Hello all you Centurians,
I have been in Belgium now since the start of February and i am settling in nicely. I am staying in a different part of Belgium this year in the famous town of Oudenaarde. Also i have a new team this season called Terra Footwear- Bicycle Line which is a top competition team, being part of one of the best amateur teams in the country means we have a good racing calendar with plenty of stage races in Europe and alot of uci 1.2 one days aswell. We are riding BH bikes which seem to be nice and stiff which is a bonus.
I am living in specific cycling accomadation which is 1km from the centre of the town, my flat mates for the season are Daniel Patten, Patrick Clarke(team mate) , Mike Barnes and Emma Trott. This means we have a busy house but is a nice relaxed atmosphere so we all get on. The Norwegian ladies team also stay opposite us which is good for the morale!
My first race of the year was a true Belgian experience rain,wind and the gutter! It had 200 riders starting . I managed just to hang in and finish in the peloton which i was happy about as it was my first race of the year. Since then i have done 2 Uci races (omloop het wassland and dwars door het hageland) these races are good for experience and to test yourself against the pros! I have also been doing a few U23 races over here and feel that as my form gets better i can get a good result in a few of these.
My riding is also alot more organised now i have a proper coach called Luc Wante who provides me with all my training and a massage every week. He coaches some top pros including Sep Vanmarcke (garmin barracuda), so he is a well recognised coach and i believe 100% in him.
I have spent some days on the other side of Belgian catching up with another Centurian Mark Mcnally and neo pro Andy fenn. It was good to see everyone again and have a few cheeky cafe stops etc! Life In Oudenaarde is great with a chilled culture . There is nothing better than sitting in the town centre drinking coffee and watching the world go by after a hard day on the push bike!
Im not so great at writing so i will stop rabbiting on.
My life in the next month or so will be mainly hard training and racing on the weekends to hopefully build my form up for some of the hard stage races in the summer months.
Keep pedalling
Mike Gregg