There's nothing like coming back from "hot'n'heavy" Aus to race in the freezing rain and horrific winds.
Sunday's race was something else. It remained dry until we got on the start line. A couple drops came down during the Neutral zone and by about 30k into the race, it was raining hard and freezing cold.
I felt surprisingly "easy" for a race of this size, at this time of the year and considering my fitness and lack of racing. In the end however the rain and cold got the better of me! I had a really bad head-ach from the cold, and I couldn't feel my hands, my arms, or my toes... my teeth were chattering at over 160beats per minute. Believe it or not it took me 2 hours after the race to feel my heals again. Yep, my HEELS. I was so cold my bones were hurting. Strange!
Anyway, my teammate Guillaume Soula won the race, I finished just outside the National Ranking Points in 21st spot, but still in the money. Over 100 riders started (not many probably due to the rain), and only 30 or so finished. The race was dealt with from the back... as people got shelled they where eaten away by the cold and miserable conditions... a typical Belgian style race of attrition (only with hills). Only 3 of us from the team finished. So I wasn't too disappointed with my first real race of the season; especially considering I thought I'd get shelled from the early season races and my aim was just to see if I could finish.
Sunday's race was something else. It remained dry until we got on the start line. A couple drops came down during the Neutral zone and by about 30k into the race, it was raining hard and freezing cold.
I felt surprisingly "easy" for a race of this size, at this time of the year and considering my fitness and lack of racing. In the end however the rain and cold got the better of me! I had a really bad head-ach from the cold, and I couldn't feel my hands, my arms, or my toes... my teeth were chattering at over 160beats per minute. Believe it or not it took me 2 hours after the race to feel my heals again. Yep, my HEELS. I was so cold my bones were hurting. Strange!
Anyway, my teammate Guillaume Soula won the race, I finished just outside the National Ranking Points in 21st spot, but still in the money. Over 100 riders started (not many probably due to the rain), and only 30 or so finished. The race was dealt with from the back... as people got shelled they where eaten away by the cold and miserable conditions... a typical Belgian style race of attrition (only with hills). Only 3 of us from the team finished. So I wasn't too disappointed with my first real race of the season; especially considering I thought I'd get shelled from the early season races and my aim was just to see if I could finish.
"Gigi" takes out his first race of the season...
Apart from that I've been getting in some good rides overall. For some reason I've been creeping on the bike though, I feel like I'm hardly moving in training. Might be my body still trying to get used to temperatures, or maybe I've got something of a cold... not sure, but that's cycling I guess. I may go down to Spain for a little training camp around mid April, we'll see.
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