Soigneur Dad goes to Belgium and becomes spectator dad

I've been remiss, but it's time for a new update.

So, Jake's 3 week adventure racing in Europe is halfway done.  4 Belgian "Kermesses" have been a learning experience by fire.  A Kermesse is a local race, typically a circuit about 5km (3.2) miles long around some small town.  Jake is racing in 15-16 year old category races,  a category that the Belgians call "Nieuwelingen." The fields can be very big, and they are as super aggressive as we had heard. He has been pushed off the road twice (into the bushes one of them) and gotten a face full of mud and cow poo.

Poo face and drool chin after a race in the Belgian rain

On Sunday, August 11th, me, Loren, and Liam made our way from Amsterdam to Heers, Belgium.  (side note, the driving is awesome. Everyone goes fast but stays to the right lanes except to pass).  Heers is a very small town in the eastern part of Belgium.

In advance, we had been emailing with the parents of Cooper Willsey, from Vermont, who would also be making their way to the race after spending a few days in Luxomburg.  We decided to meet at the local pub that was the start/finish/registration point for the race.  After some minor GPS issues and missed turns, we got there around 12:30 for the 3pm race.  The Willseys got there just moments later.

So the "pub" was very small and very much locals only.

Crowd around the pub

The local masters cycling club was in there having their post ride beers when I walked in to ask if it was the right place and where we could get lunch.  They didn't sell food but pointed us toward the only restaurant in town.  That place was occupied by the sunday lunch crowd who very much scowled at us.  So we at outside (it was a really nice day).  A nice young couple from the Netherlands helped translate for us with the local waitress.  The most interesting thing was the "hamburger" that Liam and Cooper's younger brother Camden ordered, it looked like this 

The "Hamburger"

Service in Europe is slow and we finally had to track down our waitress to pay the check.  Then we drove back down to the start area and parked.  It really was not much different than any race in the US.  There were parents dealing with bikes and setting up to take pictures (it's not just me).

parents are the same everywhere

We saw the boys starting to ride around a bit.  It was exciting to see Jake in his USA Cycling jersey on his bike with USA on the downtube.  I took some pictures (because I had promised other parents and just because) but Jake objected.

damn paparazzi

The boys lined up.  They did gear roll out before the race.  Jake got a good spot on the front line.

The families sat by the pub to wait.

Liam, Loren, Cynthia Willsey & Camden Willsey

 I went down to the first corner to get some video, and I talked to the USAC soigneur, Vigo (I think that was his name).  He said that the first lap was supposed to be neutral, but that clearly went out the window within the first 100 meters.

After just one lap there was already a small breakaway group that had Jack Maddux and Gage Hecht, and Adrian Costa was bridging up.  Jake, Cooper and Marcello Cesario were in the main pack.

By the end of the second lap, the break was 7 boys and had a sizable time gap.  I lose track of the laps, but we moved up the hill to see some different action and after another lap maybe 2, Cooper went off the front with 2 other boys on the hill.  They were almost 2 minutes behind the lead group.

Jake and Marcello stayed in the pack, which was shedding boys off the back.

 We were watching up at the top of the hill, and talked to some of the locals who were watching. It was quite the event, with people having beers in their front yard to watch.  Liam was "bored" and read a book.

party in the front yard

 

At some point, maybe 7 or 8 laps in, the ambulance went up the hill, and we said, "oh, that can't be good."  Well, the next time around, the pack came through and no Jake.  You can hear me on the video say "you've got to be kidding me."

Well, maybe 20 seconds later Jake came up the hill, dropping some boy that was trying to follow him.  I encouraged him to make it back to the field.  But the next time around he hadn't been able to close and the officials stopped him.  Oh, he was pissed off.  I was able to get out of him that some boy slid out in front of him and Jake hit him and flipped over the handle bars (the boy ended up in the ambulance).  Jake wasn't badly hurt but was very frustrated and angry to have been knocked out of the race.  Now, the next lap they rang the bell early for the field because the leaders were about the catch them.
In the end, Jack and Gage broke away on the last lap and Jack won.

Gage and Jack after the race

Adrian was 4th.  Cooper's little group became 5 or so boys and Cooper was 10th.  Marcello finished just off the back of the field after last lap attacks, 24th.
All of the videos are collected here: Heers Kermesse Video Collection
It was really tough to have to watch Jake's frustration.  He's had terrible luck.  Now, we did find out the next day that because of the crash they didn't count him as DNF, but rather scored his place and even gave him the same time as the main pack.  So he was 26th, and he sent me a text message that he won 5 Euro (he said they noted "crash" next to his name, so must have treated it as essentially a free lap and placed him at the back of the field).  It's not going to make up for the stupid crash, but it must help a little.

I've stolen a few photos of the boys that USA Cycling's Billy Crane has posted on Instagram.  Otherwise, communication is sparse.

Dirt Roads, Flat Tires, Castles -- riding in Europe (photo by Billy Crane)

they will do a Team Time Trial at West Vlaanderen

On Friday we will go see Jake and boys in the West Vlaanderen Cycling Tour, a 3 day, 4-stage UCI stage race.  In that race, they'll wear these -- pretty cool.

A Quick Recap of a Fortnight -- Church Creek TT/Reston & Tysons

Jake started his own blog so I didn't feel compelled to say anything after last weekend.  You can find it here http://thesharpenedelbows.blogspot.com/

From my perspective, last weekend was a nightmare.  The last minute problem with the disc wheel was terrible; thank goodness I didn't ride over with Liam because Jake never would have even made it to the start. 
Here is Liam finishing

 Sunday was Reston.  I was hoping Jake would finally have a good race to get a little positive energy back.  I saw him go by in great position but then didn't see him come back by, but then he was rolling toward the pit.  I ran up to the pit and he seemed to be ok.  They put him back in the lead group.  He came around in good position again, but one lap later...no Jake.  Ugh.  I waited and nothing so I started walking briskly toward the crashy corner.  I saw a guy carrying his bike and asked if there was an HPC kid down.  His response was that "there are like 15 guys down."  Ugh.  So I started jogging down there.  When I got to the corner, I didn't see him.  I was about to go back but crossed the road and there he was in the cop car

He was in the cop car because the chairs were all occupied.  He was pretty shaken up actually, as the adrenalin kicked in and he was a bit queezy when they scrubbed his wounds.  So I brought the car around.  He was ok, but still.   We spent some quality time that afternoon applying tegaderm and gauze.

Today was Tysons.  We wanted him to attack for training.  It was good.  He attacked on the lap 2

Then he tried again mid-race tried to bridge to a break but got shut down by NCVC.  It started to rain so he sat in the back.  He clearly wasn't hurting though because he was talking to the guy next to him while riding up the hill.   There was a crash ahead of him on turn 1 of the final lap, which gapped him (along with a bunch of others).  He came back around with the others and sprinted with a guy just to get in the effort, which was good.  He rode to and from the race.  It was pretty positive.  He felt good and got in some attacks.

Now we're packing for Nationals  We'll drive to Madison WI tomorrow.  Hopefully it will take something like 13 hours (including stops).  More reports from there.  Based on our last 2 years, we're not over-worrying about nationals.  Yes, it's important, but it's also a crap shoot.  It's so chaotic. We'll see how it goes.

USA Cycling Taps Jake, Twice: Dad nearly has a heart attack

Let's see if anyone reads this when I don't link to FaceBook.

Two weekends ago, on June 2nd, we were in Manhattan for Loren's brother's wedding.  Sunday morning, I'm sitting on the bed in Loren's and my room when I get an email from Jake (who is in the boys' room across the hall).  It is an email from Geoff Proctor, inviting him to attend the USA Cycling Cyclocross Development Camp in Montana in July!  Jake comes running into our room.  It is unbelievable.  Simply unbelievable.  Jake is one of 17 boys between 15 and 18 who are invited.  Geoff Proctor runs Euro Cross Camp and I guess the USA Cycling junior cyclocross team for Worlds.  The camp is from July 21st to 26th.

Ok, wow.  So the CX camp starts the Sunday of Cascades Classic.  Ok, well, Geoff understands and in fact another boy, Sam Rosenberg from Oregon, is doing the same thing.  The plan was they would race Cascades then fly to Montana after the final stage Sunday, getting there at midnight.

This is absolutely incredible.  An unbelievable honor and opportunity.  Thanks to Geoff Proctor for giving him this chance.

This little guy is going to CX camp

But, then, today, at 8AM-ish, I checked my comcast.net email, and there was an email from USA Cycling inviting Jake to attend the 15-16 year old European Camp in August!  I literally screamed "oh my god" and ran upstairs and shoved my iphone in front of Loren, who was brushing her teeth, and she screamed, and then my heart started racing faster than in any race.  Unbelievable.  

Jake is one of 6 boys invited to the August camp (6 others are going in July).  It is a 3 week trip from July 29th to August 19th.  They will stay in the USA Cycling team house in Sittard, Netherlands, and they will do 4 Kermesses (local races around/through little towns) and then they will go to the USA House in Izegem, Belgium, and do the West Vlaanderen Tour stage race (4 stages in 3 days).  They will ride USA Cycling team bikes, the whole deal.

Here's the schedule:

        3 Aug: kermesse Voorshoven
        4 Aug: kermesse Drieslinter
        7 Aug: kermesse Rukkelingen-Loon
        11 Aug: kermesse Heers-Bovelingen
        16-18 Aug: West Vlaanderen Cycling Tour (UCI 2.17 IC)

Well, so, today was crazy.  I had to cancel the trip to Oregon because that would be too much travel.  Then re-book Jake to fly to Montana from DC.  USAC will book his travel to/from Europe.

I have to thank Sue Hefler for her coaching and support of Jake.  She submitted some critical testing data that I think had to tip the scales for him.  Also, everyone else who has supported Jake, like Bicycle Outfitters/Trek, Van Dessel cx bikes, and all our friends and family in the local racing scene.   

And this guy is going to Europe to face the Belgian Hammer

Killington Stage Race 2013 -- Report from Ice Station Zebra

May 28, 2013 -- A long weekend in which a team of juniors drives 8 hours for Memorial Day weekend and encounters freezing rain and snow.  Too much to tell everything.  Here are some highlights of the journey

Thursday night: I'm driving me, Jake and Ben DiNapoli, but we can't fit into my CR-V.  So, we need to take a bike, trainers and wheels to Dan Klaussen's house to put in his van.  9:30 at night when Ben arrives it is pouring down rain when I take stuff to Dan.

The Weather: early in the week, the forecast was for 60s and sun.  Sweet.  By Wednesday they were calling for low 50s and rain.  Not pleasant but, ok.  By Thursday, bets were off and they were saying 40s and rain.  So, luckily I had thrown practically everything in a bag (plastic rain jacket, Jake's full winter shoe covers, etc)  Oh, if only it had been as warm as the 40s.

Friday: Me, Jake, and Ben are up at 5:30 and on the road at 6AM.  The CR-V is jammed

We make good time, but the temperatures were dropping as we head north, and it starts raining.  It looks like this when we get up to NY and then Vermont

Rutlidge VT on the other side of mountain from Killington (2pm)

Southern NY

Highlights from the drive up: we introduced Ben to Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog .... and the Smiths.

There was still snow on the slopes when we arrived.  Me, Jake, Ben, Dan and Luke all stayed in a condo.  We went for a 45 minute ride Friday afternoon.  It was misty/drizzle and 40s, but ok.  By later in the evening, this is what the weather forecast looked like for the Cat 3 race Saturday.

So, Friday night, Dan & I went through all the clothes and outwear to put together a plan for each boy.  Dan & I luckily both brought our Castelli rain jersey.  Luke would wear Dan's rain jersey and multiple long underlayers.  His race was at 9am, when it was to be 40 and rain.  It would be 2 laps (37 miles).  Jake and Ben were both going with multiple long base layers, castelli rain jersey, rain jacket, and HPC jersey over the rain jackets; neoprene gloves with latex gloves inside; embro on legs under tights or leg warmers; winter shoe covers (I checked; local shops sold out of shoe covers).

Luke did well and got 3rd, with Andy Fleming 5th.  But by the second lap they were soaked and Luke's hands so frozen he couldn't shift!

Dan & I got Jake and Ben down to the start area and set up on trainers under cover.  It was Brutal. Freezing. This is what they looked like at staging:

Shane (in cognito) Jake, Ben

At sign in we were told they were shortening the stage to 3 laps down from 4 (it was supposed to be 71 miles).  Hypothermia among earlier racers was making the officials realize they couldn't have people out there that long.  Here they came through the feed zone on the first lap.

Everyone was there (although I couldn't ever see Shane because he was in his thermal jacket).  I drove backward on the course to see them again.  I caught them along the stream

I rushed and got back to the feed zone for lap 2.  Jake was well positioned and at ease.


But then we heard that the race was shortened to only 2 laps and that they were on their way to the finish.  So I started driving toward the finish.  But a few kilometers from the finish, there is an HPC rider pulled off holding up his hand -- crap, it was Jake.  SRAM neutral support gave him the junior rear wheel and he was able to finish.  He had hit a severe pot hole (the roads were horrible).  He said the guy in front of him yelled "shit" and Jake only had time to get the front wheel up over the hole.  His rear Ksyrium wheel looked like this:

This sucked because Jake says he was well positioned to contest the finish.  Luckily, the race officials gave him the same time on General Classification as the field since the mishap occurred close enough to the 3km to go.  We shoved Jake and Ben into the car, I helped Shane peel, literally, off his wet jacket, and we drove straight up the mountain to the condo to warm up.  I did time in the laundry room with clothes in the dryer, and we hung other stuff over the floorboard heaters.  We went to Luke's podium presentation, and by dinner time, it was windy and driving snow outside.

fuzzy iphone

G, Dan, Andy, Shane, Ben

Jake and Susan Scoggin

Everyone came to our condo for dinner (Shane & his mom were staying in another condo and Pierre, George Schultz, G, and Andy were in another).

iphone panorama mode

Saturday was the big climbing day, and it was early.  Cat 3 race started at 9am. It was going to be 33 and possibly still snowing.  Luckily, the snow was stopped, but the cold was not.  Jake was able to put the rain jacket in his pocket and not wear the winter shoe covers.  But of course it started to rain as they pulled out:

This isn't too bad

 

Me and Susan Scoggin made our way backward on the course to get to the feed zone, which was mid-course (it was a 63 mile loop with 1 small climb early, then a BIG climb mid-lap then finishing on the big climb up to the ski area near our condo).  It was cold and windy at the feed zone, but luckily no rain.  Some pretty country scenery:

Water falls were flowing

 

Risk of Moose at the feed zone

 

Ben and Shane were in the front group (which was definitely smaller), which lead me to curse a bit that Jake was missing.  Jake was with 4 guys 1-2 minutes back.

Video shows Ben and Shane come through.  I hit stop before the cursing luckily.

So I rushed back to the finish line, up at the ski area.  THERE WERE PEOPLE SKIING!  It was very cold and rain and sleet were coming and going.  Me and Susan Scoggin waited:

Susan Scoggin at the finish; she deserves more credit

 

skiing (although conditions must have been terrible)

Shane and Ben came through together about 5 minutes behind the winner.

Notice how "The Beast" sign is pointing at Shane

Jake was farther back.  He had a hard day.  The 4 guys he was with wouldn't work together to chase so he rode basically the final 25 miles solo to finish.
Luke did well, finishing 3rd to keep his place on GC.  Andy was just behind him, and 13 year old G was 9th.  Here's a photo of G going past the condo on the way to the final 2km of climb to the ski area.

At the condo, I made all the gear changes to set up his TT bike and cleaned out a cassette. Jake watched Remember the Titans.
We all pre-drove the Time Trial Course after dinner. I tried to get some photos of the lovely views but the iphone didn't deal well with evening light

 

Sunday, the sun came out and the temperatures rose to the 50s in time for Jake's time trial.  Unfortunately there was a serious head wind.  We had a little excitement as Dan called just before we were to leave.  The officials wanted the 2nd number (tech guide said just one number), so we drove fast to get Luke's second number just 2 minutes before he started.  He did well, finishing 5th in the TT and keeping his 3rd in the GC in the Category 4/5 race.  So kudos to him.

Jake got on the trainer to warm up.

oh so that's what the top looks like

Brewery by start

Jake ready for start

 

Jake on the road

Ben and Shane started 10 minutes later

Jake did ok.

Still needs to work on TT position and power.  Shane crushed it and was 7th.

Some very pretty views on the ride home.  I had to refer to the Friday morning photo to remember how I got everything in the car.

If it had been like this the whole time, it would have been entirely different

 

It took us closer to 8.5 hours to get home, with stop for lunch and dinner.  Traffic really wasn't bad other than in lower New York.  After that we flew.  A long weekend.  A tough weekend.  Luke and Andy and G did great in the Cat 4/5 race.  Dan was good company as soigneur dad, and really was critical for helping with Ben and Jake.  A team effort.