Joe Dombrowski's Euro Cross Camp Diary: Training on cobbles, and the Fire Jump

So another two days have passed since my last update from here in Belgium. Since the race on Sunday my days have consisted primarily of training rides, followed by massage, followed by resting and eating.
 
 

Racing the first local race on Sunday

The riding over here has really been great. Today we rode the "Ardooievold"; this is Geoff's (camp director) favorite local training ride. We rolled out of town and soon found ourselves on the classic twisty, narrow Belgian roads. We hit a section of cobbles and then made a left into the woods. All of the sudden we were dodging mud puddles and storming through fallen leaves. We came back out onto the road and rode back into town to the house. On the way back I took a short detour to the local bakery for a delicous scone.
 
Training on the Belgian Cobbles

 
The food here in Belgium is really top notch. Every morning, the staff gets us fresh baked bread from the bakery across the street and every night El's makes us a delicous meal. Tonight we had spaghetti with pesto, grilled chicken, steamed vegetables and rice.
 
Even with all the structure in our day there is plenty of time for having fun in town. Today we rodes our bikes to the dirt jumps and the skate park across town... just what 'cross bikes were designed for. When we got their we noticed that some of the local kids were on their bikes, riding the jumps. However, these kids had gone above and beyond. They had set up a lawnchair on top of one of the jumps and set in on fire! Really a sight to see.
 
Local kids preparing the fire jump

Tomorrow we are planning to go to the Koppenberg climb and the Tour of Flanders Museum. The real meat of the racing begins on Friday. From there I will race on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Technically juniors are only allowed to only race twice during the week in Belgium, but it looks like we may be able to work around that. I will definitely keep everyone posted once the racing really begins.
 
Hope everyone has a good holiday season.

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