Hey Team,

It has been a while since I have sent in an update, so bear with me on this one.

I will not go into great detail about the life of a cyclist in Europe or that of one on the road as we have all heard that swan song many a times.  So I will share my experience of one of the Nations Cups in Holland that the National Team took part in called the ZLM World Cup.

                Ok, here we go.  The National Road team has a house in Tielt, Belgium, which is where we were stationed for the majority of the spring in order to compete in the various Spring races across the greater part of western Europe.  One of the 1^st major goals for the team was the ZLM World Cup in Holland.  After a quick transition/drive to Holland in our team car and tool truck, it was off to the hotel where most of the other Nations would be staying as well.  The parking lot was packed with endless amounts of bikes, tools, spare wheels, and of course, mechanics. Our mechanic was a magician…seriously, no joke, so stop laughing.  He does mechanic work in his spare time as a hobby.  Upon arrival we dropped our magician off along with 10 or so bikes and a countless number of specific requests for him to ponder.  Next stop was check in, massage and dinner.

                It didn’t take long to realize they take this sport to a whole other level over here.  It seemed like the entire city shut down just to send us off at the start.  That to me was one of the coolest moments of this trip, when people saw that we were Canadian they would ask us to sign the race start list or our rider cards.  The older folks would even thank us for the help in the war.  Even though we personally had nothing to do with any of that, it was a reassuring feeling and made us feel welcome. 

                In our meeting before the race (which we do before every event) we went over who to watch from other teams, and who from our team was going to cover what and who was going to do services (water and food from team car).  I was the lucky one who got to shadow Simone, our team leader for the day and our strongest guy in the race.  Simone was our sprinter, and most experienced rider having raced with Spidertech for the entire spring classics campaign.  Holland is pan flat, with insane cross winds, much like sask terrain. Therefore, Simone was our best chance at having a good result.  My job was simple.  Keep him out of the wind, and make sure he was well positioned. 

                Leading up to this race I had no expectation, no feeling of nerves or anxiety, which was surprising to me as I had expected to be making a few runs to the porta potties before the start.  Believe me, it was a nice feeling to just be relaxed and chilled out before one of the hardest races of my life.  After the team presentation and all the meet and greets were finished, we lined up and listened to some guy smoking a cigarette  yell something about how Fabian Cancellara had won this race a few years back.  When the gun FINALLY went off, it was dead silence for all of 5 seconds. 

                This particular race, along with almost any in this part of the world, has cobbles.  We had been training on them for a few days before coming to this event and the bike seemed to handle them quite well.  Or at least the frame did.  As soon as I clipped in and did my 1^st pedal stroke into the 1^st corner of the race, my damn seat cracks in half.  I had hit a cobble right as I was sitting down and the small bump must have finally found a weak spot in my seat rail, or my butt just was too heavy for it.  The next thing I knew, I was sitting on my top tube wondering what should I do now.  I rode up beside Simone and told him I would be back in 5 minutes and I went back to the team car.  At this point I had waited about 10 minutes before finally deciding I could not stand up for 200km’s.  I wanted nothing more than to help my teammates in this race and was worried that I would not be able to do that if I got a bike change and failed to catch back on.  Our team car was 21^st out of 23 in the caravan (not so ideal).  That would mean after I changed the bike I would have to be paced back on to the very tail end of the caravan, then work my way up through the entire caravan line, just to make it to back end of a more than likely shattered peloton.  Not exactly the best way to start.  So instead I waved my arm in the air and called up our team car.  I told our mechanic sitting in the back seat amongst a pile of wheels what had happened and he pondered the idea for a second, then rolled down the window, leaned out of the car and took a saddle off of one of our spare bikes on the roof, not to mention, he did all this while doing 60k/hr.  The rule of the caravan is when a rider goes back; he can not hold the car unless he is getting medical attention.  So for me, I was suffering a little more than usual just to keep pace beside the car.  When the magician finally got the seat off the spare bike, he had to take mine off, and swap them.  I was ready to die trying to ride steady with no draft form the peloton and asked if I could grab the door.  Thankfully our director seemed to understand and did not worry so much about the fine we would most likely be getting for holding on.  After finally getting my saddle off, we started the 1^st section of cobbles.  I couldn’t buy a break from this race.  So I rode the section standing up and grabbed the car door again as soon as they were over.  We could finally change the saddle and I could work my way back up through the cars and get back to the task of racing.  I got a nice slingshot from our car leading up to a round-about and with the momentum that 80km/hr gives you on a flat road, weaving through the cars took no time at all!

                Back in the race and everything was back to normal.  I got some water and food to the boys, and found Simone near the front of the group.  The next big obstacle was a 5km bridge that went straight over the ocean.  With a sharp left turn, we were straight into the cross wind that we had been warned about.  The pack shattered into 4 or 5 smaller groups.  Thankfully I was near the front and was not caught out by the wind.  However this bridge looked like something out of the matrix or twilight zone.  On a cloudless sunny day, we were suddenly riding in a rain/fog storm.  The turbulence of the waves and wind had caused the air to become a pure cloud and the only thing you could see was the rider in front of you.  Crashes happened, and the pack split up even more.  Once out the other end of the cloud and back on the actual land again, we had an endless number of skinny narrow roads and turns to negotiate.  It felt more like a giant sized crit than a road race. 

                With 50k to go, I head someone yell flat.  Just our luck it was Simone.  So I jumped off my bike, got my rear wheel on his bike, and gave him a running push to get back in the group.  Problem for me was that the team cars took the highway around the narrow roads because they could not fit.  So I waited for a wheel for what seemed like an eternity, only to hear the honks from the team cars through the trees across the ditch.  So I jumped across and waved down a neutral wheel car.  Then paced back on for 10k or so only to have Simone hit the deck on the finishing circuits.  It was not a simple crash either, it took out half the team and Simone was badly injured.  We waved down a civilian with a vehicle and had to lift him into the car to get him to the hospital with what looked like a broken hip.  I was ready to call it a day after that. 

                Of course no one in the hospital spoke English and they all seemed to just not to care.  So I stole a stretcher and dragged our injured teammate into the hospital to have an x-ray.  He would fly straight home after the scan. 

                Overall, it was the most hectic day of my career. I have never had to deal with that much bad luck and that much stress during a sporting event.  With that being said, I was happy with what I was able to do in the circumstances we were given.  I love the team aspect of this sport and it just goes to show you, that this sport truly is a team event.  More importantly, I learned a lot about racing against the best riders in the world and it has made the transition back in North America much easier. 

You still awake?

Until next time, keep fit and have fun.

Brad Clifford