Masters World Champs

Saturday Norm came 12th at the Masters World Championships in Mol. He had a wicked start into the beach and was top ten for the first half of the race. Then he pulled out his patented “suffer face.” Nobody I know can suffer like Norm. He wasn’t super happy with his race because he fell out of the top ten (and he had told himself he was allowed to buy this sweet Italia jacket if he came top ten). But I was impressed. And I was happy the guy that won wasn’t smoking in the start box like the winner 3 years ago. That is just a smack in the face, even if he is Belgian.

I was Norm’s pit crew in Mol, my bike ready in case his met catastrophic failure during the race. The Kona Queen Ann got a few smug grins from the other manly pit crews. But that didn’t last long when my rider came through top ten on the first lap. All I got was respect after that! Joe-smug-smirk from Great Britain had to get out of MY way now. I had no clue there was such a hierarchy in the pits. Matson, I wish I could be in the lead more so you could feel like KING in the pits. I bet you would totally strut the catwalk and occasionally spin on your heels for effect. Maybe even the moon walk?! Or are you a worm guy?

Hoogerheide World Cup

Next up, my last world cup before World Champs in Italy. The Hoogerheide course in the Netherlands is a pretty familiar one for me as I have raced it a few times. Once, it was dry and crazy fast. This year, it was not. It had been a mix of rain/drizzle/downpour for a few days so the course was a mess. Perfect. I got to pre-ride with Bart Wellens and Sven Nys. They didn’t actually acknowledge me, but I rode behind them to pick up some tips. I figure that is the first step to us becoming fast friends. All of the field sections were deep soggy mud, the downhills were treacherous, the head wind was fierce, and the long cobbled uphill road section was almost a relief. It was going to be a tough course with lots of running. Good thing I have “gazelle” legs compared to most of the girls.

The French team was making fun of my long socks in the start box. Stupid France. I decided to give them even more to laugh at. Since there was going to be so much running I decided to pull out some old skool Geo stretches on the line. Nothing says professional athlete like a few side stretches and lunges. Laugh it up Frenchies.

After my 5th place at the last world cup I had a second row call up. Not quite as rockstar as the front row, but pretty sought after none the less. More like rockstar’s assistant. Unfortunately it didn’t do me much good as I got boxed in off the line and had a pretty crappy start. I hit the dirt somewhere around 15th. Up the road I could see Helen Wyman, Hanka Kupfernagel, Mjiriam Melchers and Daphne van den Brand off the front already. Dammit. Back to reality in the teens it was crowded and super aggressive. Girls clumped together like a big bolus. So I just jumped off my bike and started running to get around them. My long socks took big long strides in the mud and passed many a midget girl. I am pretty sure there were some French stripes in there. Who’s laughing now? 

I used up a lot of matches in that first lap to move into 7th and fought hard to stay in the vicinity for the rest of the race. At one point Norm said I was 10seconds off third! I would ride a mud section really well and pass a few girls but then I would bobble and lose a spot or two. Back and forth. Back and forth. Most of the race I was locked in a ferocious battle with the Czech National Champion. But my kung fu is very good. I ended up with a group of 5-6 in the last lap and attacked through the pits to try to shake them. Miss Czech popped off the back (finally, I was getting sick of her boyfriend running around the course yelling at her). But she was the only one that cracked under my power, so I eventually had to abandon that plan and rest up for the finish sprint. I conveniently found the Belgium National Champ’s wheel for the last cobbled section up to the finish and then we hit the finish chute for the "sprint". It seemed like more of a drag race than a sprint but I ended up second in the group, apparently some wee little powerhouse had more juice left than I did. So I ended up 5th overall. I was pretty close to puking.

Photos of the women’s race can be found on pedalmag.com