Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Canals & Cobbles

Today was the first real day of training. Shriver and I wanted to bust out a few efforts. So it was back to the canals. It is pretty much the only place you can go hard for an extended period of time without running into a dead end or a city. So we did 2 x 10 min efforts to try to open up the legs. It hurt, but I'd rather have it hurt now than lap 1 of the race.

After the ride it was over to the hills to see the famous climbs of the classics. When you watch the races on TV it looks easy....not so steep and the cobbles look smooth, but in reality thet are covered in cow crap, bumpy, and really steep. Check it out for yourself.















After checking out the climbs it was off to another musuem, except this one was all bike racing stuff. It was a musuem dedicated to the Tour of Flanders. The had bikes to simulate the climbs, the cobbles, and the speed of the riders. The had photos, memorabilia, gifts, and even the bikes of Bettini and Boonen. Less than 48 hours until my first Euro Cross race experience!


















I wonder what Rosco is doing in all that snow back home?

4 comments:

Tim D. said...

That 1st Lap is going to hurt no matter what. Good Luck Friday !!

Tristan Schouten said...

actually the first lap doesn't hurt too bad, it's the following laps when you realize you had it buried way too hard and didn't realize it cause you were zone 10 and trying to stay on your bike in all the craziness.

Echelon said...

....yeah and you might be seeing the beer and chocolates again.

Hauser said...

Good luck Matter! Go till you blow and then go lots more! Haved a great race and a great time.