zerailleur.com / Zach Bell

So quick update…I may be on my way to become the worst blogger in the world but I am starting to get a little better at this bike racing thing…today concluded my first world cup of the 2007/2008 season…and I gotta say things seem to be on the right track so far. I started off with the points race on friday…there are 400 athletes here this year…that is double what there usually is…olympic year brings everyone out of the wood work. So I made the final of the points with some big digs and was ready to race a few hours later…I struggled my way through a race that averaged 52 km/hr for 40min…and managed to end up in 7th…pretty good gives me some much needed points for the olympics birth…

Then on to the scratch today for a little extra race experience…I through caution to the wind a little and just raced my but off…I made it through my round with out a lot of trouble and came back for the 10 pm final. The pace built and built for about 15 laps then cracks started to form in the group…I watched and jumped on break I thought would stick….it did…and 4 of us got around on the field…then I attacked right away in teh confusion and got anouther half lap with the greek rider…we were scooped upwith about 12 to go…in the final gallop I pressed hard over the top and hit the front with about 2 laps to go…and rode for my life…in the end one of the 4 managed to find his way through the crowed and scoop the win from under my nose…hmmm I need a longer nose. but It was my first world cup medal and some where to go from there…it was a hard race and just what I needed going into next weeks round too…so I sit here now 12pm in a closed lobby restaurant and…drinking orange juice and eating smoked mussles on crackers for my sudo victory dance. I am reflecting on what it took to get this medal…and it took the perfect situation…It took the support of the bank of mom and dad…the help of all the communities that I have called home…both in the north and across canada…it took…the help and encouragment of my roomies and friends…it took the faith of my coaches and the understanding of a beautiful girl who misses these moments for my own good. The reason I am thinking about what it took is because that is what the cyclingnews people asked me…and I didn’t know what to say…I felt like it had nothing to do with me…I wanted to say why are you asking me…I am just a messanger. I know this is just a stop on the road…and I hope the future holds more eureka moments like this…but at my first world cup medal…I felt like it was a good time to take a look at the road signs and remember why I am here…to keep perspective on where I am going. Thank you to every one for your help…you are the base of my strength and if you don’t mind…hold on a bit longer it is a long world cup season and I will still need you there.