On the drive home last night from the Hoofstade World Cup a small storm front moved through that blanketed the ground with snow. I went to bed knowing that the next race was going to be a chilly one. Sure enough, today was my coldest day here, but it was nothing like the chill I felt when I nearly lost my fingers at this year’s U.S. Cyclo-cross Nationals.

We didn’t have to leave Michel’s house too early this morning for today’s race in Veldegem because there was no women’s category so Lyne didn’t have a race. I forgot to mention yesterday that she had a great World Cup result that would have been much better had she not done an unintentional somersault in one of the sand sections. It was still not a bad result after arriving from Canada just one-day prior.

Today’s course in Veldegem was very flat, muddy and weaved around a beautiful, old castle. Even though this event was of much smaller scale than the first two races I have done so far, there was still a huge crowd with plenty of beer and frites being consumed. There was even a helicopter that was giving rides to the VIPs. They didn’t ask me if I wanted a ride.

At registration, Kashi and I struck up a conversation with a Belgian racer that spoke very good English. I told him I was from the U.S. and he replied, “I am a good friend of Tim Johnson.”

I asked his name so that I could tell Lyne, Tim’s wife, we had met a friend of Tim’s at the race. It was Tom van Oppen who is one of the top cross racers in the world. I felt bad that I didn’t recognize him, but he was very nice and modest. Tom broke his foot just a few weeks ago and is already racing again. Those Belgians are tough.

The Allez allez Zimbabwe Cyclo-cross Team competed today. This team is comprised of group of riders from Zimbabwe, Africa living and racing in Belgium. The six-rider squad is fully supported and will compete in the 2006 Cyclo-cross World Championships. They are quite famous in the Dutch speaking part of the country because the team is the subject of a reality television show that follows the team around while they race the Belgian ‘cross circuit. Michel told me the team is managed and coached by Roger DeVlaminck, also known as Mr. Paris-Roubaix because he holds the record for most wins in the Paris-Roubaix with four. In 1975, he also earned the right to wear the cyclo-cross rainbow jersey for a year.

While I thawed out on the drive home from the race today I reflected on how difficult racing is at the back of the pack. I thought about U.S. ‘cross races with categories of more than 100 riders battling it out every weekend, sometimes for 40th, 50th and 60th place. It impresses me to no end, knowing there are racers out there who fight tooth and nail in the rain, snow and mud that could care less about winning. They push themselves to the limit just to have fun. I guess that is what it is all about and that is why am here.

Tomorrow Kashi Leuchs departs for France and I go to Loenhout for another race. Three down, four to go! Thanks for checking in.

---

Did you know?
Did you know that there are almost as many breweries as there are beer styles in Belgium? There are endless choices, but the brew for which Belgium is most famous is lambic beer. Lambic beer is created with an age-old style of brewing that produces a brewski that, like wine, improves with age in the bottle. According to international regulations, it can only be produced in a specific region of Belgium. Bottoms up!

---

Brandon Dwight lives in Boulder, Colorado and is part owner of Boulder Cycle Sport as well as a member of the TIAA-CREF/Clif Bar Cyclocross Team.He is also the founder of Doperssuck.com.