A very good day today in Belgium. Easy recovery ride that allowed me to stop and take some photos. Followed this with some chilling out time in Westerlo with Nikoline and Jos. I’ll keep the words brief and let the pictures do the talking:

Belgian architecture is a mix of the old and the new. Here is the new:

A range of signs to keep you on track – or point you in a new direction:

Made it to Flipperland – I think it looks better in the summer:

By the Blauberg church – the forest that I ride and run in is named for Willem Elsschot:

Jos modelling the famous Canadian boots and enjoying a cappuccino at Cafe Libro:

Today was a double day. For you Canadians there was no Tim Hortons involved in this double day. Nope, definitely the sugar-free kind with running in the morning and cyclocross training in the afternoon.

I went out “early” (okay 8:30) for my run and ended up having a great run in the Blauberg forest. For the first time I ran with my heart rate monitor strap on and my Garmin Edge 500 in my jacket pocket. Very interesting to see my heart rate data, speed and distance covered. The run was excellent – well except for the gun shots I heard – I guess it is hunting season right now… I did see one deer bounding through the woods – definitely was moving faster than me.

After a few errands and a spot of food I was in the car and off to Zolder for my first cyclocross training session in Belgium. This year my pal René hooked me up with a group that trains at the Zolder race course. I was a bit nervous when I got there but was quickly at ease with a most excellent coach and a good group of people. There were about 80 little kids who went off and did their own training and then maybe 30 of us rode over to Hasselt to train on this Saturday’s race course.

It was a great ride over, zooming along the canal in a big group and I got to talk to Hilde Quintens (a Belgian racer). Nice to get to know some new people and to feel really welcomed. The session at the Hasselt race track was excellent – I got some help with my sand riding skills and was able to work on some other skills as well (in other words – less brake more speed!).

I arrived a bit early to the training location so decided to take my bike out for a bit of a spin on some taped off cyclocross training skills sections… Well, lets just say I have luck on my side! I was riding along when all of a sudden I was flying through the air – turns out I should have stayed left… Where I went the ground literally fell away – I did a massive endo, landing on my shoulder and side of my head. My shoulder is very red and starting to turn blue – and I’m a bit stiff. I felt fine during the ride and I think so long as I stretch well tonight I should be fine! Here is a picture of the drop I went over and how my bike landed – I landed about two feet from my bike!

We were parked next to the BMX track – very impressive – especially watching the little kids zip around (no pics of the little kids though…).

After a quick shower here, Nikoline hit up the nearby cafe for a hot chocolate. Nice to get out and hang out a bit. The Mie Maan is an excellent spot and I’m looking forward to going there with Marc for some supper and relaxation.

Tomorrow I’ve got an easy recovery ride on the schedule. Perfect timing considering today’s tumble!

Call it what you will: embro, hot sauce, warming cream, embrocation – this stuff can be great and it can be bad – very bad. When hot sauce is good it is really good – your legs are nicely warm and very comfortable. When the hot sauce goes wrong you end up with feelings of fire and extreme heat… There isn’t a bike racer (particularly cyclocross racer) out there who doesn’t have a “hot sauce gone wrong” story to tell.

Well, guess what? I’ve got one to tell today… So last Sunday I applied hot sauce to my legs and they were nicely warm and toasty during the race. But my feet – well they were frozen. Frozen bricks of flesh and I couldn’t feel my toes. Highly unpleasant and rather ineffective when it comes to clipping in and running. The common consensus from my cyclocross pals (people with much more experience than me) was to apply hot sauce to my feet. Sounds like a great idea doesn’t it?

So today it was a bit on the cool side. Perfect opportunity to test out the hot sauce on the feet tactic. I applied a moderate amount of hot sauce to the tops and bottom of my feet, my toes, and the ankle region. As for the excess, I simply wiped this all over my hands (I also get very cold hands). I was very careful to not get the hot sauce in my chamois – getting dangerously close to sensitive areas. (Yes I have experience with this…)

After about 20 minutes of riding I noticed a rather hot and fire-like sensation around my ankles. The hot sauce was working – and it was working too well. Clearly the ankle area is rather sensitive to the hot sauce. I was able to block out the burning ankle syndrome but it was highly unpleasant.

Upon arrival home my mission was to shower. But the thing about hot sauce is that it gets even hotter and more fire like when hot water comes in contact with it. Luckily I thought ahead and have a handy bottle of Sport Wash that was rumoured to be useful in removing the hot sauce from body parts. Well, this is a false rumour. The truth is that the Sport Wash simply amplifies the heat in the hot sauce. In fact it activated the hot sauce on the tops and bottom of my feet, toes and hands.

Now what to do? Well, I sucked it up like a cyclocross racer and stepped in the shower… This is where things went really wrong and got very hot. An unpleasant and rather painful shower was had. Now six hours after the application of the hot sauce, I can happily report that the heat is finally gone from my feet and hands.

Moral of the story? I’m not sure yet. The upside is that my feet and hands were nice and warm during the ride. I have learned not to apply hot sauce to my tender ankles… I just need to determine how to get the hot sauce off of my body. I’m open to suggestions…

Even with this slightly negative experience, I’m still hooked on the sauce and I’ll give it another go. Yes, I could be considered to be a slow learner!