Edward Walsh: When the race ends
Riding through Luxembourg a Rottweiler came running out of the trees and managed to get a hold of my right calf.
by Edward Walsh
When our last race, the ZLM Roompot tour came to an end nearly two weeks ago, our team switched modes and we went from race mode back into training mode. There is a two week gap in our race calendar where we decided to get in a good block of training in preparation for the UCI stage races we have coming up in May.
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The ZLM Tour was a cold and windy race on the coast of the Netherlands, so the first few days afterwards was more damage control as we tried to stop the spread of illness in our team house. Once we were more recovered, the team split up between staying in Tielt-Winge and a house that the team rented in the Ardennes for more structured and hilly training.
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I had to opportunity to travel to the Ardennes where smooth rolling roads greeted us on every ride. It took a few days to get back in the groove of a big training block, after a schedule of hard and day races and then recovering the next it was hard for the first few days. Evan Burtnik and I planned out an awesome route that would take us into Luxembourg and do a lap of Luxembourg City.
That ride was cut a little short and I got a big scare as we approached the city. Coming around a blind left-hand corner in a forest a Rottweiler came running out of the trees and managed to get a hold of my right calf. The owner had him on a leash but it was nearly a hundred metres long. We got the dog to calm down and the owner took good care of me, the bite was not as bad as I had imagined and after seeing a doctor for a cleanup and tetatnus shot, I was back on the bike within the hour. Morale of that story, keep your eyes open and your phone charged. Â
Luckily my training was not hindered by that little event in Luxembourg and I spent the next few days checking out some of the big climbs in our upcoming UCI stage race Fleche du Sud. Luxembourg was one of the most beautiful places I have ever ridden in, although it is the coldest April Belgium/Luxembourg has had in over 30 years, so a little snow and hail greeted us out there. For the second week of our mid-season camp, we were all taken back to Tielt-Winge as the weather in the Ardennes went from bad to worse, snow even had to re-route the WorldTour Liège-Bastogne-Liège. It was hard being back on the trainer last week staring out at the cold rain and hail, but there was plenty of motivation to carry us through. The whole team would be on trainers in the garage talking, singing and smashing intervals together.
When we are in Belgium, it is so easy to get into the life of a full-time racer. We are always looking forward to the next race. Today we are in Frankfurt, Germany for Eschborn-Frankfurt UCI 1.2 U23 race (May 1). We are staying in the same hotel as all the WT pro’s which is pretty cool. The course suits us well and with some big teams here, it will be good fun.
