Bertem 1.12

Bertem 1.12
June 18, 2006

Well, this Sunday was the going to be one of the hottest days yet. With my srm reading 35 degrees Celsius, it was a scorcher. Matt Crane, John Devine, Pat McGlynn, Mike Wolf and I were all ready to go for the 147k race. With the heat we knew it was going to be hard, not to mention the 180 Belgians all looking to rip our legs off.

Devine and I had different ideas though, attacking after 2k and getting into a four person break with our good friend Chris (who most of the time acts as a stand in director when Noel is gone) and one other guy. We drove the break until we had about a minute then started to just cruise. Over the first climb, Devine crushed the mountain sprint and took the prime. We were soon accompanied by a group of 8-10 riders, including Matt Crane. We were now sitting pretty and everyone was rolling through.

Unfortunately, the shattered peloton of maybe 40 riders now were almost on us. I covered an attack with 7 other riders. With Devine and Crane in the group just behind, it was looking good for us. My group was still away coming into the finishing circuits, with almost two minutes on the next chasing group. That group included Devine so it was looking really good. Then there was an attack from a rider and it shattered our break. It formed two groups, one with 5 riders up the road, and another with myself and 4 other guys. The 5 riders stayed away and we were just pulling through to stay away. I finished the day 8th place, my legs aching from the long day in the sun. Devine came in winning the uphill sprint from his group for 12th. Crane was cramping due to the lack of water and had to pull out with 2 laps to go in the circuits. Wolf and McGlynn finished in the peloton, both finishing inside the top 40. We also took 3rd in the team classification, so it was pretty good day for us today. After the hot day, we will all be looking to re-hydrate for the race this upcoming Tuesday.