CECILIE UTTRUP LUDWIG
The spring Classics mean spending a lot of time in Belgium. There are a lot of races - this year for me it was Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne, Gent-Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders - and they are all very close together both in geography and time, so it makes sense to stay in one place.
Just like last year, our team, Cervélo-Bigla, is staying at a B& B in Houthulst, West Flanders, with the sweetest host family imaginable. It’s our home away from home. Usually when we’re travelling with the team, it’s customary to share a room with a team-mate. Here, we have the luxury of having our own rooms and a local chef who cooks for us every day. We are treated like princesses - we don’t have to do anything besides train, eat, sleep and repeat.
But being a cyclist is not an easy job, of course. It can be stressful to do several powernaps and snacking in between the meals!
Let’s be honest: as riders we don’t lift a finger. Our swannies are washing our clothes, giving us massages, doing grocery shopping and so on - the list is very long. Our mechanic is always working, too: building, adjusting, cleaning and lubing our bikes every day, plus taking care of the team cars and helping out the soigneurs. All of them often work until late in the evening, long after the riders have gone to bed. Maybe we are a small team on a limited budget, especially compared to the men’s WorldTour teams. However, with our super hardworking staff, that’s easy to forget. Thanks to the weather we’ve experienced this year as well, the cleaning duty has been extra heavy for the mechanic. The theme of our races so far has seemed to be cold and rainy. If you combine that with the rather famous bumpy concrete roads in this region, which are known as ‘betonweg’, it can be rather harsh for the lady parts. People with a weak constitution should not consider this further. I will spare you for the details, but hallelujah for chamois cream!
In general, we always have a great time in Belgium - the country of chocolate, fries, waffles and beer. My portable Bluetooth speaker is turned up loud as often as possible. I never travel without it. After all, life is better when the music is playing and you dance a little!
Another highlight of the day is the evening snack. Sitting with the girls from the team around the dinner table, talking and laughing with our bowl of muesli and yoghurt - that is what we call “hygge” in Denmark! Sometimes it’s really just about enjoying the small things in life with good people.
“Being a cyclist is not an easy job. It can be stressful to do several power- naps and snacking in between the meals!“