My favorite month of the year had finally arrived, along with a sleep deprived Chuck and Jeff at the Düsseldorf airport on the Friday before Flanders. After allowing them to take a short nap that early afternoon, we christened the cycling-filled week by riding my daily morning pre-ride route late that afternoon – a perfect antidote to their jetlag.In keeping to my normal routine and allowing for a timely departure to Brugge later that morning, we all awoke at 4:30am on Saturday and set out for a 3 hour ride shortly after 5:00am. The ride can be summarized as follows. After 45 minutes into the ride as we were ascending a long but easy grade climb around the Köln-Bonn airport, I overheard Chuck mention to Jeff that “the best way to cyclotour Europe is in the dark.” Now that comment was not a dig at the route/surrounding area (as it was quite nice actually), but it was instead directed at their local ride leader. This became a recurring theme throughout the week and our subsequent rides, as roughly half of the local riding scenery I wanted to show my guests, they actually couldn’t see. :-)
Shortly after the sunrise, we finished our ride, took the bus to the Köln Hbf, picked up a rental car, and then headed west to Brugge. An enjoyable and uneventful trip until we made our first fuel and food stop on the expressway near Ghent. As is typical in Europe, one must pay to potty. When Jeff and I entered the WC, the potty patrol person was absent, but I obediently put some coins into the unattended dish anyway (living in Germany has conditioned me to follow rules). A minute or two later when our business was finished, Jeff somehow escaped unscathed, as he exited. I, on the other hand, was greeted by the missing attendant who was a young guy with a bullying sarcastic tone to him. I was accused of PWP (insert “P…ing” word of your choice followed by “W”ithout “P”aying). After a short discussion, I was finally allowed to leave, even though I sensed that he did not believe my insistence that I had voluntarily prepaid. Chuck experienced this same hospitality a few minutes later when the thug potty attendant body-checked him and physically tried to block him from leaving until he paid. Somehow he too managed escape. Despite the hitherto hospitality, we decided to stay at this fine establishment to eat given our nagging hunger. But…the fun wasn’t over. The cashier short-changed me €15 after paying for my €8 Panini and soda with a €50, but only after double-billing Chuck for his meal, which he soon realized after reviewing his receipt.
Shortly after that warm welcome to Flanders, we checked-in at our hotel and then headed to the Grote Markt in Brugge to walk the streets in search of chocolate, lace, Profi cyclists, and Trappist bier. We succeeded in finding most of these. In terms of Profi related sightings, we saw JV (many moons away from his Mont Venteux victory climbing weight) and Van Petegem from Garmin and Dirk Demol from Radio Shack heading to pre-race event that evening.
However, the highlight of the day occurred when we were walking the streets after dinner. With a Trappist bier or two under our belts, the local surroundings and atmosphere was quite enjoyable. It then reached a crescendo when we heard a guy with a familiar South African accent shout “Bon Giorno” to another guy who obviously spoke English with an Italian accent. Jeff, Chuck and I immediately look at each other and said “Look, it’s Phil and Paul!“ So we stood there, let Phil and Paul finish their conversation (with who turned out to be the main cycling commentator for RAI), then went up to them and requested a photo. They graciously said "sure" and Paul took a picture of the three of us with Phil. We then asked Phil to take a group pic with Paul, but Phil struggled mightily with Chuck’s iPhone and was never actually able to snap the photo. Paul thought this was quite funny and teased Phil for being in the dark ages in terms of his knowledge of modern technology. Paul then proceeded to take out his iPhone to show me his iPhone to demonstrate his skills. We then talked with them for another few minutes and they were quite friendly and engaging. Paul took notice of the Chuck’s sweatshirt, which featured the Lion of Flanders, and proceeded to quiz him on his ability to properly say it in Flemish. We then talked a lot about the next day’s race – thunder storms were predicted, it would probably be a battle between Cancellara and Gilbert and not Boonen (not surprisingly, Nuyens name was never mentioned), and both admitted their predictions had been lacking as of late, especially with the surprise win by Tony Martin a few weeks prior at Paris-Nice. So there we were, on Flander’s eve talking racing with Phil and Paul just a few blocks away from the start of race. Not a bad way to spend an evening!
On Sunday, we awoke early and headed to the start. Our race plan was to mimic what I had done prior year and watch the start, head to a spot near Oudenaarde in the middle of the race, then finish at the Kapplemuur. So after breakfast, we positioned ourselves about 50 feet from the start, just along the inside barricades where the riders would have to ride next to us to line up to start. We had a great view, took some nice pics, and enjoyed being a “a fly on the barricade”, as we tried to eavesdrop on various rider conversations whenever possible. After a successful start, we then had to pull an audible as we neared Oudenaarde, since the race was too near and the traffic was almost at a standstill. I realized what had happened - the course had changed this year, as it had not taken them west out of Brugge to the sea and then down to the hills in the heart of Flanders. This year the route pretty much went straight to south out of Brugge, and therefore the course was more concentrated and congested with fans than had been in the prior year. We made a quick decision to abort and then headed to the town of Geraardsbergen, home of the most famous Spring Classic climb, the Kappelmuur. We arrived in plenty of time to stop in a little pub on the course near the base of the climb. We had a Belgium bier or two while we watched the race on TV as it approached town. As it got closer, we headed to our spot near the top to watch it arrive in person.
Here are some scenes from our festivities that weekend.
Luckily, Paul knew how to work an iPhone camera.
Big George relaxing at the start.
I called him the epitomy of Belgie toughness last year, and I will say it again this year. Just a few days after a hard crash that put him in the hospital with a concussion and some lost teeth, Hoste lines up bandaged for the start. Well, why wouldn't he?
Yes, we were that close. I had to exercise self-restraint from taking that race card as a souvenir.
There are some real Boonen "fan"atics. This picture says it all.
Gilbert lines up.
We think we spotted Floyd in the crowd. Poor guy has really aged these past few years. :-)
Thor SMASH, Sparticus, and Tommy Voeckler depart.
We have arrived...the base of the Kaapelmuur. Where would you rather be on the first Sunday of April?
Polytheism abound this Sunday. The locals honor the past and present cycling gods everywhere you turn. The above two pics show the caricatures that were everywhere. If you double-click the photo you will see Waylendt, Cancellera, Pettachi, F. Schleck, and others. 
Chuck ascends the Kappelmuur quite happily. One comment on the Hincapie US Championship jersey - Chuck got comments in English everwhere he went - "Hey....yuuu uh Heeencaapee fan?" Belgies love Hincapie and were always eager to tell us how much they like him and to give us race updates as to how he was doing." For 3 Americans in Belgium, this was very cool.
Yours truly with Chuck and Jeff on the Muur. After years of watching this race on TV together and talking about doing this trip, we finally did it...here we are. :-) 
Game on! The boys finally arrive. Cancellera leads the charge with Chavenal, Gilbert and the rest in tow as they fly up this long, steep, cobbled climb at INSANE speeds.
After the groups who were still racing went by, we hurriedly descended the Muur to watch the finish on the big screen. Here is how we watched Nuyens outfox them all.
The party is over. Remnants of the battle on the Muur.Bis später
No comments:
Post a Comment