Clinton Avery Cyclist

I am back again…. Isn’t it funny how over the New Zealand summer you don’t hear a peep from me, and now with having frequent races my email updates are filling up your inbox’s? Well not quite but I know a few of you were wondering where I had disappeared too and what I was doing for a while.

Well for those that are still wondering, I didn’t do a lot and unfortunately now I am feeling it. I have just been very fortunate that the bad days trying to get my form back haven’t come on the race days. Until I can get back up to full form I hope they don’t come on race days. I am getting there though and hopefully will be back up to full form for my target race in a month…. Paris - Roubaix.

Affligem is a small town just north of Brussels which is where the race started and finished. It was supposed to be 152km but I only clocked 146km so I don’t know where those other Km’s came from. It was still a fairly big race just a little on the shorter side; normally races like this one are around the 180km mark. Being shorter however did not make it any easier for me. I think if it was 180km I wouldn’t have got to the finish. Why? Because three of us in the team (Jens, Yannik and myself) were told one of us needs to be in the early break in case it stays away to the finish, but 1 of us also needs to be in any other break away.

Well unlike normal there was no early break so we were left fighting to be in breaks all day which used a lot of energy. There were a few points in the race where it looked like the break would stick but it kept coming back. There were also times where it looked like nothing was going to stay away and it was going to be a bunch sprint. There were some key points in the race… famous climbs like “de Mur” and “Bosberg” which are steep and cobbled. They both did damage to the peleton but it wasn’t hard enough after them so it all kept coming back together. It all would have been different if there was some wind but there wasn’t any. Not very Belgie like!

Coming into the 4 finish laps, it was one of those times that looked like the finish was going to be a bunch sprint. Not long after that the team cooked it! Not all because of misjudgement, but more because 2 guys from the team were out of the race, 3 of us were starting to feel the hurt from all the attacks and the last guy, Maxim was just doing what he could. The fact still remained though that we missed the only break that stayed away.

With two 14km laps to go, one of our very unhappy directors was standing at the top of the climb yelling at us to get to the front and chase the break away down. Jens is a very good sprinter so bunch sprint would have a higher chance at a result then having 7 guys up the road and no one chasing. I made my way to the front getting there at the start of the last lap. I wasted no time waiting for the others and began using what legs I had left to chase. We got to the bottom of the climb a couple of km’s later and still no others from the team had joined me. However our director was not happy and I didn’t really want to end up on his bad side so I kept my head down. Over the top when I looked back to see what was happening in the peleton I saw I had about 8 seconds gap with 2 others. I thought to myself stuff it and drove even harder. Next thing we had 15 seconds. As I rode past our director I saw an excited, “this better work” look on his face. He yelled at me the break was 20 seconds up the road. We were working well as the three of us and we got closer and closer to the leaders. Then with 3km to go the other 2 stopped working. Time to go alone I thought or I wont get there, so I attacked them.

1km to go I was absolutely smashing myself but I had 5 second to close. They had by now seen me coming and with the finish approaching they began attacking each other but in doing so the pace was kept high. With 150m to go I had 3m left to close but the sprint had begun. I started sprinting not for a place but just to close that last 3m. In the sprint I managed to close it but unfortunately it wasn’t far enough to come over top of them.

I finished in 8th place and boy was I pleased for it to be finished. Now I think about it and realise that if the race was 1 km longer it would have been a totally different story. I would have closed the gap, been able to recover and then sprinted. But it wasn’t and I finished 8th. I was happy, team was over the moon, so hopefully in the race this Friday my role will be changed to leader apposed to early break. Will see what happens.

That’s all from me for now.

Clinton

Well I think it is about that time again for me to give you all the low down on how things have been going. As you may have read in the previous emails the Tour of Flanders and a couple of other nation’s cups were coming up. Nations cups are exactly what the name says. Races between nations opposed to trade teams. In a way they are kind of like the world champs on a different course as all nations send 6 of their top U23 riders. At least 80% of the nation’s cup peleton will be at the world champs in September. And just in case any of you are confused I have been racing for the NZ team for the last 3 races, not my Belgium team.

Now you have an idea about what we were up against I will tell you about the races. Because there are 3 races that I have to tell you about I am going to write them rather briefly so you aren’t sitting here reading all day. I’m sure a lot of you have better thing to be doing.

If you want to know more about anything don’t be shy to email me, trust me I have plenty of down time up my sleeve, and I can do with having something to do to kill that time.

Ronde Van Vlaanderan (Tour of Flanders) nations cup 1.

This is going to be brief, as it all went down hill for me the night before the race when I couldn’t get to sleep.

I went to bed nice and early to get a good sleep, but when I wasn’t getting to sleep I started to get frustrated and it all went down hill from there. By the time I realised it would be a good idea to take a sleeping tablet (effect of 6 hours) it was to late and it would still be in my system when the race started. I have had bad days after taking sleeping tablets and didn’t want to risk it. Finally at about 4.30am I got to sleep and managed to get 3 hours in before we had to head to the race.

For me, I was feeling good at the start, but with no sleep it didn’t take long to turn bad. I got slower and slower and slower until I pulled out after 100km.

I didn’t even get to ride any of the cobbles.

So that’s all I have to say about that.

La cote de Picardie Nations cup 2

This was a better race for me. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice and took a sleeping tablet as soon as I went to bed. I woke up in the morning feeling good that I had had a good sleep.

I was feeling really good riding to the start of the race, but that could have had a lot to do with the Mags I had got from my belg team to ride. A pair of Easton EA90 wheels. Carbon deep dish. Really fast.

Anyway I wasn’t backing myself to last the 180km as that would be the longest I have ridden since last year, so I had decided to play it safe and just ride good position in the peleton so when it split in the cross wind I was in the front. Rather then doing my usual and trying to go with the early break. It paid off. Every time it went in the gutter, which with the nature of the course and wind was most of the race, I was in a good position and was never caught up behind the split. Coming into the 2 finish circuits there was maybe 60 out of the 140 starters left, and unfortunately I was the only kiwi. I was left stranded with the options of how to finish the race. The finish circuits were the hardest part of the race as they had two 1.5km climbs and the wind in a 17km lap. Anyway I survived the first lap and was still with the leaders. I also survived the first climb and the wind of the second lap. But the last climb with 10km to go was where the attacks got laid down. I was climbing ok when the tempo stayed the same, but as soon as it changed with the attacks I was suffering. Eventually the rubber band broke and I cruised to the finish with a few other riders. The form was coming back I just need to finish it off now. It was also good to get 180km in the legs again.

ZLM Tour Nations cup 3

I started with the best sleep I had all week and I had a feeling it was going to be a good day. I had no excuse as to why I wouldn’t perform other then the fact I had to run spokies (box rim wheels) as the front carbon mag was buckled from someone’s foot going in the spokes in Picardie. Anyway not really an excuse.

We started the race the slowest I have ever started a race before. Maybe because the blustery block head wind was scaring people from attempting the early break. We cruised for 25km, then just before we turned left onto a big open exposed cross wind section of road I saw the Dutch team roll to the front. I knew s*** was about to hit the fan so I moved forward too. Sure thing in the gutter the race went and it didn’t take long for there to be 30 rider left in the front group. I read the race and it paid off, I was still with the front. At about the 70km mark everyone had stopped driving and unfortunately a lot of the race came back together.

It was back to a fight to stay well positioned. Every section of cross wind it got put in the gutter and blown to bits, the only problem was as soon as we turned out of the cross wind they would stop driving and the effort put in to break the race up was a waste of time. This kept happening and the fight to stay at the front was getting harder and harder as everyone could see the pattern. In the end I got fed up with it, But being the only kiwi again I was limited with my options. I was still feeling good at the 130km mark so for the last time on my watch they put it in the gutter. When they sat up at the end I attacked, and like I thought would happen the pace stayed up while they chased me. When they caught me and sat up so I attacked again and the same thing happened. The third time someone else attacked and took two others with him. I let them get 10seconds then I hit it across and took two others with me. The 6 of us worked well and for a moment it looked like it may work. The French were chasing hard as they weren’t represented. It caused a group of 14 to slip away. With 20km to go the 14 joined us with the peleton nowhere in sight. But the group was not too big and no one wanted to work. With 13km to go we were caught by what was left of the peleton. I tried a few more attacks but they kept getting shut down. Coming into the sprint, I had the legs but not the kahunas. There was a lot of road furniture(traffic island, poles etc) inside the last km. I wasn’t game enough to attempt a sprint I wasn’t in a position to contest. I rolled in mid peleton (40 riders)

I know the form is there now I just have to work on the finish.

But ill leave you with that and be back in touch soon

Clinton

Yesterday it was all on. I decided i needed a race for the week to test the legs and see how the form was coming along. There was a nice race in a town called Anzegem which would be a good tester for next weekends tour of Flanders as the course was up and down, nothing any bigger or smaller then what was going to be in Flanders, so it was a good tester. The only difference for this race was going to be distance and there were no cobbles. Tour of Flanders (U23) is 177km with a lot of climbs and a few of them being cobbled. This race was 113km with 2 climbs in every 6.6km lap with 17 Laps.

To make the race harder on me and really test the legs I decided I wasn’t going to sit in the peloton. I was constantly going to try attack, whether I was following someone else’s attack or launching one myself. In doing so I would find out how good my legs were for sure.

The race started, but unfortunately in the fight for the start line I found myself starting at the back. Never mind though as it wasn’t long till I had pushed myself back up to the front. As soon as I got there I attacked. I felt my legs were strong, so I dug it in but half a lap later I was brought back. Away the next attack went and I was straight on the back of it. 2 laps later again we were brought back. I counter attacked over the top of the first climb but didn’t get far as everyone wants to go up the road.

As soon as the lactate cleared I attacked again at the bottom of the 2nd climb of the lap. I took 5 other guys with me but a lap and a half later we were once again brought back. I did this for the whole race. Every time I came back to the peloton I noticed it was getting smaller and smaller so I figured I must have been doing some damage for my hard work.

Coming into the last lap I was still feeling strong so I hit it over the top of the 1st climb taking 2 guys with me, but with a hard chasing group we didn’t get very far. From the top of the last climb it is about 1.5km to the finish so I thought that is where the race is going to be won. It climbs up at a quite fast gradient for about 400m then kicks up for about 100m to an intersection making a hairpin corner. After the hairpin was fast gradient again for about 300m to the top, the perfect place to get away for the finish. I attacked into the hairpin, and drove it with everything I had out of the corner, all the way to the top. I took 4 of the strongest guys in the race with me but another 4 guys good enough to win were chasing us hard.

They got to us and we began driving it to the finish but there were cat and mouse games going on. 300m for me is too far for a sprint but another guy didn’t think so boxing me in against the barriers as he took a train of guys with him up the left of me. The sprint was on but I had to get out somehow. I had to wait till the train had pasted then slip in behind. My sprint went up the left side of the road. I had the legs for the sprint but it was too late and I only managed to get up to finish 3rd. It was awesome to finish there considering the amount of work I had done through out the race. All I can say is the form is there and I hope I can ride that strong for the Tour of Flanders next weekend.
That’s all from me,
Clinton