Day Two – Getting on Euro time and other reflections on the road
Today was a pretty eventful day overall. Woke up at 7am, and ate a wonderful breakfast made by Ann, Bernard’s wife, consisting of eggs & bacon, granola & yogurt. Then at 8:15 we were off to the Eddy Merckx Track in Ghent.
It is in a national sports facility with 2000m rowing lake among other venues. The track has been redone in the last two years making it indoors and doing overall improvements on it. It was very nice indeed.
We ended up riding during the kids program so we were staying above the blue line, riding different pace-lines for about an hour. It felt amazing to be on an indoor track again, after freezing our butts of in the springs the last couple of weeks and having some stressful midterms at the beginning of this week.
Riding the track is very meditating especially when you are tapering for a big event, just spinning the legs and riding in circles. Just a side note, one training session a couple of weeks ago in the springs was in the low 40’s with a bit of ice high in turn two. Another, last week was in the mid 30’s, which meant that by the time we were done with warm-up we almost had frostbite in the fingers. Pure craziness but I guess this is part of the program when you are preparing for a winter 6-day season. This whole season has been nothing but new experiences, first year pro, first time to Europe, first time racing a full year with no end in sight. But all in all I am loving every second of it.
After getting back from the track we had a bite to eat and then headed out for another easy ride with a local, Peter. He took us all around…I would tell you where but I was lost the whole time. Then right when we got back it started to rain. Bernard always says you have to steal the weather here. And that has been the case the last two days; yesterday it got super windy right after we got back.
Just some R and R for the rest of the day. Riding again in the morning. I'll get some picks of the Cycling Center up tomorrow and give you all the inside details. Can't wait to get on the 6-day track on Monday and get some throws in. The tension is building everyday. It is going to be awesome.
It is in a national sports facility with 2000m rowing lake among other venues. The track has been redone in the last two years making it indoors and doing overall improvements on it. It was very nice indeed.
We ended up riding during the kids program so we were staying above the blue line, riding different pace-lines for about an hour. It felt amazing to be on an indoor track again, after freezing our butts of in the springs the last couple of weeks and having some stressful midterms at the beginning of this week.
Riding the track is very meditating especially when you are tapering for a big event, just spinning the legs and riding in circles. Just a side note, one training session a couple of weeks ago in the springs was in the low 40’s with a bit of ice high in turn two. Another, last week was in the mid 30’s, which meant that by the time we were done with warm-up we almost had frostbite in the fingers. Pure craziness but I guess this is part of the program when you are preparing for a winter 6-day season. This whole season has been nothing but new experiences, first year pro, first time to Europe, first time racing a full year with no end in sight. But all in all I am loving every second of it.
After getting back from the track we had a bite to eat and then headed out for another easy ride with a local, Peter. He took us all around…I would tell you where but I was lost the whole time. Then right when we got back it started to rain. Bernard always says you have to steal the weather here. And that has been the case the last two days; yesterday it got super windy right after we got back.
Just some R and R for the rest of the day. Riding again in the morning. I'll get some picks of the Cycling Center up tomorrow and give you all the inside details. Can't wait to get on the 6-day track on Monday and get some throws in. The tension is building everyday. It is going to be awesome.
