I may be more Dutch than I expected, and “may” have harbored a few prejudices against our southern neighbors in Belgium, so when the opportunity came up to do a mountain bike race in “Bouillon” in “Belgium”, and living in the Netherlands, expectations were low. I had visions of a small industrial town near the French border, and nondescript country side. I could NOT have been MORE WRONG……

Bouillon, yes it is pronounced like the soup, was beautiful, and I am saying that about Belgium. Rolling tree covered countryside made a picturesque backdrop to the town that sits on a sharp curve of the Semois River, and above the town guarding it from an age long ago, is the Bouillon Castle. Bouillon has long been considered the gateway to the Ardennes, and the castle continues to guard the gate you could say. A little side note, the most famous of the Lords of Bouillon was Godfrey of Bouillon, a leader of the First Crusade, and then the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Who would have known that the small town of Bouillon would have such an interesting history.

Why, you may be asking am I going on about this. Well the reason my wonderful partner Leah and a couple of mates from Amsterdam, Ben Evans and Mark Stephenson and I were in Bouillon was do the Grand Raid Godfrey which is a mountain bike race.

http://www.grandraidgodefroy.be/en/

Revived this year with a new leadership team, and a lot of energy, we were in for a treat. Besides been a beautiful small town with a picturesque backdrop, it has a lot rockingly fast mountain bike trails and a very well put on race. To be precise, a 25km 30km, 40km and 90km loops giving riders the option of a 25km, 40km, 70km, 90km, 130km and 160km race. Some pavement, but not much, a good portion of 4 wheel drive roads, and better still some striking single track. What more could we ask for, and I only wish we had gone down on Friday, rather than Saturday, so we could have explored the castle. Next time.

Leah enjoying coffee and pie in Namur on the way down. Another surprisingly beautiful town in Souther Belgium that is shadowed by an even bigger and more impressive castle and citadel than Bouillon.

Driving down on Saturday my expectations were changing quickly and once we got to Bouillon, I knew we might be in for something good. Signing in was easy, and after a quick beer with the guys and Trish, (a Canadian friend of Mark’s who is over here on holiday scalping mountain bike races); Tom and Ilse Smet who are off to Australia to do the Crocodile Trophy this year, it was out to our hotel in the small town of Saint Cecile. A boutique hotel at a reasonable price with a good restaurant. If we had time it looked like it had a great outdoor area, but not this time. After a slow, but good meal, we adjoined for the night as we needed to leave at 7am the next morning to make the 745am start.

Leah with one side of Bouilllon in the background

The Bouillon Castle. IMPRESSIVE and the other side of Bouillon.

RACE DAY

After a sneaky piece of positioning amongst the skinny Belgium’s, Ben, Mark, Trish and I were about a ¼ of the way back on the start grid of 150 riders. On the start line the field always looks intimidating and this start was no different. Lots of shiny “bling” mountain bikes and skinny fast looking riders.

Well maybe they were not so fast, or I am on a streak, as after the gun went and we did a quick loop through town, we started to climb and I found myself near the front. Not wanting to destroy myself on the first climb, maybe age is a good thing and I have learnt from experience, I settled into a steady tempo and to my surprise crested the first hill in 3rd place and the leading 6 riders had about a minute gap on the field. How that happened I am not sure, but I it felt good. I had never managed that before.

The first downhill was memorable for a mob of cows on the road. As we blasted down the loose gravel road, we rounded a corner to be greeting by about 50 cows walking slowly in front of us. The leading 6 of us managed to blast through them pretty quickly and easily and we were on the next climb. The group exchanged a few funny glances as we cleared the cows and we could only imagine the chaos behind us, and was no doubt creating a nice gap.

On the second climb I was also with the first riders and passed through the first feed station and hit the first real downhill with them, then they just disappeared. I got stuck behind someone, but to tell the truth I had no show of riding the single track downhill having not ridden my mountain bike since the Croc Trophy in October last year. As I rounded the bottom of the hill, places 1-6 were GONE, and about 10km later I passed and dropped the rider I was with.

From then on it was a great ride through the rolling hills around Bouillon. I saw and passed one other rider from my category 55km later but otherwise had the day to myself, passing a few 130km and 160km riders who were the same trails as us.

It is interesting racing like this as the demon in your head is always saying the group behind you is going to mow you down and catch you, so you have to keep pushing, harder and faster. Hard on the uphills, do not fall on the downhills, then hard on the flat and road. If there is one thing I have at the moment post the Haute Route Alps, that is power, so I am fast on the road. But still the demon is telling you to go harder and faster all the time. Look up enjoy the view, quick stops to fill water bottles, then back at it again. Maybe I will catch another rider in my race. Add to that a few cramps during the last 15km, and the mind was really going into over drive.

This was the theme for the day, and at the same time I really did enjoy it. The climbs were not too steep, the downhills once I found my hidden skills, were great fun, and the trail was a great mixture of flat, hills and some pavement to cover the distance. A fun day out.

In the end I was 6th overall, out of about 150 finishers, and 1st in the 40+ age group. 4hr 25mins. The next rider was 1:30 back, someone I passed with about 10km to go, and then there was a 8 minute gap. The demons were wrong, and I could have sat up a little more….

How did my wonderful partner Leah get on. She did a 25km trail run, as I am yet to get her onto a mountain bike, but that will come.

How did Ben and Mark go. Ben came in about 50mins behind me, and Mark was another 20 behind Ben. Ben got lost, and his 90km ride was 94km. After his second wrong turn, he sat up and enjoyed the ride, and tried not to get lost again. He was all smilles when I saw him post finish, as he had enjoyed the technical downhills more than I had and generally had a fun day out on the trails.

Mark enjoyed the day, but did not have a great one. A flat tire on the first downhill cramped his style, then his “first” number 2 stop on during a bike race did not help either. As he said, when bending over on the bike hurts, you just gota stop, and that is what he did. A funny story post ride.

Trish, Marks friend from Canada, cleaned out the women’s race and added a Grand Raid Godfrey cycling top to her collection. Well done. See the podium picture below.

So that was the weekend. A fun weekend and a well run event, and I would recommend it. The trails were great, although you do need to look for trail markers, we will be back next year and we will enjoy more of picturesque Bouillon.

The showers were something else. The girls end was at the other end, but to get to it Leah had to walk through the guy's changing room. I could not resist a picture but it does not communicate just how cold the water was!

On last picture, compliments of the organizers