belgium races...

[Stu Merckx Man]

so the first race was a MAHOOOSIVE event. its one of 3 of the biggest junior belgium races of the year. its a UCI junior race and included the belgium junior national champ who was 6ft+ and had legs of an oak tree ...mind you he wasn’t the only one. most of his team was like that. there team is called balan and they are effectively junior professionals, also balan is the official feeder team to quickstep. the race also attracted riders from all over europe. many from france, the Netherlands, countries from the baltic (who were very good actually), spain, russia, and of course the south east team i was in from england.

the race was 80 miles, and included cobbled sections and cobbled climbs, then a few laps round a town centre and then the finish. the whole of the race had closed roads so we were free to use all the space without having to worry what so ever about cars.

so the race got under way with by far the largest peleton i have been in with i think 180 riders. i was in the front 1/4 of the pack so in a good position.

the pace was very very high....at one point on a flat section i was spinning out, and looking at my speedo w were doing 40MPH ON THE FLAT!!

although it was hard and fast i felt ok, and not comfortable as such, but manageable.

with 3 miles in came my first close call- on a flat section as we were going 35mph one of the motor bikes about 20m ahead of me crashed into a parked car, one of the sections of body work then shot across the ground into the peleton, missing my wheel by a few feet and missing others by very small margins which was pretty lucky.

then 10 miles in and disaster struck for me. we were going round and sharp 90 degree bend and we all came to a stand still, but some fool tried to take the corner from a stupid angle and smacked into my front wheel. this moved the steerer and not the stem, so the wheel was at an angle of about 45 degrees to my handle bars!

i drifted back to get to the team car where they sorted it out for me. by this point i was now at the back of the convoy and started chasing like mad to get passed the cars to get back onto the peleton. i managed to get within 3 cars, and about 50m from the back of the peleton, but the other team cars wouldnt let me draft so i was desperately sprinting but could not quite make it! so i was out of the race and got a lift back in a lorry who was picking up other riders who had punctures and couldnt get back onto the bunch. Our top placed rider in that race was ben plain who came 26th which was very impressive.



On Sunday we did the crit race. This was a 900m loop around a town.
This was a smaller race with only 50 riders but still included some top riders. The Belgium national champ again and his balan team, and other riders from all round Europe. The atmosphere was amazing and there were crowds of 2 or 3 people deep the whole way along the course.

I was well up for this race as I had missed out on the day before and really wanted to make something of it. This time I was racing for addiscombe.

So we set off and the pace again was crazy. Coming out of the corners and we were full on sprinting as though for the line.

I was about 20 from the front and although in pain was fairly secure. Unfortunately others weren’t and people constantly let go of wheels creating gaps that needed bridging. This happened about 8 times in the first 15 minutes and I was starting to feel the electricity in my legs start to seep away.

Then at about 20 minutes in a gap opened up about 10 places in front of me, and by the time I tried to bridge it the gap was too large and I couldn’t make it. I was left with about 10 others and I started working hard to keep us in the race. Only 1 other person was working with me and we were both getting real annoyed at the others. After a few laps of this one of the English guys attacked and I went with him, none of the others came with us.

We started working perfectly together with a through and off. Although it was painful once we got into a rhythm we kept ourselves in the race.

After 20 minutes or so my partner started to fade and I was doing longer and longer turns on the front, sometimes for a whole lap. Eventually after doing one more turn for me he dropped off from exhaustion and left me to keep going.

I lasted a couple more laps and the whole time people were cheering me on. But eventually with about 10 minutes left of the race, the leader lapped me which meant I had to leave the race- that’s one of the rules, that once your lapped you have to get off the course.

However although I was pulled out I was still eligible for a placing and came 22nd which I was pretty pleased with, it also got me some prize money.

Our best place rider in this race was sam Webster who came 3rd and rode a brilliant race.

I really enjoyed the experience and can’t wait to go again next year.

Cheers
stu

[Tamar]

Stu, that's fantastic! What a brilliant result. Very, very impressed!

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Awesome.

Keep it going Stu. Let us know before you go next time and maybe we can get over to support you.

[Stu Merckx Man]

paul look under the racing section for 'im off to europe'

[Grahame]

Good lad, Stu. Well done, glad you enjoyed it, and a great report to boot.

[Andrew G]

Fantastic Stu. Well done for haning in there, you can't get much tougher than racing in Belgium (I bet you got an extra cheer for riding a Merckx ).

Marco I'll have a look through the Palace photos that my Dad took as I'm sure he wouldn't mind you using one and there's bound to be one or two.

[-Adam-]

Well done mate, it was only the other day I was wondering what it would be like riding in a group of 180.. you'll have to let me know...!

And closed roads... nice!

Anyhow, unlucky about the road race, but good one in the crit. When you back to college? We'll have to have a catch up sometime, another couple of weeks and ill be able to ride my bike again... you'll have to go easy on me...

Anyway, give us more than 2 days notice if you can then next time, then its easier for us to come with you!

Well done again mate...

[Tony]

Hi Stu. Glad you enjoyed yourself. I've never raced abroad - but everyone I know who has done so always says how brilliant foreign races are compared with the UK racing.

[Tamar]

I raced in Belgium about 3 years ago. It was amazing. Totally different to UK racing. The pace was blistering from the gun - no faffing around deciding whether to go for a break or not and worrying whether you might blow if you put a hard effort in. Everyone was out to win and that was that. The circuit was twisty and technical and very scary...but it didn't seem to bother the Belgian girls who just zoomed, elbow to elbow, around the corners and disappeared into the distance. Awesome.

[Stu Merckx Man]

tamar is right on the mark when it comes to riding elbow to elbow and not faffing around. i was often in contact with the other riders going along at 35mph, bit un nerving at first but after a while you realise its nothing to worry about and it becomes the norm. they also just keep on attacking and attacking, and when they are chasing a break they dont fuss about bieng on the front, they just go for it!

[-Adam-]

[quote="Stu Merckx Man"]and when they are chasing a break they dont fuss about bieng on the front, they just go for it!

[Marek]

Fantastic, Stu that is awesome, read this at work earlier today with a big grin on my face, my boss must have wondered what I was looking at.

If you are not too big for it now, you should go and do the 2/3 race at Rusper at the weekend, sounds like you have the form to rip them apart.

Cheers

Marek....

[Toks]

[quote="Stu Merckx Man"]the pace was very very high....at one point on a flat section i was spinning out, and looking at my speedo w were doing 40MPH ON THE FLAT!!

[Steve B]

Stu, fantastic - well done!

We'll have to pay you appearance fees to come on the club run soon.

Steve

[Grahame]

To paraphrase Brian Clough, "That Stuart Chamberlain. He's met me, you know."