Nationals are here...

It’s been announced for a long time now that the National Championship 2018 would take place on one of the classic marathon rides in Belgium ‘Raid des Hautes Fagnes’ in Malmedy. Peter and I have road this one in the past in very very very muddy conditions.

In the first announcement about the Championship the women’s race would be on the short distance of 65K and the men’s race on the 117K distance. But we (me and most of the other female riders) were not really happy with this, so the organisation was so kind to change the distance to the 90K course.

Bikes ready to race!

The last few weeks, conditions in Belgium have been extremely dry, so dry this would definitely be the fastest edition of the race since I’m riding longer distances. Nice to ride, but maybe not the best for me, because the other ladies are really fast…

For the special occasion we started separately from the other riders at 9:00 AM. In a little group we attacked the first climb… I hoped they wouldn’t go to hard at the start, but that was wishful thinking. 

Pre-race warm-up

We went up the hill with a group of 6, the first part of the climb I could stay in the group, but I couldn’t keep this high pace for the hole 2K. So I ended up alone an that was pretty much the story of the ride.

The men passing me were riding way too hard to get in the wheel and keep it. 

And the other women in the race were way back. I was riding in 6^th position for the whole race all by myself…

Pushing it to the limit 🚵

I felt good, but I just couldn’t ride harder. In the very last downhill I spotted a familiar outfit. I threw myself down like a stone and took a bit of a risk. When I turned on the road I was in her wheel. It was Sara Van Peer… She looked at me so I gave really everything I had and we sprinted full out to the finish line. It was very close, but she was first…

About 20 minutes after me Peter crossed the finish line… He had to start 10 minutes after me and tried to get to me as fast as possible. But he took a bit too much risks in the downhill with a flat on he’s rear tire. Afterwards he helped another rider who crashed so he never really had the chance to get to me and help me out.

I’m not unhappy with my race, but a 6^th place was just not what I was riding for. Honestly I’m disappointed because I know I have to be able to do better.

Up to the next…