Whenever you're finishing well racing is fun. Last night we road from our house to a race in Belgium. The ride only took us 30 minutes and it was a beautiful evening. The race started at 6:00 in a small town with lots of character and lots of people who love cycling.

Like many of these Belgium races you have to walk through a smokey bar with lots of old guys drinking and carying on. It's a great way to start a race. Many of the old Belgium men you could pick out of a crowd of old men from all over the world. Their faces are like stone but real worn looking.

Anyway the race started with clear skies, a cool temperature, and a bit of wind. It was an easy course to sit in on but that's not my style. I was in a break on lap 2 and with a prime every lap the three of us were sharing them. I was surprised to see a group catching us and the peleton right behind them. We got caught and attacks went and we were in breaks but nothing was sticking. With 6 laps to go I attacked about a K from the start finish line and nobody came so I figured hey at least I'll take the prime. Wrong!

About 300 meters before the start finish line people were yelling stop! It looked serious so I slowed and then the peleton did too. I guess a guy got dropped and was folling the sweeper car to get back on. The sweeper car didn't know and stopped at the start finish line. The biker didn't and went flying into the back and over the top of the car. He was okay but there was glass everywhere.

We stopped for about 3 minutes and started things back up wit 6 laps to go. I was a bit far back but knew somthing would go so went back to the front. And sure enough it split with 9 strong riders and we were gone. I made the break again! My teammate Nathan was with me and the group was working well and nobody attacking. With 2 laps to go Nathan and I went and kept it for about 2 K and then I jumped and tried going solo for the last lap (about 4K). That didn't happen so I settled back in. With about 2 K to go Nathan attacked and nobody went. Then 2 guys chased and me and another guy followed. They couldn't quite get to him so the guy with me jumped and I stayed on him.

When Nathan was caught I jumped thinking I could get away but the guy stuck right on me and wouldn't take a turn even though we had a gap. He saw me getting tired and jumped me. He was gone and the others were coming fast. A couple more guys jumped me when they came past but I was able to catch onto them and have a ride to the finish. It was a sprint for 2nd now and I ended up 3rd. Another decent finish.

This race was a bit smaller (100 riders) with fewer strong riders. Nathan ended up 5th and had a prime himself. We walked away with decent cash and road home, had a beer, and then headed out for Turkish Kababs at 11:00. We take an easy ride today and then race again Wednesday. We lose a lot of our riders today as they are heading home. It'll just be myself, Nathan, and Li Chou for a while.