I took a step in the right direction this weekend.

Saturday's course in Dottingnies was a relatively flat grassy course with a lot of turns. It was raining a little bit here, just enough to make it slippery. I started really well and felt pretty good about things, but unfortunately I did a 180 in one of the corners - it was quite a move...I managed to keep myself up, but it was so fast I went from fourth to 20-something-th position in no time! I worked myself back up through the pack as much as possible, but it split before I could make it to the front so I didn't make the lead group. I'm not exactly superman, so I was just scrapping it out for positions in the end. The good news is that I came away feeling good - a hell of a lot better than last weekend!

Yesterday at the Superpresige in Gavere ended up being a series of mishaps for me. It's a really difficult race, and there was a lot of mud...pretty darn technical. I would say it's the hardest race of the season. I started fairly well again, which is a great sign, but I had a mishap with Zdenek Stybar. He came on my inside and we locked handlebars. When they came unlocked he went left, and I went flying down the hill into the crowd barriers and got myself all tangled up! That was the beginning of the end there.

As if that wasn't enough, right afterwards the same guy crashed in front of me three times, and I nailed him three times! I don't know what the heck was going on, but I've got bruises on both sides of my body now. Then, to add insult to injury, I was heading up a pretty nasty climb - it has cement-like mud, so you have to pick your line in the ruts - they're filled with little gravel rocks. Well, I ended up breaking a derailleur hanger...a great day at the office!

I'm looking forward to next weekend though, I think I'm coming back to life!

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