Belgian Cycling has put up a page called “National selections: cyclo-cross European Championships Zeddam”. I opened it on my phone, resting under the workshop stand, between two club bikes that still smelled of Sunday’s mud. Inside, no selection for Zeddam. Only related news items.
Where I work, that has a name. It is a bike delivered with the label, the box, the manual, and no rear wheel. Everything is there except the part that lets you ride.
So I did what I do with a box: I took out what was in it. In BMX, the Technical and Sporting Commission confirmed national coach Chris Jacobs’s picks for Chongli: Aiko Gommers and Valerie Vossen among the women, Ruben Gommers, Wannes Magdelijns and Thibaut Stoffels among the men. For the track Worlds in Shanghai, Tim Carswell and Theo Bos took Lotte Kopecky in the endurance events. For the Europeans on the road in Ljubljana, Sander De Pestel replaces Rune Herregodts in the time trial. Those are parts fitted, tightened, ready.
Cross, though, is hose-pipe season. It is exactly the page I was waiting for, mind you. I am not saying something serious is missing. I am saying you can’t put a frame with no wheel in a cross car park.
I classify the page. I do not classify what is not on it.
The diagnosis is simple: the title is assembled, the content stayed in the workshop. It happens. I once handed a bike back to the club on a Saturday with the left pedal in my pocket.
While we wait for the names, I’m going to clean the cassettes on the three cross bikes. That way, when the list arrives, at least on our side the drivetrain will be ready. Alright?
It’s true, we checked: Belgian Cycling.
