It's busy

The classics are in full swing now, so time is at a premium. Photographer Jon Devich is staying with me at the moment, which is cool because he is a decent cook. Lucy's Easter visit was short but tres bon and we catched up on all the goss over two days, as well as drinking a coupla beers and eating a massive quantity of the finest Belgian chocolate.

The Ronde was cool: Boonen was right in saying that you have to win it solo. Jeez he was strong.

I done it the day before with I don't know how many thousands of others. Well, I started in Gent and hit the course at the Wolvenberg after about 30 km. Then followed it all the way to the Muur, before turning off and heading back to Gent. 160 km all up in about 5:15, well short of the full 260 km distance, which quite a lot of people do. It's a great ride and a great race, and by about the 9th climb, I was really starting to feel it. But a few dextro energy tablets got me over the rest.

The Koppenberg is nasty, and the Muur is fairly hard too, because it's at the end. I had installed a 27 tooth cog on the back (because I had one and my existing cluster was kaput) and a new 42 tooth chainring, and it was actually quite useful for the steeper climbs. One guy passed me on the Koppenberg in an even smaller gear, and another guy did the same on the Valkenberg. But they both died at the top of the climbs. I needed someone fast to ride with!

Race day on Sunday was a pretty full day - started at 6:30, finished at midnight.

Random notes: Trap Op in 5'10 on the Saturday of the E3 Prijs. And that was with a fairly slow start! I was up to 42 km/h on the false flat in the middle, bridging up to the leaders. No wind either. I think that's our record for that climb.

The sky is blue so I'd better get out on the deadly treadly.