tips from the mechanic

racing in belgium you learn a lot. thus far, the two biggest things ive taken are:

1) ride the ruts. if a rut looks like its going to swallow your front wheel up to the hub, its only because that is the best line. be light on the bars and let the rut take you through. not always the easiest as you have to anticipate where to throw your body weight.

2) listen to the mechanic. the courses here are quite different, especially riding in the ice and snow. gregory and chris have the bikes dialed for us each time we go out. gregory is always giving us the hot tip on tires and pressue. ive quickly learned if gregory says 22 psi then that's the way to go. i was hesitant for the first race or two, but hes gained my trust quickly.

the night race at diegem was practice for both of these two. after the chaos of the first lap i was able to start riding. a pretty decent start but i just couldn't hold a wheel. midway through the race i started to get my legs back until i dumped it before the barriers. at least i was racing. ive picked up some achilles tendonitis somewhere along the way. i think from hitting my leg w/ my pedal. hopefully some athletic tape and ibuprofen will get me through the last four races.

Comments

[John]

Ah man I thought you might have some really obtuse tips from the mechanics like using Singer sewing machine oil for lube and how glogg is an acceptable recovery drink as long as you have a waffle or two with it! Hehehe! Good luck at the coming races!!