Monday, June 30, 2008
Wins are like Buses this week!
Wins are like Buses!
I had a bit of a rough start to June, after not having raced for so long and the weather being so bad I got a bit over enthusiastic and raced 4 times in 8 days. 2 Professional Kermis’ and 2 Amateur ones. I was pretty screwed after this but thought it was what I needed. After a couple of easy days I was back at a Pro Kermis and feeling ok but still a bit tired, after 10 mins the heavens opened and we endured a thunderstorm and torrential rain for the better part of the race, in Italy the race would have been stopped or everyone would have got off. But Belgium, oh no, the hammer went down and the race was on. I had no aspirations for today really, not feeling great and being up against the cream of Belgian Pros I just tried to get round as good as possible. This I did but it was the next day when it went wrong. I woke up in the morning feeling ill and with a dose of Broncitis.
9 days later and I was able to ride my bike again! A bit of a blow after just getting going again, but as they say “s*** happens”.
I decided to ease into the racing after this bad spell and took a couple of weeks training again with some longer rides to try to get a bit of fitness back. As you could imagine I was once again raring to go, it was June and I’d only ridden 10 races!
Anyway I headed to Lede Pro Kermis alone, as my team where racing else where. To cut a long story short it wasn’t one of the best days, I had a flat after 3km and for some reason there was no neutral service and was game over for me! 3.5 hrs followed, sat in the car waiting for the finish, (in case of a control).
2 days later I was at yet another Pro Kermis’ at Ruddervorrde, traditionally this is the last race before the Belgian Pro champs so as you can imagine everyone and his dog where there. I got stuck in at the start hoping to get in a soft break to ease me into the day. I didn’t manage to make it and was stuck in the peleton for the remainder of the race. It was grippy all day but a good few ks in the legs, at last picked my morale up a bit. My director was happy and asked me if I wanted to start the following day in Oetingen (1.2). I happily expected the invitation immediately. He informed me that there were a lot of Kassei’ (cobbles) and it was a tough race. “Nothing out of the ordinary there then” I said. He just laughed!
I checked out the course when I got home and realised why my director had laughed.! The number of climbs was in double figures, including a few of the Ronde hills, the Bosberg, Muur etc.. also there where 2 cobbled sections on the finish loop to be covered 4 times! That’s a fair bit of cobbles.
Anyway I didn’t let any of that scare me (honest) I was on put on early doors so had to be active early on. I did a good job and got in the main break of the day. 6 of us battled through the strong winds and over the bergs with a maximum of 4 mins. The Bosberg was tough for me, the Muur a little harder and the next climb was that little bit too much. I cramped and was quickly dropped and riding alone in “no mans land”. I plugged away, got some food in me and 20km later was caught by the main contenders after the battles over the bergs. If I had any type of form this could have been a good position for me, but. I was finished. Game over for me. I did what I could for my 2 team mates in the front, bottles etc then hung on for as long as I could. This wasn’t long! We had just entered the finish circuit and the first time over the cobbles I was down and out. An early shower for me. I wasn’t disapointed, quite happy really considering my situation. The team where pleased with 2 hrs TV time, and I forgot to mention I won a couple of intermediate sprints for a fair few euros. Stijn Neiriynck from Beveren 2000 was the winner! Look out for this guy in the future, he’s no slouch!
A couple of easy days and I had the racing fever again. A short drive across the border to Holland, an 80km Criterium was on today’s menu. I expected a bit of a kick in today but it wasn’t to be. I had great legs and got in the main split of the day. 70k into the race and the break was coming back and I was still feeling good, I put a little dig in and 2 only 1 guy could follow. We went clear and were sprinting for the win. He was probably stronger than me so I was a bit cautios. I had the feeling he was a local as every one was screaming for him when we came though the line with a lap to go with about 45 seconds. I bided my time and hit out with about 500 to go. I won easily and for the first time after being driven over I had some faith back and was feeling proud of the progress Id made since November 22nd!
Next day and I was racing again in Wolvertem, a small town just west of Brussels. I expected to be a bit rusty today after yesterdays efforts so treated the day as purely training and planned 50km motor pacing before and after the 120km race. The race started fast, a break went after 2km and I had missed it. Damn!! I thought I may as well try a kamikazie attack and see if I could bridge across. I hit it full on and actually felt pretty good. I just about crossed the 45 sec gap before the crosswinds and was there. I felt ok but surely this couldn’t last. The laps counted down and it was nearing the end of the race and my legs were still good. Normally my feeble left leg was starting to moan at me and give me some problems, but good old “lefty” was going strong! There were 2 laps left and the lead group was down from 19 to 15. I attacked though the prime line and 4 of us pulled clear. I was amazed that I hadn’t cracked yet and started thinking how best to play my cards. There was a guy in the race that wins quite often out here, so I had my eye on him and knew he would attack. I was right and he went, I went with him and “then there were 2”. 1km out and he wanted to do a deal, I wasn’t interested and again hit out early and won for the 2nd day on the trot. From being dropped on the Muur last week and embaressed on national TV to winning twice in 2 days! What did I eat!!
As you can imagine I’m pretty happy with myself and have a bit of confidence back at last. However I need to keep it real, these are only small races. I need to be winning bigger and better races if I’m to get to where I want to go. Times starting to run out for me as I’m not getting any younger, there’s a few exciting things starting to happen in British Cycling at the moment. I think these next 18 month will make or break my carer. So I better get out training and hope the results keep coming!
Thanks again to everyone who has helped me out. You know who you are ! !
Matt
I had a bit of a rough start to June, after not having raced for so long and the weather being so bad I got a bit over enthusiastic and raced 4 times in 8 days. 2 Professional Kermis’ and 2 Amateur ones. I was pretty screwed after this but thought it was what I needed. After a couple of easy days I was back at a Pro Kermis and feeling ok but still a bit tired, after 10 mins the heavens opened and we endured a thunderstorm and torrential rain for the better part of the race, in Italy the race would have been stopped or everyone would have got off. But Belgium, oh no, the hammer went down and the race was on. I had no aspirations for today really, not feeling great and being up against the cream of Belgian Pros I just tried to get round as good as possible. This I did but it was the next day when it went wrong. I woke up in the morning feeling ill and with a dose of Broncitis.
9 days later and I was able to ride my bike again! A bit of a blow after just getting going again, but as they say “s*** happens”.
I decided to ease into the racing after this bad spell and took a couple of weeks training again with some longer rides to try to get a bit of fitness back. As you could imagine I was once again raring to go, it was June and I’d only ridden 10 races!
Anyway I headed to Lede Pro Kermis alone, as my team where racing else where. To cut a long story short it wasn’t one of the best days, I had a flat after 3km and for some reason there was no neutral service and was game over for me! 3.5 hrs followed, sat in the car waiting for the finish, (in case of a control).
2 days later I was at yet another Pro Kermis’ at Ruddervorrde, traditionally this is the last race before the Belgian Pro champs so as you can imagine everyone and his dog where there. I got stuck in at the start hoping to get in a soft break to ease me into the day. I didn’t manage to make it and was stuck in the peleton for the remainder of the race. It was grippy all day but a good few ks in the legs, at last picked my morale up a bit. My director was happy and asked me if I wanted to start the following day in Oetingen (1.2). I happily expected the invitation immediately. He informed me that there were a lot of Kassei’ (cobbles) and it was a tough race. “Nothing out of the ordinary there then” I said. He just laughed!
I checked out the course when I got home and realised why my director had laughed.! The number of climbs was in double figures, including a few of the Ronde hills, the Bosberg, Muur etc.. also there where 2 cobbled sections on the finish loop to be covered 4 times! That’s a fair bit of cobbles.
Anyway I didn’t let any of that scare me (honest) I was on put on early doors so had to be active early on. I did a good job and got in the main break of the day. 6 of us battled through the strong winds and over the bergs with a maximum of 4 mins. The Bosberg was tough for me, the Muur a little harder and the next climb was that little bit too much. I cramped and was quickly dropped and riding alone in “no mans land”. I plugged away, got some food in me and 20km later was caught by the main contenders after the battles over the bergs. If I had any type of form this could have been a good position for me, but. I was finished. Game over for me. I did what I could for my 2 team mates in the front, bottles etc then hung on for as long as I could. This wasn’t long! We had just entered the finish circuit and the first time over the cobbles I was down and out. An early shower for me. I wasn’t disapointed, quite happy really considering my situation. The team where pleased with 2 hrs TV time, and I forgot to mention I won a couple of intermediate sprints for a fair few euros. Stijn Neiriynck from Beveren 2000 was the winner! Look out for this guy in the future, he’s no slouch!
A couple of easy days and I had the racing fever again. A short drive across the border to Holland, an 80km Criterium was on today’s menu. I expected a bit of a kick in today but it wasn’t to be. I had great legs and got in the main split of the day. 70k into the race and the break was coming back and I was still feeling good, I put a little dig in and 2 only 1 guy could follow. We went clear and were sprinting for the win. He was probably stronger than me so I was a bit cautios. I had the feeling he was a local as every one was screaming for him when we came though the line with a lap to go with about 45 seconds. I bided my time and hit out with about 500 to go. I won easily and for the first time after being driven over I had some faith back and was feeling proud of the progress Id made since November 22nd!
Next day and I was racing again in Wolvertem, a small town just west of Brussels. I expected to be a bit rusty today after yesterdays efforts so treated the day as purely training and planned 50km motor pacing before and after the 120km race. The race started fast, a break went after 2km and I had missed it. Damn!! I thought I may as well try a kamikazie attack and see if I could bridge across. I hit it full on and actually felt pretty good. I just about crossed the 45 sec gap before the crosswinds and was there. I felt ok but surely this couldn’t last. The laps counted down and it was nearing the end of the race and my legs were still good. Normally my feeble left leg was starting to moan at me and give me some problems, but good old “lefty” was going strong! There were 2 laps left and the lead group was down from 19 to 15. I attacked though the prime line and 4 of us pulled clear. I was amazed that I hadn’t cracked yet and started thinking how best to play my cards. There was a guy in the race that wins quite often out here, so I had my eye on him and knew he would attack. I was right and he went, I went with him and “then there were 2”. 1km out and he wanted to do a deal, I wasn’t interested and again hit out early and won for the 2nd day on the trot. From being dropped on the Muur last week and embaressed on national TV to winning twice in 2 days! What did I eat!!
As you can imagine I’m pretty happy with myself and have a bit of confidence back at last. However I need to keep it real, these are only small races. I need to be winning bigger and better races if I’m to get to where I want to go. Times starting to run out for me as I’m not getting any younger, there’s a few exciting things starting to happen in British Cycling at the moment. I think these next 18 month will make or break my carer. So I better get out training and hope the results keep coming!
Thanks again to everyone who has helped me out. You know who you are ! !
Matt
# posted by matt8195 @ Monday, June 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Doms highly exciting blog
Dominic Schils
On the 18th January 2008 I travelled to Belgium to meet up with my new team mates from Lotto Olympia Tienen for the Team presentation at Hoegaarden – the home of the famous Belgium white beer. I was quite impressed with the set up and to find out that the junior team mechanic was called Tom Boonen. At first I didn’t believe him but when he showed me his passport so I had to.
Olympia Tienen is a founder member of the Flemish Cycling School. They have got 37 under 12, 25 under 14, 19 under 16, 14 juniors, 9 under 23, 12 Elites, 6 Managers/coaches, 5 coaches, 3 mechanics. The Godfather of the team is Michel Wuyts - the figurehead of the Belgium BBC1 Sport EEN-Sportza. I was also being interviewed on stage by one of the Belgium top TV and radio presenters Luc Verschueren in Flemish. Needless to say I didn’t feel too comfortable – I would have rather gone with a bunch of 200 riders to and over the Koppenberg a few times!
The day after I went with my team mates on a 80 km easy club run.
The weekend gave me certainly extra motivation to put some extra miles in and in early February I convinced my parents to let me go on my first ever training camp to Mallorca where I was very lucky with the weather and got plenty of quality training in. On 15th February I flew back to the UK and the day after my father drove me to Belgium for my first Junior race – also organised by my club in a small place outside Tienen called Glabbeek where over 130 juniors took the start and I finished 5th.
One week later I raced in a place called Vollezele not far from Geraardsbergen where I missed a 10 man break and finished 11th.
As I have been chosen to be the Essex Talented Young Athlete of the year my school St Benedict’s College in Colchester gives me special dispensation to have time off from school to race in Belgium so long as I keep my studies up because this is my GSCE year and I cannot miss too many days so I travel back to England.
I rode the Crest Road Race in Ugley on an undulating circuit and I ended up in the winning break but unfortunately I punctured. When I had almost given up hope I got a wheel from a team mate that pulled out of the race but by that time I was nearly 5 minutes behind the break and over 2 minutes behind the bunch. I thought I must as well go as hard as I could for training and was amazed that a lap later at the bottom of the climb I had caught the bunch. I decided to go straight passed them. A bit later I had the break in sight but then the Commissaire drove next to me and told me to take another wheel from my father because has a junior am gear restricted and I must be overgeared because of the wheel swap. My father gave me another wheel but because of this I lost momentum and finished 19th.
A week later I started the Jock Wadley where after missing the break I ended in no-mansland for 3 laps. I decided to wait for 10 riders chasing me as I thought together we would have a better chance getting across but they didn’t want to work. The break rode further away and the bunch came back to us and I finished 22nd.
On the Saturday, via Dunton, Essex where I rode a 2/3/4 race and finished 2nd I travelled to Belgium to start in my first Belgium Cup event. Quite an experience with 30 teams of 5 riders each with their own team car, neutral services, motor bikes etc, a lot of wind, narrow road, rain and quite a few crashes. The legs felt quite good but I got stuck behind a big crash and ended up in the 3rd group. I managed to get across to the 2nd one but only finished 45th.
A week later I travelled to Borlo for a 5km prologue time trial on a completely closed circuit with the start of a ramp and the Team Manager Hugo shouting his orders over his load speaker and mechanic Tom Boonen hanging out of the car window (just like on the TV). Unfortunately Hugo’s English confused me somehow as when he wanted me to shift down he told me to shift up. I still came in 22nd out of 162 starters. By the afternoon the rain had stopped and under some mild sunshine we took the start of the 2nd stage for a big circuit of 71km and 5 circuits of 8km. Hugo had warned me that the break usually goes in the beginning so went after a few early attacks. Some useful riders made a move. I decided to go with them and a leading group of about 20 riders formed and I was in it. Instead of keeping working together some riders started to attack and 30km later the bunch came back and swallowed us up just when all heavens opened up. I was racing on my second hand Bora’s that I had bought with the savings of a few years. The day before the race I had polished them up to the limit and after a few minutes of snow, sleet and rain I tried to use my brakes but the wheels kept on turning, the silicone polish on the deep rims had run down to the breaking surface and did nothing for cornering on the five ‘wriggly, wraggly’ local circuits where riders with the posture of a bear were literally seizing up because of hypothermia. I still managed to come in a respectable 31st.
Day 2, nearly 100 riders came in out of the time limit but because of the circumstances the UCI Commissaires decided to fish about 70% of them back up just before the local circuits in Trognee . I had been in a 3-man break for a while and nearly the complete bunch caught us. I ended up in the second half and before I could work myself back to the front of the bunch split in half. I did all what I could but that was it. The next day I was going to take revenge in the quick stage through the Ardennes but the snow was laying 10cm thick and the Commissaires called the race off. I was very disappointed. On the Wednesday I started a race at Nechin, on the French/Belgium border near Roubaix. The Lithuanian and Bodysol teams tried to dominate the race. Moves kept going throughout the race. I was in a few of them but when a break went of about 10 riders I wasn’t. They took a minute on the bunch and with 10km I decided to put in an all or nothing attack. The break had shattered and kept going up and over, then with about 3km to go I saw the lead car in the far distance with a “yellow” rider 200m behind him and a “green” rider 200m behind him. I squeezed everything out of my body, caught up the “green” Bodysol rider who sat in my wheel came to about 50m of the yellow rider, asked the Bodysol rider for some help (which he declined) started a bit of an argument, looked behind and saw the bunch coming back and decided that a third place would be better than a possible 50th.
The weekend after I travelled to Abergavenny to take part in the Martin Ashfield Classic where I finished 8th in the prologue but managed to crash after 10km. In the afternoon road race, at first I thought I came out of the crash unshaved but after the race I discovered a swelling the size of a ping pong ball at the back of my knee. This swelling and the pain it caused troubled me for a few weeks. A week later I entered a local 80km ¾ race (another race in sleet and snow). I managed to win it but my knee still troubled me. The week after I was back in Belgium in Boutersem for a race with a quality field and 111 started. I ended up in what I thought to be the break but with a few kilometres to go it got too tactical and again we got caught. I decided to put in an all or nothing attack on the last drag because the finish was ‘dodgy’ – it was nothing as the 80 man bunch caught me in the last corner then about 20 riders came down. Some of the bunch were sprinting on the pavement and tried to get back on the road before the barriers finished. I finished 31st.
A week later I raced at Sint Gillis Waas (again over 100 starters) on a pancake flat circuit with the constant speed too high for someone to ride off the front. I finished 21st. 7 days later I started in another Inter Club event with 180 starters at Korbeek Lo on an undulating course that didn’t give you the chance of any recuperation. I tried to position myself near the front of the bunch most of the time and of course you guessed it the one time I ended up for a few minutes at the back the bunch split and I finished 52nd.
5 days later I raced at St Martens Bodegem near Brussels. I started at the back and after 200 meters we turned right into a narrow road, 6 riders rode off the front and for some reason nobody chased and by the time I got to the front I was too late and I finished 7th.
A week later I was back in England and school took priority. I managed a few wins and placings in 1/2/3 cat races, with revising taking top priority.
I am looking forward to going to stay and race in Belgium for the remainder of the season after my GCSE’s and hope that the results of those will be good enough for my parents not to give me a hard time.
# posted by Dom @ Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Friday, June 06, 2008
The Adventures Of Matt Brammeier
Hello again people,
Just thought id let you all know what I’m up too again. I haven’t written for a while now as I’ve not really been up too much and didn’t want to bore you all.
Well I think it was March the last time I mailed you all. I’ve moved on a bit since then!
After weeks of pumping iron I was starting to become of the regulars at the local meatheads Gym and things were going quite well. From having to lower the weights on nearly every machine I used after the grannies had been on them I got a few funny looks sometimes from the locals. However at last my skinny leg got a bit of meat back on it and I could finally hold my head a bit higher in the gym and throw a few more kilos on the bar! I started leg pressing 5kg with my left leg and I was now on 70kg so quite an improvement there. So slowly but surely I phased out going to the gym and started getting some good hours in on the bike.
I was training a lot on my new Power Cranks and was finding them nearing impossible to ride. My left hip flexor had wasted so much I could barely pedal on them. However after some perseverance I’m now up to 30 min sessions at a time on them which I try to do 2-3 times per week. I could feel a difference in my walking and pedalling after using them for just 2 weeks! So not just an American Gimmick!
A few big weeks of 25 plus hours and I was raring to go, I was soon getting my heart rate up and doing a bit of intensity work and surprisingly feeling pretty good.
I soon got fed up of training and bashing round the lanes with a big red face and entered my 1st race on the 6th may. It was just a little Kermess race in a village near by so I thought “what the hell”. I didn’t feel nervous at all but was a bit worried to how I would go. I hoped I wouldn’t be too rubbish. Anyway I started the race and it wasn’t too bad, I probably held back to much as I didn’t know what to expect. I went with a few little moves and did a bit of jumping round and my leg immediately shouted at me to hold back. I got a few little aches and pains and decided to take it steady and just try to get round. If you’ve ever ridden one of these races you know that that’s not really as easy as it sounds. I ended up in the peleton a couple of mins back and unfortunately we were pulled out after 85km. I was fairly happy with that and even happier with how I felt. I was pretty sure that if I used my head in my next race I could get round pretty comfortably.
My next race was a few days later and it went a bit better than my first outing. I made the decision at the start to sit in and take it easy for 80km then take it from there. It was a fairly fast race so nothing went in the first 80km so I moved to the front and started to get stuck in. I felt pretty good and was well and truly part of the race until I felt a soft front tyre with about 15km to go. There was no way I was going to stop so I soldiered on, after a few hairy moments on the corners I managed to get to the last 2km of the race before my tyre finally blew out and I rode in just behind the group! Oh well, this was a finish in my eyes!
Until now I’ve done 10 races including 3 Professional Kermesses. I’ve got round every one apart from the first without any major problems really. My best result is 10th so far which isn’t bad for someone with one and a half legs!
I’m still not sure on my plans for the next few weeks, I’m still waiting on the green light from my team to be selected for some proper races and get going properly. What I do know is a lot more training, a bit of Physio and a couple of sessions on the Power Cranks a week!
So it’s slowly coming back and I don’t think it will be long before I’m back in the big races and getting some more results on my Palmeres.
Just thought id let you all know what I’m up too again. I haven’t written for a while now as I’ve not really been up too much and didn’t want to bore you all.
Well I think it was March the last time I mailed you all. I’ve moved on a bit since then!
After weeks of pumping iron I was starting to become of the regulars at the local meatheads Gym and things were going quite well. From having to lower the weights on nearly every machine I used after the grannies had been on them I got a few funny looks sometimes from the locals. However at last my skinny leg got a bit of meat back on it and I could finally hold my head a bit higher in the gym and throw a few more kilos on the bar! I started leg pressing 5kg with my left leg and I was now on 70kg so quite an improvement there. So slowly but surely I phased out going to the gym and started getting some good hours in on the bike.
I was training a lot on my new Power Cranks and was finding them nearing impossible to ride. My left hip flexor had wasted so much I could barely pedal on them. However after some perseverance I’m now up to 30 min sessions at a time on them which I try to do 2-3 times per week. I could feel a difference in my walking and pedalling after using them for just 2 weeks! So not just an American Gimmick!
A few big weeks of 25 plus hours and I was raring to go, I was soon getting my heart rate up and doing a bit of intensity work and surprisingly feeling pretty good.
I soon got fed up of training and bashing round the lanes with a big red face and entered my 1st race on the 6th may. It was just a little Kermess race in a village near by so I thought “what the hell”. I didn’t feel nervous at all but was a bit worried to how I would go. I hoped I wouldn’t be too rubbish. Anyway I started the race and it wasn’t too bad, I probably held back to much as I didn’t know what to expect. I went with a few little moves and did a bit of jumping round and my leg immediately shouted at me to hold back. I got a few little aches and pains and decided to take it steady and just try to get round. If you’ve ever ridden one of these races you know that that’s not really as easy as it sounds. I ended up in the peleton a couple of mins back and unfortunately we were pulled out after 85km. I was fairly happy with that and even happier with how I felt. I was pretty sure that if I used my head in my next race I could get round pretty comfortably.
My next race was a few days later and it went a bit better than my first outing. I made the decision at the start to sit in and take it easy for 80km then take it from there. It was a fairly fast race so nothing went in the first 80km so I moved to the front and started to get stuck in. I felt pretty good and was well and truly part of the race until I felt a soft front tyre with about 15km to go. There was no way I was going to stop so I soldiered on, after a few hairy moments on the corners I managed to get to the last 2km of the race before my tyre finally blew out and I rode in just behind the group! Oh well, this was a finish in my eyes!
Until now I’ve done 10 races including 3 Professional Kermesses. I’ve got round every one apart from the first without any major problems really. My best result is 10th so far which isn’t bad for someone with one and a half legs!
I’m still not sure on my plans for the next few weeks, I’m still waiting on the green light from my team to be selected for some proper races and get going properly. What I do know is a lot more training, a bit of Physio and a couple of sessions on the Power Cranks a week!
So it’s slowly coming back and I don’t think it will be long before I’m back in the big races and getting some more results on my Palmeres.
This is me looking seriuos at my first race !
# posted by matt8195 @ Friday, June 06, 2008
