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Jan 30.2005 |
Well, that was quite a race, or so I
have been told. Jonathan and Cori called saturday to tell me
he was feeling really, really good, and he had been to the doctor
and his white cell count was back down, and iron was back up.
He also dropped 3 kilos from
somewhere for worlds. So he was lean, rested, and loving the
course. He told us he thought he had a real shot at winning.
I of course, said, just get top 15 and I will be happy, as worlds
is always a let down.
Anyway, race day today, so I came
into the office (came down from the mountain) to follow the race.
No live coverage on the net. Bummer.
But, Cori called a 9:15 to tell
me he did good. He did not get the hole shot, that was the
plan (to get it). But there was a crash and he got held up.
The course was frozen and snowy and very technical.
He was about 20th the first time
Cori saw him. But he worked his way up to the lead group,
and then got into the leading position cause he was riding really,
really clean through the tech sections. It was a very good
JP course. He was even gapping off the front at times.
The lead group grew to 8. He said he was COMFORTABLE in the
lead group. This was at about laps 3-4.
Lap 5, he got a flat. A
long way from the pit. It was unavoidable, I guess there
were lots of flats, as it was really frozen. He rode that to
the pits, and got passed by Ryan's group, with Groenendal, who had
also flatted I guess. He lost alot of time, but not alot of
positions, cause they were pretty well out in front I guess. But
he had to go really slow on some really fast sections, like a 30
MPH downhill.
Anyway, he chased and caught and
the group ahead, and rode threw it, just at the end of the race,
which ended up about a minute behind Nijs, who won.
4th was about 30 seconds back,
and then a small group at 45 seconds, and then Jonathan and Ryan
at a minute.
Jonathan said "I am not saying I
could have WON the race, but I would have been top 10 for SURE,
and I had a really good shot at podium."
He is happy that the legs are
back, and says he is gonna win next weekend. Check back to
find out! |
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Jan 10.2005 |
Its been a while since I did an
update, but not much has happened really. After nats, JP and
Cori were off to visit family till X-mas. They flew back to
Belgium on x-mas, and right away started racing (same day).
His results have not been up to snuff, mostly due to being rusty
after his break, and the travel, etc. Still has some
lingering sickness as well, which is a bit worrisome. He did
ok at the last world cup. He actually led for two laps with
Huele, but they were reeled in. Then he had a flat and
dropped from the 9 man lead group into 25th. He fought back
to 22nd. In Spain, he was
only 8th, but they wanted to make sure I explained that one!
Turns out, they were told in the contract the race was at 3 PM.
Turns out it was changed to 12:30 PM, for the LIVE TV Coverage!
Well, Jonathan gets the call at like noon, WTF, where are you.
He jumps in the car (with Emma) as Cori is out for a run! He
luckily passes her on the way to the race, yells, jump in!
She thinks Emma is sick or something and is freaked out.
Anyway, off to the race, blowing through speed traps, finally they
encountered a large Police contingent, which they thought were
trying to catch them for speeding. Still lost, it turns out
that is the race and as soon as the car stopped, the cops and the
race people YANK JP from the car and start dressing him.
JP has done this race several
years now and, as Nat Champ, is a big draw for the race.
They had been running back to back commercials to delay the LIVE
TV race coverage!! So they get him to the start, and bang,
gun goes off.
He lead for a lap or two, as the
race promoter really needed him to make a show for sponsors and
all. He then died from zero warm up, and two flats!!
God. Anyway. Now they are back in sunny Belgium for a
break during Euro nats. JP is still pretty sick, so
hopefully he does not get in a hole.
We should be back on regular
updates now as everyone gets back to their respective internet
connections! Thanks and check back! |
