So today, I raced in Oostnieuwkerke just west of Roeselare. The course consisted of very wide roads, which was quite unusual, and one narrow section. There were four mild corners and one roundabout. So overall, it wasn't a very technical course, so that meant for a fast race...very fast!
To begin the day, my teammates and I rode approximately 30 kilometers to the race site, signed up, pinned numbers, and rode a couple laps of the course before we were sent off. I lined up in the front row with about 85 or so racers behind me. Right from the gun, I found myself in a promising break with six other riders. We were rotating fairly well to begin with and were gaining time on the peloton. Everyone was doing their fair share of work for about half of the lap until some of the guys would sit on the back and 3 would rotate at the front, then everyone would rotate, then only 3 or so, then everyone, which became slightly annoying. For the first two laps that I was with the break, I was pretty much riding at my max pulling through then trying to get as much rest as possible before pulling through again. After about halfway through the third lap I was getting blown off the back. One of the Belgian guys shouted, "stay with us good friend", but I had nothing left after using so much energy. I eventually fell back to the first chase group which seemed to be moving at a pretty good clip. I caught onto the back of the group which melded with the main field. I tried recovering for a few laps but found myself behind a couple splits. I chased back onto the main field with my teammate, Casey, but used up too much energy and was unlucky enough to get stuck behind another split and was done for the day. I rode one final lap by myself, which is when it started to rain cats and dogs with a little hail mixed in there, and was pulled with 9 laps to go out of the 16. Some of the guys that were in the main break eventually finished in the lead group. Some of the guys managed to stick it out to the end with a few that managed to bridge up to them.
I was a little bummed after the race, considering I was finally lucky enough to make the break that would make it to the end, but couldn't stay with them. I guess I can be happy with the fact that I played my cards and tried my hardest and learned a lot being up front with the key break group.
Now it's time for some more rest and stretching and we will see what the new schedule of training and races brings for the week.
