December 11, 2009 (Belgium) – Ontario’s Mike Garrigan is a former CX national and provincial champ and currently is a level 3 cycling coach working in Ontario coaching MTB athletes. Racing since the age of 21, Garrigan was a member of the MTB U23 national team, and twice member of the National Cyclocross Team winning the National CX title in 2007. After a season of coaching he decided to move to Belgium for three months where he plans to race weekly for fitness and experience and will be sending us regular reports about the Euro CX scene and his adventures.

Hello Fellow Canucks,

Pedalmag and I have hooked up for regular reports to my fellow countrymen on my foray into top level cyclocross racing.

I’m now living in Brussels, Belgium for the next few months, not only to feel and be closer to the Canadian motherland of England and our Queen, but more importantly, to truly experience one of my favourite cycling disciplines with the Flemings who are currently at the forefront of cyclocross. Their dominance of the sport is matched by the sport’s popularity with the general public here.

I have done a few races so far (Koksljde BEL, Ludelang, LUX) and enjoyed a thorough whooping! I was awestruck by the bikes and gear these riders and staff haul to each event. Top riders are teams in themselves with many bikes at their disposal (Niels Albert is rumoured to have TEN Electronic Dura-Ace bikes at his disposal!), including small motor homes, and an entourage including a few mechanics, a manager, maybe some family (kids, brothers, spouse, an over the top uncle would not be out of place) – and a small or sometimes large hoard of supports clad in gear adorned with the rider’s name. Awesome!

Aside from racing, the training is going to be very good here – if you like cold, rain and fancy cycling clothing, which fortunately I do. Recreating a map of the area is akin to dropping a bowl of string pasta on a table and putting dots wherever spaghetti and a linguine may meet. In my opinion a fully charged GPS is a necessity when living here in Brussels (note the fully charged part, maybe one day I can share a story about me getting good and lost last week – we are talking super lost!).

I’m excited to be tracing the steps of some great Canadian crossers, and as the weeks tick by I’ll share some of the things I come across and what life is like here.

Talk to you soon!
Mike Garrigan
mikeg@sacredrides.com if you want to shoot me an email.