The First Race

Bury, Belgium

Today we had our first race. It was a rolling course in the south of Belgium. We packed up the cars and hit the road. The registration for the race was in the back of a bar that was filled with smoke and all the people signing us in were drinking wine and smoking, it was very different then any race i have ever done before.
The pre race was very different also, no one uses a trainer every one rides back and fourth though the start finish area. the race promoter was very excited to have us there in our USA team kits. The other racers were also excited but nervous as well.
The race started out very fast and aggressive thanks to us. There were about 60 riders that started the race including 3 girls. In the first lap of the race almost every one of us was in a break at one point or another. The groups would get a good lead but then the other kids would stop working.
On the second lap there was a 5 euro prime for the winner of the lap. On the over pass 1k before the start/finish a kid jumped the field, I had heard a fan say that it was a prime lap so I jumped across to the the lone rider. On my wheel was Cody a very strong American rider. once we bridged to the rider he just sat up and dropped back. I kept the pace high and opened up a good gap on the field, I took the prime and then told Cody to keep going. I dropped back to the field leaving Cody to work alone, but the tactic worked good. Once the field caught me they eased up not knowing that Cody was off the front. Cody was off the front solo for the next 3 laps. various groups tried to close but were unsuccessful. With about six laps to go a three man group including Jacob Rathe Got away from the field and bridged to a suffering Cody. The rest for the team took the next few laps easy not chasing down the lead group of four with two Americans.
With two laps to go the field started to pick the pace back up. The others and I did a lot of work pulling back attackies or attacking. The field was now down to 40 riders going into the final lap. A group of six got away including Adam. The lead group of four was still off the front but as expected Cody was tired from going solo so early on. The group played cat and mouse for a while, Cody got popped off the back with about 1 k to go. Jacob Has a good sprint but got nicked at the line and took second. Cody came in fourth, and Adam's group stayed away and he finished seventh. On the final hill 2k from the finish I jumped the field trying to bridge to Adams group. I stayed in front of the field and finish eleventh. the rest of the team finished in the top 30. All in all it was a great for all the Americans and a great ride by Jake to take second.
We have another race Sunday.
Talk to you soon
Ian