WORLD CUP KOKSIJDE, BELGIUM

So far this trip has been a blast. We arrived on Thursday morning, gathered our luggage and

headed to Sittard to settle into the house we are staying and to build bikes. We got out for a short ride

in the countryside in the rain. On Friday we all went out together again for an easy spin and got all of our

stuff ready to leave around 8am to head over to Koksijde. Waking up Saturday we found out that there

was an increased terror warning in Belgium and that Brussels was category 4 lockdown, which was the

maximum lockdown, and the rest of Belgium was category 3. Hearing this, we were all somewhat

stunned and worried because the world cup was one of the biggest events that was going on in Belgium,

creating a higher incentive for terrorist to target. Luckily, Koksijde lies on an airforce base, which makes

it a bit safer, but we spent the rest of the day in Sittard waiting to hear if we will race the following day.

Around 9pm we got word that the race director and officials thought that it would be safe for us to race,

wchih was somewhat bittersweet. Of course we all want to race, but to be potentially putting our lives

on the line was concerning.

On race day we got up around 4:30am and left by 5:30am to head to the course. We arrived at

the course and it was freezing out. We had 45 degree drizzling rain and everyone was freezing. When we

went and pre rode the sand on the course was much more ridable than it had been the previous year,

but everywhere inbetween the sand was heavy mud. The race did not end up going to well for me. For

some reason, whether it was travel, or not enough of an opener the day before, my legs felt pretty dead

racing. I ended up getting a bad start because the rider in front of me could not have started any slower

and then I pitted on the first lap to change tires to my Clement LAS file treads. Initially this was a good

idea, but in the mud sections I could not get anywhere with the file treads. I ended up getting pulled a

couple laps down, but we all have those days, unfortunately it had to happen at such a big race. I still

learned a ton and had a good time racing. Looking forward to next weekends races. We have a

Netherlands national race on Saturday and then Hamme B post Sunday.