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   April 23, 2009 Mur de Huy of La Fleche Wallone Since the first week in April, I’ve been racing, training, and traveling with the US National Team in Europe. We’ve been hopping back and forth between Belgium and the Netherlands and even had time for a short trip to the team house in Lucca, Italy. Why, in all this time, haven’t I written about the experience? I don’t have a good excuse, but I finally found some inspiration: the famed Mur de Huy of La Fleche Wallone. La Fleche Wallone is one of the Ardennes Classics, held in the Wallonian region of Belgum, this year in its 12th edition for the women’s race and the 73rd for the men’s. My understanding is that Belgium has two main regions, Flanders and Wallonia, distinguished by the languages spoken (Flemish and French, respectively) and, from my perspective, the terrain: cobbles and flatland in Flanders, constant rolling hills in Wallonia. Not that I have a preference, but I was happy to be able to use my (minimal) French-speaking skills and my climbing legs in Wallonia. Covering 98 kilometers, the women’s parcours is shorter in length than many World Cup races but by no means short on challenges. The first 30 kilometers covers rolling terrain, while the remaining portion of the race offers eight categorized climbs. Each of the climbs is grueling in its own way, ranging in length from 1km to 3km, kicking up to pitches of more than 20-percent, or summiting onto flat roads with no downhill for recovery. The Mur de Huy is the most daunting climb of all. Do not be deceived by its modest length of 1300 meters, because nearly two-thirds of the climb averages 18-percent, with one turn that feels like a wall, and a punishing final few hundred meters where you don’t see the finish until you can hardly see at all. The US National Team for this race included Jessica Phillips, Katharine Carroll, Kristin Sanders, Kacey Manderfield, and me. The race began atop the Mur and the first 20 kilometers required a certain amount of patience despite it being pretty hard. There were a few unfortunate crashes, but everyone on our team stayed out of trouble. At the base of the first climb, I was positioned pretty far back, but I was able to use the wide roads of the climb to work my way toward the front of the group. As I did this, I saw a few riders attack and get a significant gap on the field. Over the radio I heard that it was Ina Teutenberg of Team Columba – Highroad and Trixi Worrack of Equipe Nurnberger, a dangerous duo. When we started the descent, I was sitting in 5th wheel and maintained that position until the base of the next climb, Cote de Haut-Bois at 44km. Nurnberger was keeping an eye on things in front, happy to let a larger gap open with their teammate up the road. As the climb started, I saw an opportunity to bridge to the breakaway, so I cautiously accelerated off the front, got a gap on the field, and started to dig deep. At that moment, as I saw myself getting closer and closer to the breakaway riders, a flurry of who’s who of women’s cycling started to go with me: current World Champion, Nicole Cooke, Marianne Vos, Noemi Cantele, and so on. At that moment, I knew I could not let go, no matter how I felt. I could not possibly let this opportunity pass me by… The move led to a breakaway of 13 riders – very promising but it was lacking the current World Cup leader, Emma Johansson, and Amber Neben, the current Time Trial World Champion. It was also a bit early in the race. We stayed clear of the bunch over the next climb, but when Emma and Amber caught us over the top of the Cote de Thon, things calmed down and came back together. Much of the remainder of the race was a blur of trying to consume the energy drink in my bottles and eat every gel in my pockets in hopes it would make the next climb seem easier. Unfortunately the climbs don’t usually get easier as you get closer to the finish of a World Cup race! Each climb hurt more, as I’m sure it did for everyone else, but when we came to the top of the penultimate climb, the Cote d’Ahin, I was still there, in the thick of the action. The pressure was on: there was a solo rider off the front, a small chase group had formed, and I was in a second group, watching the race go up the road. Most of the riders in my group had teammates ahead, so they were not going to help close the gap. When I found myself deserted on the front, I attacked to draw out the motivated riders, and found some help from a Lotto-Belisol rider. When we got within a few meters of the front group, we made the left-turn onto the descent; thankfully, the pieces came together and our two groups became one. We were the lead pack. When we hit the road leading to the base of the Mur, there was a flurry of bottles, bars, and gels being thrown to the side of the road. No one was interested in carrying a single extra ounce up the hill! Other than shedding excess weight, I tried to relax, conserve precious energy while moving up in the pack, let the team director know that I had made it to the front group, and reassure myself that I would make it… What can be said about the climb to the finish? The noise from the fans lining the narrow, steep, Mur de Huy, drowned out the sound of my gasps for air, made me forget about the pain in my legs, made it hard to hear the thoughts in my head, and kept me looking towards the skies in hopes I would see the finish line. Every pedal stroke hurt more than the one before, so I counted them anxious for the final one. I reached the finish, unaware of my place, but feeling happy to have raced, and raced hard, in one of cycling’s greats. Hours later, after watching the men hit the climb in their race, piling back into team cars, and taking our first break on our drive back to the hotel, we found out that I placed 19th… good enough for 2 points in the World Cup ranking and a well-deserved pizza dinner with the team. This coming weekend we will race twice: Omloop van Borsele on Saturday and Roselare on Sunday. I hope to send out a story about the first part of my trip, soon… but in the mean time, I hope you find a way to enjoy some part of your day, on or off the bike Janel |