Rest and Recovery

Brugge
Brugge again
Delicious Waffle
Our ride on the Tour of Flanders course
The best cappuccino ever


For the past few days, we have been doing various things to keep us busy, since we have had a 5 day break from racing. We rode on the track in Brugge on Tuesday, and after cruised the town for a couple of hours. It is one of the coolest towns I have been to, and one of the only towns in Belgium that still has a lot of old architecture, since many of the other towns were destroyed in the Wars. On Wednesday we rode part of the Tour of Flanders course, over a couple of the famous cobbled climbs. Previously I have only heard of what cobbles are like, but once I actually rode them I have found out it is impossible to describe the feeling of riding them. Your entire body rattles and shakes violently, leaving everything sore and tired. Now I know why all of the riders who win those races are so big. Cobbles are crazy.
Thursday afternoon we were able to see a big pro race here in Izegem. The atmosphere at the race was so cool, because the entire town and more were there. We could hardly move around the course because of the swarms of people. The whole Astana pro team from Kazakhstan was there, Discovery had a rider, T-Mobile had a rider, and many other pro teams were present. The race was won by the famous gigantic Belgian rider Nico Eeckhout (his nickname is Rambo because he is so big). It was pretty sweet.
During this break, the racing has been reduced, but my consumption of unhealthy foods has done the opposite. I have had a few too many panenkoeken (crepes) with Nutella, Rice tarts, and Belgian waffles. They are too good to resist. It seems that the worst food for you, is the cheapest and best tasting. It is hard to find anything at the bakeries that costs more than a Euro, and there is a bakery on almost every block. It is awesome.
Tomorrow we resume our racing with a prestigious Interclub race in Brussels, and then a kermesse on Sunday. After that we return home on Monday. It has been an awesome trip, and it is too bad it is coming to an end. I look forward to seeing everyone at home.

Larry

The Bakery in Kortrijk
Lost in Luxembourg
Our hotel room in Switzerland
A sweet town in Switzerland
A guy walking a cow in a town in Switzerland

Sorry about the long hiatus, but I have been without internet for the past few days. We did a World Cup race in Switzerland last week called the GP Ruebliland. The drive was long, and the racing was tough, but the country was probably the most awesome place I have ever been. The landscape, architecture, towns, and everything was just super cool. We had four stages-three road stages and one time trial. In the first stage, one of my teammates and I were going for GC, but we missed out on the large break of the day, which ended up getting five minutes up the road. After that the pack was careful to let anything go. So the rest of the races were pretty tame, with the tt being my best result in 24th place, I was a little disappointed with it. The final road stage was my time to shine, and I got in the split of around 15-20 over the big climb of the day, but on the descent, one of my spokes broke. I didn't even hit a bump. Just boom. So I tried to ride it, and sat on the back of the break for around a kilometer or two with a super out of true wheel, and by the time I finally got a wheel change the pack had already flown by me and I had to chase back on. I reintegrated after a short time, and just finished in the pack. Unfortunately, the winning move of the day went out of the group I was in, but it was still awesome because my teammate Grant ended up finishing second on the day, an excellent result for team USA. The race had some of the toughest climbs I have ever raced on a bike, and was super fun. We stayed at an awesome hotel that made us really good breakfasts every single morning we were there.
The team arrived back in Izegem last night and we have a 5 day break until the next race. Today we went to the coastal city of Oostende, and roamed around the town for a few hours. We rented a 4 person bike, went to a Gelateria, and a good bakery. Tomorrow we go to Brugge to ride on the track, and then see the sights for a little after that. The past few weeks have been quite the adventure. See you all soon.

Larry

Izegem so far...

A Sweet Car
The Town Square in Kortrijk
The Wall (really large vending machine 2 blocks away)
They have these bread machines everywhere
The House


These are some pictures of around Izegem, BE where we are staying. I have done two races so far, both kermesses. They are hard races, with attacks about every 10 seconds. In the first race, I missed all the moves that went, and ended up finishing 32nd. I was a little disappointed, so I decided I needed to be much more active the next race. I attacked too many times, and ended up a little burnt out for the end placing 18th. The atmosphere at these races is super cool though, with the registration being in a local cafe. Outside, there are a bunch of old guys betting on the different juniors in the races, and the write the wagers on these big white boards. There is quite a bit of prize money too, and I have won a total of 17 euros! Looks like I will be pretty rich by the time I get back. Well, that's it for now, when something eventful happens I will post again. Thanks for reading.

Larry

I'm leavin' on a jet plane

"My bags are packed and ready to go," and my flight leaves in about 45 minutes. I look forward to getting over this nagging cold I have had for over a week, and getting in some sweet riding. I finally finished the two college applications my mom was making me finish before I left, at 8:30 last night, which was when I was supposed to go to bed to get adjusted to the time difference. After finishing those, I still had the bulk of my packing to do. It was a long night, and I didn't even finish packing until this morning. I have learned that it is definitely not my area of expertise. When I began to move my bag to the first floor, I realized it was not the easiest to pick up. I put it on the scale, and it was 58 pounds. Crap. I had to shift, rearrange, and take out a bunch of junk, and then when we arrived at the airport it was still 5 pounds over! As I really didn't want to take anything out, we were going to pay the overweight fee... that was until he told us it was a whopping 381 dollars! My family and I scurried to remove the extra stuff, which we did, much to my dismay, and now I am here at the gate. I'm really excited to embark on this trip, and do some awesome bike racing. It'll be tough, but should be cool, and a really good learning experience. Thanks for reading, and to the few of you who did, I hope you enjoyed. I will try to update this again when I arrive.