Racing the Euro way

  I've now been in Belgium for a good week and a half. The racing here is nothing short of what I was expecting; fast, aggresive and technical. The house we are staying at is in Tielt-Winge is on the east side of Brussels. It is close to a grocery store and to countless roads and paths on which to ride and explore. It took time to adjust to the time change and the schedule around here, but once in the swing of things, living, riding and racing here is like clockwork.

  My teammates are a great group and we are all excited to race here and learn some new aspects to bike racing. I got here on the 27th of April, a couple days later than the rest of the group. We raced the day after on a course that was not far from here in a town called Molenstede. Signing up in a smoke filled cafes or bars is the norm for belgian kermesses. The race went well and Ben Perry managed to win out of a break of 2 after a race where there were many attacks and aggressive moves played out by Brandon, Ben Chartrand and myself. We were all in the prize money which was a decent result considering some of us had never raced in Europe before and the jet lag that  was still affecting us.

   The shopping here has to be planned out meticulously… the shops will be closed at weird times and some items are in some bizzare places. Oddly enoughy, the milk and eggs are unrefrigerated.

  The CCA runs a good program here and I am glad to have had so much help from sponsors like Russ-Hay’s, Accent Inn’s, Cycling BC, Adera, and Haywood Securities. Without them, I am sure my cycling situation would be different!

More updates to come after Trofeo-Karlsberg Nations Cup where we will be hunting for some results!

http://trofeo.gersheim.de/index.php 

Henri De Boever