chrisroph
01-18-2007, 11:04 PM
This is forwarded from Rhonda Mazza who is in Europe racing in preparation for
the World Championships on Jan. 28th.
Excerpts from our 2007 European Adventure: Traveling to Nommay (France) with Dee
Dee and Mark
Friday and Saturday (Jan 12-13, 2007)
“The baggage has a tracking number; how come you don’t know where it is?”
“No, those tags are not scanned in.”
“You’re luggage could be in Hong Kong.”
Exchanges with Continental Airline representatives at Brussels Airport
about the whereabouts of our bikes.
Saturday, early morning when “just trying to turn around” and pickup a forgotten
wheel set in Izegem
“Do you think that sign means dead end?”
Yes. Road construction has turned a highway into a bulldozer’s
playground.
“Do you think this is a one-way?”
Yes. Lesson here, don’t follow motorcycles on a detour around road
construction.
Saturday, late afternoon after driving all day from Brussels to Nommay, France
“It’s too complicated. Go down hill, turn right, and ask again.”
Patisseire employee upon being asked for directions to host hotel (loosely translated from the
French).
Turns out that at the bottom of the hill on the right was a police station—so we
stopped, and I went in for more directions. About 10 officers were hanging out
at the front desk and in about 5 minutes, we had a police escort (1 van, 3
officers) to the host hotel. (Not the one where we were staying but where we
thought we could pick up our numbers for the race. Evidently it’s common
knowledge to everyone but us that you pick up numbers at the venue. Regardless,
thanks are owed to the Montebeliard police force.)
“You follow ok?”
Hanka Kupfernagel’s support staff.
“Piece of cake.”
Matson, our tireless mechanic and fearless driver after a high speed,
superfluous lane changing, circuitous route to the race venue.
These bits of conversation bring us to 5pm on Saturday when we arrived at the
venue in time to get our numbers and for Mark to attend the managers’ meeting,
where despite not speaking or understanding French, he successfully procured a pit box for us. And where a helpful race staff
gave Dee Dee a ride to our hotel (location still unknown to us at this point)
where she met up with her husband who, because we were about 4 hours behind
schedule, was beginning to worry. And where other race staff shared chocolate
bonbons with me and encouraged me to sit down and put my feet up.
We built our bikes in the hotel parking lot under the streetlights and
around 8 pm Dee Dee and I hopped on the trainers for a pre-race day warmup,
followed by dinner at 9. This is probably not how Laurence Leboucher prepared
for her win the following day, but since she had already been whisked off to the
podium or medical control by the time I crossed the finish line, I didn’t get a
chance to ask her.
The race (Jan 14—Nommay World Cup)
Set away from town in a park along the freeway, this venue reminded me more of
an American style venue than some of the other European races I’ve done where
the start/finish line is literally on Main Street of a picturesque “old-world” town. It was a good venue, though, with a
dike that ran through the middle and provided the elevation gains and losses as
we wound up and down either side. The dike created four good run-ups and some
slow-going, strength-sapping, muddy straight-aways on top. A large spongy
meadow, two hard-packed dirt paths, and the paved start/finish stretch comprised
the rest of the course. The mud wasn’t anything too epic, and I didn’t take a
bike change. The run ups were slippery though (think Jackson Middle School) and
this was the first race all season where I used toe spikes.
I was the strongest person in my group on the run ups (three of which came in
quick succession), but I just couldn’t believe how they powered away from me on
the muddy section on top of the dike. The last half of the 5-lap race my group
was places 15-19, and placement within the group changed throughout the lap. I
was definitely out of the group by the last half lap, however, when I came upon
Dee Dee wrestling with her bike. Her bike won that round (it took her to the ground), but she
recovered quickly, and I didn’t have the legs to stay with her the last time
along the top of the dike.
All in all, it was a decent race. I wish I had been strong enough to finish 15th
(31 seconds ahead of me), but I’m happy that I clawed my way into the middle of
the race field. Even though I had to walk up the first climb because of the
bottleneck, I wasn’t last coming down so that’s something—seeing as how I’m
trying to practice good starts when coming from the last row. I’m excited for
next week’s race in Hoogerheide and for the adventures that await us between
then and now as we tour the Belgian countryside.
Until then,
-Rhonda
the World Championships on Jan. 28th.
Excerpts from our 2007 European Adventure: Traveling to Nommay (France) with Dee
Dee and Mark
Friday and Saturday (Jan 12-13, 2007)
“The baggage has a tracking number; how come you don’t know where it is?”
“No, those tags are not scanned in.”
“You’re luggage could be in Hong Kong.”
Exchanges with Continental Airline representatives at Brussels Airport
about the whereabouts of our bikes.
Saturday, early morning when “just trying to turn around” and pickup a forgotten
wheel set in Izegem
“Do you think that sign means dead end?”
Yes. Road construction has turned a highway into a bulldozer’s
playground.
“Do you think this is a one-way?”
Yes. Lesson here, don’t follow motorcycles on a detour around road
construction.
Saturday, late afternoon after driving all day from Brussels to Nommay, France
“It’s too complicated. Go down hill, turn right, and ask again.”
Patisseire employee upon being asked for directions to host hotel (loosely translated from the
French).
Turns out that at the bottom of the hill on the right was a police station—so we
stopped, and I went in for more directions. About 10 officers were hanging out
at the front desk and in about 5 minutes, we had a police escort (1 van, 3
officers) to the host hotel. (Not the one where we were staying but where we
thought we could pick up our numbers for the race. Evidently it’s common
knowledge to everyone but us that you pick up numbers at the venue. Regardless,
thanks are owed to the Montebeliard police force.)
“You follow ok?”
Hanka Kupfernagel’s support staff.
“Piece of cake.”
Matson, our tireless mechanic and fearless driver after a high speed,
superfluous lane changing, circuitous route to the race venue.
These bits of conversation bring us to 5pm on Saturday when we arrived at the
venue in time to get our numbers and for Mark to attend the managers’ meeting,
where despite not speaking or understanding French, he successfully procured a pit box for us. And where a helpful race staff
gave Dee Dee a ride to our hotel (location still unknown to us at this point)
where she met up with her husband who, because we were about 4 hours behind
schedule, was beginning to worry. And where other race staff shared chocolate
bonbons with me and encouraged me to sit down and put my feet up.
We built our bikes in the hotel parking lot under the streetlights and
around 8 pm Dee Dee and I hopped on the trainers for a pre-race day warmup,
followed by dinner at 9. This is probably not how Laurence Leboucher prepared
for her win the following day, but since she had already been whisked off to the
podium or medical control by the time I crossed the finish line, I didn’t get a
chance to ask her.
The race (Jan 14—Nommay World Cup)
Set away from town in a park along the freeway, this venue reminded me more of
an American style venue than some of the other European races I’ve done where
the start/finish line is literally on Main Street of a picturesque “old-world” town. It was a good venue, though, with a
dike that ran through the middle and provided the elevation gains and losses as
we wound up and down either side. The dike created four good run-ups and some
slow-going, strength-sapping, muddy straight-aways on top. A large spongy
meadow, two hard-packed dirt paths, and the paved start/finish stretch comprised
the rest of the course. The mud wasn’t anything too epic, and I didn’t take a
bike change. The run ups were slippery though (think Jackson Middle School) and
this was the first race all season where I used toe spikes.
I was the strongest person in my group on the run ups (three of which came in
quick succession), but I just couldn’t believe how they powered away from me on
the muddy section on top of the dike. The last half of the 5-lap race my group
was places 15-19, and placement within the group changed throughout the lap. I
was definitely out of the group by the last half lap, however, when I came upon
Dee Dee wrestling with her bike. Her bike won that round (it took her to the ground), but she
recovered quickly, and I didn’t have the legs to stay with her the last time
along the top of the dike.
All in all, it was a decent race. I wish I had been strong enough to finish 15th
(31 seconds ahead of me), but I’m happy that I clawed my way into the middle of
the race field. Even though I had to walk up the first climb because of the
bottleneck, I wasn’t last coming down so that’s something—seeing as how I’m
trying to practice good starts when coming from the last row. I’m excited for
next week’s race in Hoogerheide and for the adventures that await us between
then and now as we tour the Belgian countryside.
Until then,
-Rhonda