Kingdom of the Kermesse

frenchfighter
frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
edited October 2010 in Pro race
Contador is the Greatest

Comments

  • Very interesting stories.
    Remind when I've got the chance to speak to a scottish pro who has been riding in almost every continent.
  • luckao
    luckao Posts: 632
    Excellent read.
    Turning up to race in Europe was intimidating enough; maybe one of the Belgian kermesses would have been good to start with? But it was a UCI 1.2, Paris–Troyes…?! Off to Paris for my first race, I was already packing it in before I had started…

    When you add in a full promotional caravan, team buses, and Tour de France stage winners just to really top it off, you know that you are going to get your arse handed to you that day.

    Found myself in enough sporting situations, not just cycling, where my ego has been successfully dented by a complete lack of experience.
  • i spent a couple of months racing kermesses this year and they are awesome, i also rode 2 interclubs, the under 27 felche ardennes and another one which had the kemmelberg in it twice, however after chewing my bars for the first hour in both of them i got spat. Saw some bad crashes while i was there, the first kermesse i rode i saw a guy go over the bars on the downslope of a bridge and grind his chin down a bit, in another i saw a guy hit a bollard in the road at about 45kph and fly into the air, next lap we saw in getting into the ambulance with a broken collar bone
  • Johnny G
    Johnny G Posts: 348
    ...the under 27 felche ardennes ...

    Struth, what kind of race is that?

    Typo of the week Ozzy! :D
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Joe Parkin's book Dog in a Hat gives a good appreciation of Kermis racing too.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..