Day 17 - Meerhout Kermesse

Written by Stephen Hall with Brett Schnitzerling & Glenn Harris

We decided to get back into our morning routine in an effort to limit the amount of rushing around we seemed to be doing lately. Our race today started at 3PM in Meerhout so we woke up, had breakfast and were on our bikes by 8am. It was a short roll down to Turnhout and back mainly just to spin the legs and for me to check that my new chain had taken to my slightly older cluster. Everything was running smoothly and we were back home an hour later. We cleaned our bikes and messed around the apartment a bit before we all went to lay down and rest before the race. Somehow we'd managed to run out of tuna, bread and pasta by the end of lunch. Meerhout is only 15km away so we decided to ride there and get a few extra kilometres in. We left just after 1.30 to make sure there wouldn't be any repeats of Booischot (pinning our numbers on the start line) or Retie (missing the race by 2 hours). On the way we stopped at a hardware store and picked up some cable tires and pins for the race numbers (the officials had grown tired of lending us them).

We arrived in Meerhout with plenty of time as it was easy to find with most of the roads being blocked off with children's rides and barricades. The officials spent a good 10 minutes trying to spell Brett's last name but they eventually sorted it out and we paid our 3 euro nominations before rolling across the road to a cafe to put our numbers on. Today's kermesse consisted of 19 laps of 6.3km circuit in perfect 22 degree conditions. The scenery was beautiful if you were somehow able to look beyond your head stem. There were more corners than I care to remember but nothing too tricky mainly just a windy flowing circuit. The pace was on immediately with the first left hand corner containing a block curb to 500m clinker section (pave' to those of you playing at home). Nice weather attracted such a large field that when the race was strung out (like it was the entire race) you couldn't see the front or the back of the peleton. Brett was still feeling the effects of his crash last Sunday in Montenaken but made it through 75km in his first race back before retiring. I hung on for dear life while Glenn having his best day yet spent the next 30km trying to escape with several attacks. Unfortunately his hamstrings had other ideas when the crocodiles began snapping (cramping) with 5 laps to go.

The commentator was nice enough to call the laps out in English 'for the Australian competitors' which was pleasant but we didn't really notice as we were sidetracked by hammering 56kmph down the gutter. To say the race was the hardest thing I've ever been involved in wouldn't quite do it justice. I swear I quit cycling 3 times during the race. I'll never know how I managed to finish but I grovelled my way through and just missed out of a top 20 placing with a 21st. More than half the field pulled out of the bike race with a group of 15 escaping off the front with 5 laps remaining. The typical Belgium sprint started earlier than usual with a few riders breaking away from the main field with only 2 laps remaining. My group (the remains of the peleton) finished 2.30'' after the front bunch giving a race time of 2.33mins for 120km with an average of 47kmph.

After the race we hung around to return our numbers and collect my 20 euro prize money. The ride home down the canal would have been slow and enjoyable if not for Glenn's friend Tim taking us the long way. We eventually got home clicking the speedo over at 185km for the day. It wasn't long before we were showered and in the car searching for an entire restaurant to eat. I wasn't very popular when the Pasta house I found on google closed 10mins before we arrived. Luckily we were only a short drive from La Cinema (the restaurant from last Saturday) so we barged through the doors and ordered the first 10 things on the menu.. Each. The staff were thoroughly amused while also impressed that we conquered our mountains of food. After sitting down earlier in the week we've planned to race the next 3 days in a row with a kermesse tomorrow in Aalst, a criterium on Monday and our final kermesse on Tuesday in Nieuwerkerken. We will ease up on the accelerator on Wednesday to visit Diest and say our farewells to Stijn, Brenda and the Chocolate Coffee from La Bas Cafe while Thursday we hope to have peaked in fitness when we tackle the entire Tour of Flanders course with Michael Simms.