Devolder Wins!!!

The day after our epic adventure, Woody and I had a chance to sleep in, and let me tell you it was totally needed. Our bodies got rocked and we were sore in spots we hadn't been in quite some time. See the pics below for the crime scene that was our bathtub as we cleaned the bikes. We watched most of the race on TV and then hit the train to Ninove to catch the finish. We rolled into Ninove at the approximate finishing time and tried running (emphasize try!) a km or so to what we thought was the finish. Turns out our finish from the day before wasn't the finish for the pro's. Luckily there were some locals that pointed us to the race. We ran another km or so only to realize we missed the finishers by a few minutes. We made our way up to the finish area with the team buses and got some pretty good pics. Congrats to Stijn Devolder!!! Conditions definitely made this a true Ronde.




































































Seat Post Clamp, Eddie Merckx, and The Atomium...

This portion is a little out of sequence, but we just got the pics on the computer. I had managed to lose my seat post clamp at some point during packing or unpacking my bike. Riding the Ronde while standing the entire time didn't seem like too much fun so we set out Friday morning to find a bike shop. Let's just say directions in Belgium become a lot more difficult when there are no street signs. Street names are on small plaques mounted to the sides of buildings (most of the time). We managed to find a bike shop after about an hour or so. Zipping through the streets of Belgium is a blast. You have three main things to look out for: Cobbles, trolley tracks, and crazy crazy drivers.

We got back to the room and packed up for a trip to visit the Eddie Merckx factory. Once again navigating proved to be a total adventure. So much so, we ended up on a highway heading out of town. Nothing like merging with a bunch of semi's! We though it was in our best interest to get on some safer roads and hiked up a grass hill to the bike path. We made it to the Merckx factory on some absolutely gorgeous roads. After a few photos, we strolled around the side entrance and noticed someone gearing up for a ride. Woody's says "That's Eddie Merckx," and I'm basically frozen like some clown with my jaw dropped to the floor. We head out so not to be a pest. Woody looks back and says he's coming this way. Eddie passed us and said hi. I got a nice pic of his backside. We proceeded to stalk him at a steady 100m behind him for the next couple km. It was getting late and we made our way back to Brussels.

On our way back, we noticed the Atomium and decided to check it out. What is the Atomium you ask? Only the greatest monument ever. If this is what you get from a World's Fair, I have to ask myself, "Why'd they stop having these things?"