Ozkozebeke Kermesse

Today Brandon McCeever, Pat McGlynn, and I rode to Ozkozebeke, about ten kilometers from our house in Izegem. When we finally found the registration a lady who I later found goes to races and cheers and helps foreign riders told us where we needed to go and even pinned our numbers. She later informed me there were a bunch of expros at this race. The loop was 6.7 km long and we were to do 16 laps on it. It was dead flat, had a bunch of turns, and it was a very windy day. There were about seventy starters, so a relatively small field compared to what we have been used to lately. My stomach was feeling better today, so I was happy about that. My goal for the race was to race toward the front of the group, remain conservative, and finish the race. That is what I did at the beginning of the race. Brandon and Patrick tried some attacks on the first two laps but were unsuccessful. These attacks proved to be their downfalls and lead to them pulling out of the race shortly after. There was a crosswind section that was completely nuts. It was in the gutter every lap. Then on the fourth lap during that section the funniest thing that has happened in my cycling career happened to me. I was in the gutter going all out and suffering fine. Then the wheel in front of me kept going up the road. I went harder but just didn't have the power to keep it. I didn't blow up but just couldn't stay in. I was a bit annoyed that I had to pull out but was happy I am feeling better. After I pulled out I realized a lot of people were behind me and still working even though they had no chance at all of catching back on with the leaders. In the end I think fifteen riders finished. Two off the front and a group behind them. It was crazy attrition. If i can look at any things I did wrong I would say I need to stay even more to the front, in the first echelon and gain fitness. That is it. I was moving up smartly, in turns and following through the pack and not outside of it, like I usually can do in the US. I race again on Wednesday. Hopefully I can finish that.