This weekend, Marc and I loaded up our trusty little Kangoo and hit the road for Holland. On Saturday we drove to Amersfoort, Holland for a race and on Sunday we drove to Voldhoven, Holland for a race. Two great races in the Dutch calendar. It was nice to see lots of familiar faces – both Dutch and Belgian.

The races in Holland are great for us to do. They feature pretty much all the aspects that I struggle with – riding the single brown stripe through the woods, dodging trees, maintaining speed through fast corners, trusting the tires to keep you in contact with the ground through some super fast deep grooves and berms. Basically classic Dutch racing.

I’ve written race reports for both races and posted them over here.

Saturday was a good day on the bike in some aspects and a not so good day on the bike in other aspects. I found on Saturday that I was a bit tight and on my brakes more than I should have been. If I think I was braking too much – then I definitely was. Other flaw to Saturday was my start. Marc watched the start and he said I was right in there and then all of a sudden I just slowed down and let the other girls go by. So this put me you know where. So I had to do you know what. This was the good part of the race. My ability to keep getting faster and more smooth as the race progress. I find I’m not tiring during the races. This is also because I need to put more effort into my sprints out of obstacles (this is what Marc says – and as usual – he is right).

Today, I really just wanted to have a good start. And guess what – I had a markedly better start than I’ve had all season. But then I messed up. I was not prepared for the fight that happens the first time we hit the woods – I wasn’t ready for the girls to be super aggressive and to be pushed off my lines… Yes, so I gave up my lines. And ended up very close to the back again… To make matters worse – I rode myself into the course tape and had to stop. So now I was you know where. And I had to do you know what. But at least I know I can start better!

This race in Voldhoven did have an interesting twist to it. As is typical, we started one minute behind the junior boys. Today there were some pretty fast boys and they managed to catch me. Okay, no biggie – I usually know when the leaders are coming and I’m always very good about giving space and letting them go by. Especially for the top three boys. Well, today, I was in the second last woods section. I was just about to pass a girl in front of me – we were riding on the brown stripe but there was a big wide section of mud next to the brown stripe. This kid comes up behind me and yells at me to give up the line – now the leaders had long been by (this guy was probably in 6th place) – well since I was about to pass the girl in front of me – I wasn’t about to give up my line… Next thing I knew, the guy comes next to me – punches me in the face, yells at me and keeps going! To say I was stunned would be an understatement. Luckily I was able to keep myself up right. But as a consequence I lost some ground and wasn’t able to pass the girl in front of me. I was ticked off at this kid. I managed to see his bib number as he went by… So at the end of the race, I rode over to where he was standing. Tapped him on the shoulder – and gave him one back in the face… I’m not proud of it. But I was none too pleased with being punched. This resulted in a massive melee… Luckily for me, Marc was coming over to the finish and saw the entire thing happen. And also lucky for us, some Belgian friends came to our rescue and defended us from the rather irate parents of the kid. So in the end I had to make a formal complaint to the head official. He was not impressed with the kid and said it would be dealt with. Now, this is not something I do – go about punching kids in the face. But I really was quite ticked off. I could have been hurt rather badly if I’d ended up crashing or if his punch actually had any strength behind it…

Typically after races, we come straight home so we can get the bike cleaning and laundry done as quickly as possible. But today was the Blauberg Kerstmarkt. So we stopped to take part in the Kerstmarkt. It was a pretty small Kerstmarkt with about 20 stalls – all selling some type of jeneveer (many different flavors), hot chocolate, beer, and warm food. Typically each stall is run by a different club or foundation – for example today there were stalls run by the Scouts, Blauberg soccer team, Red Cross, a dancing club, etc. We took a walk around and decided to have our supper at the Kerstmarkt! We couldn’t pass up the chance to eat such tasty looking food. I had my iPhone with me so I snapped a few pictures:

A super fun way to round out our weekend of racing. The Kerstmarkt is still going strong right now. We might wander over again later tonight to take in the late night action.

So another great weekend of racing, traveling, learning, and enjoying life in Belgium is in the books!

Thanks for all the amazing comments, emails, and sentiments about my selection to the World Champs team for Tabor – it really does mean a lot.

This just arrived in my email inbox:

Dear Vicki Thomas,
I am pleased to announce that you have been selected to represent Canada at the 2010
UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic.

Ah, just finished a big block of training. These past four weeks have been pretty heavy on the training grid. A week of heavy training, followed by the training camp at Koksijde, and then two more weeks of heavy load. I finished off this big block with a solid three hour ride today.

Nothing quite like the three hour ride. After a while, two hours gets to be routine and not quite long enough. Four hours is the maximum I would ever ride. So three hours settles right in the middle. Long enough to feel like I’ve got in a good session on the bike but not so long that I’m cracked afterwards. The extra bonus today was the weather. The sun was shining. I didn’t get rained on. There was a slight wind. I was able to wear leg warmers and lightweight gloves. Can’t beat this for Dec. 10. I decided to rock out with the red leg warmers today. I looked quite the colorful image today with yellow shoes, red leg warmers, and my red, white, and black Ottawa Cross kit.

Hey it is all part of it. To be fast you have to look fast. And believe me, those red leg warmers make me feel fast. They are starting to grow on me. I think they might even catch on in Ottawa… Let me know if you want me to pick you up a pair!

Okay, sorry for the silliness. Back to reality. So I’ve got an easy little recovery ride tomorrow. Might throw the jets on and do a bit of off- and on-road riding. There are so many parks and trails nearby that I need to check out. Yep, think that’s what I’ll do. Racing the double this weekend. Both days in Holland. Looking forward to it. I get to race in a women’s race and the extra bonus is Marc will be able to race as well with the Masters. Should be a good couple days of racing.

Then Monday-Wednesday are all about rest. Serious rest. Meaning that I won’t even be getting on my bike. This is a new thing for me. But my coach says this has to be done to reap the benefits of this big block of training we’ve done. Next week is also the start of some big racing for me. I’ve got Scheldecross, the Kalmthout World Cup, AzenCross, and the Zolder World Cup. So some big races. The only new race to me is Kalmthout, so I’ll be sure to watch the video of this one.

Tomorrow is the big day. I haven’t heard anything yet. Honestly, I’m trying not to think about it. At this point, it is out of my control. I’ve done all I’ve can – I’ve qualified. Now I just need to wait and see if I get to race in Tabor on Jan. 31.

Keep your fingers crossed and send me some red and white vibes.

Today was a double day in more ways than one for me… The training was double. The drinking was double.

Since it is Wednesday, coach Steve always gives me a big day of riding. Today featured a two hour session in the morning with four 10 minute threshold intervals with eight minutes of recovery per interval. Yes, this got the juices flowing and gave me some pretty serious race sensations in my legs. Oh did I mention that each interval started with a standing ‘cross start? That’s right – so spring for 30 – 60 seconds and then pound out the threshold block. I love these types of work-outs. I love seeing the number on the power meter and feeling the ache in my legs and the fire in my lungs. Reminds me that I’m alive and keeps me wanting more.

Since I’m in Belgium, it only makes sense that the bulk of this ride was done in the rain. Ah well, I had my trusty Sealskin gloves on and my toasty bib tights. Besides I’m Canadian, a little bit of rain isn’t going to slow me down. The only bummer about the rain is this means my bike gets extremely dirty. Quick wash and wipe down and my trusty Stevens Super-Prestige is good as new.

For the double part of this training day, I went out to Kasterlee to ride the cyclo-cross course. This is an amazing course. It has everything – two sand run-ups, some descents that really test your will to not brake, fast sweeping corners, mud, climbs. It has it all. The best thing about Wednesdays at Kasterlee is there are other ‘cross racers out training. Today I followed around some juniors and a couple other women. Then hooked up with my training pals from last week for a few laps. And then I got to ride with Bert Vervecken. If you follow the Masters ‘cross racing scene in Belgium, you know Bert. He wins a lot of the races. Any type of race, Bert is at the front or on the front. So he rode with me for a couple of laps – just following me to see how I was riding. He then gave me some great advice on how I can improve. Number one “don’t grip the bars so tightly”. I guess when I grip the bars tightly, this makes my upper body stiff, which then causes the bike to do crazy things underneath me, causing me to get a bit nervous, then I stop pedaling, etc. So this is something I can fix. He also said to not brake in the corners. Now I know this. But it is so hard not to do, especially when the corners are darn fast – but I’m working on this. I got some great feedback from Bert. He also said “it is not easy to change what you’ve been doing”. Interesting comment. He also told me I need to do some mountain biking this summer. This is the second person to tell me this – I’m starting to take the hint! I rode around with Bert and some of the other “regulars” on the Masters circuit – okay more like followed/chased/tried to keep up – for a few more laps. Ended up riding at Kasterlee for a solid two hours!

So a great day of training. Great road ride in the morning to work on fitness, mental strength, and perseverance. Awesome afternoon session in the woods to focus on skills, mental strength, nerve, and confidence. To top it off, I got to hang out with some cool people. Really can’t beat that for a training day!

Now for the second double part of the day… So in my race reports I’ve been writing about my issues with the starts. How I lack the killer instinct and just can’t seem to get amped up for the start. I did receive a few emails and comments about the starts (thank-you). And everyone suggested the same thing – caffeine. As you may know I’m strictly a decaf cappuccino drinker. I don’t ingest caffeine. So after talking with my coach, we decide to test out the caffeine today. We had concerns about how I would react and primarily how, if at all the caffeine could impact my ulcerative colitis.

Question is where to get the caffeine? I don’t even know how to make coffee. Well, I’m in Belgium, so the obvious a cafe. Six minutes into my morning ride I roll over to a really nice cafe. Cool. There were a few people inside all relaxing with some coffee and the newspaper. This is a nice cafe and it is on a cycling route so very used to cyclists. I walked up to the bar and ordered a double espresso. Yes, a double. I told the waitress I didn’t want to sit down – I’d just drink it and go. This seemed to stimulate a lot of conversation – I felt like I had all eyes on me while I drank down my double espresso. Boy was it ever tasty! I’m starting to like this coffee thing. First time having espresso. Good news is, I didn’t experience any ill effects during my ride. The big question – did it help – did I feel more “jump”? Hard to know. I had a great ride. Felt awesome. Legs were on fire. Is this just me or did the coffee help? Regardless, I felt good during the ride, didn’t feel sick, etc. Time will tell how the caffeine affected me – I suppose if I’m still awake at 3 a.m., we’ll know. Curious to read your thoughts on caffeine – do you use it – do you notice a difference?

So there you have it – this was my day. Two good rides. Rode both bikes. Did two loads of laundry. Now ready to flake out on the couch and get caught up on The Amazing Race. Pretty darn good Wednesday. Tomorrow I’ve got a 3 hour endurance ride on deck. I think I’ll then end up at Cafe Libro for my decaf cappuccino and some quality time with Sony eBook Reader.

On Sunday, I received a great email from Luc Van Der Meiren… Luc took a bunch of photos of me racing at Averbode and sent them along to me. Very cool! Thanks Luc!

(I don’t normally ride with my eyes closed… Think the blinking was from the flashes on the cameras. It was rather dark in the woods.)

Thanks again Luc! See you at Kalmthout World Cup.