Riding with a World Champ

Peeters and Louisvillians on the Worlds starting grid
at Eva Bandman Cyclocross Park (Photo by Tom Moran)

Yesterday I got to ride with a past World Champion, Bart Wellens, and his up and coming teammate, Rob Peeters. It wasn't a clinic, just a light training ride for them, but it was cool to get a little extra insight on sand and run ups and even line up on the start grid with them. Yes, I beat Mr. Wellens off the line, but he's a self proclaimed "terrible starter". When I called out Mr. Peeters (who is actually a few months younger than me) he made sure to beat me but was only able to drop me to his hip.

The Euros had more easy riding to do and a handful of us had our own Wednesday business to attend to - 2x20min LT intervals. Flower, Dr John, Mitch, and a couple others laid down eight fairly steady but hard laps. It's only logical that the best way to get as fast as the guy beating you is to train with him. We'll see how that works in the coming weeks....

The best part of the day was reading THIS cyclingnews.com article about Wellens, especially the second to last paragraph and his new found respect for the American CX'ers racing in Europe...

"Now I know what it feels like for the US riders to come to Europe - where they don't have all the support and equipment, and you have to travel a lot and you're tired. Now that I know what it's like for them when they come to Europe, I have more respect for the ones that do," he said after the Starcrossed race. -- Laura Weislo, CyclingNews.com