3 Days In Belgium – BeMC
Our resident XC race whippet, Derek Wilson, heads to Belgium to discover world class race action just a short journey from his doorstep.
Belgium – One of those places I’ve been to many times but never actually stopped, it seems to be a country that you go through to get to somewhere else! I knew they were pretty keen on road cycling, but MTB? So when I heard that they had a 3-day MTB stage race, I was pretty surprised, even more surprised when I heard that it was on the UCI calendar as an XCS S2 race. The BeMC (Belgium Mountain Bike Challenge) draws in some top riders and teams, covering 3 days, a total of 262km and a pretty hefty 7700m of climbing.
One thing that appealed about the race was that each day started and finished at the same location – so no packing up and moving camp… suits me. So I booked my Eurotunnel crossing from the UK. A quick 30 minute trip to Calais, France and then a very leisurely 3.5 hour drive to La Roche-en-Ardenne, a small pretty town in the Ardennes region, packed with patisseries, bars and cafes with a river running through the middle, so far so good. I’ve travelled further in the UK to get to events, but here I was mixing it up in international racing, which felt far more exciting and it wasn’t much effort to get there at all.
The Hotel Floreal was used as a base for the event, the start and finish was there, a 5 min walk from the town centre in the base of a valley, they have hotel rooms, camp sites and self-catering, meaning plenty space for people to stay right there in the heart of the action. The sign on was easy and well organised, I grabbed mine and went away to get the number board pinned on the bike, nothing like an international number board to get the heart rate up and the legs feeling like they are not quite ready!
Another plus – day 1 start time is 11:00, how civilised is that! 67km and 2200m+ today, the whole area is overrun by the hundreds of people entered, warming up and making their way to the start gates. Dry now, but heavy rain throughout the night would make for a pretty muddy few hours ahead. I don’t really mind that, apart from feeling your bike disintegrate under you, if you’re confident enough, you can often make up time in the wet. From the gun you’re straight up a 200m climb, then a fast decent, climb, fast decent, repeat, repeat, repeat. I had thought that Belgium was pretty flat – no chance here, the course was relentless, fast punchy climbs and get off the brakes as much as you dare descents, no rest.
I was running a hardtail with Lauf forks, hoping that the light weight would pay dividends on the climbs, things were going well for me, running 3rd in the open category, until a rock strike slit my tyre. I carry tubeless repair “strings”, first one I jammed through the tyre too hard and in my panic and lost it, second I dropped in the mud, third time lucky I managed to get the hole sealed. Five minutes lost, but at least I didn’t have to get the last resort tube out of my back pocket.
By the time I reached the finish, the sun was well and truly out, great atmosphere and plenty of creamed rice and pancakes on offer, bike wash facilities and a cold beer, if you fancy, from the bar. Happy days. 1 down 2 to go! I took the accommodation in the hotel, which means you get fed there each evening – plenty of food from a well-stocked buffet, no one was leaving there hungry.
The Second day was a 96km test with 2500m+ of climbing, the day was billed as the course for strong riders, with the first 20km mainly up or down with no let up, with some pretty techy climbs and descents that favoured the brave. There was plenty of singletrack, this was not just another European fire road fest, this was a real MTB course, challenging and rewarding in spade loads. This really did tick all the boxes and if I wasn’t having to turn myself inside out to get round as fast as possible, (race after all) I’d have been enjoying it even more.
The feed stations are regular and well stocked, you can even have your own bottles delivered to each station, if you get organised in the morning. Again for me another cut tyre at 82km, quite frustrating as I’d left the light XC tyres on rather than the more substantial ones I normally put on for longer stages. Another sticky string and canister of gas and we were off again, not before what felt like everyone in the race had flown past me though.
The final days racing was the longest, 99km and 3000m+, with tired legs by this point, I was glad this event was just 3 days! A 10AM start in the sun led us once again straight into a 300m climb. This one had a real gem though, as we headed over to Houffalize to take in a good part of the world cup course from 2012. What a shock to the system that was! Anyone not familiar can still see the races there via Google; it’s basically on the side of a steep hill on the edge of Houffalize town. The pros go up and down at a rate of knots, what the camera doesn’t show is the sheer steepness of the climbs, lung busting steep, I was running xx1 with a little 30 ring on the front and boy did I need it. The descent was great fun though, blasting down the hill and hanging off the back of the saddle, the smell of brake pads burning filling the air. Again some great trails and techy, rooty climbs and descents and the odd hike a bike area that was just too steep to ride. Here is where my carbon soled shoes decided to let go and I slipped down the hill ripping the ratchet buckle off my shoe in the process, great, there was no way of fixing it out here, so I’d just have to put up with it for the last 40k or so. Then a mammoth river crossing, bike on shoulder and up over my knees, by this point my legs and body in general were pretty fatigued. I’d pushed on as hard as possible for the first part and was starting to suffer, however I popped out the other side of the river like a new man, the cold water on my legs had done the trick and they felt like they had a new lease of life … Brilliant. I made up some places and cracked on to the finish, no punctures today, and again the sun was out.
After 3 days of racing, Soren Nissen (Denmark) from Stevenhus Racing took the Elite men’s title and Githa Michiels (Belgium) won for the women. It’s a well-organised event with some magic riding. Situated in a place that’s accessible for many Europeans means it has quite a draw for some high end elite level riders on the UCI scene, which all adds to the scale of the event. Now my legs have stopped hurting I reckon I’ll definitely have to go back next year, I may even find the sunglasses I lost on stage 1.
