Challenge de Hesbaye-Trognee

Once again it is my off day and time to write in the blog. This weekend consisted of preparing for the UCI 1.12 Challenge de Hesbaye-Trognee race in Eastern Belgium. I spent Saturday evening packing my race gear into my travel bag and carbo loading the rest of the time. Sunday morning would soon come around where I would wake up at 6 in the morning and begin my pre-race routine of eating breakfast (Muesli cereal with bananas and 6 pieces of toast with jam). When I was stumbling around in the morning I couldn’t help but notice the snow covered windows. A small skiff of snow had blanketed the roof tops around Hertsberge during the night. The morning sunrise was scattered with pillow like clouds and blue sky was exposing itself. We loaded up the van around 8:15 and began our 2 hour drive to Trognee. On the way I would take a small nap until 9 o’clock rolled around where I, again, would eat 2 egg baguette sandwiches.

We arrived at the race start in the middle of small Trognee, a French speaking town, where we would park and go to a small heated tent to change. We spent about 30 minutes staying warm and changing into our race gear until we decided, as a team, to go back to the van to pin our race numbers on and to begin our warm up. After finishing the smaller tasks before the race, we began to spin around on the straight stretch through town. The weather was beautiful with blue skies, no clouds, little wind, but chilly. Smoke, billowing from chimneys in the distance, was rising vertically. It’s a rare sight to not see it streaking across the horizon. Soon we would line up for our neutral start where I made my way to the front, 2 rows back from the lead vehicle.

The race began at noon. The neutral start was typical with riders passing the lead vehicle and guys jockeying for position. I managed to keep my position through the entire neutral section not allowing any other riders to fill small gaps in front of me. The official racing began approximately 3 km after we pulled away from the start line. That is when the peloton would string out in the front and echelon to the sides. Staying up front was a challenge but the energy you save, when in the right position, is a great deal. I would stay toward the front until the first long descent that began at about 25 km. I lost a few spots as we made our way through small towns avoiding traffic control devices and parked cars. We then hit the first big climb of the day where I felt strong and would move up quite a few spots, but not enough. The peloton would split and I found myself in a group of about 40 guys working together to chase the tail end of the main group. We pursued the group for about 20 km and caught them at the beginning of the next climb. Once again, I could not pass enough guys on the long ascent and the peloton would string out and fracture even more. I was once again in a group of 25-30 guys trying to chase, but we never caught them the rest of the race. We rode as a small group until we reached the local laps. We went through for one lap and then we were pulled as the main peloton was approaching quickly behind us. I made it 135 km of the 154 km race.

I almost finished, however it was a learning experience and I’m feeling better as I participate in each race. I learned, once again, that position is everything. If you’re not at the front holding your spot, you take the risk of never staying in the main peloton as breaks and splits occur. I have to practice not being nervous or anxious before and during races and just make sure I am always in the right position. My goal for the next race will be to stay at the front no matter what and to finish in the top 20. I think I am physically capable of doing such a task but I will force myself to overcome the mental aspects that dampen my racing potential. As always, it’s important to take as much experience and wisdom from each race and use that toward the next one. Just have to keep working and training (which includes just as much mental as physical) and eventually it will all come together. On that note, I’m gonna go rest some more and get ready for the training week ahead.