Day 8 - Aarschot Criterium

Written by Stephen Hall with Glenn Harris, Matt Irvine & Brad Robson

The alarms were blaring at 8.30am in the Arbitrage team house and we opened the shades to a beautiful sunny Thursday. Today was the day of the Aarschot Criterium so we planned to ride an hour or so in the morning then eat/rest until we left the house at 12.45. Brad & I rode down to Tim's place in Dessel where Matt's bike had stayed overnight because we couldn't fit it in along with Glenn's mattress last night. Glenn & Matt took the team van down there and met us on the street before we took off down the canals. There have been a lot of road works throughout the surrounding towns of Mol so we tried to avoid them and play it safe with the canals, especially considering the amount of punctures we've had over the last few days. We rode up to Geel and stopped into Van Eykes to grab 12 tubes and a new front tyre for Matt because his was cactus (I promise we will have photos of the shop in our next blog!). Matt changed the tyre out of the front of the shop then we slowly made our way back to the house.

 I cooked up some oats while the guys showered (seperately mind you) and packed their bags for the race. A short time after we realised we'd mixed up packing the van in Booischot and had left behind my helmet. We searched for 10min or so before we realised the mistake that we'd placed it on the curb to pack the car then it had never made it back in when we drove off. It was a bit of a set back but didn't matter too much considering the helmet probably should have been turfed 6 months ago and I have a new one waiting back at home. Tim was driving down to the race so he lent me his as well as a pair of gloves to cover my blister bandages from yesterday's trip over the cobbles. The detour while we waited for him only took 10min out of our plan but it didn't matter as we had plenty of time and were well on schedule. For everyone who doesn't know what a hotdog criterium is, it's basically a long stretch of road which we race down then do a complete U-turn come up the other side, do a U-turn and race back past where we started. When we arrived at the course the U19's were racing and practically the whole town was already there drinking and lining the circuit beyond the barriers. The bar was located directly in front of the finish line so they could both drink themselves silly and watch us come past in the hurt box every couple of minutes! They really know how to put on a bike race here in Belgium.

We unpacked our bikes and rode down to the 'inschrijven' (nominations), paid our 8 euro and picked up our numbers, by the way you get 5 euro back when you return them at the end of the race! Paying only 3 euros to race is absolute madness when you consider how much we pay back home in Australia. Today's race is 50 laps of a 1.4km long with 10 euro 'premis' (cash bonus's) for the first man over the line ever second lap and 25 euro for the last two laps before the finish. We barely gave any thought to this thinking that we'd be busting our ass just to stay in contact for 70km let alone competing for primes as well! Our bikes were checked over by Tim and we had the all clear to make our way to the start line after a brief warm up. Somehow I managed to roll straight to the front and be on the start line for the beginning of the race. Normally in Australia the race starts 10 minutes before the flag drops when all the rider's jostle for position on the line. This is extremely common in the Bay Criteriums and also the Perth Crits where riders will line up early, enter the course from the side through the barriers or even ride the circuit backwards to ensure they are placed in the first few rows. 

The race started just as we imagined... Exploding out of the blocks. It was a mad rush to the first corner but with the Belgians being very crafty / intelligent bike riders they cornered perfectly all afternoon and there was barely a single crash despite the dangerous nature of hotdog circuits. Brad immediately got a puncture but he was given a lap out and resumed shortly after. A world class mountain biker named (will find this out and get back to you - Rudi Van Houts) was very aggressive early spending a lot of time on his own off the front collecting rent money. I made a wise decision to 'forget' to wear my heart rate monitor for the race as I'm sure no good could have come from it! Each time we accelerated out of the corners you had to chase hard to stay in contact and not drop the wheel or risk a serving from the guy behind you. With each lap we got better and better at cornering and finding the best gear to use so we could save as much energy as possible. Brad was having another good day and followed a few attacks before slipping off the front for a few laps and collecting a 10 euro prime. He gained quite an advantage but they suddenly chased hard and reeled him in quickly narrowly missing out on collecting another 10 euro to the kitty.

I thought my race was over when I also front wheel punctured at almost exactly the half way mark. Tim's brother Wim had came along to watch and quickly organised a replacement from a young rider sitting on the curb watching the race. Before I knew it I was back in the race and it actually became a blessing in disguise as I was able to catch my breath and rapidly improve my position, slotting in to a top 10 position. At this stage of the race several break attempts had been thwarted but a group of 5 or so were working well together 30m or so ahead of the peleton. The elastic band began to snap and many rider's were unable to keep up with the high speed of the race (exceeding 60kmph in the straights) and were forced to withdraw. Matt too was unable to stay in contact and had to abandon. The replacement front wheel I'd taken didn't have a sensor so by this stage I had no indication of how many km we had to go (the commisaires only began counting laps from 10 to go). I was absolutely mortified when Glenn informed me that there was 19 laps to go when my legs were already screaming.

Both Brad and I remained in the front bunch rapidly declining in numbers as the race became more and more aggressive with rider's getting a taste of the finish. The Omega Pharma Lotto team was one of the teams really laying it on the line to get away along with several other quality top competition teams. The crunch really went down with 5 laps remaining and I was caught behind a dead wheel which all but finished my race. I was absolutely on my knees by this time and easily rolled the remaining laps to finish the race and get a placing. You would be hard-pressed to find a race I dislike more than a standard hotdog criteriums especially those that are 70km long and raced with the best amateurs in the world but I was happy to finish the race and couldn't help but wonder how things would have panned out had I not been drilled by a car door a month ago! Anyway 'laat maar' (nevermind) as they say in Belgium, back to the race! ...

Brad was riding well and had good position in the final stages of the race. 2 riders had slipped off the front and were working well together, despite the peleton's best efforts they were unable to reel them in before the line. Brad unfortunately made a few tactical errors in the last lap which left him exhausted for the sprint, miraculously crossing the line again in 21st place. We discussed the in's and out's of the race several hours later and he learnt a great deal from the race and understood where he went wrong. Look out Belgium if Brad mixes a good race brain with his current form there is going to be trouble! After the race Matt & I made our way to the change rooms / shower block while the rest of the guys chatted with the locals. When we returned we packed up the car and were introduced to a few friend's of Wim. As we made our way back to the inschrijven we watched the theatrics of racing continue when they hosted an 'old boys' one lap time trial! We collected the results sheet and found that only 30 rider's finished the entire race with me sneaking in by a couple of places. Both Brad and I collected some prize money with Brad also receiving money for winning a prime. 

There was a bar close by so all of us sat down (Tim, Tinny, Wim, Glenn, Matt, Brad, myself and 2 of Wim's friends) and had a drink or two before wandering over to a restaurant and taking a seat outside for dinner. No one was too brave with the meal selection, generally everyone chose a steak, pizza or some form of pasta. We told a few old war stories and joked over dinner with Tim also helping me with my Dutch lessons. It started to rain for twenty minutes or so despite the superb weather all day so Tim helped move the umbrellas while the rest of the table went to battle with a rogue wasp. Eventually we captured it and I'm fairly sure it ended up in the dregs of Glenn's wine glass. After dinner we walked back over to the bar and chatted some more before we said our goodbyes and made our way back to the car.

On the way back to Mol we followed Tim and made a detour past a friend of theirs named Bart. I'd met Bart last year when he was racing and working at Van Eykes. Recently he has built a house with his girlfriend so we explored in amazement and were stunned by the 4 levels it contained! The lowest level (beneath the ground) was practically a bike shop with several rooms of top quality cycling, mountain and cyclo-cross bikes as well as the Vespa that Bart and Tim have recently been renovating. We made our way back to the ground level and were spoilt with ice tea, chips, crackers, strawberries and home made ice cream laid out in front of us by Bart's soon to be wife. By the time we left we felt as if we'd eaten everything in their pantry! They were very accommodating and we assured them we'd visit again soon if we couldn't twist Bart's arm to come out training with us.

Finally we arrived home just after 11pm, quickly unpacked the car and threw a load of wash on. Glenn and Brad continued on their conversation regarding the day's race while I stretched and listened in. We practiced some synchronized teeth brushing before everyone went their different ways and fell asleep almost immediately... except for me whose still awake updating the blog! We have a few days just training out on the road before we tackle a U23 race on Sunday in the town of Hove near Antwerp. Thanks to everyone who has been following the blog we've been enjoying over 100 readers a day so please keep it coming! Hope everyone is well back home and we'll do our best to make you proud

P.S... Day 5 is now online after a few delays!