hopefully some rest will do me good.

P.S. You have to pay to use most public bathrooms over here. I learned that when this lady started yelling at me in French after I left her restroom without paying.