My first win in Europe

After almost not starting today due to being a bit sick lately I was happy I did. It was another 100K Kirmas course with 6K laps 120 riders and some more wind and rain. We started out dry but on the second lap it started to spit a little. There were 6 guys barely off the front. When it starts to rain a break usually goes so I attacked to get up to the group. When I got up to them they were disorganized and seemed to be waiting for the peleton. I attacked again and one rider came with. I figured we’d go for a bit and then get caught by a small group or the peleton. He was a strong rider and with the rain we were able to take corners a lot faster than the bunch. We had the hammer down and stayed away for 90K.

With one lap to go we had almost 3 minutes. He jumped me with about 5K to go but it didn’t seem like much. He then tried jumping me again and still nothing. Right after that we hit a small hill and he shifted down, I shifted up and jumped him. I got a good gap but wasn’t feeling like I could hold him off for the last 3K. He got back on and sat on me for the last 3K. Out of the last corner we had about 400 meters to the finish. I jumped hard from the front out of the corner and he couldn’t respond.

It was a great way to win. Going from 90K with one other guy and then taking him at the finish. It was a good town for me to win in as it had an American flag flying. It was a village our troops stayed in during WWII. A Belgium guy invited me over to his house and took me on a tour of all this really cool war stuff. He had old U.S. tanks, trucks, jeeps, and guns. I got to drive one of the jeeps from 1944. My digital camera didn’t work but I used a disposable camera I bought to take some pictures.

We’re supposed to race again today but it’s storming pretty good right now. We’ll wait and see. One more week and I’ll be back in the USA. It’s been a while.