Well its been six weeks since I swapped kiwi roads for the Belgian low lands. This is my second experience as I have lived and raced here as an under 23 rider for two and half years up until 2004. Not a lot has changed in the highly competitive racing scene, it is still tough as nails and there is no forgiveness for anyone not meeting the required fitness level.
My first few races were big, with fields full of professional riders, some of whom I raced with five years ago and even a few friendly ex-team mates. Pleasantries aside and down to business, I was schooled pretty hard on what I’ve been missing out on. One of the old friends I was reacquainted with was the gutter. I spent a lot of my first race, GP Pino Cerami, getting to know it again as our race was blown into an orderly single file by the typical early season weather.
I have had a few issues in getting set up here, but our racing schedule is only once a week so I have had necessary time to work on re-building the racing machine I used to be. The weather is working on itself too, yesterday was 8’C and rain but is getting better and better each week!
Tomorrow I hope to hear if I have made the team for Tour of Belgium - (2.HC) our new teams biggest start of the year. I am getting faster with every race, and on Saturday won the bunch sprint of the GP Houthalen after working for 80km trying to bring the break back. We were only 10sec off catching eventual winner and ex-pro Stijn Ennekens.
We have a few good one day races in the next six weeks, so hopefully I can show my stuff there and work on getting noticed by one of the big teams. Its an inspiring part of the world to be racing in, with the Giro on telly and heaps of motivation to pull a result.
