We just got back from the Loenhout GVA, and all our guys in the elite race finished it up. The course was spectacularly short and fast due to the cold (-1C = 30F) and dry conditions today. ‘Twas a 5min. lap, and we did 12 of ‘em, averaging I think over 20mph. There was a big crash at the start, and I just barely got caught up in it. I tried to go wide, but another rider came wide, too, and just sandwiched me into the fence. Then I got rear-ended. No, it wasn’t as fun and erotic as it sounds. Anyway, I extracted myself quickly after watching the top 30+ guys ride away, including all of our guys except Mr. Powers, who was just behind the crash but not in it. I quickly hooked up with him, and boy did we chase. Jeremy said later that he knew he’d get there if he was with me–I think that’s a nice compliment. After one lap we were still not there, but at the end of #2 we were close. When I turned onto the 400m-long (at least) finish straight, I could see Aphrodisiwicks (who’s so easy to spot) and Roger Hammond (similarly easy to spot for opposite reasons) up the road by 10sec., so I made it my goal in life to get there. Enter my best moments in the race. I checked to see that Powers was on my wheel, ignored all else, and put it down.

Not every day does somebody like me get to chase down in one pull a guy who has finished on the podium at Paris-Roubaix. (After the race and reliving another similar effort, Jon Baker said that following me on the pavement was “like riding behind a derny”–another nice compliment from a peer, me thinks.) But those efforts were hard on me. The rest of the course requires speed and power, too, but quickness was also key. I was not able to capitalize on my strengths; instead, I was ultimately hurt by them.

As things turned out, there were 13 of us split between 2 groups never more than 8sec. apart for the last 8 or 9 laps. Hammond won that first group, finishing 34th at 2:52 down. Thankfully, Powers actually put my strength and then a whole lot of his to good use, stayed with that group, and finished 36th overall. My group of 7 turned onto the finish straight 4sec. after those 6, and Jon Baker got 2nd in that sprint to finish 40th, with Wicks at 41st (or 42nd), still 4sec. back. Most of the rest of us kinda sprinted for a while, but I just rolled in today, hitting the pavement last of the bunch and finishing there, in 45th, losing 30sec. in the process. I was strong, but I had to use it early to get in the race, often to chase, and throughout to close gaps. I just wasn’t good enough to get away or bridge to the next group.

I don’t favor tight crosses that are decided by seconds, as most of my friends know. I don’t really struggle with them; I just don’t have the skills to beat out guys in such fast and tight conditions. I’m there, but that’s the problem: I need to be in front by a couple of seconds on a day like today. Admittedly, I was tired and frustrated by the finish….

We’ve had very easy conditions thus far. Today was all gas all the time, but I still think it was, relatively speaking, an easy-ish race. I mean, we were barely a half-lap down but racing for 40th. It’s cool to be only a half lap down, but the joy is quite tempered by being in a 13 man group racing for 34th place! Yes, this weather is cramping my style. Too many guys are left standing in the races. I will pray for rain, and I promise I will not complain if said rain causes me trouble. I’ll also work to improve my accelerating and sprinting….

Today, I felt good, like I think I should be feeling. I think I’m better than last year, and that’s my goal. However, my finish places in 2 of 3 so far have been worse than last year. That said, I’ve been closer to the front in 2 of 3, coming up short in the one I stacked in. We’ll see. The World Cup on Saturday is my main goal, and I plan to actually put it all together that day. Again, we’ll see….Barry had been in that first group I keep speaking of until he broke off his seatpost on the BMX humps. He tried to carry his carbon shard and seat away by hand, then by stuffing it in his jersey, and finally by biting into the seat, which he later said tasted pretty good. I went by him but drifted to the back of my group (which slowed it down because–no surprise here–nobody really pulled that hard. So, we went by the pit, and I could see Barry take a pit just 5sec. behind us. He made it to us by the finish straight, and then he jumped up next to me and we both went to the front. Sweet! I love riding with Wicks in crosses, but I think today he had stuff to put him in front of Hammond’s group. No, he for sure had better stuff. He should have been in the top 30. Last year, he and I finished, I think, 28th and 30th here under much more favorable conditions, if you know what I mean….Ryan finished 16th after fading to 28th after the very large front group crashed late in the first lap. He was only 45sec. down, and I heard he nearly pulled off a move that could have had him in the top 10. He’s fast….Nijs is even faster. He was taken out in the same crash I guess, and nearly went out of the top 20. He methodically passed one guy at a time and eventually won.

All that brings me to the quote of the day: “At this point, Sven can miss the start, get a flat, go into the pit and have sex with his wife, and still win the fucking race.” Yup, Jeremy Powers is a funny kid. Did I all ready say that I love the guy?!..Well, that’s probably enough, what with the swearing, so I’ll go to my room now. Perhaps I’ll write a rest-day journal tomorrow if Newter lets me (and helps me) use his computer, again. –Erik

Oh my god that was hard. Thankfully, even the top guys consider it one of the toughest. The sand is long and deep and then wet and mucky, and the course is short. We did 10 laps, the leaders doing just around 6min. per lap. I’m happy to say that I survived on the lead lap, though just barely.

I was, I think, the last guy to make it through. Wicks was the next guy in front of me, at the start of the last lap probably far less than a minute up. However, our last lap was goofy because the course was choked with spectators, so I had to go pretty easy, just kind of riding it. I don’t know what that did to my final time, but I know that I was about 6min. down at the start of the last lap. Page was in front of Wicks before one to go, went into the pit and declared that he was done, but was convinced to finish the race. I must have passed him in the finish chute because he rolled in after me, so he must have been the last official rider on the lead lap….I botched the start, letting myself get out-muscled before the gun went off and then missing my pedal. I was nearly last of 66 riders around the first turn, then got stuck behind a crash and had to run up both of the course’s early hills. Pathetic.

I couldn’t even see Ryan and Barry and Page; Jon Baker was 20 spots ahead; and only Powers (I love Jeremy–great kid) was close. I’m good at damage control, so I waited to move up until the most efficient time, which was the first sand section and after. I got to the forties and kept plugging away at it, just slacked-jawed, cross-eyed and both drooling and snotting. After a few laps I was surprised that I had come to just 15sec. behind Wicks and Page, but that was as close as I could get to them. By the midpoint, I was with the guys I would ultimately slug it out with, and first Page and then Wicks moved just out of sight but still close. I could see that Ryan was maybe in the top 20 at that point….Ryan is the real deal, with all the power necessary to get to the top. If he sticks with it he’ll probably gain the experience and hone the skill he’ll need for the future.

Page is the real deal. Barry is, too, but he still has work to do. I was essentially with those two today, and I had lots stacked against me, so that I’m proud of. However, I don’t think I’m the real deal. On the other hand, perhaps if I really pursued it over here for a few more years, I could get to another lever that would be beyond respectable. Respectable is where I’m at now. It’s important to keep in mind that this is crunch time over me, and that’s the Belgians talking. This is when all the top guys are riding their absolute fastest, so to at least finish a World Cup held on one of the tougest courses, on the leader’s lap, is “not bad”, as we say in MN….The racing is intense.

It’s hard to tell if you’re feeling good, at least it is for me. Right now, I really don’t feel like myself. But then, I haven’t been riding this hard all year. I mean, I’m with a group of about 5 guys late in the race, and we’re just murdering each other as if a big win is on the line. We’re crashing into each other, taking ourselves out, all the while battling to not get lapped. I swear, you’re never just “riding it in”….I proved to have a little more, but whether or not it was power or resolve, I’m not sure. Some of the guys over here tend to let up if they are close to getting lapped, either saving it for another day or, perhaps, bowing to the best. Not me. When I could feel Nijs’ presence behind me, I turned it on. I had been dropped by my group, but I found another gear and rode the last half lap as fast as the race leaders, going by the four guys in front of me and then, as I’ve said, catching Page. I don’t stop racing until I’m forcibly removed from the course. Nuts to that….The crowd was, in our Belgian handlers own word, “UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE”. So freaking many people. I’m so glad many know me and cheer me on. Not everybody gets that. First, you have to be in there. They’ll ignore anybody who clearly can’t hang. Next, you have to give them a reason to support you, whether it’s being friendly and approachable at your team’s van, handing out trading cards, looking different, etc. I think I have all those covered. But finally, they like to have a favorite who is THEIR favorite. Kinda like how I’m a Green Bay fan no matter what. The first place guy isn’t everything. In my very fortunate case, some of the crowd has really latched on to me over that past three seasons, and the same crew comes out to watch all the races every year, and then its size grows every year, and that’s not even half of it–I’m too embarassed by it all to go on. Suffice it to say, the support from some of the Belgian fans makes me think that I’m not wasting my time and money after all. Well, until the next race, the GVA at Loenhout. Some say it’s the biggest race in Belgium. Crazy. –Erik

Hey there from Belgium. So, as some know, I was shitty sick just after Nats, and left for Belge in its throes. I have improved but don’t feel like I usually do when I get here. Mostly, the trouble comes from taking over a week off the bike. I tried to train here on Wed thru Fri, and I got some good efforts in, but I knew that the first race would be ugly. I hoped that it would open me up for the future races rather than ruin me. It’s dicey when ill.

So as expected, given’er, as they say, didn’t come easy! I didn’t feel good—not once—during the race, and I even puked (which is so rare for me. That said, I was clearly riding pretty fast and even have the TV coverage to prove it. I started third row or so, lost some ground early, but made it all back up in one muddy chicane. On the second lap, I was with a small group not far behind a larger group. I worked so very hard to bridge, leaving my group behind, going across solo over the next lap and a half. I soon realized the group I was chasing was racing for the top twenty, and it contained, from what I could tell, Trebon, Page, Commeyne (sp?), Vannoppen (sp?), etc.

I was feeling terrible, but I figure it was because I hadn’t raced for a while, and, besides, I suppose it wasn’t an easy effort to catch guys like those twenty minutes into the race. Then, I dangled for a lap, a few other guys got there, and the group really stretched out. I was pretty proud because I had never stayed so close to the front in such a big race for such a long time. But it was short lived. Red-lined, I drifted just a bit off the best line on a gravelly turn, slid to the outside of the course, clipping a thorny hedgerow. Initially, I saved it, but as I stepped on the gas to free myself from the mess, I got stuck and went right over the bars. Obviously, I lost the group.

My next lap was poor, and a few guys caught me. I stayed in a decent rhythm for the rest of the race, catching a few guys who lost the group I was in, but also yielding a few spots to my chasers. I think I was 37^th, less than 30 seconds behind five guys and pretty close to most of the guys who were in the group. Nobody was close behind, just a big gap. Last year I finished 27^th in the same race (I think), but I was only 30sec faster, riding a clean race. So, not too bad. I hope I’ll feel better on Monday. Ryan, by the way, flatted in a bad spot while in 15^th (he had left that group behind, I think), fading to 25^th. Baker hung in to finish on the lead lap. Powers had a bit of bike trouble and got lapped. Page dropped out. Barry didn’t start because he arrived today, his flight being delayed two days. The big news is that junior Bjorn Selander finished 8^th but with the leaders, using a borrowed bike that was way too big for him. That kid is good. Well, that’s my story for today. More later if McGrath lets me borrow his laptop again.