After Redlands I left that next day for Europe.  After a long day of flying I made it to Izegum Belgium.  I mean a long day, I left LA flew to London and then on to Belgium. 

I showed up a little jet lagged and it took a couple days to get my legs back and adjust to being back at the National Team house in Izegum. 

That Friday I started the Triptyque de Monts and Chateaux, a three day four stage event.  The weather was typical Belgium weather cool temps and raining.  The first stage was a 194 Km stage along some very narrow rough roads.  We started with 189 riders.  The USA team consisted of me, Gavin Mannion, Taylor Phinney, Cole House, Ian Boswell, Daniel Holloway, and Ben King. 

For me that first stage was to become a challenging day.  Not but 70Km into the stage I was caught behind a crash.  I was able to get back in the caravan and into the pack fairly easy.  As soon as I made contact and started to make my way back to the front I flatted.  For some reason the team car was nowhere to be found.  Not sure if the car was caught behind the crash and was still trying to make its way back to the peleton.  For whatever the reason it took a long time to get a wheel change.  Once I had the wheel changed the race was way up the road, so I grabbed onto the car and they towed me back to the caravan.  I worked my way through the caravan and back to what I thought was the peleton.  The day consisted of a whole lot of cross wind, when I was chasing back on the peleton had split into three groups and what I thought was the peleton was actually the last group on the road.  The team car blew by that group and I was left the group of about 30 riders with 120K left of racing.  I eventually ended up losing 21 minutes on the day. 

The day ended up being a tough day for the US team.  Boswell dropped out due to illness.  Ben King crashed and had to have 9 stitches in his knee and was forced to drop out.  But, not all was lost, Phinney placed 4^th on the day, and Cole, Daniel and Gavin finished in the main group 10 seconds down. 

The next day was a two stage day.  In the morning we had an 8.1K time trial followed by a 134K stage.  They went reverse order on GC so I was off early in the day.  I posted a good time and for the longest time sat second on the stage.  By the end Phinney had crashed again on the rained soaked roads and had to finish the time trail on his road bike losing only 18 seconds to the winner.  When he crashed he was 30 seconds up.  I finished 19^th 23 seconds down.  I was happy with that since I knew my fitness is still not the greatest.

In the afternoon stage again with rained soaked roads and a lot of cross wind it was a suffer fest.  The team from the Netherlands Rabobank had the yellow jersey so they were forced to set tempo.  The US team sat right behind Rabobank all day waiting for an opportunity to launch Phinney.  With 1.5K to go Phinney took a risk and dove into a turn opened a gap and never looked back winning the stage.  The rest of the US team finished in the pack.

Going into the fourth and last stage Phinney was sitting in 4^thon GC.  Gavin Mannion and Cole House were sitting in the top 20 on GC.  Again the day was going to be a challenging day with rain, and a lot of wind.  The stage had a lot of short punchy climbs in it.  The stage would be a 174K of pure suffering.  I started it with some tired legs, but hoping for the best.  As a team we were excited to see if we could launch Taylor into the lead.  About 70K into the race there was a big pile up in front of me and I was not able to avoid it and went down hard.  I don’t remember much of the crash.  I remember sitting on the side of the road with my nose bleeding like mad and a paramedic sitting with me.  I must of hit someone’s handle bars because I have very little road rash.  I was taken to the hospital.  I had broken my nose and had a lot of swelling and a very sore body. 

By the end of the day Gavin had crashed out breaking his frame, along with Daniel Holloway.  The only redemption for the all the carnage of the day was Phinney managed to stay out of trouble and finish second on the day moving up to second on GC.  For the rest of the US team we looked like a war zone.  By the end more than half of the peleton crashed out of the day leaving only about 80 finishers.

Since last weekend I have spent the week trying to let my body recover.  I took Monday off with my nose still bleeding some and very sore.  On Tuesday I did do a couple hr ride with some recon of the Flanders course.  Boy will that be a brutal day.  We’ll be doing the same climbs as the Pros do along with a 4k section of cobbles.  With how my face feels right now I won’t be looking forward to Saturday.  I feel privileged to be able to ride such a classic, but wished I was feeling a little better.  I’m not sure how I will do, on Wednesday when I went for a ride my body was rebelling against the crash and I felt terrible. 

The whole US team right now is beat up.  Phinney might not ride Flanders due to knee issues he sustained from his crash over the weekend.  Thus, we’ll see how we all do. 

I have Flanders on Saturday, on Sunday we are planning on riding down to watch parts of Paris Roubaix.  That should be fun.  Then on the 17^th I’ll be riding Leige Bastogne Leige.  Then I’ll be flying home on the 18^th.  My schedule has changed a little.  Axel (Trek/Livestrong team Director) is a little concerned about burning me out by the summer with my original schedule.  So, I’ll be hanging around TN doing some local stuff for couple weeks and missing Gila.  I’m really excited to be able to get out race some local stuff and seeing everyone.  Then I’ll be back to the grind stone with Nature Valley, U23 Nationals, Cascade Classic, Fitchburg and then Utah.  I’ll be going back to Europe some place in that time span. 

I’ll post again after Flanders or Leige.  Till then stay safe and thanks for reading.  Lastly I want to extend a special get well wish to Garmin rider Thacker Reeves.  I look forward to seeing you back in the peleton soon.

Nathan Brown
Trek/Livestrong U23 Presented by Radio Shack