First Weekend in Belgium

After four days of anticipation, we had our first race yesterday (saturday) in the town of Bury. The course was a 5.3km loop done 12 times with two "hills" that were really just highway overpasses. The pre-race routine is very different from the US because sign-in, or inscription, is in a bar full of old men smoking and drinking wine. We never had to fill out a form or anything, all we had to do was sign our name and write down the number we received. Our team of 8 rolled around for awhile and then 20 minutes before the start, the commissaires call us up to the line. No junior roll-out or anything. From the start, the US national team controlled the race. We attacked and attacked like it was a crit, which every single one of us regretted in the end. The difference betweeen a 40 minute crit and a 40 mile kermesse is amazing. After a couple of laps, a break of four with two US national guys rolled away. In junior kermesses, it is illegal to use "team tactics", which basically means don't bunch up as a team (organized chases, blocking, etc.). This rule makes it very hard to chase down breaks so the four guys up the road just rolled away. Riders kept attacking and attempting to bridge but nothing would stick. I attempted to get into a chase group but the field was not letting anything go. With one lap to go the national team tried to get a couple guys into a break but once again the field brought it back. With about 3k to go, my teammate, Adam, rolled away with another group and he finished 7th while the other five of us finished in the pack. Jacob and Cody, who were in the break finished second and fourth respectively. I rolled in at 23rd. It was a good day but not quite as good as today.
After Bury the team talked about what we learned and it obviously paid off. The course was dead flat with a little hill after the finish. The wind was blowing hard too. We did not attack from the gun like yesterday but just conserved energy for the first of nine laps. AJ sprinted for the prime on the first lap (each 6.3k lap has a prime) and ended up launching Adam up the road with one other guy. Adam and the other racer quickly built a lead and no one in the pack wanted to chase. Adam was soon out of sight and so the attacks started to come again. I got into a chase group of the front of the peloton and we worked together for 2km but then the pack caught up and my teammate Jacob attacked with one guy on his wheel. Jacob ended up catching Adam, but we never saw them again. Three more of my teammates went up the road in chase groups and I soon found myself at the back of a 30 rider peloton. The top 20 riders win money so I decided that I needed to get out of this pack and chase down one of the groups up the road. I attacked and quickly built up a lead and just my head down and hammered. At this point there were 3 laps to go and I was worried that I would not last that long by myself. luckily a teammate of mine had also attacked and was yelling at me to wait for him so we joined up and worked together to catch the group in front of us. On long straight aways we could see a group of 8-10 riders dangling up ahead and Cody and I slowly started to gain on them. With one lap to go they were maybe 45 seconds ahead and so Cody and I worked harder and harder and then with 3k to go, the group sat up so we gained on them quickly. We caught them with maybe 1.5k to go and I knew I wouldn't be able to match their sprints so Cody and I just didn't stop and attacked them right away. My teammates in that group said that they were too tired so there was no response to our attack and we held it all the way to the finish. Unfortunately Cody dropped his chain going around the last corner and was caught by one guy at the line. AJ and Ian Moir finished in the group that Cody and I passed and Ian Boswell was solo for the last 2 laps to take 4th. Jacob and Adam went 1-2 with Adam winning the race. I finished 7th while Cody finished 9th and AJ 10th. Ian Moir finished 13th and Joel came in with the peloton at 20th. The USA national team put 6 guys in the top 10, much to the dismay of the commissaires, who got mad at us for "using hand signals to communicate". Whatever. Anyways I am learning so much over here and just after two races I feel accustomed to the style of racing, which tends to be just balls to the walls for an hour and a half. These kermesses are basically criteriums, just 40 miles instead of 40 minutes. It's a blast.

-Charlie