By Christine Vardaros
October 29, 2012
I just returned from the Czech Republic where I raced the first two rounds of the Cyclocross World Cup series events. I would like to say how pleased I am with the outcome but that is unfortunately not the case. I had flat legs in both races. Why can’t bad legs time themselves better; pre-season would have been a good time, or even that random free weekend in the middle of the season.
It is both frustrating and disappointing when, in our two-person team of my husband Jonas and I, I am the one who doesn’t deliver on my half. He was a rockstar – especially in the second race held in Plzen where we had to change bikes twice a lap on an incredibly thick muddy course with limited sprayer hoses in the pits. On this trip, I couldn’t help but to think of how his talents as a mechanic – especially a cyclocross mechanic – are completely wasted on me.
The first race in Tabor was super fast and mainly dry, with only a handful of slick turns. There was more altitude change than typical in races but not enough to weed out the flatlanders who roll backwards in anticipation of the climb. The first half of the loop was riddled with short steep u-turns and a couple of steep run-ups followed by a bit of power-pedaling. The second half weaved up and down the gradual incline. The crowds congregated around one plank that was situated on a steep climb in anticipation of witnessing a few attempts at bunny-hopping it. It was something that would even challenge jump-master Tom Meeusen of Telenet-Fidea.
The race in Plzen the following week was expected to be a flat version of Tabor. When we checked out the course Wednesday before the race, it was exactly like last year – a road race on dirt. Upon our return on Saturday, the course did a complete flip. Mud filled every crevice of the track, leaving nothing but the start/finish strip free of friction.
In my pre-ride, I worked hard at nailing those tricky chicanes and off-camber climbs only to discover on race day that the course took yet another turn for the worse. All that work on nailing those challenging bits was for nothing. Almost all of them morphed into runs. Even some of the turns were more effective on foot even though they were “rideable” if you can call inching around a turn “riding”. After no more than ten meters of riding, the bike was so clumped with mud that the wheels barely turned.
The toughest part of the course was easily that bitch of a staircase. The mud-drenched steps were so steep and wide that it was impossible to get a rhythm, especially when lugging that tank of a bike that had collected many kilos of mud. The stairs humbled even the fastest of men, forcing them to slow down to a crawl towards the top. Oddly placed, it came just before the finish. Even so, on the last lap, the men could do nothing more than walk up the stairs. A bizarre sight at the World Cup level.
As for my spirits going into the next four months of my cross season, since the second race in Plzen was mildly better than the first in Tabor, I will hold onto that as hope that my races can only get better! I was 30th in the first event and 28th in the second. Heck, at least I rode fast enough to earn World Cup points in both races – barely. Anyway, I still managed to have fun there in Czech Republic as it is not too often I get to hang out in such a strange land.
After the first race in Tabor, we spent a few days in Plzen and one in Prague to shake the bad race out of our minds. Early on we figured out how to take the bus into the town of Plzen which alleviated the stress of driving – and parking – in a strange land. We paid 0.70€ ($1) each way per person – a small price to pay to check out the town and save my legs from the 4km (2.5m) walk each way from our hotel. In hindsight, considering how foot-heavy Plzen was, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to do so much walking – oops.
The greatest transportation deal was our bus ticket to Prague. We paid 4€ ($5) each way on the Student Agency Bus Service. On the bus was free WIFI, TV and hot drinks. For those of you wanting to travel cheaply through Europe, this Czech company services much of the continent offering thrifty prices for those on a budget.
The food there is another plus for those on a budget. For 15€ ($20) you can get a full meal with appetizer, entree, drinks, and even a dessert. At a typical restaurant in my home base in Belgium, 15€ gets you one entree if you’re lucky.
As vegans, we actually had some options in the country. In Plzen alone, there were three vegetarian restaurants. Our favorite called Andel was under construction so we visited the other two every day. There is something so gratifying about having the freedom to simply pick out a sandwich from the collection of ready-made ones.
In Prague, there were at least ten veggie places to choose from. Many of them were vegan and offered food by the kilogram. Naturally our meals turned out to be more expensive than their other patrons as we had to try every single dish. Plates piled high, we walked to our table, only to return to the buffet a few minutes later for some desserts. It reminded me of the first time Jonas visited a Whole Foods. His takeaway box filled with every single vegan dish on offer was well over $20.
Unlike Whole Foods, the options in the Czech restaurants that we visited were mainly vegan versions of Czech staples like stews, cabbage and beet dishes with a spattering of international treats like pizza. Our favorite of all veggie restaurants in Prague was Loving Hut, a worldwide chain of vegan restaurants. While I could recognize everything on my plate, the dessert remained a mystery. It was a taste I’d never experienced. I tried asking the waiter three times what it was but due to the language barrier I never did figure out more than that it was derived from a type of leaf. At least it was vegan – and the price was right.
In addition to taking photos of everything I ate, I found myself snapping shots of every odd building in Prague. That added up to a lot of photos I realized after I hit over 200 in the first hour. I’ve been hit by the architecture bug ever since that day I read a narrative of modern architecture called ‘From Bauhaus to Our House’, written by Tom Wolfe. We visited a castle “on the hour” so I could witness my very first “changing of the guards.” It was a real to-do with no real purpose I found. In fact, one of the guards couldn’t hold back his crooked grin as the swarms of tourists clicked away as if they were witnessing a miracle.
While my trip to Czech Republic may have been a unique experience that I will remember for years to come, I must admit that I was happy to leave. For ten days straight, we experienced a total of five minutes of sun. For the rest it was grey skies as far as you can see. As a California gal, that was hard to handle.
Next up on the calendar is Belgium’s infamous Koppenbergcross where more than 30,000 spectators will once again come together on a hillside pasture to watch the greatest battles in cyclocross. In typical Belgian style, the first thing the organizers do to get the course ready is to remove the cows.
