Much better Brussels Rollers tonight – further, faster, better. Speed topped at 46.1km/h on the descent from Montgomery to Woluwe, and the sprint from Montgomery past Mérode and Schuman onto rue de la Loi was almost as quick. I ended up 3rd in the 2 sprints, but won the hill climb. There’s life in the old legs yet.
No race next week as it’s European Council in Brussels (these damned leaders spoil everyone’s fun), but I’ll be back on the wheels in a fortnight.
It was the first Belgium Rollers in Brussels yesterday evening – not a bad start to the season. The website says things start at 1900, in fact it was due to start at 2000, and we finally departed around 2030. The first parts were very slow (the first loop on the map below was at no more than 8 km/h) but the second part was better, with a couple of decent sprints. I managed more or less a dead heat for first along Avenue de la Couronne, but one of the policemen beat me in Boitsfort.
I’m not enough of a shit to play the sprints correctly during Belgium Rollers – a bunch of annoying kids who think they are fast push themselves towards the front, they flag after 500m, and block the way. If you can’t manage at least 28km/h for a couple of kilometres then don’t stick yourself at the front! Anyway, next week I’ll be in even better form.
These events are also rather strange from a social point of view – a whole bunch of people skating there are a kind of francophone skating posse who all know each other and are the marshals of the skate. Beyond that only one couple spoke to me thoughout the whole event – some people who were learners who wanted to learn how to brake. Plus I cannot just go and start speaking to complete strangers while skating…
Anyway, it was good exercise, and I’ll be back next week.