Had a solid night’s sleep and was up early this morning. I just can’t sleep in! So frustrating. I would love to be able to sleep until 8 a.m. Nope -up at 7! Oh well. Early bird gets the worm I guess. Popped out of bed and decided to get my yoga fix on. I did a 20 minute yoga detox flow. Just enough to get me limbered up and a bit of sweat on. Nothing like sometime in pigeon and warrior three to get the blood flowing!

Next mission was a ‘cross ride. I set off towards Averbode – I had planned to ride the trails I had discovered earlier in the week. But as I was pedaling along listening to Stuart Maclean and the Vinyl Cafe, I spied a trail to m left. I wasn’t sure where it would go, but what the heck… Well, I found an even better place for training. I discovered this massive “nature preserver” with mountain bike trails, mega-climbs, fast twisty descents, long bumpy roads with big patches of mud and sand, lots of bumps thanks to the horses that people ride in this place as well. It was an awesome ride. I was able to ride for 90 minutes and barely doubled back on myself.

Think I’ve found my new playground. This nature preserve is bordered by roads. So my “rule” was that if I popped out on a road I had to practice a standing start. I ended up doing four standing starts. I tried out the new drill that I learned from Matt yesterday. Put your bike in the hardest gear. Get in a position as if you’re on the start line. Then sprint like mad for 30 seconds or so. Starting in the hardest gear really teaches/forces you to use your upper body to move the bike and to get a good hard burn in the legs. I have to say, that this drill really highlights if you are slow at accelerating. I definitely notices that the first few pedal strokes are very labored. But I’m hoping/planning that with more practice I’ll improve.

I really had a blast out on my bike today. It was just me and the woods. Saw one lady walking her dog. Other than that I was free to zoom around in the mud, sand, and singletrack. Gotta love riding in the deep dark black Belgian mud. It really forces you to turn the legs over. Most excellent day on the bike.

I took a picture of my bike post ride:

I also discovered some photos on my camera from my trip to Treviso, Italy:

Well, I’m off for the afternoon. Decided not to race on Saturday – want to make sure I’m fresh for Sunday. So I’m looking forward to a couple more days of good training. Tomorrow I’m going to go into the suburbs of Antwerp for a little bit of “shopping” at Decathlon and Saturn (massive electronics store). Looking forward to more fun on the bike.

Today I raced in Niel, Belgium in the GVA Trofee. Since it is a national holiday today, there were so many people out for the race. I’d forgotten how many people come out to the cyclo-cross races here. Very cool. Makes for an exhilerating race experience.

Lucky for me, Jos came wit me to the race. So helpful to have her support. She is an expert navigator and is a big help with the registration, finding the parking and then doing the dirty work in the pits. Thanks Jos – I owe you!

We set off early today. I wanted to get there with time to get on the course before things got really crazy. I knew that parking would be a challenge and with the crowds I wanted to be well-settled before the craziness began. Super happy we arrived when we did. We managed to beat the craziness at registration. And thanks to my determination, we were able to get parking in the elite parking lot. The elite parking lot is really only for the elite men… But I told the parking wardens that they weren’t giving out parking passes (which was true) and that we wanted to park in the elite lot. In this case, persistence paid off and we got a sweet parking spot next to the Fidea team compound.

I hopped on the course pretty much right away and got in a couple of laps. Super fun course. Challenging and pretty much unrelenting. Nowhere to “rest” or really recover. This was due to the surface – bumpy soggy grass. It wasn’t as muddy as last year. Rather just soft. Seemed like the combination of the bumps and the wet grass were really effective at grabbing the bike and sucking you down! I’ve written a race report over here. At the end of the day, I finished 18th. I was duking it out for most of the race with the girls who finished 16th and 17th. On the last lap I lost them on the steep run-up. I simply couldn’t get them back. Bit frustrating because I know I was stronger than them – they were just that better than me technically.

Before the race I met Rudy De Bie – the Belgian National Team coach. He is a super friendly guy and promised to shout at me during the race. And shout he did. It was awesome to have him encouraging me. Then at the end of the race he was there to give me some tips and a friendly smile. This was super awesome. I really appreciate all the help and tips I can get from people. Especially from someone like Rudy De Bie. Thanks Rudy!

I did a quick little cool down with a quick side stop at the Sven Nys clothing booth to check out this year’s line of clothing. Mmm, some really nice Sven Nys branded clothing this year. Sven Nys is not only the top ‘crosser here in Belgium, but he also has a very popular line of clothing.

Jos and I got the car packed up pretty quickly and then went on the search for the prize money/start money place… We were misdirected to the registration building… This was definitely not the correct place – but luckily we saw the race officials walking towards the race – so we drove one of them back to the race and he directed us to the correct place to get the start money. Once this was sorted we were quickly in the car and on our way back home.

As usual the drive went super quickly as Jos and I discussed the day and the race. It helps to have a good friend like Jos to talk to after the race. Helps me get the race out of my system and get her thoughts on what is going on. And thanks to Jos, I’ve got a mechanic lined up for the next World Cup in Koksijde. This is a big relief.

Well, that was the day. The bikes are clean. One load of laundry is done. The second is almost done. Now it is time to chill out a bit. Maybe flake out on the couch with a magazine and get an early night to bed. Another big day tomorrow. Another double day. Next race is on Saturday – racing with the super-fast junior boys in Zelzate, Belgium. Thanks for the support and the emails wishing me good luck.

It is once again the day before a race. This means there is a bit of a ritual to go through. Just like the pre-race warm-up ritual, every rider has a system for getting ready for the race the day before. Myself, well I like to be organized. Some might say over-organized. I’ve relaxed my organization tendencies a bit but I still like to have everything taken care of. This way, I can relax.

So today was spent getting ready for the race in Niel. I got in a very good ride this morning. Hit up the great bicycle path and popped out along the canal for more great bicycle path riding. Got in a little over two hours with some sprints to open my legs. The time really passed quickly today. It was pleasantly warm as well. I had some really good sensations during the ride. Physically and mentally. The sprints went well. All in all, a very enjoyable ride.

As soon as I got in I got busy cleaning both bikes. They were both just a little dirty from the last two days of training. Cleaned the Nommay mud off the shoes. Got tires sorted. Got the bucket organized. Wheels in wheel bags. Everything is organized in the garage for easy packing in the morning. Now I just have to get my race bag organized and prepare my food. This takes little to no time since I pretty much take the same clothes and food to each race.

Best part of the day was the afternoon. I had a wicked good nap. Tuned the laptop to CBC Radio and dozed while listening to bits and pieces of The Current and Q. Woke up feeling well rested. Got a few errands done and now I’m back at the house relaxing. Considering watching an episode of Californication. So glad Marc loaded my computer up with some television shows and movies. Only programs I’m missing are The Amazing Race and Top Chef.

So race tomorrow. I watched the video of last year’s race. Wow – what a muddy slog. It helped to watch it though to see that even the top elite men were running descents and struggling in some sections. Helps me keep perspective. I’m not sure if the course has changed much this year. Find out tomorrow morning. Jos and I are hitting the road early. I want to get there in time to get registered, do a few laps of the course and then have time to chill out and then hop on the trainer. Looking forward to racing. I’ve got a few mini-goals I want to accomplish tomorrow. Should be good. I presume we’ll stay to watch the elite men’s race. I’ll bring my camera and try to take some pictures for you.

Alright, time to get off this computer. (Well, one more blog post to write for Victoria’s Island and then I’m going to watch some David Duchovny action.) Thanks for reading. Tomorrow is a national holiday here in Belgium (well I think all of Europe). Strange that November 11 is not a national holiday in Canada.

Well, that late night fervor that I expressed last night was still with me this morning. I kind of new it would be. That’s just the way I am. So after a big weekend of travel and a late night, I was up early this morning to get in my first ride of the day before running some errands.

Literally out the door as the sun broke through. Great way to start the day with a smooth recovery ride. No SRM. Just me, the bike and some newish roads. I really didn’t have time to get lost today. So I stuck to a simple route. The plan was to do an out-and-back. So I pedaled my way to Zichem and then took a right turn. I ended up in Scherpenheuvel. I had first been to Scherpenheuvel in the summer of 2007 when I was here for two months of road racing. This little town features a basillica. I rode to the basillica to check it out – unfortunately it is under wraps – looks like cleaning of the facade is being done. I made my way through this little town and then headed back to Blauberg. A good little ride to clear my legs and head.

I was quickly off for a few errands – return one car and pick up the new car. The new car is the ultimate cycling vehicle: Renault Kangoo. Sliding back doors. Back seats fold flat. Massive amounts of head room. I’ll get to test it out on Wednesday when I race in Niel. I attempted to get my phone sorted out but the phone expert was away so I’ll return to the electronics shop tomorrow.

Zipped home and got ready for the second ride of the day. The aim of the afternoon ride was to check-out the trails in Averbode. Averbode has a pretty amazing Abbey and a big beach/recreation area. This works out to some pretty good riding trails. I bumped into Jos on my ride there so she took me the rest of the way and showed me the trails. I managed to put together a pretty good little course that connects some steep climbs, sand, descents, a bit of road and more trails. Looking forward to going back on Thursday to practice. I did get in a couple of standing starts. I want to work in the standing starts to pretty much every ride I do. It is strange, when I practice them I truly do “blast” off the line and I’m moving rather quickly. But for some reason I can’t harness this same aggression and explosiveness at the start of races. I’m starting to think it is more mental than physical…

Well, not much else going on. Racing again on Wednesday in Niel. I’ll watch the video tonight to get an idea of the race course. As I mentioned yesterday, Jos was a massive help on the weekend. Not only was she my pit man, she also took some photos of me during the race and one of me and Nikki warming up in “our tent”.

Thanks again for the kind words and emails of support. Couldn’t do this without you helping me along. Okay, off to watch some race video. If you’re in Ottawa, hopefully you can get out and enjoy the fine weather.

Ah, back from a very good weekend of racing. Admittedly, the result from today’s race could have been better. But it is what it is. I still had an excellent weekend and had a positive race experience. I’ve written about the race over here. But suffice it to say, I finished 35th. Not as good as a result as my first World Cup. But still a decent result for me.

As you know from reading yesterday, I traveled to the race with Jos and we had a fine time last night with our super meal at the Flunch and then rather relaxed evening in the hotel. Today started off much the same and continued with the same happy attitude. Solid breakfast in the hotel. Have I mentioned how much I like France and how much I enjoy European hotel breakfasts? Well, I do like both very much. So great early breakfast of fine museli, warm soft bread and a bit of yogurt. Perfect way to start a race day.

We set off at around 9:30 with first item on the agenda being a bakery. We wanted to get some food for Jos for the day and some food for me for after the race. Well the first place we stopped was definitely out of our league. It was a rather posh chocolate type shop – too rich for our wallets and no bread to be seen. Just as well since three macaroons cost 50 euro! Anyway after having a laugh about this place we found a great little bakery. Full of scrumptious bread, cakes, chocolates, and snacky food. We left with two mini-quiche, two almond croissants, one mini pizza (tomato sauce and black olives), and a fine loaf of bread. We got by with my not-so-good Saskatchewan French… The poor ladies in the bakery were probably happy to see us go! Really they were super patient with us.

Suffice it to say, that was the best quiche I’d ever had. The pizza was also perfect – no cheese on it – just a shmear of tomato sauce and four perfect black olives. The almond croissant rounded things off just perfectly. So this was a welcome meal after the race. And can’t forget the smooth bottle of Cecemel I chugged down while walking to the race building (permanence) to get a shower and collect my start money. Yes, start money. I now earn start money at World Cup races. Sweet. Of course now I have to open a Belgian bank account so I can deposit the cheque…

After a quick shower and pack up of the car we were off. The drive home was completely painless. Went by very quickly as Jos and I simply gabbed the entire drive. One stop to get some drinks and stretch our legs and then we were home. Perfect ending to the weekend. Many many thanks to Jos for all her help this weekend. Made a massive difference to my race experience. Also thanks to Matt for helping me out and just being there to do anything that needed doing.

I’ve written in my race report how I am feeling about this race experience. Don’t worry I’m not upset or feeling down in the dumps. Rather I’m super motivated. I want to get on my bike right now and get practicing the skills I need to improve on. This race reinforced to me that even though I’ve done a lot of hard work to get where I am, there is still much more hard work to be done. So no time like the present. I’m super motivated to improve my technical skills – this includes mud riding, learning how to attack things such as off-cambers, to improve my running up steep climbs, work on mounting the bike faster, improving my starts and accelerations. Just all the little things that really do add up during the race and cost me time.

Monday is a new day and I’m looking forward to being a bike racer and getting out there and working hard. Sure, I would have liked a better result (but apart from the winner – who doesn’t?). The true riders and racers are proven by how they handle the not-so-great days. Well, I’m going to handle it by facing it head on and improving. So if you see me out there in the woods of Averbode or Blauberg – feel free to stop me and give me some pointers. Heck, if you want to hook up for a training ride – you know how to contact me.

I’m off for the night. Have a good one. Congrats to Marc for a fine racing this weekend in Northampton – 11th both days. Many thanks to coach Steve for hosting Marc this weekend. Thanks for reading. Also, thanks to all the people who were cheering me on out there today. It does help a lot to be racing and hear someone cheering for you. I don’t know who you were – but thanks so much – it is greatly appreciated. Kudos to Katie Compton for a fine ride today (also thanks for letting me barge in on you and Mark and ask you about how to handle this cheque business…).

Okay, going now. Tea is getting cold and it is kind of late. Big day tomorrow. Next race is on Wednesday in Niel.