The heavens must have opened overnight because every corner of the street was slick with rain and by looking up at the black clouds hovering it didn't appear optimistic for the rest of the day. We planned our ride to perfection and managed to get an hour recovery ride in before the entire sky turned black and a thunderstorm rolled on straight through Mol. The rain came down hard with frequent lightening and thunder echoing throughout the house. We came to an executive decision that if the horrible weather continued we would abandon as it would be too risky especially with me still nursing a broken collarbone from a training accident 5 weeks ago.
After our ride we lounged around for awhile and had our fingers crossed for the storm to pass by 3.30. We sketched up a shopping list to pick up the things we'd forgotten on Monday / replenish the food we'd devoured over the first two days. Martyn told us of a great supermarket / warehouse that was very cheap and had just about everything. Although extremely tempted we fought the urge to buy a 3L bottle of Cecemel (liquid gold). The only obstacle we came across during our 45min shop was the great 'find the Tuna fiasco' however we overcame that and left the store happy campers.
By some miracle the weather had taken a turn for the better and had actually stopped raining. We packed our bags as soon as we walked in the door and sat around nervously before we finally left at 3.30pm en route to the town of Booischot. So far our team van has been brilliant with all our bags and bikes fitting neatly inside (kudos to Brad & Matt for the great job). The town of Booischot was only 40min or so away with Glenn and I knowing the town quite well having ridden their last year. For some reason the race commisaires were iffy about our international licenses despite having our card and all the documentation. They eventually got over it and we paid our 8 euro before being given numbers 49, 50 and the famous 51 given to Matt Irvine. For all you who aren't complete cycling fanatics for some reason the #51 has an incredible record and is seen as good luck by cyclists. We made our way back to the car and went through our race routine of kitting up, checking over our bikes, filling our biddons (water bottles) and oiling up (well that was just me today).
Some may say choosing a 1.12 kermesse as your comeback race from breaking your collarbone would be a bad idea but i've never backed down from a challenge and was looking forward to the race just as much as Matt and Brad (Glenn has decided to become the team's DS for this trip as opposed to racing). I was fairly confident I would be able to endure the race although I knew my lungs would take a bit of a hammering considering I haven't been able to push hard in the pedals for going on 5 weeks now following my accident. As if just to complete the full circle of weather conditions in a 12 hour period the sun actually came out and an absolutely miserable morning became a pleasant afternoon with a few of us actually putting suncream on! Glenn helped us fix our numbers to our bikes and gave us a quick pep talk before we rolled up and down the finishing straight waiting to be called to the line. Drie, Twee, Een and we were off..
Today's race consisted of 16 laps of a ~7.5km circuit. In characteristic kermesse fashion their were several tricky off-camper cobblestone corners which were interesting to say the least! We managed to negotiate them well and I am happy to report that not one of the 90+ riders who started today's race had a fall (although I'm sure their may be a crack or two in some of the rider's full carbon wheels...!). Kermesse races are often considered so difficult because of the Belgian's / Dutch ability to jump out of corners and string out an entire peleton at over 50kmph with today certainly not being an exception! Their were fewer corners then usual and the long straights made this kermesse definitely one of the harder courses. The race was aggressive from the beginning with some of the race favourites launching off the front from the first kilometre. With very few of the rider's not willing to be in a break for 120km, the bunch paused while several rider's tried they luck at bridging the gap before it took off at out of sight. For many rider's it was all about just trying to survive the first 40-50km whereas the real 'hitters' in the race were the ones causing hell up at the front.
By the halfway mark their were several break away's all working together to catch the leading 3 riders which had escaped in the very early stages of the race. Back in the peleton splits were occuring more and more often with people launching attacks and rider's unable to keep up with the excessive pace. Matt had a tough introduction to racing in Belgium when he was dropped from the main bunch and withdrawn by the commisaire shortly after. We still have a whole handful of races to come so we assured him to keep his head up and battle on! Brad had a great debut riding very aggressively and leap frogging from group to group across the road. After a solid 1-2 laps the peleton managed to reel in the closest break but Brad had already moved on to the next one! Most kermesses are run with a 'rolling' road closure so the minute the break away(s) gain a significant advantage on the remainder of the field the commisaire withdraws the peleton giving them 1 lap to go the next time they pass the finish. I was a little disappointed by this because I was riding myself into the race and craved the intensity to help me get back to the level I was at before my accident. Although still nurturing my collarbone I felt I had a good ride and look forward to tapping into the form I had back in Perth.
Back out on the road Brad was working well with a big group of rider's (approx 15-16) to chase down the groups spread across the road. The situation was (3 leaders, group of 4, group of 8 and then Brad's group). A mechanical or some other misfortune brought the leaders from 3 to 2 but they had such a significant advantage that the win was guaranteed for one of them. Neither of the groups could reel the other in so with a few laps remaining each echelon began to attack each until their were basically 25-30 riders spread out on the course! Brad tried gallantly to stick with the flurry of attacks but just came short, still crossing the line in 21st to cap off a great debut and gutsy ride. Morale was high on the drive home and we enjoyed some comfort food from the Nacht Winkl as we discussed the in's and outs of the boy's first kermesse race. Tomorrow we plan to smash each other over a nasty cobble section before we ride in to the town of Diest to visit our favourite coffee shop in all of Belgium; La Bas as well as visit Perth native Craig Johns who has been riding strongly with a local club team throughout the season.
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