Race day set for Saturday, August 15. Dinner the night before; frietjes and mussels! Nothing powers you to a mid-pack finish quite like deep fried potatoes, mayonnaise, and some seafood. Unfortunately I can't blame the dinner for not finishing well. The weekends race for the Belgian Championship for another race series known as the Vlaamse Weiler Federatie. A seventy-two kilometer race with the thermometer was touching 30 cecilius. A race that even if my teammate and I won wouldn't really matter because we were not eligible for the Belgian jersey in this series because we didn't meet a few criteria. No worries though we were going to have fun and go fast. The course proved to be quite nice with a some tight twisty sections with fast sweeping turns, a somewhat steep hill (ok it was steep), and there was a small bridge we climbed before the final 3km opened up into a four lane highway for the final. This was perfect for someone who could use the downhill side of the bridge to make a lot of speed into the finishing stretch. Which is exactly what I did but not for the final. After about two ronden (laps) there were two breakaways (I think or at least one that appeared to be splitting) charging away into the wind. And yes there was a lot of wind. At one point there was such a cross wind that the echelon was more or less just riding to the left of the rider in front of you. I made the charge to bridge the minute or so gap setting myself up perfectly for the run off of the bridge. After snaking through a round-a-bout (how do you spell that?) I anticipated the wind direction coming through the last corner and was literally costing all the way to accent on the uphill side of the bridge. Not only was I costing but I was gaining position after position until I was almost to the front. Soft on the pedals and a few deep breaths, which if you can anticipate a hard charge can really help fill the veins with oxygen, and boom! I ripped into the pedals just as the peloton started to crest the top of the bridge. A few clacks later and I was spinning my 53x13 (maybe 14, I'm not a pro) and flying down the straight. Solo. A fast left hand turn and I look over my left shoulder to see nobody. I continue charging straight ahead and set myself up for the 90 degree right hand turn onto a road wide enough for a honda civic, barley. I nail the apex and I'm out of the saddle rebuilding my mojo but not too much. I'm going to have to brake for the next 90 degree left so no sense in giving away energy as friction if I don't have to. Next turn is a sweeping left hander, straight for a bit, then into the wind as we approach the climb. A stiff wind from the right hurts and I'm digging for a little something. Another right hand turn and I'm between the houses, no wind and I start builidng my cadence for the climb. I look down and I'm surprised to see I'm still spinning my big ring and flying up the base of the climb. I thinking about sticking to it and really going deep. Afterall the break I was chasing is within sight now. Before I give it full gas I check behind me and see the bunch coming back. If I don't make the break which is going to be tuff on a steep climb (being fat sucks) I will not have the energy to stay with the peloton and I'll be dropped. I sit up and relax. I rejoin the peloton and focus on recovering. After the hill there is a small downhill, flat with a direct headwind, and then a downhilll with two long sweeping turns. I'm coasting and I've regained my breath and focus only to enter the last turn and see my teammate picking up his bike. After the corner I sit up and wait. I'm last wheel and after the whole peloton has told me he is not coming back I still sit last wheel. I keep checking but he race is over. I wonder if he'll pass off his bidons next lap? I could use some more fluids already.

After a few more laps I'm quite annoyed at the lack of corporation to chase and each chance I have to follow a move I do. Especially when another rider, his name is also Nico, same as my teammate, attacks. I try and follow a few of his moves and the counter moves, but I'm just getting a bit tired. Did I mention there was a climb in the course? I've been out of water for almost two laps and I can feel the dehydration setting in. Time to focus on finishing. I'm slowing fading away and my last attack ends at the base of the climb again where I sit up and wait for another slower group. In the meantime I pull a few wheelies for the spectators on the climb. I might not be able to entertain the crowd with a win but everyone loves a wheelie!

I'm fortunate to find someone who wants to work together and we ride a bit just to finish the race. He was also kind enough to hand me a full bottle of water. Merci! We find a few more wheels and finish as part of a group of eight or nine. I'm riding very comfortably at the back of group and anticipated that no one will sprint for the line on the last lap. I mean really, we are sprinting for almost last place and only two guys did all the word for the last four ronden. There were two guys from the same team just sitting on and they decided it was going to be a race for line when one of the guys starting pulling us over the bridge. I sat comfortably in the fourth seat and went early. And when they came back to my wheel with 100 meters to go I added one more cog and dug into pedals to reopen the gap. I felt a bit lame after but I moved on. I turned in my number, received my two euro back and headed to find a cold cola.

Saturday night I returned to a different house than usual. I was house sitting for the weekend for some friends that were off to California for vacation. The road their house is located on also serves host to a cycling route. Throughout Flanders there are cycling routes that are marked either by name or number. The numbered routes can take you all over Flanders. Simply visit the website called Fietsnet, select a starting point and an ending point, print out or write down the numbers and voila! A numbered route to your destination! A cyclist could also follow the named routes for tours of various villages and regions of Flanders. This particular route is called the Groene Kopel route. This is the route I followed for a recovery ride this morning along with two friends. Little did we know what we really had in store for us. Not to mention my one friend was also the same one who crashed quite hard the day before. He went from being a 55km/u rocket on a two wheels to physics experiment gone wrong. I'm confident he would have made the break too. Today though he was in a bit of pain to say the least. I admire him for riding it through and embracing the humorous side of the adventure we had embarked on.

The roads started off being smooth but a bit narrow. Flat and easy going to start. Eventually some climbs came into play but nothing too seri












Then the roads become very narrow! Bumpy and some were even unpaved gravel roads for the farmers! I love it! Nothing like a little adventure for a recovery ride. After an hour it was clear to me that the Groene Kopel Route had found a found place in my teammates heart. I could see it by the look pain on his face each time we hit new random road. I could also hear the grimmaces of pain. Sometimes coming from behind me and sometimes from in front of me. He was taking it well. I took the picture to my left while I was still moving. I need a career in photography in motion. A bit like the workout group from the movie Yes Man where the running group takes photos during their morning jog.







Then we stopped at a random house for a beer to numb the pain. Actually we were riding by a house when we heard the cry of a goat.













They are both wondering if anyone is home. I think the goat is hoping her friends come back and help and I'm not sure what Nico is thinking. I never really thought about it but a goats head is far from being adaptive to small spaces. Shaped a bit like a fishhook that is designed to go easily in one direction and remain lodged in reverse. This goat was stuck in the fence.






Team Herablifes to the rescue! We managed to free the poor little thing before continuing on our way.












Then I managed to find windmill that was just begging to have its photo taken with me!
















Same windmill only from another perspective. I spent the rest of the afternoon with my legs up. Rest and recovery. I also watched a film titled Donnie Brasco with Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.











As I arrived home in the evening we decided to keep it a lazy zondag go out to eat in Ninove. I ordered a dish called vol au vent. Which is a puff pastry filled with gravy, chicken and small meatballs. I think the meatballs were pork actually. Naturally, frietjes are also part of the meal. Lekker!