BLACK MARKET RACING STORMS BELGIUM, #1
Over the last couple days (1/9-10/07) members of Black Market Racing packed their bikes and their kits and jumped airplanes for flights to Belgium; the 4th consecutive year that Black Market Racing has made the trip to the ancestral home of cyclo cross racing for the Masters World Cyclo Cross Championships. By Thursday 1/11 they'll be settled into their A-frames at Zilvermeer resort, outside Mol, in northeast Belgium - the home of the Masters Championships the last several years. BMR Team Leader Mark "Howie" Howland is looking forward to another successful cross campaign on Belgian soil in 2007. After a solid 2006/7 season performance in the local Elite category BMR racer Katrina Baumsteiger is set to defend her 2006 Masters World Championship Silver medal earned last January on her first trip to Belgium. Joining Howie and Katrina for his 2nd Belgian campaign is BMR 45A racer Edwin Rambuski. Once the jet lag wears off the three of them will start racing this weekend with a couple local provincial cross races within short drives from Mol. Next week the plan calls for training on the sandy Championship course at Zilvermeer and on the flat roads throughout the countryside in final preparation for the Masters World Championship event on Saturday Jan. 20th. Also along on the trip again this year, in a support role, is Howie's chief accomplice, Janel Lodge. Her official title is rumored to be Head Wine & Beer Steward. When not tending to race related issues Howie will be keeping the team well supplied with chocolate covered waffles and plenty of Nutella. It'll be Edwin’s job to keep the team well caffeinated, while Katrina fends off the legions of adoring fans she attracted last year. The team will finish this year's BMR Belgian Campaign with a third and final provincial race on Sunday the 21st . Meeting the BMR crew at Zilvermeer again this year will be their close friend and one-time nor-cal racer, now France-living, British/American expatriate, Chris Allen. Chris's job is picking the training-ride cafe stops and providing the euro-tunes for the nightly A-Frame parties.
For more info about Black Market Racing, and a few pictures from previous year's BMR Belgian Cyclo Cross Campaigns, check out their website http://www.blackmarketracing.com/
And check back here for race results from Black Market Racing's 2007 Belgian Cyclo Cross Campaign. Thanks, Bruce Lodge
For more info about Black Market Racing, and a few pictures from previous year's BMR Belgian Cyclo Cross Campaigns, check out their website http://www.blackmarketracing.com/
And check back here for race results from Black Market Racing's 2007 Belgian Cyclo Cross Campaign. Thanks, Bruce Lodge
posted by funkdaddy at 8:44 PM
24 Comments:
GO TEAM!
what type of beds will they be sleeping in?
what other foods will they eat?
what other alcohol will they drink?
if we could just be like them!
HOWIE IS GOING TO STORM BELGUIM!
HIS ONSLAUGHT WILL BLOW THE EURO BOYS OUT OF THE WATER!
HE IS THE ULTIMATE DOMINATOR!
MAY ANYONE WHO FACES HIM FEEL HIS WRATH!
HE IS THE DOMINATOR HERE, AND HE WILL DOMINATE THERE TOO!
I love you Howie! your drafting buddy~
Actually the ancestral home of cyclo cross racing is in France dude!
you got it wrong.
Also I have been there and the roads are not flat at all as there are rises and rollers all over. Most sections have small hills and the flat roads are really in southern Belgium where I trained with Johnathon Page.
Black Market, I am surprised there was not a fund raiser to cover your expenses?
yeah next year lets do a fund raiser to get you there! so you can dominate! i will contribute to that! because howie always dominates
Howie' is soooooooooooo muscular.
Sure are some small, bitter people posting here. What, nothing better to do than make wise cracks - anonymously? Maybe you should be out training. I know, I know, France & Belgium ... such totally different places, cultures and geography that only half of Belgium speaks French. I am sooooo sorry I "got it wrong dude!" Not Flat? Ever been to Mol, to northern Belgium? To northern Netherlands, to northern France? For miles and miles and miles and miles in every direction, nothin' but table-top flat countryside. That’s one reason why so many students, working people and retirees ride bikes in Belgium! Or was I only imagining it all the last two years over there during those hours and hours of training rides? Speaking of training ...gosh I wish I could train with Jonathon Page just like you did, Then I'd be so cool! (yea, that's right ... your buddy Jonathan Page spells his name without the 'h'. You guys musta' been close). I'll be happy to throw a fundraiser ... so you folks can buy a life, and a little compassion. If anybody would like to see a breakdown of the past and continuing medical expenses I'd be happy to arrange it. Thanks for reading! BL
Any results from Mol yet? Edwin and Trina's biking buddies in SLO want to know. Can you keep us informed if you hear anything. Thanks
Ron
I don't know what's up with all the haters. Blackmarket is living the dream. Best of luck! Look forward to reading/hearing all about it.
Brij
PS just found results:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=cross/2007/jan07/worldmasters07
your knowledge of cross, well...
it is the size of a mole hill in Mol
and i already contributed to your expenses for your team to jet set around
so i hope you win the worlds~
T.M.
yeah You better spell correctly if you bring anything in this forum.
howie do you spell howie?
I agree with Brij and Bruce! Show a little love and respect for those who chase their dreams! No matter how they race, as long as they are trying to do their best! That is something to commend people for!
Keith D.
just in from across the pond. Didn't even know Bruce was putting anything up until just now. I couldn't stand the french style keyboards so I refused to write any lengthy race reports until I got home. Just a quick note for the moment... There always seems to be a few that have to get a dig in here and there- very interesting. In general, we don't say we're the best team, with the best riders, that will dominate anything particularly, but it does take something more than armchair BS to pack up the bikes and head to a place that is so foreign, and the racing so scary fast. I had the chance to meet and talk to JP at the indoor cross, as well as Sven Nijs in his motorhome (chillin' between heats of racing), but I can't say much about where they train other than wherever it is, it's done fast. As for the geography, the north is "mostly" flat as Bruce says, and the south in the Ardennes is mostly rolling to hilly terrain. More detailed race report to follow, and you can always check our site at www.blackmarketracing.com, unless of course you prefer to spend your time anonymously taking shots a riders from your own neighborhood who are tying to go their own, extra, personal mile. And to the others out there who have always shown support, thank you. -howie
howie is so cool, he talked to JP and Nys.
but can he spell?
pond- ocean
nys- nijs
south- north
howie- wowie
seems like you all have too much drama class in school.
we just race over here, and we race faster then America in Europe.
Actually, both spellings of Nys/Nijs are correct, and have been used in printed stories and magazine articles. Sven's wife Isabel's last name also happens to be Nys/Nijs, but not because she is married to Sven (in Belgium the wife more often than not, keeps her own name), that is her actual maiden name. Oops, better get back to drama class...;)
howie
howie is our official gossip man about the euro dogs!
and he gets so excited for his input or output.
i think he has a little crush on sven nys/nijs or isabel nys/nijs or maybe both of them?
please tell us about the beer?
we want to hear the good stuff...
wow, who are these lame wanna-bes who are leaving these ridiculously, envious messages??? grow some balls and buy your ticket next year and let's see!!!!! LOVE YOU BLACK MARKET and wish I had been there but will be there next year for sure!!! Carol Lodge, spectator and team chocolatier!!!!
yeah your all lame!
you are all lame envious wanna bees.
who are you?
just lame wanna bee cross racers and fans.
i think we should all go overseas to prove our tuffness. or i'll just stay here in san fran and be lame.
i love black market, and brown store, and all the euro's.
i wonder if the european courses have many running sections added now a days, or do they just wait until the conditions get so bad that the courses are unrideable?
I am thinking that most of the courses are pretty much riding routes with just a few dismounts added. But if the weather turns fowl and the conditions get really bad then the running becomes mandatory and this is how their set ups work?
I saw a few of the courses are really fast, and then they had similar layouts but the rain came and made it really muddy and soupy and so the courses turned into a real challenge and lots of places that not even the best riders could stay on their bikes.
Here in California if we had really bad weather all the time, I know that the races would do horrible damage to some of the venues, and then finding cross venues for the promoters would be even more dificult.
I go and ride only flat roads. I refuse to ride hills or downhills. I only do flat roads with a head wind. I am a wanna be Belgium rider, and very proud of my love for Belgium.
S.H.
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