First Kermesse 7/12

The day started out with me not really knowing what race I was going to do. Yes, multiple races on a Tuesday. In the middle of the week. Luc, one of the team managers, who's house I'm staying at, informed me that a thunderstorm was rolling into the region later in the day so the 6PM race I was tentatively planning on doing would be decided on around 12PM. It was determined a couple of hours later that it wouldn't be such a great idea to do that race in the pouring rain so we decided to do a race that started at 3PM instead. Ahhh, no 5AM wake up calls. At 12PM, Ingrid's(Luc's wife), dad arrived at the house to pick me up and drive me to the race. Keep in mind this is my fifth day in Belgium and my french is, well, c'est mauvaix, but getting better. The dad doesn't speak english, and I speak relatively no french, so it was going to be very a animated car ride, using lots of hand signals and movements, as well as interpretive noises to convey nouns such as rain, wind, hills etc.

He is a very nice guy and helped load the car; we set off at around 12:30. I had no idea where the race was, where I was going, or how long it would take to get there. After driving a little over an hour, we arrived in Roselare, in the Flanders(flemish) region of Belgium. Just to give you an idea of how small this country is, Roselare is just south of Bruges, which is just south of the coast. We drove from the middle to the coast in a little over an hour. WOO!

The first thing I noticed when we arrived were the bars. And lots of old people. The registration area was not a plastic folding table under a tent in the middle of a parking lot. It was inside a bar/pub. NICE! I walked into the bar and was instantly consumed in the aroma of smoke, beer, pretzels and the loud but amicable conversations occurring between the locals who turned out to watch the race. "Turning out" to watch a race in Flanders does not mean standing on the side or in the feed zone. This means placing bets on each rider, smoking cigarettes, drinking beer and having a good ol' time commenting on(or criticizing, of mocking, or praising)  each rider as he would ride by. I made my way past all of the patrons, mostly old guys with big smiles on their faces, and approached the registration table. I handed the official my license; he took it, scanned it into the computer(yes, it was that fast), and I was given my abnormally(for us in the U.S.) large jersey number and frame number for 8Euros. At the end of the race, according to the protocol, you give back your numbers and in return, you receive 5 Euros. In all, registration was 3 Euros. And that's for every race, regardless of the prize money.

Are they using a helicopter to record the finish?

I got kitted up, numbers on and rode around a little bit. I made my way back toward the main bar and noticed all of the people on the side of the road, sitting under the awnings, with big white boards. These, as I found out, were the betting tables. It was almost like a casino, but outside and at a bike race. Everywhere I looked, locals were talking with the bookies, placing bets, observing riders pass by. One man came up to me and uttered something in Flemish. I shrugged my shoulders with a confused look on my face. He then said, "What is your number?". I told him, " 48". He said, "ahh ok", and scribbled something on his board and strutted off to his friends.

I had no idea of what to expect going into the race. From everyone I've talked to, Kermesses are hard. My goal was to stay at the front and finish. I didn't know any of the riders or any of the teams in the race so it was crap shoot.  The race started out and instantly, an attack. A lot of yelling ensued, in dialects I could not comprehend, and the race was off! The race was 120K with 13 laps. It was fast, but I was feeling comfortable and stayed toward the front. One thing I noticed right away was that a lot of riders would simply stop pedaling, sit up, and open a gap. For no reason! And then suddenly, a group of 6-8 guys are off the front. Sometimes riders will chase and counter attack; other times, the group will wait, a lot of yelling occurs, and then it gets fast and the group splinters down to half the size and eventually catches up to the breakaway. But sometimes not.

Did I already mention that people yell a lot during the race? Or it seemed like it. Whenever someone was on the front and not pulling, or gaps would open up, a barrage of flemish, french, dutch(same as Flemish I think), and I caught a few lads chatting it up from GBR, would ensue. I got yelled at a couple of times, or at least I think it was yelling. Not understanding a word they would say, I simply continued to ride. It actually didn't bother me at all; it was merely a bunch of noise.

Today, a group got off simply because riders refused to put in 2-3 hard pedal strokes to close a gap. People sit up, no one wants to close the gap, and bamb! Off the front.

I had one "teammate" in this race. I say "Teammate" because

1) Kermesses are considered individual races. Although many riders from one team may be in the same race, they don't necessarily work together

2) I hadn't met this rider before(I'm still getting to know everyone) and he spoke french, and I spoke english. We used hand signals when we first saw each other

His chain snapped in half about 30 minutes into the race so I was by myself for the rest of the time.

I was almost taken out of the race twice. First time- it had begun to rain and the rider  in front of me fell, forcing me to go off the road and get dropped from one of the lead groups. I eventually got back into it after the group behind me caught the lead group

Second-In the last couple of laps, I was pulling on the front when I came into a turn too fast and went plowing into the field. I managed to keep the bike upright but lost contact.

Anyways, it was sort of a race of attrition, and being smart. There wasn't one big peloton. Instead, there was a group of 10, then a group of 5, and then a group of maybe 5-6. I also noticed that when riders are tired, they simply sit up and stop pedaling. What!? Oh yeah, and a gap opens up in crosswind/rain/thunderstorm elements going 45km/hr.

So, I had no idea where I was in the race other than I knew there was a lead group of 10 up the road, and then a few more in front of me, and people behind me. After I got back on my bike after going into dirt, I looked back and only saw the official's vehicle, wheel car, etc. I saw one rider in front of me who stayed about 50 meters ahead of me for about 10km and wouldn't wait! I rolled through the start/finish line when I was waived at by the official. I guess that means "pull over?". I watched the last 2 laps and saw only about 10-12 guys so I didn't feel that bad.

I ended up placing 24th out of 60-70 riders so I'm pretty happy about my first kermesse in Flanders. According to the people in Wallonne, the racing in Flanders is some of the toughest in Belgium. Not only did I place, but I finished in the top 30, which meant $!

My driver Freddy

All in all, I'm pretty stoked on this performance, given that flat fast races are not really my specialty(yet :)) The team seems pretty pleased as well so it's all gravy. I have yet to find any sustained climbs but I am hoping to actually make it to my pre-determined destinations on my rides in the next couple of days. Yesterday, I tried to ride to Waterloo, which is about 10km away from my house, to check out a monument dedicated to Napoleon.  I rode for 1.5 Hours and still did not find it. So many roads, traffic circles and villages!