Happy Easter to you all!

Finally, it seems that summer is coming. Even though we are not in a t-shirt / shorts phase yet, it is looking very promising. Wind is still pretty chilly but temperatures are quite near ten degrees Celsius every day.

Training camp went pretty well. Riders schedule included running, mountain biking, stair climbing and gym. It was pretty hectic but surely worth a while. Truth to be told: I was pretty tired already at the start of the camp. Week before had also been tough with long rides and time trial tests. Every winter I have the feeling that : this is as much and as hard I can train, and every year I will find out that again I went longer and harder than before. Hopefully this season it will also show. Teams main goals for this season are later this summer so I am not so worried about that fatigue in my legs. Next Saturday we will have our first race here in Finland. It is pretty flat profile, suitable for a mass sprint. Unfortunately our sprinter Matti as well as the major part of the roster has been ill with a flu for last few days. It remains to be seen how much effect that will have in our condition. Hopefully we can still perform well in the race. After Saturday there are couple of time trial-and track races in teams schedule before the next road race.

Next weeks blog comes from different rider so best of luck to you all for this spring. Ride safe.

Cheers,

Ville

The First video from my new abode in the Alps. Again out and about on the roads around (and above) Grenoble in France. I’ve included a useful guide in here to for all them folk who like there grub!

A long wait ended this Saturday when Finnish road season finally kicked off with Klimcheffskjy memory race. Circumstances anyway could have been better. It was very chilly with 4 degrees and stormy wind blowing 15-20m/s. With this kind of weather it was clear that the peloton would shatter to pieces all over the road. Crucial breakaway happened already in the second lap with a small bunch of riders. From that breakaway, four men lasted till the end. Sadly for us our only guy was not in that breakaway. A nasty flu kept the rest of our team away from the start line. By leading the main bunch we still got good advert and attention even though the cost of that was not finishing the race.

Team now has couple of weeks time to test out new gear with couple of track races and time trialling before the next road race. By then we have the full roster healthy and running. We are hoping that teams first win comes soon. That would ease up some pressure from the riders and give more self confidence going towards our main goals this season.

Results

1. T.Liias TuUl 02:04:10
2. U.Utar KCT st
3. G.Leppik KCT st
4. J.Rissanen CC st
5. J.Mäkelä Team Continental 02:08:03
6. M.Göös KaTa st
7. A. Utar KCT 02:08:20
8. J.Timmerbacka Chebici-Isku st
9. T.Hämeenaho Team Continental st
10. P.Leppänen Team Continental st

The mid week classic. Not a great day weather wise but turned in to a great race.

Here we have the usual cycling bit, race, pits but on top of that I managed to get myself in to the after race party. Held for all them involed and important people that have some conectio to the race, from organisers to sponsors. Started off all nice and civilized but after a few drinks things turned a bit Euro pop. Then as my hosts good friends with Hans de Clurcq who use to ride for lotto and Domo teams and is not the race director for Gent- Wevelgem, invited us to the smaller and even more crazy after party party.

Out playing on the roads used by several big pro races in Belgium, including The Tour of Flanders.

I thought I’d give you a rough idea of what the cobbles are like, you just can’t understand from watching it on TV. I learnt that much during my short stay in Belgium this year. They’re just nuts, even after a short while on the cobbles you start to feel it. Well I did but then again I’m not the most muscular fella up top.

The day was a little damp and hitting a few of the cobbled hills early, it was a little on the tough side. And I can asure you that you wouldn’t want to come off on them. But it dried out and they became not as fearsome.

My hat (or helmet) goes off to the pro’s out there that make them look easy. I hope the video gives you a rough idea on how hard they can be. So rock n cobble away folks!

Belgium part two, the big day for the pros. One of cyclings classics. The Tour Of Flanders. A cold and misty start to the day, with it taking it’s time to brighten up.

The whole day was amazing, starting early, too early for me but worth it. A quick pick up of some friends at a hotel turned into a bit of equipment gazing as Team Silence/ Lotto were staying there and getting ready for the day.

Then on to the pits, with a pass I managed to get a close-up look at the bikes and see what the pro’s would be using, then jumped into a car and time to chase the race.

The whole day seemed to fly around with it ending in a Belgium win, the place went nuts, lots of Belgiums famous beers were had by many. And long into the night too.

As ever I hope you enjoy this video.

Dave

Jumping in the funbus and heading to Europe. First stop Belgium, for the Tour of Flanders cyclosportive.

I’ll teach you how to make your car get a few extra miles out of the tank with a secret not many know, a quick guide to Brugge and then it’s the ride.

This is just part one of what’s going to be at least a trilogy of Belgium episodes. As so many crazy and awesome things happened in such a short space. So there should be yet another vid up on here in no time to follow on from this one.

Yet again hope you enjoy it.