Highs and lows.....Already

Well I finally managed to settle in to things here in Belgium. Sleeping pattern was on the fritz no more. Training was also starting to get back to normal with a few good sessions being put in.

Was feeling good and pretty excited for my first Kermesse which was last Saturday. The weather was perfect, it was about 22 degrees out and still. The race was a bout an hour away from where we live.

Cam, Myron and my bikes all ready to roll before the race.

 I rolled around the course when we got there - course was crazy - narrow roads, heaps of sharp corners, 200m uphill cobble section and 2 climbs, all in a 6km circuit. To add to the madness there were 267 starters. None of the boys had seen a Kermesse with this many starters before. Race was full tit from the gun. I spent the first 30mins working my way to the front. Was loving every minute of it. Dirty Belgies screaming at you in another language, people missing corners and just general madness. Was awesome.

However an hour into the race my knee started to hurt and as soon as i could feel it getting progressively worse i pulled the pin. Was pretty dark at the time because i was feeling good and would have loved to finish the race and see how i could have got on but in hindsight it was probably the smart thing to do.

After talking to my personal and team coaches we have decided that i will pull out of doing U23 Flanders and La Cote Picardie. Pretty hard decision to do this but definitely the right thing to do. It is a very long season and there are a lot of big and important races right throughout the season.

So for the next two weeks (During the nations cups) I will be undercover getting back into a routine of rehab type exercises as well as frequent visits to the gym while also training on the bike to keep the fitness up. Then I plan to be able to get back into a good hard training block to prepare for Tryptique Ardennais and the An Post Ras in Ireland, both of which are big tours.

Hopefully my next post will be all positive!

Cheers for reading.

Peace.

WB