Track Race/Hooglede Kermesse

Track racing in Oostende is quiet different from racing in the US. Racing on road bikes on a track with less than 20% banking in the corners compared to fixed gears and an 86 inch gear. We had 3 races: a 10 lap scratch race, a 5 lap win and out and a 16 lap points. As I waited in the cold weather for the commissaires to call up our group I looked around and saw a small field and was very hopeful. When we started our race I put in a few efforts and didn't get much of a gap. Coming into the final sprint I didn't quiet have the legs and came in at third. My next race was the win and out, which I also got third in. Having just missed the win I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold on for second, so I conserved and settled for third. Going into my last race I wasn't so confident, but I was hoping for a second place. With about three laps to go I got a gap. I soloed off the front and got the last sprint. I ended up with third in the omnium.
-Joel S.

On Saturday, those who did not race at the track went to the nearby town of Hooglede to do a 12 x 5km kermesse. The course was dead flat, half on big wide open roads and half on super narrow and twisty farm roads. The four USA national team members who raced were A.J. Meyer, Ian Boswell, Cody Foster, and me. Expectations were high going into the race because the four of us were expected to extend our winning streak to four races. The plan was to try and form a break with as many USA guys as possible and try to keep that break away until the finish. The first break to get a significant gap (usually 20-30 seconds) tends to stay away for the remainder of the race because teams are not allowed to organize a chase. Cody basically attacked from the start and after he was caught, I attacked, and then Ian attacked, and so on for the first couple laps. Four laps into the race, AJ went for a prime and his acceleration created a gap in the field. AJ and Cody rolled off the front together and the pack hesitated. That hesitation is always a sign that the break might stick because no one is really willing to chase. I let their gap open to about 20 seconds and I punched it into a corner and bridged up to them. The three of us worked well together and half a lap later, Ian Boswell pulled himself and two other riders up to us. One of the riders who bridged up with Ian was dropped immediately as Ian went to the front and opened the gap to the field to 40 seconds. We were out of sight from the peloton and started to work well together. We took most of the primes, but we did let the other rider in our break kill himself to sprint for one or two. With the two laps to go, the four USA riders were still working smoothly, but our opponent had stopped taking pulls, as one should if he is up against four national team members. Somehow, we convinced him to keep pulling. With a lap and a half left in the race, we decided to do the textbook attack and sit-on tactic. I attacked first and held about a five second gap while my three teammates sat on the other rider. The other rider started to fade and Cody attacked and bridged up to me. Cody and I hammered to get away at went through the finishing area with one to go and a 10 second lead. Ian and AJ tried hard to attack and bridge up to Cody and I, but the opponent would have nothing of it and found new legs to stick to them. Cody and I pushed very hard for the rest of the lap and turned onto the finishing straight with no one behind us. I wanted to roll across the line together but Cody was more fond of a mano-a-mano sprint. So we sprinted and I pipped him at the line for the win. AJ and Ian beat the other rider in the sprint and the USA national team went 1, 2, 3, 4, a feat never before done by Americans in Europe (or so we like to think). Any one of the four of us was strong enough to win, but it just so turned out that I was in the right place at the right time. The team made 240 euros in the race and the four of us split it evenly. It was a great day of racing and I look forward to watching the other half of my team race tomorrow in our hometown of Izegem.

-Charlie Avis

Yesterday, the US national team drove to the town of Orroir to race in the "Mont d'Enclus" kermesse. "Mont d'Enclus" is French for the "Kluisberg", which is one of the paved climbs in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. The course was 9 laps of a short (3.7km) loop and then 4 laps of the longer loop (6.6 km), which included the Kluisberg. The Kluisberg is about 1.5k at 10% grade, similar to the climb on the lollipop course at nationals.
The team's strategy going into the race was to send the non-climbers up the road early and have the good climbers sit-in until the hill. Since I was considered a "climber", I just relaxed in the front third of the peloton for the 9 flat laps. My teammate, Cody Foster, rolled off the front one lap into the race and caught up with a rider already up the road. Joel Shaffer put in a huge effort to bridge up to Cody, but was reeled in as the peloton significantly increased their speed. With a brutal cross wind on two sections of the flat course, the peloton was shattering before we even reached the climb. Four laps into the race, two more of my teammates, Ian Boswell and Jacob Rathe, attacked and bridged up to Cody. The peloton sat up and the four riders up the road built up a two and a half minute lead by the time the pack hit the first climb. Since there is technically no "teamwork" in junior kermesses, no one was chasing the break so for the third time in three races, the peloton was racing for a top five position. I set a tempo up the first climb that only one guy could follow and the two of us sat up after the descent and joined a group of maybe ten riders. We rolled around the rest of the flat loop and were eventually caught by another group of ten. The second time up the climb was a lot easier, but we still had just fifteen guys at the top. We pacelined around the flatter loop and then on a small rise in the crosswind section, I attacked and took two guys with me. The pack did not chase and so I quickly built up a lead. We hit the climb with a 30 second advantage and kept a smooth tempo to the top and then worked well together on the flat part of the course. There was no one in sight behind us but we still worked hard just in case. The last time up the climb, the Flemish rider attacked. The French rider sat on my wheel and made me chase. I kept the tempo and caught him before the top of the climb. At the bottom of the descent, the French rider attacked and the Flemish rider sat on my wheel. I guess the Belgians really wanted to beat the Americans because these two riders were definitely teaming up against me. The Flemish rider attacked one more time and I had a struggled to bring him back. I caught at 500 meters to go and just didn't stop and attacked the two of them. The French rider almost came around me at the end, but I held him off for a 5th place finish. My teammates up the road finished 1,2,3. The US national team had another dominant performance with four riders in teh top five. Joel's hard effort unfortunately came right before the peloton split and Joel was in the second group on the road. He gets another chance today, however, because all of those who ride the track get to do a track race this afternoon. I will have fun watching Joel and the US national team tear up the track.

l'Abitibi update

Today's race was in the evening, so we got to sleep in today. I did some shopping early on then got ready and we rode the race course. It was an 8k course that we did 10 times with a finishing hill that definately would split things up. There were two other hills as well, one was the feed hill and the other was the climb leading up to the finish.
We started the race, and the first 8 laps I was on the back. I don't know what it was but I just didn't have my head in the game. I just didn't feel like getting up there, which is stupid because you spend way more energy at the back with sprinting out of the corners and such than you do at the front with the consistency.
The race just might have been the easiest one of the tour because everyone was trashed from the crit the day before. We were going fast, but it wasn't crazy. There were 3 crashes on the first lap because the pace was pretty slow and everybody was riding stupid. After that though it was cool.
I finally decided to move up with two laps to go. I was chilling with Grant and Carter from US National who were keeping everything in check and the breaks close.
With 3 k to go Taylor attacked and bridged up to a Japan kid who was chilling out there by himself. I was third in line and we slowed way down. I was secretly hoping that they would stay away because I knew taylor could out sprint the japan man. But trains started coming up on either side and it got harder and harder to stay at the front. With 1 k to go I was probably 20 riders back and we hit the hill. It wasn't steep enough to really break up. We were going up it in our 52x21 at the steepest part. At the top we turned right and it kicks up a little more and it's 200 meters to go. All the sprinters took of and I tryed to hang on for a good finish.
I ended up getting 18th, so far my best result of the tour. My other goal is to get top 50 overall but I sitting in 63rd and with 2 mostly flat days left not likely. But you never know.

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

l'Abitibi Time Trial

This was by far the craziest race I have ever done in my life. And it was a TT.
So we load up on the bus in the morning to head over to our start with all our stuff except our bike, which had been sent down the night before. It's nice and sunny out and the day is beautiful. We show up to this...cave, and that's the only way I can think to describe it. It's the entrence to the mine, where we have to sit on the rocks for about 15 min while the riders come out. Then they do a roll call and make sure we're all there. There are six guys they select to go first who have to put their shoes on and be prepaired to warm up. We all pile into this tractor and have to put on our TT helmets.
So, a rundown POS that qualifies as an automoble going down a hole in the ground, with 30 kids in tight colorful clothing with weird looking helmets all bunched together is what the scene looked like.We start down the tunnel, and again the only thing I can compair this to is a slow motion rollercoaster ride. It gets really dark and the road drops away into the abiss, while you have to keep your arms inside and have your head ducked because there are rocks and pipes and those stallag-tight-mights or whatever about 5 inches above you. It goes for probably 300 meters then you get to the bottom. It's just about pitch black in there and the lights they do have are like 15 watt bulbs and separated by probablly 50 feet.
I hit my head on a pipe or something at the bottom which scared the crap out of me, then we all had to stay crouched over while we got out of the truck. You walk for 40 meters and all your bikes are lined against a wall with 6 trainers there. The guys who were selected to get their shoes on got on the trainers for 10 miutes, while the rest of us walked another 2 dozen meters on little rubber strips they had set up so your shoes wouldn't get dirty up to a heated room with some food and another six trainers set up. These trainers were the ones you see in dusty basements that haven't been used in 10 years. The ones from the 80's. So I get called up and jump on the crappiest one for 5 minutes while they have a guy time you. They try to make it even with everyone getting the same amount of warm-up. I didn't know though that when you finish your warm-up in the room, that you put your shoes and helmet on and go straight to your bike which is now on the trainer. So, of course, I get off and start streching and talking to guys, when Scotty from Major Motion informs me of what I'm supposed to do. So I get ready, take my legs and long sleeved jersey off, put on my stuff and get a huge blanket put over me for the walk over to my bike.
You're supposed to only have 5 min per bike, so on my TT bike I only got about 2 and a half. When they told me to stop, I got ready for roll-out, and noticed that my front tire was at about 40 to 50 psi. I'm in a cave underground and my 1:00 man is 10 seconds away from going off. I looked around for a pump but didn't see any, so I figured I would just get a wheel change at the top.
I get clipped in and she counts me down from 30. I start and It's fairly good with the lighting not as bad as it seemed coming down, but then I start going up. The lights start getting farther and farther apart and the hill keeps getting steeper. It wouldn't have been so bad, except my front tire is bottoming out, and I'm getting rained on by the cave...stuff. Then the real crap happens.
The road starts turning to the right and there is a light up there, so I'm prepaired to go to the right. But I get up there and there are ropes blocking off the road. So I'm kinda like "Uh, where do I go?" I start to lose my speed when I see that the road turns left and there is a light about 100 feet up the 17% road ahead. Normally that's a good thing, but my tire was totally killing me and I COULD NOT SEE a thing! It was really scary and my disk was starting to slip out.
I finally got out to the top, and it was horrible. It went from super dark to blasting sun in your face, and 40 degrees to 75 all in the space of 3 seconds. After coming out it's maybe half a mile on a bike path then you come onto the road and you get your lead moto and your follow car. I went for a ways trying to decide where a good place to do a wheel change was. We were in a neighbrhood so going through the corners was pretty sketch with my low front.
On a long straight I looked back at Tim and Aaron in the car so they knew somwthing was up, then put my left hand in the air and hit the brakes. Before I came to a stop I loosend my front brake, then I took the wheel off. Aaron was there by then and he took care of the rest. I was on my way by then and tried to get back into a rhythm.
The course took me out of town and up a short hill then over and back into a neighborhood. I had caught and passed the rider in front of me before the houses, and at that point it got kind of technical. The crappy thing is though, when I passed the japan kid my moto didn't pass him, so I had no lead. I kept expecting to have a turn-around because all the riders were coming back the way I was going. The result was 5 to 6 corners where I lost seconds not being in the aero bars because I didn't know where the heck I was going. I should have road the course before, but we had another race later on that evening so I didn't really have time.
I finally got my motorcycle back in front of me and then I could go faster through the turns. Another lame thing was coming into a left hander my motorcyle almost came to a complete stop because the oncoming rider took the corner wide, and there was a car trying to come on the course so I had no where to go, nothing to do but hit the brakes and lose more time.
With about 2k to go There was another big...traffic jam I guess you could say at one of the last right turns. More people trying to drive on the road. So there went more time down the tubes. At 1k to go I really started to nail it which sucked because I should have started that way before that, but couldn't because the problems, but that's racing.
I came across the line and got some water from the cute girls giving them out, and Tim came and talked to me about the race. On the way back to the school we are staying I was asked for my autograph and picture taken, so that made me feel pretty good about myself.

Micah

Tour de l'Abitibi update

Tour de l'Abitibi-Stage 3-Senneterre to Val-d'Or
Today's race was the second longest stage of the tour for us at 94k of racing. Yesterday's stage was the longest at 118k, followed by the Team Time Trial latter on that day. We drove out of Val-d'Or over to the neighboring town of Senneterre which is about an hour away in a car. The road signs here are all in French so that kinda adds to the whole different country effect. It rained almost the whole way over and only cleared out a little bit for the start. The streets were almost completelly dry at the start but it was still overcast and looked like it was raining everywhere else than where we were.
We did roll-out and then signed-in on a great big almost canvas like piece of paper that has all the teams on it and all the riders under that. It's just like the big leages with the news guys and the french press all getting it on film and taking pictures while you bend over in tight little clothes to write your name.
Warmed up for a little bit, then hit the start line with about 20 minuets till the start. In a race with 155 riders that all want to be at the front, you have to get to the start line really early so as not to be at the back. They finally got going and the mayor of Senneterre got on the stage and said some stuff in French, then called the leader to the line followed by the porteurs des maillots, the jerseys wearers. The bleu, orange, and brun. The best young rider (blue), the best sprinter (orange), and the leader (brown). They then called up the whole US National team because they were leading the "classement cumulatif des e'quipes" best overall team. Then we got to go up.
A coulple more things in french, then they counted us down from 3:00. When we got the gunshot it was complete madness. 3 crashes happened just trying to clip in and get on our bikes. The speed when it startes is just crazy fast. It futs anything else I've ever done to shame, except nationals.
The race was a road race, but we did 5 circuits in town on a course that was about the same as a crit, 1 1/2k. The finish was also like than in Val-d'Or with a 3k course that we did 3 times. Now I know why they have us do those. They are super intense and very fast. Plus there are more crashes so that's really cool too if you're a spectator.
I stayed in the top 20 to 40 for the circuits cause it was stupid to be farther back than that, and then for the first part of the trek back to Val-d'Or. The fan base is mind blowing. People stop work to come out and see us come by. We have a police escort that gets all the traffic off the road and gets people out to see us come by. They scream at you, people honk their horns, ther's megga phones. It's like Nevada City for 100k.
Anyways, when we got out of town it started to sprinkle a little, and the attacks came. There was one that had like 40 guys in it that had about 20 seconds and none of the US national guys, so they were forced to chase. We caught it after a long period of time and alot of argueing with the french and canada guys who wouldn't work, then there was another break that went, this time with like 15 dudes. Again, no US national team bros in there which is really weird so they had to chase. They were getting really pissy at everyone who was at the front who wasn't working, and were really getting mad at the quebec and french kids who were blocking for the canadian national champian (who was in the break) so it was madness.
It started raining after the break had been established and that kind of discouraged any serious chasing. The rain only lasted 20 min or so then it changed to a drizzle, so we picked it up a little bit. The roads dried up and we had a left hand turn followed by a large hill about 5 miles down the road. I knew there were KOM somewhere on the course, but I didn't know where so I wanted to be at the front when it came. I was on Ben King's wheel going up the most agressive climb of the day, which was big chain ring and probablly 21 in the back, so not that hard, but I didn't see any KOM sign. It wouldn't have mattered anyways but it felt good to be up there.
coming into town just got faster and faster as the gap came from about 2:00 down to 1:00 into the circuits of Val-d'Or. I was in the top 15 to 20 trying to get Trent (our team sprinter) into good position. There is a steep little hill for 150 meters at 5 to 6% that really strung things out single file. I moved positions on the first 2 laps with trent on my wheel trying to keep him up there, but on the last one I was dead, so he was on his own. I driffed back to about 50th to 60th coming through the last few corners before the finish. Trent was top 20 I think but the break hung on for the win, so it didn't really count for much.
I was happy I stayed with the lead group, about 100, cause 50 or so dudes didn't. The group was about 2 1/2 blocks long because there were 100 riders streched single file. We averaged 27 mph, so not as fast as the first stage's 29 but still friking hauling.
Today is the TT that starts in a mine shaft and then comes out, so it should be interesting.
micah

Back to the gravel patch - Putah Creek Smackdown # 3

With nationals over it was time to make my TT bike conform to UCI rules to get ready for worlds. That meant a new shorter saddle so I can meet the “no less than 5cm behind the BB rule” without actually changing my position. It also meant a new set of aero bars to meet the “no more than 75cm in front of the BB rule”. Other than fact that I now have my hands hanging out past the end of my aero bars and only grip them by looping my pinky around the shifters it seemed to work out pretty well.

(Notice that I subtly put my excuse right up front so that hardly anybody will notice…)

Out on Putah Creek Road it was on the windy side. It was windy the last time I was here when Mick broke the course record with a 20:40, but I felt that it was a bit windier this time. On the line the starter asked me what kind of time I wanted to do. I said that I’d like to do 21:00 or better, but thought that would be too much to ask considering the wind. The way out was slow, but not totally unexpected with the wind. I hit the turn around in 11:20 which pretty much sucked, but I wrote it off to the wind. On the way back though, life was good. I was holding 32mph for long stretches and ripped back in 10:00 for a 21:20 total.

So there I was standing in the gravel patch feeling pretty damn good about myself, waiting to see how my time stacked up. Not unlike last time where I had come within 6 seconds of the course record. Until Mick told me that he had broke the record… No records today, but Dave crushed my soul in much the same way. 20:53. WTF! So that was that, in the gravel patch, where it mattered, Dave had shown that he was a man. Turns out I was a 16 year old teenager who thought he was a man, but had no clue.

So, in two weeks we’ll be back. Hopefully Mick will come too and we can have a full on AMD smackdown.

Until then, did I mention that I neglected to tape over the valve holes on my wheels? I’m just sayin’…