I have finally returned back to racing and what better way than to go Kermesin'.

    The Kermese race is one of the more famous parts of Belgium cycling legend. These 110-125 kilometer races are some of the hardest and fastest races I have ever done with speeds averaging 28+ mph for over 2 and half-hours.

    The cool thing is these aren't just a once a year special race. There are Kermese races all over Belgium happening almost every day during the summer months. In fact one day while riding home from a Kermese I ran into two more Kermese races on the 30 kilometer ride home.

    It's because of how common these races are becoming for my team to go to my teammate RJ has labeled it going Kermesin'. Kinda like where going fishin', but just a little harder and more strenuous.

    This Wednesday I did a Beloften (Under 23) Kermese in Esen. I love the fact that these races are quite close with this one only being 25 kilometers away. The day started off with rain in the mourning, but by 3 o'clock for the race start the clouds and rain had left. The wind however was still blowing strong and hard.

    The race started off with about 80 or so riders on the 7 kilometer loop. The loops were fairly simple with no technical sections, but just lots of exposed roads, so the wind was going to tear this field apart.

    After the start we roll along rather quickly into a crosswind with the field single file along the road. I hugged on to the little sliver of road between the wheel in front of mine and the drop off onto the grass trying to conserve as much energy as I could.

    We turned into the head wind section of the course. Normally you would think this would be the hardest part, but the direct wind allowed me to sit behind a wheel and rest for about 2 kilometers and gave me a change to catch my breath.

    After another right hand turn we were in another crosswind section. Again the field was strung out single file and the hurt was put on me an others in the field. Unbeknownst to me the worst was still to come.

    We make our final right hand turn into a tailwind section. Ahhh ... the easy tailwind sections where you get to rest. WRONG. This is the section where the guys up front driving the race decide to make you go about 5 kph faster than you can normally go. Leaving you pushing as hard as you can on the rough road just to stay on the back of the field.

    This was repeated countless number of times until about two-thirds into the race I just blow. It wasn't anything dramatic; I just couldn't keep pushing on the pedals. I was quite happy with my result as about only 30 guys were left in the race after I was dropped.

    But that's Kermesin' ... sometimes you come home with a big catch and other times you just go for the experience.

    -Gregg Germer-