Greetings from Belgium

Ryan here,

I've been meaning to get on here and let everyone know how things are going for a while, but I've had a bit of a tough time recently and I've been trying to reconcile conflicting emotions. You see, my Grandpa Barney passed away right after I arrived here in Europe, and its been so strange to be dealing with that loss while getting to know this incredible country. I didn't feel quite right getting on here and blogging about how amazing everything is. I figure I just have to say a few words about my grandpa before I start.

My grandpa has always been an inspiration to me. I could write for a long time trying to list all the things I loved about him, but a few things stand out. First, his unbridled curiosity. He never, never stopped learning. He always had some article bookmarked, some puzzle going, or some project underway that utilized a new skill or bit of knowledge. He was incredibly outgoing in a way that has always amazed me. No matter where he went he could engage complete strangers and before long they'd be conversing like old friends. His ability to talk freely and tell stories was unequaled in my experience, and though it was occasionally overwhelming (we used to say you didn't talk to grandpa, you listened) it was a gift that allowed him to form special connections with so many people throughout his life. These two qualities stand out for me because they seem to explain how he might have seen the world. First as a place where there is something fascinating or miraculous everywhere you look, from the forming of galaxies to the hurried life of insects exposed beneath a lifted rock. Secondly, his kindness and outgoing nature turned the world, a world that so often frightens me with its vastness and impersonality, into a place where every stranger is a potential new friend. I love him with all of my heart and I will miss him tremendously.

Thank you all for indulging me. I feel better about relaying my thoughts on this trip after having written that, and after all this is a blog about a cycling trip. So let me see if I can't focus on some of the amazing things about cycling in Belgium, there certainly are enough of them.

Everything they said was true, this really is the epicenter of cycling culture. EVERYONE rides bikes. I don't know what exactly it is, having towns so close together, $8/gallon gas, incredible roads with bike lanes everywhere, or just the air of respect that bikes get. Whatever it is, it has so many people riding that it just blows my mind. Its people of all ages too. We saw a kid only a few years old learning to ride the other day (almost on the cobbles no less), and as we were sitting in the local cafe a group of 8 elderly people (all easily over 70) finished their afternoon beers, got up and all rode off together on their cruiser bikes. If I lived in a place like this, I'd never, ever even dream of owning a car.

I can't get over how European everything is, which I suppose makes sense because this is Europe. Still, all the buildings are red brick, and as Mitch writes, every town has its own cobbled square with prominent church tower. I often get the sense that this place would have looked more or less the same a couple hundred years ago. There are endless single lane farm roads and you can just pick a direction and go and go and go. We've been blessed with incredible weather so far, neither cold and rainy nor oppressively hot, and if my legs were stronger I'd never get off the bike.

Some stereotypes about Belgium are true. For instance there are a ton of waffles. In the big supermarket there must be 50 different varieties. Is hysterical. Also, there is beer, and it is good. One has to be careful though, someone bought me a beer the other day and it turned out to be 11% alcohol. One was enough to make me a bit lightheaded. I'd love to train to handle my belgian ales better, but I've got to train for the bike instead, especially in light of Mitches account of that first race. I was pretty bummed I couldn't do it, but I'm still a bit sick and it was probably for the best. Those Europeans just look so serious, with their flowing mullets and shiny, oiled legs... its the real thing, no doubt.

Everyone else is off in Brugge today, but I'm still feeling under the weather, had a terrible nights sleep and I'm anticipating a pretty serious ass-whooping tonight in my first European race. Apparently its of even a higher level that the first one the guys did, something along the lines of an NRC race in the US. Great, these guys came back form the first local race looking like they'd ridden through hell, and I get to jump into a pro race for initiation. Between you and me, I'm scared shitless.

So I think I'll go clean my bike, check it over one last time and then have a snack and put my legs up. I'll be back with a report on Belgian racing. Wish me luck!

-Ryan