Jon Myers

Be very careful what you wish for. I prayed for a good old slogger,

but somebody upstairs took me a little too literally. After Loenhout's

1

in 1,000 high-speed 'crosses (easily the fastest I've done), the

pendulum swung way back to make Hooglede the 1 in 1,000 slow-speed

'cross

(easily the slowest I've done). Consider some stats. Even though the

lap

was long at 3.2k, we only raced 6 laps, with Nijs going over an hour.

(Under normal conditions, we'd have done 8 or 9--still a long lap.)

The other Sven was 14th at over 4:30min. down. I was 36th at 11:03

down.

Retarded....There was so much running. I dismounted over 10 times per

lap, probably running at least 4min. per lap, and on average each lap

took me just less than 12min. (That's right, I was almost 2min. per lap



slower than the leaders.) The difference between riding or running

this ridiculous muck--a simultaneous mix of exceedingly slick and sticky



mud and grass--was a lot of power. I like to consider myself a

specialist in this type of shit, but it was too much for me. I just

couldn't

get the traction I needed to move forward on the flat sections. Sure,

the tire selection I had at my disposal was not choice, but I wasn't the



only guy in that boat. No excuses....At the end of lap 2, I separated

myself from those close (which, interestingly, included most of the

Americans, like Wicks, Baker, Gallagher, and Powers, plus a Slovak

rider;

at this point, Trebon had all ready crashed out, and Wicks was about to

do the same; Page didn't start due to injury), and I was then by

myself. I could kinda see some riders up ahead, but looking forward was

made

difficult due to the rain and mud splatter, the treacherous--even

dangerous--course conditions, and the huge crowd. I was shocked and

disappointed to hear that I was only in 38th place at this point. I

figured I

was in the top 30 for sure, having passed VanNoppen and some others. I

guess my start was pathetic. Anyway, I shook it off and decided that I

had 40min. to move up, the conditions perfect for just that. But I

didn't. I just couldn't seem to get any momentum, just doing my own

thing

lap after lap. When alone, it's hard to change your habits: you get

into a rut, so to speak. Without other riders around, your lines and

decisions are not challenged, so you lose the forward-thinking

mentality.

Normally, I'm all right when dealt this hand, always able to think in

fast-forward. I just failed today. I only moved up 2 more spots, both

due to abandons.... Even though I was the first U.S. rider and probably

locked a spot on the team, I'm left far from satisfied. Athletes have

to live at once in the moment and think and plan for the long-term.

Today, I feel like I should have at least beat the 4 guys who were less

than 1min. ahead, and I should have absolutely stayed within 8 or maybe

9 minutes down. Oh well....Baker and Gallagher finished on the lead

lap, but since they were "on the second page" their real times were not

recorded: they were given the same time as the Slovak who was behind

me. I don't think they were any more than 1min. off my pace. Powers

just got doubled....'Twas a tough couple of days for the top U.S.

'crossers. Page is out for 2 weeks due to an injury he sustained

Thursday at

Middlekerke, where he finished 3rd in a small C2 race. Trebon crashed

on the first lap today, injuring his elbow and shoulder. Wicks crashed

on the 3rd lap, dislocating his pinky finger. I had a good one, too.

On the third lap as I narrowly closed on a few guys, I got sideways at

a mud-to-brick transition, t-boning a huge steel barricade at maybe

20mph, knocking it and spectators over. Yes, I damaged my bike and my

body. Since it was so cold, my hand made it through the race but is now



nicely sprained. Sweet!...As usual, Jeremy had a nice way with words to



sum-up the day's events: "I gotta start going to church

again."...Well, I gotta go. Another day I will tell of the false start,

my first

drug control piss, etc. Tomorrow, I'm racing at the GP Sven Nijs in

Baal.

It's a GVA and Cat.1. That'll be my 5th race. Like the others, it'll

be on live TV, and it'll be huge. There's a small C2 in Luxembourg

tomorrow as well, but that will not attract many (if any) of the big

guns.

Monday will mark the first comparatively small race we'll do, and

Wednesday will be similar. Both are C2's, but they'll be well-attended.



Last year I was able to finish in the top 20 of both, so we'll see....

--Erik