Saturday January 12
Woke up a bit earlier at 8:30 and ate breakfast with the boys, David (Canadian
Junior) and Shaun (Canadian U-23) then caught up on emails to Sam, packed, and worked on my 'B' bikes shifting. This was my first time working on Sram shifting as Tim has taken care of my bikes this whole season. Me and the boys then loaded Joscelin's car up, with 6 bikes on top and the trunk full of wheels and bags.
Woke up a bit earlier at 8:30 and ate breakfast with the boys, David (Canadian
Junior) and Shaun (Canadian U-23) then caught up on emails to Sam, packed, and worked on my 'B' bikes shifting. This was my first time working on Sram shifting as Tim has taken care of my bikes this whole season. Me and the boys then loaded Joscelin's car up, with 6 bikes on top and the trunk full of wheels and bags.
Osmond (elite rider from Canada staying at the Blauwberg house) met us at 12
noon and we headed out. I rode with Osmond (who proved to be jolly good company)
and the boys rode with Jos. We steadily drove into nicer weather and had quite a
nice, clear, sunny patch for a bit. We got to the 'Formula One' hotel in Lievin
at around 2pm, checked in and unloaded the car, then dressed and rode to the
race course.
People had told
me that the course was a hilly course and it
pretty much was just as described. Long flat paved start, left turn onto dirt,
left turn onto/down a short grassy hill, then sweeping muddy right turn to three
stair stepped plateaus. Then it drops back down and winds gradually back uphill
onto the top of the major hillside that it goes straight down, u-turns uphill,
straight back down, up again and finally down and around through the pits for
the first time. After going through the pit the course goes uphill more
gradually and crosses the top to drop down again, and then again and through a
boggy turn then up a steep pitch, down again and flat grassy around about to the
pit for the second time then soft grass to a slippery clay 5ft climb to the
paved finish stretch. I couldn't ride the steep u-turn uphills, but when riding
a few laps with Shaun (U-23) I found that I could run them at just about the
same speed as him riding them. I rode the first few laps with Wendy Simms, how
nice it was to find a friend over here! She was looking strong, she had no
problem riding the steep uphills that I was running! I think I did about 5
laps. The course is pretty hard, the hills and the soft boggy grass will prove
to favor the powerful riders.
me that the course was a hilly course and it
pretty much was just as described. Long flat paved start, left turn onto dirt,
left turn onto/down a short grassy hill, then sweeping muddy right turn to three
stair stepped plateaus. Then it drops back down and winds gradually back uphill
onto the top of the major hillside that it goes straight down, u-turns uphill,
straight back down, up again and finally down and around through the pits for
the first time. After going through the pit the course goes uphill more
gradually and crosses the top to drop down again, and then again and through a
boggy turn then up a steep pitch, down again and flat grassy around about to the
pit for the second time then soft grass to a slippery clay 5ft climb to the
paved finish stretch. I couldn't ride the steep u-turn uphills, but when riding
a few laps with Shaun (U-23) I found that I could run them at just about the
same speed as him riding them. I rode the first few laps with Wendy Simms, how
nice it was to find a friend over here! She was looking strong, she had no
problem riding the steep uphills that I was running! I think I did about 5
laps. The course is pretty hard, the hills and the soft boggy grass will prove
to favor the powerful riders.
After riding the course we (Shaun, David, and Osmond) rode around looking for
Joscelin and a pressure washer in the rapidly approaching dusk. I got to
practice my French a bit in our search, but it proved fruitless. It turned out
we could pick up our numbers, so we did, and ended up washing our bikes out of
buckets in the parking lot. We then rode back to the hotel, showered, dressed
and drove back to the managers meeting. We got parking passes, pit passes,mechanic passes, and Jos and I sat in the manager meeting which was all in
French. I didn't understand most of it (they talk too fast) and they spent a lot
of time talking about doping control. They gave out pit slots, told us start
times and race duration and handed out start call up sheets. I will be called
up about 6 from last. Meeting finished, we all got back in the car and went in
search of food. There wasn't much around, a lot of flower shops and bars, but
no quaint little French restaurant. We found a 'Buffalo Grill' which everyone
seemed excited about (except me.) I was pretty hungry and ended up having a
Buffalo burger and fries, which was fine, but a far cry from most pre race meals
I have. The place was trying to be a Texas/American joint with cowboy/country
music playing (American.) We ate much faster than all the French people there
and returned to the Formula One, which is really quite a dreary place, and
settled in for the night.
Race report to come soon, thanks for reading. Rachel
.
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