The Muur de Gramont

Today I raced against Peter Van Peteghem of Lotto Domo, Andreas Klier of Team Telekom and Geert Omloop of Collstrop the Belgiam professional champion. It was a tough race that blazed through the center of Geraardsbergen. Up the paved lower section of the Muur de Gramont a famous hill in Flanders. It was beautiful race and I just wish I could get some condition, many of the riders that were attacking and making the race were ones that I consider myself equal to when I am in form. I have been training hard my body just doesn’t seem to want to respond in a positive way. My chiropractor noticed on Monday that my heart was beating a little odd. I listened to it and it was strange; maybe I am fatigued and need some time off the bike but I will deal with them once I am home in the States.
Sunday I raced my teams race Vlaamse Havenpiljs, a race through all of the major Flemish ports here in Belgium. Starting in seaport of Zeebruge and going past the seaport in Gent and finishing at the seaport in Antwerp. It was a beautiful point-to-point race and went with in one Kilometer of where I am living in Gent. It entered Antwerp under the Schelde through a tunnel that is only open to bike traffic for this race. It was an amazing feeling to race past all the cars waiting for the tunnel. The passengers of the cars wee making the best of it and cheering us on and seemed to be having a good time. I really enjoyed the race and felt strong riding over the cobbled section in the top ten of the pack chasing and closing in on the break away. Unfortunately my luck was not good and I seemed to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was stuck in the last pack no matter how hard I tried.
Thursday the 21st I raced the Wondelgem Kermes. This race is close to where I live and also races past the Boone farm where I spent my time in Belgium last year. It is a race of the foreigners. The Boone brothers have two very different teams Staf runs an English speaking team and his brother runs a team consisting of eastern Europeans. In this race the teams compete and the race is nicknamed the Boone World Championships. I fortunately followed the few Belgian in the race and we rode away from the wheel sucking foreigners and I was able to get an eighth place, my first top ten of the season.