Biking Bros

We are Dwayner(Svein) and The Young Man(Christian) and this is our word

Way to go bud. Dwayner wins silver at the Elite World TT Championships.

→ more photos culled together by the fatman.

So with the count down to worlds starting with t-minus 5 days, we have got quite the squad lined up for canadian leaf face painting and pom poms cheering Christian on. We have his mother spending 2 days in translation coming all the way from Sussex, New Brunswick, who is going to make a little vacation out of this expedition. We have Rob, an active cyclist and prominent fan who is traveling (and taking some time off work) from Belgium, and than we have yours truly, who is very much anticipating her first world championship. The planning of how us three are going to get to, and from the races are still a mystery, but from what I hear the journey can be just as great as the destination. It’s funny, cause around this time of year, towards the end of the season, Christian gets in this zone. All he wants to do is ride his bike. No talking, no shopping, no market place strolls, he just wants to eat his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ride his bike the best he can. I think most cyclists out there understand that. Having biked all year, legs feel blown, and you just wanna get a relax on. Towards the end of the year, I think vacations, cruises and all inclusives are really the only way to go. Hopefully I will see most of you at worlds, if not, wear your patriotic gear and cheer at your digital TV, gotta love entertainment….

Sheri cried a lot today when KC announced the end of the S-club. The story got picked up by CyclingNews, Pedal and Canadian Cyclist. I had to choke back some tears in St. Louis myself… I’m hoping all the guys land on their feet ok.

That’s about all that can be said for the GP D’Isbergues yesterday. Although a bit brisk it was otherwise a nice sunny day when we took off for the 201km race which was also the last round of the Coupe de France. The racing was hectic and fast from the go as we did 3×5 km opening loops before heading out for one big loop of 149 km and finally finishing with 3×8 km finishing circuits. With the hard racing, small roads and so many corners and turns that it felt like a crit, it was nothing but bumping shoulders all day to try and remain in a good position for the crucial sections of the course. Then when the most crucial section of all came up, a climb that opened into a wide open cross wind field, I was in good position just behind Tyler and Lukas when two guys went down right in front of me just over the top of the climb and i was forced to stop and just missed going down myself. Getting going again I knew my day may be done as  look up to see two echelons spread across the road ahead and speeding away. The group of about 30 guys I was definitely no longer seemed interested in making the junction back up to the front and they all pulled off to the team buses on the first of the finishing circuits. With worlds coming up next week I carried on with 4 others to ride out the last 25 km to get in the max distance and even though we finished we were still put down as not finishing. Now its final prep for worlds where I hopefully have a good day on order to be able to support Michael Barry the best I can so he can go on and give the performance we all know he can.

Finally back in Girona after 10 days in Belgium, which just seemed like a total different world. The weather was felt like the fall months we experience back in eastern Canada, cool brisk mornings and riding during the day required leg warmers, that’s not going to anything for the tan, haha, oh and did I mention it rains almost as much as BC? But I guess I can’t be totally ignorant that the fall season is coming, even a bit here in Girona with the sun starting to set a bit earlier and the stifling heat becoming a more comfortable hot. With that the season’s end is also approaching with just one month to go.  So the next little while for myself looks kind of like this, on the 20th I fly to France for GP d’Isbergues, flying back the 21st before hopping another flight to worlds on the 25th, returning on the 29th before going to either Franco Belge or Vuelta Chihauhau and finishing of the season in Italy with Giro Piemonte and Giro Lombardie. After all that it’s back to BC and hopefully a small vacation. 

Gotta say, also not too big a fan of the rain and cold that Belgium has to offer. i mean not to complain too much, the food is good, small markets are a thrill, and the chocolate shops on every corner really do offer a wide variety of smiles and sunshine, but other than that Christian and i have ixneayed the idea of living in Belgium. We really are just sun 364 days a year kinda people. So we fly back to girona (Christian likes to call home at every chance) tomorrow afternoon. It was a nice experience here, all the countries being so close you can take a 2 hour train ride to good old parie….(paris for those who can’t understand my french accent) and everything is very accessible by the metro which served us very well. i have been having some fun with the camera though. Makes me feel all professional and stuff. That and a little stockerish seeing as each race i take about 300 photos of the same rider. i can be a number one fan right?

16 laps of 10km, 100+ riders, sunny but cool temps. Our break of 11, containing Sven Nys along with some other Belgian hot shots, went clear on the second lap with the peloton chasing hard behind until with about 6 laps remaining the the cord broke and our advantage grew. Worked hard all day to make sure to get in the good hard training for my build up to GP Isbergues and worlds. Came down to a sprint finish with Nys taking the sprint, I ended up 6th in the hectic sprint. Amber was on hand for support and to have fun with her new hobby of taking great photos with our new Nikon D60 camera.  

Lined up today with 222 other riders to race my first Kermesse here in Belgium under what started as beautiful sunny skies with just a few white fluffy clouds. We were scheduled for 17 laps of the pan flat 9 km circuit, seems everything in Flanders so far has been flat, for their 163 km provincial championships. We loaded my cousin tiny car early, punched in the co-ordinance in the GPS, and not to long after we were signing up for the race in the typical smoke filled bar. The race started out fast and never really slowed down, we were soon a group of about 25 riders off the front rolling hard, and with all the bike teams there, Quick Step with 5 guys including Devolder, it was go time. Was crazy though as it never really got super well organized, with guys always skipping turns and messing up the rotation which can make things a bit frustrating sometimes. So being here with just Amber and myself and just packing minimum race food for my trip I did pull a novice move and didn’t eat or drink enough and started to pay a bit towards the end. Anyhow so after about halfway through the race what was once sunny skies had now turned almost black and it started to absolutely pour down, yay for Belgium. From then on it rain and thundered as they took one lap off the race distance and on the last lap somehow two riders got up the road and just managed to stay clear of our group, figure I was somewhere in the top 15, with the pack coming in a couple minutes later. Was happy with the solid days training and apart from getting gang banged by Quickstep and the pouring rain we had a good time.  

Svein finished a very impressive 3rd on yesterdays TT at the Tour of Missouri, beating the like of Hincapie, Pinotti and Zabriskie. He’s now sitting 3rd overall as well, behind Tour de France 5th place Vandevalde and three time world TT champ Rogers. With form like this wouldn’t be surprised to see a Canadian on the podium at worlds this year….

Got my first Euro crit under my belt last night with the GP Bavikhove here in Belgium. It was a bit hectic getting signed in and set up with no one really being able to give you any real direction of any kind, plus my total lack of Flemish didn’t really make things any easier. Once we got signed in, pinned up, and tires pumped we were all ready for the 5 o’clock start and I really wanted to get going as it was chilly with the dark Belgian clouds looming but alas we were waiting for Cadel Evans who was running a bit late. There I was lined up with the Schleck brothers(Andy in his White jersey from the Tour), Cadel Evans, Stijn Devolder and a host of other Belgian stars. The crit of 90km started off, pretty slow and I soon was in a break of 5 with Evans, and later on in another break, these races keep in mind are meant for more of a show than anything, a chance for the towns to bring in everyones favorite tour champions. So with that the winners order may seem a bit predictable, Stijn, Evans, Andy then Frank Schleck, haha.  It was a great time though and the fans came out in the hundreds even with the Belgian weather.