Day Three

Now I am actually on the trip. John and I flew into Brussels, landing Saturday morning. We had to take the train down to Lille - in France, to pick up our sweet wheels (and by that I mean rental van) for the trip. Since it was Saturday, the fast trains were not running, so we had time to kill between trains. The Brussels city center was very nice. Those are shops below. Certainly beats the Mall of America, and it goes without saying that Brussels shopping pretty well crushes the average strip mall experience, unless you are just dying for a bright blue Slushy.

They even had decorations up for the tour.
We stayed in Ghent for two nights, and it is worth the visit if you get the chance. Also managed to squeeze in a four hour business dinner. Wow! First time I've done one of those. But four hours of good food, Belgian beer, and talking about bikes was not as bad as you might think. We ate at a restaurant right on the canal.


Here's a photo of some bikes (duh), they might not look special, but this is Columbia's line up for the Roubaix stage. They're classics bikes built for cobbles, and the bikes are all labeled with the rider's names. Behind each are 3 extra sets of wheels. Looks like it could be a bumpy day. I hope that not too many guys fall down.
We passed through this town on the way to Lille to get the van. I thought it looked pretty normal, and I barely cracked a smile. Must have just been because of jet lag.


The first time Kate and I came to Europe, we did a whirlwind tour, including a day in Belgium. We stayed overnight in Liege, and I remember saying something like "Liege is the the Des Moines of Belgium"... well, now that I have seen a lot more of Belgium, I stand by my earlier description. In fact, not only is Liege the Des Moines of Belgium, Belgium is the Iowa of Europe. The trip to Lille went through the country, and out the windows were cattle, corn, and farm towns (I didn't spy any grain elevators though). Not only did it look a lot like Iowa, it even smelled like it. We went for a quick ride on Sunday with the '72 olympic gold medal winner in Tandem Sprint (who knew that they used to have have tandem events in the Olympics?). It only took about two minutes to get out of town, and we were in the country, with farm fields on both sides of us. We were on a paved country road that was only about 1 1/2 bike lanes wide - skinnier than even any gravel road I have ever ridden. But I digress. Not even 7 minutes into the ride, we went past one of the farms, and my nostrils were assaulted by a familiar smell. That's right, Hogs!.
Need further proof that Belgium and Iowa were separated at birth? Check out the photo of the Columbia Service Course. (service course is the mechanical headquarters for a pro cycling team. Each team has their own, and Belgium being pretty much the world center of bicycle racing, Columbia, Sky, and Radio Shack all have their service courses within maybe 15 miles of each other) . You won't have to look closely to see what I mean about Iowa and Belgium. Quite literally right across the street from the main shop for one of the best teams in the world is... a cornfield.If anyone who is interested in bikes has made it this far, I'll close with a gratuitous shot of one of the Team Columbia HTC vans. Fresh from the Prologue, and packed completely full of some of the fastest TT bikes and gear on the planet: