Matt's cycling blog

I started my first race here in Belgium with a 5 day 6 stage stage race around the province of liege. The first stage went very poorly I got dropped 90s into the 160k road race and rode the last 70ks in time trail mode to barely make time cut. The second stage I was determined to hang on to the front group, after literally feeling my calf muscle rip out of my leg. I made it to the line with the front bunch. Stage 3 a 7k time trail, I put in a decent effort not sure of my place. Stage 4 3 7-10k climbs over the first 40ks made this a tough one, but I managed to tag onto the front bunch again and got like 60th place. Stage 5 another 160k stage a 60 rider crash, and the officials put the entire race into time out for 45 minutes to sort things out. After we got going again the riders didn't want to race anymore, saying we cruise to the circuits that only lasted 20 till we hit the climbs then everything was game on. I can only remember throwing my bike side to side hanging on for dear life up the climbs then crossing the line last wheel of the front group completely exhausted. The final stage there was a climb every 10ks including a 2.3k climb reaching grades of 22 degrees. Ryan Baumann and I got dropped before 5ks before that climb and rode tempo together catching about a few riders here and there eventually forming a 20 rider group we made it to the circuits and got lapped by the leaders but we finished the race in 91st and 92nd overall there were 150 starters and 93 finishers. At least we finished.



We did a 180k circuit race today, and were pretty much told we were gonna get dropped. It was just a matter of how long we could hang on. With good reason though 15 out of the teams were Pro continental. The circuit ranged from to lane roads to roads as wide as bike paths that can only fit 2 riders at a time. Even in the netruel zone it was an all out fight for the top 20 spots like a cross race start I did well and stayed in the top 40 for the first 2 16k laps after that fatuage started to wear in from the all out sprint cross wind sections. I got dropped on lap 5 a good 80ks of all out riding.


Tuesday we start a stage race in France. I should be on good form for that and looking to take a crack at some decent results.