It’s been a bit of a shock to the system coming to the cold weather and snow in Europe.
The first race here for me was a tough one with freezing weather, wet technical roads, gutters, cobbles and a 200 strong competitive field all wanting to ride at the front. This first race, Ronde van Drenthe did not go well for me but I believe it takes a race or two to find my legs. Youcef and Johann did well by finishing, as only 32 riders completed the course.
The snow here has been a little different to South African weather. It is really cool to see the country side and towns covered in white. We have had two races that have been cancelled due to the snow and bad weather conditions. I am impressed with the race organisation when it comes to these decisions as there are no ifs and buts; they declare it unsafe with plenty of notice.The staff have been great here preparing us riders and the equipment for the races and during day to day activities.
The snow and ice outside makes it impossible to train safely on the road so we have training sessions on the indoor trainers with hard intervals prescribed by our coach. These hard sessions are to maintain our fitness. We also do core strength sessions as per our normal routine. Yesterday we visited the Centrum Ronde Van Vlaanderen Museum as a team to get out the house and have a change in scenery. This was a great team bonding experience where we saw many interesting things and shared many laughs.
I am looking forward to some good weather and the upcoming races.
Bradley Potgieter
