The Ronde van West Vlaanderen is a stage race, in English means Tour of West Flanders. It was 5 stages over the course of 4 days, with the first day being a team time trial prologue, then a kermesse in the afternoon on the same course. This is a really cool race because it is a stage race just for nieuwlingens (15-16) riders. There were several teams from Belgium along with 4 dutch teams, 1 American, 1 British and 1 Israeli team who also had a few Americans on it. There were 25 teams who competed.

The prologue went very well. It was in the town of Wielsbeke, about 10
kilometers from the house, just across the canal. The course had about 19 turns in it, including dog leg turns. We decided to race on aluminum Specialized Transition TT bikes, which normal helmets and mavic ksyrium wheels. The course was super windy and twisty making the TT a little more difficult than normal. I started the group by taking the first pull, then was: Erik Volotzky, Jonathan Schilling (the Bigga Figga), Marcus Smith, Michael Dessua and Colin Joyce the national TT champion. We rode very smooth through the whole course which was too diffcult besides a few Formula 1 style turns. We rode the 7,4km course in 10:08 which put us in 7th in the team competition, 16 seconds down from the Lotto team. I was then in 27th overall.

Stage two was also windy, 8 rounds on the TTT course. I felt a little toasted from the effort earlier in the day but I still raced hard. The first laps were as always very fast until a group of 20 riders went off the front. Attempting to bridge late I went off the front a few times but failed to make it. Coming into 2 rounds to go myself along with some other riders pulled the group back. Then on the last lap, Sam Neuwy from England went off the front coming into the first corner and won the stage taking the green jersey. I knew the race would be won this way because it is the same way David Kessler won the stage last year. I finished in the pack at around 45th which was okay because I kept my spot in the General Classification.

Stage Three was held in Rekkem, which is less than a kilometer from Frankrijk (France). The race actually passed through France each lap. It was 70 kilometers, making it the longest stage. It was also very hot out side, about 30 degrees Celsius. We did 11 rounds of the course. The race started on a “neutral zone” which was all but that. I started out well. My legs were a little bit heavy from the day before but not too much. The course finished at the top of a 1 kilometer climb, that turned left at the top of the hill which in turn went downhill. Then there was a right turn after that really fast section that went uphill for another 500 meters. Then the course took a good right turn onto a wide city road that started to decline. The course went downhill until a hard left turn where the road narrows and flattens which was carnage most laps. Soon after was a fast left turn onto the bridge over the the freeway. The course then went into France until the road turned right onto another narrow farm road. There was a long straightaway until the last kilometer uphill on Rekkem’s main street. I wanted to be aggressive the whole race because I knew I had to be. I attacked the field hard with a few other riders on both hills on the 2nd lap. I got about 10 seconds on the peloton until I was caught on the downhill. This attack hurt me for the rest of the race because I wasted a lot of matches. I started to drift back because I was having trouble matching the leg speed of the other riders. Average cadence on the flats is 110rpm+ along with constant surging. Not to mention spinning like an animal down the hills. I was able to make it up to front of the group for the end of the race and took a surprising 59th place. I dropped to 38th overall even though I didn’t lose any time. My team mate Jonathan Schilling, was dropped from the group and was trying to bridge up through the chaos of the race caravan. He was riding behind a car when it stopped suddendly and he flipped over the car. I believe he flipped because he is the Bigga Figga, since he is 15 years old and 6’4″. He is okay, just some road rash.

Stage Four was held in the town of Deerlijk, which unlike Rekkem, is flat like pfaanekoeken. The course was very criterium like and had a lot of turns. We started in the middle of town and rode straight out until we hit a sweeping right turn. Then the race did a right turn again, except this time there was a traffic island in the middle of the turn. Then there was a sudden left turn followed by a fast straightaway. The course went right again and then left and then right, within about 1 kilometer. Then it went left again. The next turn was a sweeping right hander that you could ride fast. The way the Belgians corner isn’t like Americans. Americans fly through corners and use their momentum. Belgians brake hard into corners and then sprint out of them which can hurt after awhile. The course after that went until it turned right back onto the finishing straight. We did 9 rounds in this race and it was something like 69 kilometers. I started to move up around my team mates with about 4 to go, once the pace slowed down from a million kilometers an hour at the start. I got into a good position on the last lap and Marcus went off the front coming into the last turn which was around 350-400 meters to the finish. He popped and caused a split from the riders going around him. I was able to leap frog around the whole group. The front group split at the end but we given the same time as the peloton. I almost won the bunch sprint of my group, but I was beat by the British National Road Champion.

Stage Four in Meulebeke was a hard day. The winds were howling everywhere. The race started by rolling downhill and then hitting a sharp left hand corner that changed to uphill then downhill for awhile. The race really strung out here because it was a wide road with a major crosswind coming off the corn fields. The race then turned left into a one lane farm road that was very fast, like 120rpm cadence. The race then turned left uphill and was false flat until it turned left to the major uphill that was the last 3 kilometers before the finish. This section was a massive head wind and it hurt. No breakaways got away this stage. I started pretty far back and was very tired from the other stages. I hung on though even when my legs were having to spin impossibly fast, especially downhill. I was able to move very far up but on sharp turn at the start of the last lap there was a crash right in front of me on the right side so I had to slam on my brakes and jump up on the side walk in the turn so I didn’t crash. This wasted a lot of energy just to keep my spot. I moved up a lot of spots on the uphill on the last lap but I was pinched in a pack shift and I dropped back some spots. In the final 500 meters, which was over the crest of the hill, there was a big crash to the right of me in the peloton which I hardly avoided. A spoke was ripped out of a wheel and actually hit me I was that close. I moved over to the right from the left to shoot gaps which had now just opened up. I wasn’t thinking though and by the time I slotted into the right side the holes had closed and the eventual top finishers passed me on the left side. I came in 33rd which was my best result the whole race. My team Erik Volotzky, Nieuwlingen Criterium National Champion, came in 4th and barely missed 3rd. He had a great ride. He came in 29th in GC and I was 30th.
I am pleased with my result but I think I could have worked harder.

My whole trip to Belgium was amazing. The races were the hardest I’ve ever done and the culture was so cool and different. I don’t want to leave I want to live and race there some more. I’ve already been thinking about my next possible trip back to Izegem through Geoff Proctor’s Euro Cross Camp in December and January. We will see… But for now I will miss the Frituurs, the double-muscle cows and mini-horses along with the speculoos and bakkerijs. Bye Belgium.

The town is really great.  It isn’t too big, but we still like to explore.  Izegem is a traditional Flanders town with several bakeries and such.

The first day here we visited the HTC-Columbia service course.  It was really cool to see all of the pro bikes including Mark Cavendish’s.  We met the mechanics and basically touched everything because it was just so cool.

Living here is really cool and I am considering not coming home. One of my favorite things is probably the Speculoos which is so good!

The races have been pretty difficult but that doesn’t mean I don’t like them.  Kermesse style racing is one of my favorite types of races.  The first race we did was the Kermesse Buggenhout.  It had about 50 starters and the course was a crit style race.  Since I am a Nieuwlingen (15-16) the race was only 60 kilometers.  Also, being my first race here I didn’t know what to expect.  So, I attacked relentlessly for the first 2/3 because I didn’t want to miss the split.  I worked way too hard and ended up actually getting dropped from the group on 3 to go.  I made it back into the group. I came in 30th at the back of the peloton.  The top American was Marcus, who took 15th.  Even though I was placed badly I almost won some money because the 350 EURO purse went 25 deep.

Sunday went much better.  On Sunday we did the Kermesse Lovendegem and it went a lot better. It was 12 ronde of 5 km. It had a really windy road on the river and then we turned into some extremely narrow farm roads (less than one lane). I bridged to some chasers to a guy 1 minute off the front and a breakaway of 7 riders formed with me in it. We built the break up to 2:30 on the peloton. The start/finish was 700m of pretty rough cobbles. I came in 7th in the race out of 75 starters and 30 finishers. I won 45€ in prize money and primes. I’ve gotten into my euro groove you could say.

Race Schedule

08/11/10 Kermesse Hoelenden

08/15/10 Interclub Zwevezele

08/21/10-08/24/10 West Vlaanderen Cycling Tour

I am so ready to bring it in these races and my team is too.  The Interclub and Stage Race we will be racing with USA team kits on.  We are riding Specialized Tarmac S-Works bikes with Dura-Ace 7800 and Mavic Ksyrium SL wheels.  They are very fast and our team looks legit with the same bikes.  I am so excited!!

I raced the 45th Annual Bob Cook Memorial Mt. Evans Hill Climb in the SM 3′s.  This was my last road race in America in the 2010 season so I wanted to end it on a high note.  I will be attending the USA Cycling Junior Men 15-16 European Race Camp in Izegem Belgium August 3-24.  I was kind of wary about my race because although I have won more races than I could count this year, I wasn’t totally convinced I was going to win.  Earlier in the season I was winning almost every single hilly road race or time trial but, I had not won a race since the Rist Canyon Hill Climb on June 6th.  A big demoralizing moment was during the Mike Horgan Hill Climb on July 3rd when I was dropped on the Sugerloaf Road climb by the 1st and 2nd place in the race and that almost never happens. 

The weather wasn’t great actually a little bit chilly at the start.  We started at 8:35 and there were a lot of clouds and fog.  We rolled out of the start at the school in Idaho Springs at a good tempo pace which lasted for awhile.  I really didn’t feel the best at the first 7 or 8 miles of the race, my legs were kind of heavy feeling from a hard training day on thursday.  The field wasn’t huge but still around 40 or 50 riders.  We let a breakaway go with a CU guy and this triathelete.  The CU guy launched the other guy and the tri guy put some time on the field.  I actually didn’t think we were going to catch him.  I surged and picked the pace up to catch the CU guy.  We caught him right before Echo Lake at about 12 or 13 miles.   The pace got harder after Echo Lake because the guy in the breakaway was gapping us.  We kept a steady tempo until about mile 4 after the pay station. 

The front group was now 5 riders.  This is right after the road reaches the tundra.  The other riders were starting to fade other than myself and a rider on CU.  We were starting to pull more than the other riders because we knew that we had to catch the solo break.  The gap had grown all the way to 1:20 and we had to bring it back. 

We finally caught the guy off the front on the steep straight climb after the flat section at Summit Lake.  The CU guy and I rode right past him and dropped the other guys in our group.  We were clear at Mile 10, about 4.5 miles from the summit.  I was setting a very fast pace, trying go clear alone.  This didn’t work my accomplice was too strong.  We reached the final switchbacks in the last 2.5 miles and I just sat behind the other guy in the breakaway.  I was waiting to make my attack because I didn’t want to go too early.  I waited until about 1km to go and I made an attack.  But, our lead car and several other racers were in the way on the switchback and it stopped my attack because the other rider got on my wheel.  I put in another vicious attack shortly after and one at 500m to go, which was much farther from the finisher than it seemed.  The finish was about 50m past the last switchback.  Since I kept attacking I was first wheel into the finish.  I surged out the last corner and kept a 5m gap on second place winning the State Championship.  Of the 3 other state championships I have won, this is the first one in an adult category.  I did the epic climb in 2:00:43 just over my goal of sub-2 hours.  The race was still success in every aspect though.  I finally got the 9th win of the season that kept alluding me and I won my most important race of the year.  I ended my American road season on a high note before my trip to Belgium. 

Great Success!!