The first night is over, and we are still up-right, but it's been a tough one. We're the only team that had to fly over 9 hrs to get here. All the others drove from around Europe. The lads are tired. Very tired. Barlevav has a Bronchial problem, and Daniele is stiff from the flight from Vancouver.
Jackie is going well, and will start to go by night #3. But it is difficult to go home after the first night being the only team who hasn't scored any points. On 4 different occasions in different races, both Barlevav (BBQ) and Jackie contested sprints and came in 5th and empty handed every time. It's difficult to sprint so hard and get nothing. It's like 4th place in the medal count. It means nothing.
Every night is the same program, starting with a points race, followed by a two man flying lap. Daniele actually broke the track record, but that was then broken several times after he went. The first 100 lap Madison of the night was very rough. They are three man Madisons, and there are alot of people with alot of exchanges going on. BBQ rubbed another rider high in turn one, and the wheels brushed for most of the turn, until they got untangled. It was a very close call. The wheels fell off with 10 laps to go, when they lost 2 laps in 10. 2 laps in ten is insane....but the race was on, and everyone was on the rivet.
Other races went so/so, and the final 120 lap Madison was better. Still went down another 2, but they rode better with better positioning. Kiesse won that, and Bartko and he, had an amazing mano-o-mano in the final of the elimination. Bartko took it, but it went to cameras.
It's cold, and snowing which is unusual here. Crowds were low compared to normal, because of the weather. But that's OK. It's the first night, and we would rather find our feet before the majority pack in on the weekend.
Jack and I had our hands busy changing out gears for Barlevav and Francheschi for the different events. Jackie has two bikes, so he is in the 53 x 16 for the bunch events, and the big meat for the timed events. None of our team did Dernies tonight, so tomorrow he'll get behind the motor. That should be good, as he has the legs right now, but the speeds on the big track are high.
We are pretty knackered. Started at 7pm, and had a couple 15 minute breaks, but pretty much had someone in the race until 11:30pm. Busy down in the cabins, preping riders, but then also changing gears, and preping bikes.
Will send more update tomorrow. Check the UIV site and the Apeldoorn site for updates. needles to say, we in 13th place out of 13 teams. Hey,.....we're consistent!
In closing,...the bikes are good, the wheels are fantastic, and morale isn't bad, all things considered. Most of the Euros are watching us from a distance, with wry smiles. You can tell what they're thinking..."Man...75 years ago you guys were the kings of this shit...what the flock of pigeons happened?"
We'll win them over one by one over the next few nights.
Till tomorrow,
Chop.
