Racing Van Petegram and Tom Steels in a Professional Kermesse

Speed is the name of the game. Today I raced a professional kermesse in Heusden just outside of Gent. The race was full of big time professionals. The race was single file from the start and with the heat beaming down it was only a matter of time until the weak cracked. The streets were lined with fans such an atmosphere made it inspiring to race. I unfortunately was pulled out of the race early but still finished about 60th out of 150 starters. The remaining field of about 30 riders had all the some of the big hitters still remaining. Riders like Mario Willems and the others I face in kermesses were driving the pace and inflicting pain on to riders like Peter Van Petegram and Tom Steels. Tom Steels won the sprint finish.
The past week has been very rough. I have had a head cold and it has really made my racing suffer It seems like this year is full of a lot of small problems that are really making it difficult. My friend Dan headed home last Wednesday, it was good to have him here. We had some really fun times and his three-week visit seemed to go very quickly. Dan had a local college student roommate living in Staf Boone’s house while he was there. She did not know anything about the bike racing culture here in Belgium and got a crash course from the riders. My favorite observation that she made was about how strange it was in a house full of guys they though about bikes more than girls.