Second Home

Here I am, back in Belgium, going on my third month of living in Tielt-Winge. It is a really nice mindset every time I come here; the focus is always on racing. I am really happy that we don’t spend too much time training here because the roads around Tielt are not the best, they are flat and harsh. After my mediocre BC SuperWeek, I put in some really good quality training with the eight days I had back at home before coming here. I got on that plane feeling tired but ready. The first three days here were relaxed, did a few long rides to get the legs feeling a bit better and to conquer the jet lag before our first races. The Junior National team were also in Belgium at this time so we had a full house; the juniors had just come off the Tour de L’Abitibi back in Canada and upon arriving in Belgium they had gotten sick, and quickly it spread around the house. I saw the illness coming and put up all the defenses I could, bought a big jug of mouth-wash and started taking vitamin and zinc tablets, I am happy to say that it worked.

Our first race was five days after arriving, it was to be a double race weekend for everyone before we did the first stage race of the trip. Adam, Alec, and Aiden were all feeling too ill to race on the Saturday, so Will, Eric and I attended. The race was a hard one and it had two little hills that required a lot of power to get over. The USA National team was there, with seven strong riders, they went on to control the race most of the day and we had missed the winning move. Will managed to get himself into the second group on the road, early on in the race with a 10 man group quite a way up the road. I was feeling good and put in a big effort over one of the climbs on the last lap to bridge up to Will’s group. I got there with 5 km to go and going into the finish Will was on my wheel, so I sprinted from 450 meters to go to give him a lead out; however he cramped and couldn’t come around me. I kept on sprinting and got second in the group. Not a bad day out for our first race on the project.

The following day Will felt a little more under the weather and decided to sit this one out with the others and prepare for Tour de Namur, Eric and I soldiered on. This race was a short circuit with a small hill up to an overpass. I was feeling pretty bad at the start but my legs quickly came around and I made my way to the front with about 5 laps into the 25 lap race. The breakaway had not gone yet and I was covering some moves. I was using a lot energy and I was really hoping to be in the lead group. The groups kept getting pulled back and I was getting a little frustrated at the time. One lap later I saw a group of six guys break clear, I could sense that this was the one. I attacked and didn’t have anyone on my wheel, this was my chance. I took an entire lap to reach them but I got there. I had been with the lead group for about 600 meters and we had a gap of 30 seconds over the pack; this was when my derailleur cable snapped. My bike shifted into its biggest gear and I was pedaling at maybe 35 RPM. All that work for a mechanical failure; I was beyond angry, so much so that I decided to keep riding. There were about 15 laps remaining at this point and I managed to finish one more when I pulled out. That was a particularly frustrating day. At one point in the race I felt something pricking at my hand, when I looked it was a piece of cable sticking out of my shifter, I did a little on the bike maintenance to remove that problem but I had a bad feeling about what was coming. Eric also pulled out of that race and we were in the car heading home before the race had even finished.

At this point we had been in Belgium for a little over a week, the signs of jet lag were wearing off and the sickness that the juniors had brought with them was getting better across the board. With the boys looking healthy, our focus shifted to the Tour de Namur in the hilly Ardennes region of Belgium. We moved into our provided housing for the race, which was a rundown hostel that was not ideal. Namur featured five stages, three hilly road stages, an individual time trial, and that was followed by one more road stage that finished atop the citadel in the city of Namur. We had some awesome support on this trip, two soigneurs, a mechanic and, of course, Luc.

The team plan for stage one was to set up Alec for a reduced bunch sprint and to get someone in the early break away. Any team plan is subject to change as the day goes on, which is why open communication during the race is very important. As the day went on, more and more people were getting dropped as the hills took their toll on them. I was feeling pretty good going into the final 40 km, and Will had been doing an awesome job to cover moves however no group was able to get away. Going into the final 20 km Alec and I were up near the front as it seemed that more than a few riders were keen to make a selection on the final dew climbs. I was on Alec’s wheel when I saw that a group was going and he didn’t move to cover it, I jumped around him on the top of the climb and bridged up to the group. I was now with the group with 15 km to go, and we were working well, we quickly built up an advantage of 45 seconds and seemed to be going for the stage win. I was really hurting but still taking my fair share of pulls in the 10 man group. There seemed to be something wrong though, I looked at the piece of paper on my stem and it said the race was 156 km, I looked up at my Garmin and saw it tick over 160 km, I had no idea what was happening. I didn’t find out till afterwards that the race had taken a wrong turn and had to be re-routed to get back to where the finish was, the stage ended up being 9 km longer than planned. I had no idea what was going on, and we were still going as hard as we could, and the gap was holding steady at 45 seconds. There were a few rollers on the way to finish and I was in uncharted territory now, so I just did my best to hang on to these faster guys. Finally we saw the two kilometers to go sign. I was really in the red now. I was starting to get dropped from the group, it was one of those moments when there is absolutely nothing you can do. I was pedaling as hard as I could, watching as the now 9 man group went up the road. I managed to solo in for 11 on the stage after getting passed by a rider who had bridged to me from the peleton, he passed me and gapped me by one second.

I was happy with how the stage 1 went, and I was holding 11th on GC (general classification) and as I found out later that night, 2nd in best young rider competition. To add to the frustration I found that I was 1 second out of wearing the jersey for the competition, as it turned out, that rider that beat me by one second was the one who was leading it. The next few days were very similar to the first with respect to the climbs. I was able to hold the 11th on GC over the following days, by simply staying with the pack and being vigilant as to who was attacking. Going into the fourth stage time trial, I was sitting 9th on GC which means that I was starting 9th from last. The team was suffering by this point in the race, we had lost Eric on stage one due to the time cut, and lost Adam on the second stage. Stage 3 we lost Alec, and nearly lost the whole team as there was a pile up near the front of the peleton. The crash was on a one lane wide decent going about 70 kp/h. Alec was one of the last to go down, he was physically alright, but he was really shaken up. I was about 4 bikes behind Alec, with Aiden and Will on my wheel. The crash happened and we were all braking as hard as we could and locked up the rear wheels. I managed to slow down enough to go sideways in between some parked cars that were beside us, the three of us managed to dodge the crash but we were all running on adrenaline for the next five minutes as we chased back to the peleton. Once we got there the race director had neutralized the race, the whole race came to a stop as we waited for the medical staff to deal with the crash victims. It was not till one hour later that the race had resumed and we found out that there were a lot of people who were heading to hospital.

Back to stage 4’s ITT. The course was rolling and I had borrowed Adam’s TT bike, which fit me, but I would not say I was comfortable, I didn’t bring mine because I was not planning on being the GC leader for this race, or any race for that matter. I gave the race my all, but my legs seemed to have left me that day, I came in with a time of 21 minutes, 2 minutes slower than the stage winner. I was really upset with that ride, but looking back on it, there was nothing I could have done.

The final stage finished with a 2.5 km climb up the Citadel in Namur, after my terrible ride in the ITT, I was now sitting in 50th overall. The final stage started in the rain, and Will managed to get into the breakaway and was out there for most of the day, about 80 km of the 130 km. I was able to hang in the pack all day, and going into the final climb I was detached on the cobblestones. I came in for 40th on the stage and finished 43rd on GC, I had mixed feelings about the race overall, but I was happy with how I felt on the climbs and upset with my time trial result. There’s always something to work on.

After Namur we headed back to Tielt for a week of rest before tackling three Kermesse races the following weekend. The big target for the weekend was a win in our home town race. The course passed outside our front door. Everyone was pretty motivated for the Tielt race, but as it got closer, even more guys were falling ill. We started the race with just four riders, Will, Aiden, Adam and myself. The race featured a good sized climb which I was really happy with, and the conditions that day were also very good for me, cold and rainy. We started race pretty underpowered, but things only got worse as the day went on, Will punctured a tire just a few laps in, and Aiden had pulled out as well. NextGen was having a bad day, but the American National team were having an even worse time; they had shown up with seven starters, all of which were very strong riders, only one of them finished the race. Of the 85 starters, there were only 32 finishers. Adam and I were doing very well to try and swing the race in our favor, covering every single break away. The peleton did not want to let anyone get away though and the pack was still together with 20 km to go. It was on the second last lap that a 3 man group managed to get away, it was not so much an attack as they were simply riding a little bit faster and allowed to roll away from us. I attacked a lap later on the last climb I managed a small gap with two other riders, but on the downhill they were not willing to work with me, they would rather take their chances in a sprint. We were caught with 1500 meters to go. I was still feeling good, and still at the front of the pack, so I tried another move with 400 meters to go, and got caught by the sprint with 50 meters to go. Luc seemed happy with the race overall. We did our best to animate the race but came up short.

On to the next days race, which was closer to a criterium than a road race, with 25 laps of 4.7 kilometers. We had the same four starters as the previous days race, but Adam had some bad luck as he flatted 3 km into the first lap, in races like these a wheel change does not really happen, by the time you get to the where the start finish is you are too far behind to ever chase back on. We were down to a team of three already, and we had missed the early breakaway. I told Will that I would help to pull it back and then he could try to get into the next one, with that plan in mind I went to the front and started to take a few pulls with about 7 other guys. About 30 km later, roughly 60 km into the race, the break was caught. I was still feeling okay and I went and got Will into position at the front and just a few moments after we got there, he attacked and that was that, he was up the road with 4 other guys and that was the winning move. I continued to play the team roll and sat near the front and followed people who were trying to bridge up to Will. There were a few teams that had missed the move and really went hard to try and pull it back, in doing so the peleton split and I found myself with about 25 other riders. I stayed in this group until 3 km to go, which was when I knew that Will and his break were going to go on and decide the day, so I attacked my group and soloed the last 2.5 km to get 6th on the day. Will was 4th. We were both very upbeat after those races in which we had displayed some excellent teamwork. It was a good way to end the trip.

Time for a little break before heading to Vermont for one of my favorite races and where I really fell in love with racing in the first place, the Green Mountain Stage Race. Will and Adam will be joining me down there and we will be looking for some good results stay tuned for that.

Thanks for reading, and I would like to thank all of sponsors, Racer Sportif, Oakley, Sweet Ride Cycling, and Aquila bikes.

Edward Walsh

#NextGenU23