Kybo First Blood Part 2

Round 2… I came, I raced, and I conquered in one-way or another!

I am trying to write up this race report in record speed because of many reasons… 1- super tired 2- I race tomorrow (3 races in 4 days) and our internet has hit the s*&t fan!

Today’s race was another crazy attended race by all the top cyclocross racers in the World. The field had a lot of depth in it. Current World Champion, UCI World Ranking leader, U23 World Champion, 2^nd Place U 23 World Champion, 2 Prior World Champions… and the list goes on! Oh I forgot to mention 2006 Under 23 National Champion…hahahaha. Yeah this guy! Anyways back to the race. This course was crazy hard. My roommate warned me to maybe consider skipping this race only because of the damage it could do to your bike and body. Sign me up! I couldn’t get on the course because of the large amount of drunken Belgium spectators polluting the course with their stumbling bodies! I then quickly decided to dash out on to some side roads and get the legs warmed up. Going in to this course blind could play a major role on the outcome of the result, but seriously I am not looking for a result I am looking at it as a building block. Once again I get a sweat call up. It never gets old when you here your name called and you get to ride past all the crazy screaming fans. They really are not cheering for yours truly, they just seem to yell for the duration of the race. Usually at the start of a race you will here a gun, a whistle or the classic GO, not here they go with a red light changing to a green. (Thank you for the heads up on that one Shaun). As the group accelerated up the straight pavement section we made a quick right to climb a long gradual hill. I glanced right and then left then looked forward, I then became aware that I was sitting in sweet position. Now at this point all I knew was that we made a sweeping right to a 180 degree corner that led in to a double barrier. After that… I had no clue…it was moi against the course. The next 7mins was crazy… fighting for position, making corners on 4-6 inch deep thick mud and trying to just unleash any furry on to my pedals! I held in strong, making gains then loosing then fighting back… it was a tug a war! I was sitting in with a group of 4 guys, knowing that it wasn’t going to last I hit the gas and blew the group to pieces. As I looked back one guy made the effort as well. The 2 of us played cat and mouse until his efforts got the best of him and he fell off my wheel. Just as I thought all the effort was paying off I heard the cheers from the crowd…, which means the leader is approaching. Panic mode… pedal pedal pedal… it wasn’t good enough the UCI Overall leader came roaring up behind me to lap me with 2 laps to go. I got yanked and the days done!

I made up huge ground on my racing. Last year I was getting lapped with about 3-4 laps left in the race. By the end up this trip my goal will be to hang in for the whole race. It’s a massive goal but shoot for the stars.

 

Notes:

-       As I was getting ready some Belgium dad was just laying in to his son who was no older then 17. Molly and I couldn’t stop ourselves from listening in. Molly thought it would be appropriate to lay in to me as a joke… it went along the lines…. If you don’t beat the world champion your riding home… If I have to get your mother out here she will loose it… etc etc etc…

-       When we pulled in from the race I got out to hear the famous. Hisssssss… yeaop we got a flat tire on the car…it’s fixed now!

-       Last night for New Years I celebrated in great fashion by reading a book because our Internet crashed… then I watched fireworks. The locals did a great job! I also enjoyed a great bottle of sparkling mineral water.

-       I had to go to the grocery store New Years Eve… The check out line was 30mins… the worst 30mins I have had in Europe.

 

Cheers

Gotta be KD