Lovendegem, Belgium. The course was a 5KM loop with narrow roads and a 700 meter stretch of nasty cobble stones. The finish was near the end of the cobble section. We did a total of 12 laps, 60KM and I think 114 riders started. We went out really fast with everyone fighting for position on a road that could only fit about 3 cars; then we had a narrow right hand turn where you could barely fit 1 car. Right away a big crash happened right there and I was forced to go off road to get around them. I then had to stay in a group of riders trying to catch back up to the pack. When we got to the cobble stone section, it was the roughest and bumpiest road I had ever ridden on. I followed rider's wheels to save energy and eventually we caught the peloton. More crashes happened -there was a crash on every lap. I eventually cramped up after trying catch back on again and lost the peloton half way into the race. A small group of riders caught up to me and for the next 3 laps I stayed in that group as we caught rider after rider that had been dropped. At 9 laps done our group was pulled from the race because we had lost too much time on the peloton. Hopefully next week I will have a better race with no cobbles (thank God) and several climbs (in Ooike).
Alistair
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