Jan. 20 / 09

Canada House in Holland #3 – 11 days until Worlds

Hello all,

            Well it’s been awhile since my last update, so you know what that it means: Yup; you got it…..another long, drawn out and unnecessary report. So get in a comfy chair and prepare yourself, because this is going to be exhausting.

            It seems each race I do, some sort of mishap occurs and these mishaps takes many different forms. As you heard in my previous report, I was having the flat tire phase. Well my next race was in Sint-Michielsgestal, NED for a UCI 1 race and although I’m sure I would have got a flat tire later on in the race, I never got a chance to. 300m into the race there was a huge 30 man crash, which I was a part of. My bike stopped dead and I got propelled, rocket like, through the air and slid under the guard rail into the crowd. Unfortunately, I injured my shoulder upon landing and was barely able to get undressed or move my arm in any direction. However, after two sessions with the teams physiotherapist, I made a miraculous recovery and was able to race the very next weekend with minimal discomfort. I do question whether or not this guy was actually a physio or some sort of torture enthusiast. He never even told me what was actually wrong with my shoulder; because I think he was have a too good of time making me squirm and wince on his massage table. Whatever floats your boat I guess. 

            My next race was called the Egmond Beach Classic which saw 3600 racers at the start line. You ride along the coast near Amsterdam for 25km and then turn around and come back. You have to be on the look out for the waves crashing in on you and also, the tide comes in pretty quick, so by the end of the race there are only a few meters of beach to ride on. I ended up in the lead group, which had two Rabobank riders who have raced the Tour De France and Bart Brentjens, a former world MTB champ. The whole race was televised, so I was on Dutch national T.V. for a little while. Well, at least until…..pssssssssssssssssssssssssss FLAT TIRE! I felt really sorry for the poor guy who had to fish my bike of the ocean. I was surprised how far I was able to throw that thing.

            Next race was in Surhuisterveen, NED for a Super Prestige, where I got another flat tire. I don’t want to talk about it. But on the bright side, there was no body of water readily available, so no one had to fish my bike out of a canal and I also picked up a pretty cool nickname, Andrew ‘flat tire’ Thomas. The fans that travel to all these races have even started to notice that the “Canadian” has bad luck.

            The last race I did was yesterday in Zuidwolde, NED. It was a small race compared to the ones we have been doing so far on this trip, but it was a comforting feeling knowing that there would be no World Champion at the start line with you. Shockingly, nothing went wrong in my race and I pulled off a satisfying 2nd place finish.

            With 11 days left until World Championships, I only have a few more days of serious training before I begin my taper into my final race day. I’ve done my training, I’ve raced the biggest CX races in the world and now it comes down to one more final day in Hoogerheide, NED on Jan. 31, to see how I stack up against the worlds finest. Ahhh man, I’m nervous already!

            Bedankt,

- Andrew Thomas