tomboonen.com

It had been a while since we enjoyed a period of intimate and serene rest. Both winter and spring were no less of a roller coaster to us. Highs and lows followed in rapid sequences, sometimes the lows were scarily deep.

Both pressure and criticism were immense and it gets into your system like a venom. You take the blows and try to have it all pass, but still it is tough. It feels like being hit with your hands tied on your back. Whatever you try... it is an unfair battle.

Which is why he succeeded in getting his first aim of this year with great ease. I don't refer to his victory, but the way he has dealt with pressure and criticism. Staying calm and not be distracted. Sure of himself, because he felt he would get rewarded for his efforts.

Now we have traded the rollercoaster for an eeasy boat trip, paddling along. Our head is empty and our bodies aare ready for the next battle. Let us hope that it will be one with equal opportunities. Those are sorrows for later. Right now, I won't turn back for another minute. I will try and keep this sense of quiet as long as possible, together with my man, who is alive and kicking again, and my family... this is so great!

One can sense the approaching Tour of Flanders here at home. Our body is already expressing itself, nights become shorter because stress has the usual nasty habit to wake us up several times a night.

Our team though has been enforced with the lovely and familiar face of ... Lore. This feels fine. She is a part that makes the chain work well. My mother's instinct tells me that this is good. Like the last piece of a jigsaw. You put it in its place and the picture is perfect.

I hope the press grant them their privacy so they have the space and rest everyone has a right to.

The weather gods will try their utmost best on Sunday to hassle our boys with the worst one can think of, but the people along the roads who will also be braving the cold will shout the riders head and by doing so warm them. It will be a real party of and by the people!

best wishes,
Agnes

Flanders' greatest race is expecting again, a true champion will deliver on Sunday. The riders will battle it out with their continuous breaks and jumps. Honour will guide them on the path to become a myth. The name of the winner will be added to the history of cycling and eternal fame.

It all sounds nice and I can vouch for the fact that the sweetness lingers on the same for the entire family: a feeling of disbelief and incredible luck. That luck is an explosion of build up stress that has formed in the run up to the Tour of Flanders.

On Sunday, we will be driving from one place to another, in an automatic pilot mood, a complex mix of stress, fear and hope. We know how tough the burden is on Tom's shoulders, but he can take a blow. He peaked towards this race with much more mental rest than ever before. Trained long hours through snow and wind. Rested when needed. Things are fine, he is shining with confidence: his mind and body are ready for it. He will leave no stone unturned, for sure.

Me greatest hope is that Dame Fortuna will be our ally. I'll ask her, woman to woman, to spare our boy any bad luck. The power of our love will shout him and push him ahead. I alread know that the car will go quiet again with in the background only the voices of Michel Wuyts and Karl Vannieuwkerke. Our eyes will look for each other, trying to share the fear. We will be held hostage again by stress. Flanders is always a true calvary.

We will survive this one as well, again. We realize very well that there is hardly a boundary between winning and losing. Knowing that Tom worked hard for it, we will give in to any result, but until then we will keep on dreaming, with him and for him, of ... eternal fame.