Pagina's

dinsdag 23 juni 2015

Raid des Hautes Fagnes

Saturday we prepped everything for the most beautiful marathon in Belgium, 95% offroad and lots of challenging single trails.

In the afternoon we arrived and went for a ride, the tracks were not dry and the forecast was not in our favour.




We decided to ride the 92 KM instead of the long distance, which was 115 KM. In preparation of The Zillertal Bike race, we could not afford to be more  than 8 hours on the bike.
During the night the floodgates went open, and we had a lot of rain coming down. This remembered us two years ago, when tracks were changed in rivers,...
I cannot forget to mention, we had a logee that night. Tom De Groote from Zaes Rotwild Team found nowhere to spent the night, so he stayed over that night. Although he' from Bruges, je eats halal. Thanks for the chocolate cake Tom.



At 6 o'clock we got up and it was still raining a bit. Faces were not smiling during breakfast.
For the start, weather conditions were dry, but the sky did not predict anything good.
Sara went away like a bullet and I could only catch up after 60' of race. BTW, after one hour, I got only 15km on my GPS. This was going to be a long day.
We raced with a little group, and had a good pace although the bad and sometimes tricky conditions.
After 50 KM we reached the highest point of the day, and it also started raining harder at that point. Temperature dropped, wind was icy, and no woods surrounding us at that ppint.
I got so cold again, my hands and feet gave up, and I was obliged to quit the race.
Sara carried on with Peter Van Campfort, and I rode back tot the finish by a shortcut. Near to hypothermia I reached the camper.

There was some time left before I could go wait for Sara to finish. Cleaned up myself and my bike, and had a chat with some other riders who didn't finish the race either.
Sara finished in a time just under 6 hours, completely soaked, and mentally down. No podium this time, but a 5th place after a hard week in the training schedule.


Once again The Raid Des Hautes Fagnes knows his heroes, and his quitters.


Tough race, rough conditions, but the best organised marathon in Belgium. 
Apparently a lot of advertising was done, because lots of foreign bikers were present this year.
We are not looking forward to next year now, but I'm sure when time comes, we will be eager again to be there.


Thanks to our sponsors, friends and organisers for a great weekend.
   

Geen opmerkingen:

Een reactie posten