December 29 we took the morning train from Cologne to Brussels. After tracking down our hotels and getting a feel for the city we took the bus out to Diegem, about 9 km away for the Diegem SuperPrestige CX Race.
We got there as a junior race was ending and about an hour before the mens race began. After taking a peak in the techno-blaring VIP tent and getting scared senseless by a firework/bomb that got set off in a muddy field we got some frites with mayo and a couple beers and checked out the course. The Diegem race is the only major CX race run under the lights so they had these big glowing orbs around the course for illumination.
We set up shop at the top of the wooded section where we could see the riders drop into the start of the woods and then see them come out into an uphill section with a tight 180 turn. We picked our spot right on the barriers and stayed there the whole race. It helps that people from Belgium (and Germany and Holland) are all really tall so noone needed to take our spot since they could all see over our heads.
Kelly after carrying this tray 1/2 km around a muddy course right before the race!!
Tom Meeusen followed by Sven Nys
Kelly & Mike before the race.
Jonathan Page was in the race but had to pull out due to injuries from a previous crash so we did what pretty much everyone else was doing and cheered for Sven or Neils (Sven obviously) and the guy who was in last place, who must have been a local and had a sweet mustache, who got a huge round of applause every time he went by for the entire race.
In the end, Sven Nys won the race (his last on a Colnago before he switched to Trek) with a pretty large gap. Walking back to the train station, we passed the now insane techno-tent party and at least 100 charter busses filled with nothing but people, galoshes, and Jupiter beer (and more techno).
Just Awesome...
Here's a link to the Cycling News race report.
