The Tim Reinhart Diary 2002

Tim Reinhart is a young American rider currently racing with the US national team in Europe. He is the younger brother of the late Nicole Reinhart.

Crash-dodging and lousy luck

Zellik-Galmaarden, Belgium, April 21, 2002

This weekend we tackled Zellik-Galmaarden, one of the toughest and most respected races in Belgium. Noel was very nervous before the start and wanted us all to do well because it would be a good warm up for Tour of Flanders, and Liege.

This race featured many tough, cobbled climbs including the Muur, the Congoberg, and the Bosberg. We started in Zellik, very close to Brussels, and from there we rode about 30 kilometres until we arrived at a circuit where we'd cover numerous kilometres.

The field was huge with about 250 riders, and everybody wanted to be at the front right away, so it made for a fast pace from the gun. The number of riders started to drop right away because of all the crashes. Lots of stopping and going, and riders not paying attention, and slamming on their brakes but still running into the person in front of them made for some pretty nasty spills.

After our first lap on the circuit we made our way down a small descent, and that's when about 20 riders crashed. About 50 riders got caught up in it, and got stuck behind. I had to go riding in the field to avoid it, but which actually saved me because I was able to stay with the front group of about 30 while the others were chasing behind. Plus it gave us a little cushion for the Bosberg, which we would be climbing 5 times that day. Ouch.

At this moment in the race Jon Retseck found himself in a break with about eight other riders, and we were sitting pretty. The rest of the peloton caught us and we started to set up for the ascent of the Muur. I have only seen this in the cycling videos so I was pretty stoked to be racing on such a hard and famous climb. But then my luck kicked in and I got a flat one kilometre before the finish.

The fields were still separated a little, and there was no wheel car for a while so I found myself out of the front group, and then chasing hard for the next 50 kilometres, but never catching more then the riders being dropped from all the climbs. Bummer.

The team continued to race really well, with Jon still in the break, and Mike Creed, Patrick McCarty, Walker Ferguson, and Mark Fitzgerald still in good position. The last lap played out a bit badly for us as the break was caught, but three riders from it managed to finish just 15 seconds ahead of the storming field. Jon Retseck was our highest finisher in 15th, and the rest were in the field.

We race again on Wednesday in Cote Picarde in France, in a UCI 1.7.1 that is an U23 world cup race, so it should be fun.

Timmy

Click here for results from Zellik-Galmaarden