Post-Kerstperiode Notebook | Flandriencross

At the end of Kerstperiode, while many riders traveled to Calpe, Spain's sunny training grounds, I went home to Washington, DC. Although it was no warmer than Belgium and only slightly less gray, I did get a few lovely snow days and had the opportunity to recharge a bit before the final leg of the 2023-2024 season.

Last Wednesday, I returned to Belgium and have been hunkered down in Antwerp catching up on work and traversing a few countries tracking down wheels, brake pads, and bike frames the CXD Trek Bikes squad had stashed in different garages and warehouses over the past three months. I'm also here to take in a few more bike races.

If the dress rehearsal for the World Championships is the Hoogerheide World Cup, then Flandriencross Hamme is, well, I'm not sure what it is. Final wardrobe fitting? I've sat here for five minutes trying to make this analogy work, and I'm stymied. Hamme is an X2O series race, an opportunity for one more race on Belgian soil before the World Championships, a chance to award yet another iteration of podium ducks, a race with my favorite cyclocross weather.

This was the shot I came to Hamme to take. Glad Fem van Empel spaced things out nicely to make it happen. © 2024 Bill Schieken

Blue skies and muddy tracks! The best cyclocross weather. What a pleasant surprise waking up to sunshine on Saturday. As an extra bonus, Hamme is only 30 kilometers southwest of Antwerp, which meant a relaxing late morning start.

The Durne. To the left, cyclocross is played. © 2024 Bill Schieken

The venue is in a park that abuts a sports hall and is on the banks of the Durme, a tributary of the Scheldt. The river, the pond in the middle of the venue and an elevation right at sea level are major factors for why Hamme is always muddy. That and the classic cyclocross paradox: the system created to get your bike clean is the system most responsible for getting your bike dirty.

Cyclocross Ouroboros. Fem van Empel doesn’t want to get her clean bike dirty. © 2024 Bill Schieken

Let me flesh that one for you. The muddiest part of the track is coming out of pit one. Most riders enter that pit and receive a bike on their shoulder in the exchange. They then run through a watery mud pit created by the runoff from pressure washers. The mud cleaners produce the sloppiest section of mud.

That's not to say bike exchanges would be unnecessary without "Lake Pressure Washer," but it is a tad ironic. Thankfully, there was no mud in the wooded Blair Witch-inspired wooden fence section of the track right after the start. This swoopy flow section is one of my favorites in cyclocross.

I know they aren’t stickmen, but those fences still give off a Blair Witch vibe. © 2024 Bill Schieken

The organizers built the feature on existing MTB trails that snake through most of the park. It is something that I remember being a crucial part of the race at the end of the lap, so I was confused when I found it right after the finish line at the beginning of the lap. It made more sense once I realized they reversed the course after the 2022 edition. The counter-clockwise version of Hamme puts the swoopy section at the start and takes away the tiny leg-breaker hill infamous for the 2014 brake check by Mathieu van der Poel on Wout van Aert and Philip Walsleben.

Clara Honsinger through the Hamme flow section. I hate to admit that this section looks a lot better on the broadcast than in person. The camera crane does fantastic work with this feature. © 2024 Bill Schieken

To be fair, that 2014 track looks nothing like this one. Some flyovers and off-cambers are nowhere to be seen on this year's track. And any version of the track isn't going to be memorable unless you get the fireworks like that sprint in 2014 or the near fist fight between Vincent Baestaens and Jens Adams in 2016.

Lars van der Haar takes a turn at the front. © 2024 Bill Schieken

Michael Vanthourenhout keeps Mathieu van der Poel in his sights. © 2024 Bill Schieken

My final observation on Hamme is that there seems to be a Kerstperiode hangover in Belgium. I think that all but the hardcore fans (and there are plenty of those) ended the season with Belgian Nationals. Hamme and Hoogerheide had decent crowds, but nothing compared to what we saw a few weeks earlier in Zonhoven and Hulst.

Eli Iserbyt gets sideways on a tricky up and down. But you know I was here for that late afternoon light. © 2024 Bill Schieken

MvdP nose breathing in the final lap of the race. Even more remarkable is the gap in the fencing without spectators. Something I would have never seen last month. © 2024 Bill Schieken

That's a wrap for Belgian and Dutch cyclocross for this season. One more day in Antwerp for me before flying to Prague for Worlds. See you in Tabor

I didn’t really need a finish line shot for a client, so I thought I’d gamble and try this longer angle, hoping that MvdP would keep his post up going past the finish line. He didn’t. Win some, lose some. © 2024 Bill Schieken

Media Center Rating:

Hamme Flandriencross: Modest room in the sports hall. There is decent WiFi, standard sandwiches, and coffee, but not enough table space. Pretty close to the course. All in all, it is an unremarkable but workable setup. B+

Hoogerheide World Cup: The room was decent-sized with plenty of space for everyone. It was not too far from the venue. I didn't mess with the WiFi because you had to download an app. They offered some pastries and coffee in the morning, but that was it. It was like the World Championships all over again—no love for the hungry media. Give us a sandwich, Adrie! Thank goodness there was a Jumbo down the block. C-.