4th August 2006: Berlare - Belgium

I was looking forward to today's race, but I had a tetanus shot earlier in the week which left me feeling rather ill and I nearly had to cancel my trip to Belgium, but I went along hoping to feel better before my first event. Boy was I wrong!

First up was an 80km, 28x2.3km lap race. Not the best circuit to do when not at your best as it was short and had a lot of corners to sprint out of! I felt really rough in the first 6 laps but managed to relax a bit and get into the race. A few of us kept trying to get a group away but kept getting pulled back.

An American girl attacked and no one chased her so she rode away to eventually win the race followed by 2 more escapes. I thought I would try and get across but my legs and the bunch weren't having it and kept bringing me back so I settled into the pack to finish for the sprint which was into a nice headwind.

Half the bunch had been dropped before the finish so everyone was pushing for position - including me - but when the sprint was in full flow. I got cramp in my right hamstring so I was sprinting on one leg, which was fun! Never had cramp like that before and don't want it in a hurry again.

So I finished in 16th place and was not impressed with how I felt so went home to bed, hoping to feel better for tomorrow's race.

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