Flanders and back

The Dianna Weekly IX

2008-08-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Belgium,

Well I am back from England now so I suppose I should write the rest of my blog from last time.

Day four

Early rise 6:30am. As you may remember we were in the twenty bed dorm, so we snuck out really quietly and finished packing in the hall way. Then it was down stairs for the best hostel breakfast I have ever had. We had to get the early train or it would mess up the whole day, so we scoffed down breakfast then got the rail car to the top of the hill and then on to the train station. The first train of the day was to Interlaken.

The train was incredible, while not an actual scenic train the views were incredible. The day started out nice and clear and sunny but the closer we got to the mountains the weather started to close in and by the time we got to Interlaken it was raining and the mountains were covered in clouds. So it was a little disappointing but there was still a really nice atmosphere. We had two hours in Interlaken to look around, we found a cool little shop that sold all things Swiss, including cuckoo clocks and Swiss army knifes. I bought a little Swiss army knife and got my name and the date engraved on it.

We went on a walk around the town a bit on our way to the next train station and we found a really cool coffee shop. They sold everything to do with coffee, including really good cappuccinos. It was so nice to have a proper coffee, Belgium seems to only do filter coffee. Time was getting on by now so we high tailed to the train station and headed to Lucerne.
By the time we got to Lucerne it was really raining. We had no umbrellas so we bought one from the supermarket in the train station. Being tight we bought only one thinking it would be fine. We later bought another as one clearly was not big enough for the two of us as Grant is an umbrella hog.
We walked from the train station to the middle of town, on the way you cross a really old covered walking bridge. It was just beautiful. There were flowers covering the side of the bridge for the whole length of it. Once in town we found out that there was a glacier park that was nearby. The park was a place were these really cool rock formations could be seen, they were these holes that had been cut out during the last few ice ages but they were weird because they all had big round boulders sitting in them. There was a bit of debate as to just how they were formed. The park also had a mirror maze which was cool but it was also a spinout. Just outside of the park there is a huge carving of a wounded lion into the rock face, it was there to commemorate soldiers lost in war.

After the park we went back to the train station, as the rain had been quite heavy all day I was soaking wet, so I had to get changed before getting on the next train.
The next train was to Zurich to get a connecting train to Innsbruck in Austria. As I had gotten wet in Lucerne I hung my jacket up on the train to dry. We were in a hurry to make the connection to the next train and I left my jacket on the train. Wet, tried and annoyed that the clouds meant that I couldn’t see the mountains I got really upset. Plus I really liked that jacket. Not all was bad though. The train to Innsbruck was great it was so pretty through there, lots of little towns and rolling hills with massive mountains behind them.

The train travelled along the coolest path around the edge of the mountains and through tunnels. It climbed really steep hills too. By the time we arrived in Innsbruck it was quite late so we got a taxi to the Hostel. Once there we went for a walk to find some food and on the way we went past a place that was hosting some kind of traditional dance evening because everyone was dressed in traditional Austrian costume. After that we went back to the hostel and met the people we were sharing a room with. Two Germans, a young couple who were hiking from Munich to Innsbruck and then wherever else they wanted. They were pretty nice, and wanted to now all about Australia. Sleepy time.

Day Five

Innsbruck. We started the day with a sleep in. 9am. Unfortunately that meant we missed breakfast. We jumped on the next bus to the train station and then got some breakfast there. Cinnamon scrolls and coffee.
I had watched an episode of Get Away where they went to the Swarovski Crystal World and it looked really good. So we got on the bus to go there as it was about 5km out of town. It was seventeen euros each, we thought that’s not to bad for the bus and entry. No. that was just the bus. It was another seven Euro for entry. Complete rip off. Never go there. I though it was going to be about crystals and crystal Art but no. it was a really poor modern art display and half of the art didn’t even have crystals in it. Then they dump you out into the shop. Crapest place I have ever been. Shame on Get Away for making it look better then it was, I will never trust that show, they say places are good when they clearly are not.

Well after a bad morning we went back into town and went to find the cable car. The cable car starts in town and then take you up to 2300m. You change cars threes times on the way up because they simply couldn’t make one that long. It was one of the best things I have ever done. The view was amazing. A bit over half way up the car stoped and then started to rock, very scary. Once you get to the top there are no plants not evern moss. It was like you were on the moon. Just rocks and ice every were. Grant loved it, he was running around like a little kid saying “look as this, look at that”. at the top there was a board that marked where the surrounding mountains were, what they were called and how high they were. There was a near by mountain that was 3500m. On the way up and back we saw deer, ice, hikers, mountain bikers and we went through the clouds.

The only bad thing about travelling through the alps was that for the rest of trip the only thing, and I mean the only thing, Grant would talk about was mountain bike ridding and coming back there for a week of riding. After about three days of constant bike talk I was wondering how hard it would be to knock him off and make it look like and accident. I am not kidding, here we are travelling through what is arguably the most beautiful part of Europe and all he could think about was bikes. I must say though it would be a great area for ridding.
Once we were done playing on the mountain we went back down and headed for the train station and then caught the next train to Vienna (Wien). We didn’t get there till late as it was straight to bed.

Day Six

Wien. Up at 8:30am. Grant wanted to sleep in so I had to practically drag him out of bed. We had breakfast at a bakery called Anchor, they do the best cheap breakfast. Then it was on to the metro to Saint Stephens Cathedral. It has this really nice tiled roof. Out the front there were a heap of guys dressed in period costume selling tickets to different classical concerts, they looked really cool. Next we went for a walk to the Hofburg Palace, it was the home of the Hapsburgs the Austrian Royal Family. On the way we saw a really nice Ferrari and a street performer dress as Mozart but completely Gold. Once we got to the palace we did the Sisi museum and the imperial apartments. Sisi was the last empress of Austria. It was weird because she looks just like me. So now Grant thinks I am actually a descendent of Austrian Royalty.

The palace was very pretty lots of over the top decorations. After this went and sat in the park outside the palace for a few minutes and then decided to go the Belvedere museum. We caught the tram the wrong way and then had to turn around and go to the other end of town. Then we got there and decided we didn’t really wont to go in anyway. We did see the entrance area though which is very pretty. It was the middle of the day a quite hot now so we sat in the park outside the museum for about half an hour.
We decided to go to the amusement park to ride the giant ferries wheel to get a good view of Wien. So we jumped on the tram and went. It was cool, it was a really old, and you stood in these carriages. The view was great too. After this was got some Bratwurst and free bread and sat in the park and watched all the people go past. Wien is the best place for people watching. We saw some strange people. One women about 40ish was pushing and old guy along in a wheel chair, and I though that’s nice of her, until she went past. Her pants were so short the could see at least half her butt hanging out the bottom. I’m not kidding I even took a photo. Then there were the usual bike riders, rollerblades, runner and some really cool dogs.

After a least an hour of sitting in the park we went out to the old cemetery to see all the famous composers graves. We saw Mozart, Shubert, Beethoven, Strauss and a lot of other less famous people. I was surprised at how big the place was. It was getting late now so we headed back into town and went and got dinner. I had a Wien schnitzel in Wien. You just have to do things like that. While we were having dinner a stretch hummer drove past full a girls and a hens night, it looked like fun.

After dinner it was back to the hostel and sleepy time.
Well that is enough for this blog, I will finish our travels in the next
Lots love
Dianna

The Dianna Weekly IIX

2008-07-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

Greetings From Belgium,

Well it has been a long time since my last blog as I have been travelling and had little access to a computer. Grant and I spent twelve days travelling through France, Switzerland, Austria, Chez Rep, Germany and Luxemburg. It was crazy and very go go go. The best way to tell you what we did is to give you a day by day run through.

Day One

We got up early and caught the train to Paris. It was Bastille day so we almost didn’t get tickets as the trains were all booked out but we had first class Eurail so we managed to get two seats. Lucky or Grant would have killed me because he told me to book the tickets ages ago.
The train stop we got off at in Paris was close to the Basilica so our first sightseeing stop was there. When we got to the bottom of the stairs two men stoped us and said they where from Nigeria and that they were there to give all the tourist a welcome gift, a piece of string tired around your wrist and the you where to make a wish when you got to the top of the stairs. So they put the string around our wrists and we where about to walk away when they started to ask for money for the string. Thing is they were asking for ten Euro which is about $15 AU. We said no way and tried to take the string off and give it back to them, but we couldn’t get them off, so we gave them about four Euro each and walked away. They weren’t happy because they wanted more money but we told them to go away. I couldn’t believe it only took us an hour to get done by some stupid con.

Any way after that we walked to the top of the stairs to look at the view of Paris and see the Basilica. The view is increasable from there. You could see all of Paris, except the Eiffel Tour (that is the way the Frenchys spell it). It was behind a hill, so I was a little disappointed. As it was Bastille day (the French National Day) there were heap of Helicopters and jets in the sky putting on an aerial display so that was cool. Next we caught the metro to our hotel and freshened up.

We were staying quite close to the centre of Paris so we decided to walk to the Louvre which was only a Fifteen minute walk away. It was to incredible to see it in real life, it was a really busy through because of the public holiday you had the normal tourists and all the Frenchys were out too. We walked through the courtyards in the middle of the building out to where the pyramids are and then through the gardens where I saw the Eiffel tour for the first time, it was so cool. It couldn’t believe how excited I was about see it.

To the side of the Gardens there is a Fair where they have rides. Grant and I decided to go for a ride on the Farris wheel to get a good view of Paris. It was awesome. It gave you the best view of the Louvre, Eiffel tour, the Basilica and so much more. After the wheel we went and sat in the park for a while and listened to a jazz band that was playing.
It was a hot day so we went back to the hotel were grant a an afternoon sleep.
For dinner we walked down to a nearby Chinese place for dinner then went for a walk through a nearby park and got an ice-cream and then headed back to the hotel.

Day Two

Still in Paris. Got up early had breakfast and headed to the Louvre. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays so we didn’t get to go in. I wasn’t to bothered as we only had two days in Paris and spending half of one inside to Louvre is not the best use of your time.
We found an open top tour bus and jumped on that. Totally worth the money. You get a great view and commentary telling you things that you otherwise would never know. With this tour company there where four different loops you could do, we managed to do three of them. The one we missed out on was the one that takes you past the Moulin Rouge, so I was a little disappointed I didn’t see that.
We did the first loop and went past the Eiffel Tour, Notre dam, down the Champs-Elysées, the square where Marie Antoinette lost her head, and loads of other things. Once we were back at the Cathedral Notre Dam we jumped off the bus and went to get some lunch.

On our way back to the bus stop we saw a street artist doing cartoon drawings of people, so Grant and I thought it would be a cool souvenir, so we got one done of the two of us, it looks so funny. After this it was back to the bus to do the next loop. Doing a bus tour is such a good idea if you have a short time in a city, you see so much and learn a lot and you sit on your arse at the same time. Its great. The second loop went through the newer area of Paris as well as along the river. After this loop we went to Luxemburg Gardens for a bit of a break. In the Gardens they have some large fountains were the kid sail these little wooden sail boats, it was so cool, we sat in chairs and watched the kids run around sending there boats out into the fountain then run to the other side to grab there boat turn it around and send it out again.

It was mid afternoon so Grant had his now common afternoon nap in the park. It was so nice just to sit there and watch all the people. After a while we decided we had better keep moving if we wanted to see everything, so it was back to the bus. We did the third loop and then headed to the Eiffel tour. Once there we went and grabed some dinner at a little restaurant around the corner then back to the Tour. It took 45 mins to get to climb the tour. It was still daylight when we started to climb but the sun was setting. About half way to the first floor the lights an the tour went off. It was amazing. Thousands of little flashes going off around you. We stoped and watched the lights for a while but they go for ten minutes so eventually we kept climbing.

Once at the first floor we walked around the whole floor to view Paris in every direction. Is was still daylight. We continued to climb to the second floor and by the time we got there it was dark so you could see all the lights of Paris, it was just beautiful. After a while we realised the lights would be going off again soon so we started to climb back down. They started to go when we were only half way down to we practical ran down the stairs to see them. We got to the bottom and quickly found a good place on the grass to lay down and watch the lights. The Tour was lit Blue with large lights on the ground and then thousands of little lights on the Tour were flashing. It was such a spin out, I couldn’t believe I was in Paris laying on the grass watching THE Eiffel tour light up.

Once the excitement died down we decided to head back to the hotel as it was quite late and we had a very early day the next day.

Day Three

Travel to Bern in Switzerland. We had to get up at 6am to get to the train station, not fun. The train to Bern was nice, especially as we got closer to the Swiss Alps. We arrived at the station and started to walk to the Hostel. On the way we got to a walking path that goes around the edge of the top of the valley, from there you catch a little rail car to the bottom where the hostel is. We stoped along the path to admire the view. In the distance you could see rolling hills leading up to the mountain range. We were standing there a good few minutes when Grant said “um sweetie, some of those clouds aren’t clouds”. what we thought was cloud sitting on top of the mountain were in fact snow capped mountains. It was incredible.

Once we had got over how high the mountains where we caught the rail car to the bottom and found how hostel. We couldn’t check in for another hour so we sat outside in the garden for a while. Once checked in we walked down to the river, which was about fifty meters away.
The river was spectacular. It was a real aqua colour and it was flowing incredibly fast. Grant stuck his foot in to see how cold it was, and it was cold. Straight from the mountains cold. We followed the river around to the town centre and on the way we past two guys in swimming shorts heading up the river. About five minutes later we see them floating down the river. Apparently what the locals do is go up stream off the swimming spot and then float back down. (only take about a minute because it flows so fast). Once Grant had seen this all he wanted to do was try it out. I had to be the party pooper and say no. you would have to be a very strong swimmer, while Grant is a strong swimmer, I wasn’t going to have him drown and ruin my holiday.

Once I had convinced him not to go for a swim we walked into the old town. We walked down the main shopping street where we saw the house Albert Einstein was living in when he developed his theory of relativity. You could go through the house but I had read it wasn’t that interesting so we gave it a miss.
Next we came across a little shop that sold liqueurs, they had every thing, Banana, Chocolate, Strawberry and some well aged whisky’s too. They were all stored in these glass barrels. The idea is you buy them buy the 100ml. You could get them in these cool little glass stackable bottles, that way if you bought something of each colour you could display it in a cool way.
We continued to walk around the town looking around. Down the middle of the roads they had these beautiful fountains that were feed straight from the river so you could drink the water from them. While I still think Finland has the best water in the world this was pretty good. Next we came across a cheese shop selling proper Swiss cheese as well as cheeses from all over the world. We bought some Three year old cheese made in the alps nearby. Then we went and sat on a bench on the path I told you about before, where you can see the mountains and we ate our cheese. Good Strong Cheese. As it was now late afternoon Grant had a sleep.
We went for another walk through town and then went and got some dinner. Then headed back to the hostel and showered etc. the river was really close to the hostel so we decided to go and sit down there and watch the sun go down.
Bed time. Never stay in a twenty bed dorm room. Some people are just so inconsiderate. There were a couple of people talking in the room and I thought that’s not so bad so I just jump into bed thinking they wont sit there all night. Then some more people joined them and then a couple more. By now some other people had gone to bed to go to sleep as well. I sat up a few time and looked at so that they would realise people were trying to sleep but no they just kept on talking. The final straw came after about two hours when I heard one on them open a beer. So I sat up and said “people are trying to sleep here. If you want to have a conversation and a beer go out to the common area. Bedrooms are for sleeping, common rooms are for socialising”. After that they all left and one of the other people who was trying to sleep got up and turned off the light, they couldn’t even turn off the light as they left.

well that is probably enough for this blog.
I am going to London tomorrow so I don't think I will get to the next bit untill next week. sorry.

Untill next time
lots Love

Dianna

Racing Blog (updated)

2008-07-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

7/05 Ruien-Kluisbergen (O) 102k 102 Starters (O is east flanders, W is west)

DNF

First race. Managed to put out about 70km before the legs shut down. Felt ok, but struggled with the intensity, HR was almost always well above 170bpm. Going to take a while to get some lactate tolerance and speed due to not racing much at home. Not too bothered, not bad for first race. Went with an attack. A couple of cobbled bits, no more than 100m. Pretty flat with a lump out the back. The famous Kluisberg in the background (berg in the Tour of Flanders and other spring classic races). Ruien has the Eddy Mercks memorial. It was where he did his last or won his last kermese. Did and won are the same as he won everything.

10/05 Wielsbeke (W) 120km Kermise 105 Starters

DNF

Got tangled up in crash in the 2nd lap, guy fell in front of me on a corner. He got my front wheel in the ribs and guts for his trouble. Cop that one. Didnt put it down, but had to unclip. Spent the whole lap chasing by myself. Got back on, was larry lastwheel for a couple of laps. Got forward eventually, but the break had gone. Was active in following the counter attacks for a while, but it was very negative, no one wanted to work. Got to 3 laps to go and blew, did about 2hr 20min. Still lacking the intensity. Better than previous race. Going to take a week or two. Happy not to stack.

12/05 Lovendegem (O) 70km Criterium 23 Starters

17th

Crit belgian style, 2km loops, lots of corners. Small field, public holiday (feestendag) about 8 races on today, so riders thin on the ground. Fast start, got caught down back with some goobers. Spent early laps chasing, our group grew as guys came back from the front. Never saw the front, spent whole race trying to stay on lead lap. Eventually got lapped by 2 leaders. As they came by, 2 of my group tacked on the back, while the rest of us gave them room. Unknown to me it was laaste ronde (last lap), these 2 got away and I rode away from the other few to get 17th. Got a prize (they call the race money a prize). To finish is good sign, must get forward and avoid goobers. As I get more speed, this will happen. The team I rode for last time was there, saw Staff, lucky he didnt see me. According to several sources he likes to antagonise the ex-riders.

Last year, there was about 11 Div 3 pro teams in Belgium, this year there is about 4, so lots of good riders back in the amateurs. Going to be a tough year to get the result. Plus all the same guys winning races now as was in 2005: Mario Willems, Paatrick Croquart, Guy Smet, Bart Van Spreybrouke, Dave Brulandts, and the usual suspects.

Racing here is like playing Geelong at Geelong. Or playing backyard cricket in someone else's yard: they make the rules up, change them as you go along, tamper with the ball, have a weird bat, tape up one side of the ball, one hand-one bounce out of the gum tree. Once I learn the rules and get a few innings under the belt, hopefully the results will come. Just going to have to knuckle down and harden up.

14/05 Oostrezele (O) 115km Kermese 93 Starters

DNF

Another large field, typical of the early part of the season. Saw Staff at the sign-in, he was pretty friendly which was good. He says" I see you at the last race, ya, I think you thinking too much about you girlfriend eh?"As I have 3 races on the weeknd, I decided to ride the first hour as hard as I could and look at pulling the pin if need be, as it was a 60km return ride to the race anyway. Went with 4 serious attacks in the first hour, none stuck. Rode the whole time in the first 20 wheels. The Kazackstan U23 team was there with about 8 riders and Guy Smet's teamates were pulling for him, so there was more team activity than usual and nothing went away early. After an hour I started getting a bit choppy on the pedals, so I went back for a spell. At 1:07, the break went! About 30 riders went away, then the remainder turned really negative. 5 more riders went away, so I gave chase solo. 2 came across to me, so we chased for 2 laps. Then 3 more came across, and we had a good group, were running in about 40th a few minutes down. Then the officials pulled us out! The course was only 6.4km long, and due to speed of the break, they had put half a lap into us and then the officials get narky about the trafic, so they pulled everyone but the lead group out. Bit annoying to be in the top 50% of the field and get a DNF again, but the prizes were gone and good to save some gas for the weekend. Not worried about getting dropped anymore, have plenty of strength to attack and still get back in the group. So, I will be boosting it with the moves from now on. Boosted it home as a storm was coming, got home just as it poured. Got 10 days without a cloud in the sky, 25oC everyday, a good run for Belgium. Perhaps I have brought the drought to Belgum, just like Wakool! 2 days recovery and then 3 days in a row in France. Very large races, much harder than kermese.

17/05 Circuit de Pevele, France 160km

The team decided not to go to this one, dunno why. Pity as it has a Paris-Roubaix sector, Pave du Blocus (Cobble of Bone) and a 10% wall in it.

18/05 Lys lez lannoy, France, 171km

DNF

Plenty of hitters at this one. Sco Djion, CC Nogent-sur-Oise, Credit Agricole U23 team, VC Roubaix, Willems Verandah team, etc etc. Start near Roubaix, race over the bergs again and again over to Ronse near Oudenaarde then back for 4 local laps. Parts of the Ronde Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) course. Lasted 2hrs then blew. 2 of our guys finished, 4 didnt. Cobbled climbs and decents, tight streets, lots of corners, rough roads, proper road racing. I got into trouble after a really steep cobble climb where I hit max. The next berg I just couldnt wind it up any harder. I went over the top at 30kmhr but the wheel was still going away. I didnt really blow, just clouldnt spool it up any harder. About 1/3 of the field had blown by then, so it wasnt too bad. I did another 20km, then got in the broom wagon with some belgies and a frenchy. Then we saw a funny. Some belgie had pulled up his car in front of a frenchy driveway to feed his riders. When we pulled up to load a rider, the frenchy was giving him shit, so the belgie sprayed him with a bidon (bottle). Then the frenchy gets his hose and squirts the belgie. The belgie wants to fight him. By now we have the windows down and are yelling encouragement in 3 different languages and laughing. The belgie hits him and smashes the frenchies glasses, frenchies missus is screaming, frenchy gives the belgie a few good open-handers, the belgie gives him another few. A few riders get involved, then a moto cop from the race breaks it all up. We get our heads back in the bus as we take off. Its not the racing thats interesting, its the random things that happen. I was out of my depth today.

The racing terain. Note the helicopter following the race.

Trying to get back on. Note the arm-warmer fashion crime.

19/05 Douche les mines, France 95km

DNF

Frenchies everywhere. Spitting everywhere. Peeing everywhere. Filthy frenchies. Was on the limit all race, a steady hill each lap was putting me in the red. Blew after 50km after spending a few laps down the back. It was a bit of a step back, only doing 1 hour 15min. Just doesnt seem to be happening. Cant seem to hold position. A few negative thoughts starting to creep in. I was hoping some form would be happening along by now. Take a few days away from it and try to refocus.

23/05 Schelderode (O) 110km, 54 starters

DNF

The start was wierd, they just rolled away at 25kmhr. Usually it is straight up to 45. A few guys attacked on the first lap and then they guy in front of me attacked, so I went across to the break on his wheel. I was on the front when we got to a turn on the first lap at which the marshall wasnt ready, and I went the wrong way with one other guy. By the time we got turned around, we had to sit up and wait for the field which had decided to chase at 50kmhr. Had trouble winding it up and couldnt get a wheel. Blew up on the 2nd lap, was the first to go. This was a disaster, out the back after 15min. Things are going backwards now, not sure what the problem or solution is. Just dont seem to have the horsepower. Going to race both days on the weekend, see if a few in succesion will help.

24/05 Merelbeke (O) 116km, 66 starters

DNF

A few breaks went, was with the remnants of the field when they pulled us out after an hour and a half as 30 guys were up the road and we were not going to catch. Felt a lot better than yesterday, had more strength. Was very windy, so had to be careful not to stick my nose out too often. Was running in about 35th at the end. So much better than yesterday.

25/05 Merelbeke (O) 116km, 86 starters

54th

Same course, no wind, few drops of rain, and more starters. Totaly different to yesterday, no break went all race until 7 escaped in the last lap. Went with a few breaks, but nothing was sticking today. The positioning skills are returning, and for the first time the legspeed is back. Have been hacking away in large gears, but today the sewing machine legspeed was back, and it felt good. Was spinning across gaps instead of mashing it. Started to feel ordinary after 2hrs, but held on to finish in the bunch. Race time was 2hr 42min, invaluable time in the red zone after not finishing any races. My head is back in the right place. Never looked like getting dropped. Rode this same course in 2005, so knew it well. Finished with 180km for the day. Tired now, but back on track. Now, we go to Finland for a week to train up and catch up with a mate there. Should be good chance to consolidate the racing gains, and have a look around. Then the 1st month will be done. Then it will be time to return, and chase a result now I have some legs. Yeeooowww.

BREAK.

08/06 Poesele (O) 118km, 75 Starters

57th

Was a shocker after 2 weeks away forn the racing. Got tangled up in a crash on the first lap. They had the race under control for 3/4 of a lap, which is unusual for here. When they dropped the flag, everyone gassed it, then they must have got up the back of the car, and all the brakes came on. Got into the back of a few wheels, held it up, but had to unclip. No damage done, then the chase was on for half a lap. Got spat after that. 45km/hr average. Did a few more laps then got pulled out. Just not happenin captain. Training tomorrow. Gotta harden up.

12/06 Oudenburg (W) 118km, 59 starters.

DNF

Was a cold, windy day with showers. Was all together still at the 50min mark when I came out of a corner and jumped up to feed it chain when the rear of the bike slid about 10cm. Looked down, and I had punctured the rear tyre. Rode back to the car and changed the tube. Found a 1cm long piece of metal in the tyre. Did another hour hard around the course, by then was very wet and cold so called it a day. Was looking forward to getting to the finish, but the nightmare continues. Felt a bit stronger though. Drove to the race, which was first time Id driven here, was a bit wild. Lucky we had a navman device.

Not happy jan.

16/06 GP Gabriel Dubois, Ferriere la Grande, France 145km, 100 starters

Finished, dont know where.

After having trained and washed my bike for the last 6 days, the sun came out. I was feeling good. The team drove to the north of france for a french interclub. Plenty of hitters from the northern french clubs like VC Roubaix, CC Cambrai, ESEG Douai, CC Nogent sur Oise and Dunkerke. The course was an eyeopener. 29 laps of a 5km course. Straight up a big ring climb, accross a false flat at the top, down and start again. Priemes every lap for the leaders and the field. First time up, I was ok, 2nd time up heaps of guys were popping, and I went out the back. Rather than pulling up, I kept it on at 90% for a few laps. After about 7 laps, the leaders went past, then another group, so I got on the back of the main field. I knew that I would not be allowed to go up the front and affect the race, so just circulated. Was valuable race time, did the climb every lap in the 53 x 21 or 53 x 23. The field split latter on, but no matter. Many riders came back, some went up, then the leaders came by. It was in about 6 different groups, but they didnt pull anyone, so I ended up getting to the last lap with a group of about 20. I hit em up the climb and got clear. Drove it accross the top, and down the hill but just couldnt go faster than the group as they were rolling turns on the downhill. Got caught 500m out, finished on the back. Was 4 hours intensity, very nice. None of our guys did well, I dont know how the frenchies work out the classification as it was messy as they didnt eliminate lapped riders, who were rejoining groups all day. Many pulled out early.

18/06 De Panne (W) 112km, 66 starters

DNF

No local races, so hopped the train to De Panne on the coast. Was very windy, good gutter action. 4 guys went form the gun and were not seen all day. After 45min of maximum, everyone was tired and it was broken up, so I went with a counter attack and we went down the road with 6 guys, and it looked good as I had a couple of hitters in it. We were away for half a lap, but then it regrouped and I was caught on the limit. When the counter attack went down the outside, it was the one that stayed away and got the rest of the top 10 prizes. I put my bickies in the attack one too early. After this, I didnt recover and got spat on the hill at the back of the course, and couldnt close the gap in the headwind straight, and they pulled me out. Was a bit disapointed to only do an hour, but was very active at the front of the race, and was reading the moves well. In 2005, I read the moves like a blind man, but was often strong enough to recover for 2nd and 3rd and 4th efforts and able to get to the finish. This year, I read the races very well, but seem to have only one big effort and cant recover to mark the counters. I get into all sorts of trouble around the 50min-1 hr mark when larry lactate pays the legs a visit. Something to work on. Then back to the train and home. Thanks to Di for making some nice pasta for the race and handing up the bottles. And dinner. And everything. Geez Im lucky.

http://www.meninsport.com/ (see the De Panne koers link)

20/06 Zomergem (O) 92km, 94 starters

DNF

This race was the first Open that I have ridden. In an Open, the elite riders are still allowed, as well as masters, vets, beginers, whoever. The field was large, and I figured it would split in half in the first few laps. And it did, as there were a lot of weaker riders. 6 riders went clear in the first lap and went on to win by 23 seconds. I spent most of the race trying to get in the counter attack. It was a bummer how it formed. A couple of guys went away, and I was at the front so just rolled through and looked around and I had Safa, the south african guy on my wheel that now lives at our place. I kept the gas on just a bit and we got clear on the cobbled climb. Across the top Safa did a big turn, and I was in the box a bit. I couldnt hold the wheel, so swung up. A few more guys came up and I tried to get the wheel, but they were too fast. A group formed and they were away as the second group on the road. I can see the moves going, but cant get in them. This group got caught with a lap to go anyways. The rest of the race was spent getting to the front of the main field, then for some reason always pulling my left fot out of the pedal. Id get to the front, and pull it accelerating out of a corner, nearly causing a pile up each time. This happened maybe 6 times, and I was getting the shts. The last time, I was near the back and it happened on the cobbled climb and the chain came off too. I lost the wheel and couldnt get back on. I looked at the pedal and the cleat tension screw had come loose and I was running minimum retention pressure. No wonder. Easily fixed after the race, but not very helpfull. Was doing it pretty easy in the race, throwing in some attacks. Probably the best I've felt. Did 60km. I check my bike everyday, and have washed it so many times, but this is not something I have looked at for quite some time. It didnt show up in training rides as I havent been hammering on the pedals. Probably cost me a good finish. Ah, well gotta move on. Still more opportunities to come.

24/06 Zomergem (O) 104km, 50 starters

DNF

Was pumped for this one, got real motivated. Was lots an interclub and a pro race and another kermisse and a crit on today, so only 50 riders. The gas was on form the start, but it was the same course as the other day. I stayed at the front and marked an attack on the first lap. This hurt a bit. Then the hitters went, it was time to go. My mate, guerns, came up and said "get on the wheel, this is the break". Got on his wheel, and we were nearly accross when I just couldnt hold the wheel, and fell back. Another couple of riders went by, and then the break was gone. The remnants of the main field came by in dribs and drabs, and I couldnt get a wheel, and went to the back, then blew up after 20 minjtes! I was gutted. When I left, the break was clear and just about everyone else had been pulled out. I did the right thing as there was really no main field to get around with as it just went bang. Reading the moves, just cant wind it up hard enough. Pretty low right now. Thought it was coming together. Dont know what else I can do. I have done all the work. Made so many sccrifices this year, to get a result. Disrespected so many people. Missed my own going away bbq, even left a funeral early. Walked away form my job and honours projest. Generally been an single minded asshole, and trained so hard. Im as strong willed as anyone, but just starting to let the demons creep in. Starting to wonder if it was worth it. Today rocked the confidence a bit, as I am nearly out of options. Fit, strong, good equipmet, motivated. Wondering if its easier to rack it and do some traveling. It is always a temptation. Could have nice job up on the coast by now. But that would be quiting, and thats too easy. I think tomorrow go and do something other than riding and have a rest. I really cant go any harder until I rest up and start again.

28/6 Anzegem (W) 112km, 59 starters

46th

Had 2 days off the bike, and an easy ride on the 3rd day. Went into the race with no pressure, but went out the back after 20mins. Just riding without power. Going straight to the red. Going to stop resting and jack up the kms, and try that. A 3-4hr cannal ride in the morning, race in the avo. Then after a few days drop the morning ride and hopefully will have some more power. Thats the last approach to try really.

01/7 Kruishoutem 101km, 76 starters.

DNF

Local race, only 6km away. Very hilly. Went with the hitters in first lap, got blown out in the counter attacks. Just cant go. Same old story. Did an hour in the end, with a few other bunters. Have had a bout of gastro for the last 3 days, a bit weak from that maybe. The other guys at the house are sick. There was a cool fight between two riders at the finish. Bit hard to throw a decent punch in cycling shoes.

05/07 Melle 130km, 110 starters

DNF

Developed a nice head cold, but wanted to race after 3 days of solid miles. Rode an hour to the race, got a wet ass. The race was in the rain, so was spinning up the rear wheel flat out, so had to use a large gear out of the corners. At the 90km mark, some clown dropped their big golf umbrella onto the road, and it blew across the road and came into the bunch, who were lined out in the gutter. The guy in front grabbed the brakes, and put me into the gutter, I was grinding the rims on the kerb. Pretty much came to a standstill, then had to chase the peleton. Chased for 1km, got back on which I was very happy about, but never had a chance to recover, as they gassed it and I popped. I think I could have finished if I hadnt gone into the red so hard chasing. Then rode home for a nice 160km. Was much better today. Think I was just race, recover, race , recover, forgot to train. Now im doing 5hr rides real slow every non-racing day, the strength seems to be returning. Im still confident I can do something. Right now, I need to rid myself of this cold before it develops into something more sinister.

10/07 Gistel (W) 116km, 70 Starters

38th

Had a day off due to cold which turned a bit nasty, then went for the long, easy kilometres like the old days. Just racked up the miles for a few days. Rode 65kms to this race, for some training. Rained the whole way. Got there late, just had time to change jersey and pin on the number and then straight to the line. A such, was at the back, and the race split into 3 groups after a few fast laps. Bashed around with these guys for 80km till we got last lap call. Rolled a few in the sprint to finish ok. It rained most of the race, which was filthy and a bit dicey on the cobbled section. Guerney was there with his car, so gave me a lift most of the way home before he kicked me out and i rode the last 15km in the rain! Got 160km in. It has been a very ordinary summer. According to the locals, 05 and 06 were nice and hot, 07 and 08 have been wet without many sunny days. As such, the tan is not as good as Id like. Got 7000km out of my SRAM chain at home, just changed the Durace one after 4400km. Ive pretty much washed the bike and drivetrain daily. Even if it is sunny, the chain still gets full of sand. I can now wash the whole bike in 5 minutes flat. Maybe I can wash everyones bike when I get home to put food on the table! The aim is now to train hard then recover for sunday which will be the last race before we go traveling, and as such the last serious race to do something.

13/07 Leeuwergem (O) 117km, 109 Starters

50th

Last race today, nice and sunny, but cool. Rode 1.5 hours to the race, felt ordinary. Did a lap of the course, and it was wide open, large roads, no braking corners, so it was going to be fast. No wind either. With the big field, and the roads, I was going to gamble that it was going to stay together for at least the first hour, and just sit in. It was a 15 lapper. Strangeky, a break of 18 went on the 3rd lap and were not seen again. For the rest of the race, it was flat out. I was on a good day, had plenty of speed and was able to follow the wheels without popping. With 6 to go, decided to go up the front and go with the attacks. For 2 laps I followed the moves and attacks and counter attacks, and was away a few tmes, but nothing was sticking. It was good to be in the action though. After one particularly nasty counter, I was fried and went back to hide. The next move went away and stuck, with 13 guys going away. I knew it would go about 3-6 to go as guys were getting tired, but I missed the move, although I continue to read the races really well. Had to suffer like never before with the remainder of the field. Had to run in the top 16 of the rest (about 70 guys) to get any cash. Gave it all the beans up the last finishing climb and hit em with the sprint, but was pretty far back. Got changed, and gave the number back, and to my surprise got the 50th and last prize. A whole 5 euro! (about $A8.50) Plus our riders got 10 euro start money (somehwat common ploy to encourage more numbers, usually arranged by a local rider). I would have been better to do 1 lap, collect my start money and ride home! Instead I rode myself crosseyed to get a result. Ended up with 200km for the day. Based on 2005 results, the goal of winning a race was not totaly unrealistic, but even though I got 50th today, I was happy with the ride. The legspeed was good, the stregth was good, I didnt go lactic. I rode to my ability, and hid well, but still had a crack when I could at the right part of the race. Also at my prime weight, lean as. It was probably my best ride in a race for 3 years. I havent suffered so hard for a long time. Big kays seems to do the trick. Its always been the same for me. Got to get it up to 6-800km a week before I can go. I can do intervals till Im blue in the face, but long steady rides still gets me the form. So, it was a good way to finish. I think it was only the 2nd or 3rd race here that Ive gone all the way (not getting pulled out early). But, when you are at your best, and you run 50th, and you are happy and relieved, then the writing is on the wall. Its time to rack the thing and do something else in life. I still love it, I like the pain and suffering. But, I cant justify it anymore. Costs too much money, too much sacrifice, miss out on too may things and upset too many people. 800km a week takes like at least 25 hours, and although its easy enough now, its going to be difficult to find that sort of time in the future, even if the motivation is still there. So if Im not doing 600km/week plus, I know Im only doing half a job of it, and I hate that, so would just rather ride to the cafe and back. Maybe I will take out my frustrations on the local bunch or club racing. But thats never been my thing. Maybe just ride the Warny one more time then give it away. Who knows. Anyway, its time to go and see the world for a week or so, and enjoy life. Maybe some epic belgium berg rides or something when I get back, just for training. Maybe just one more race.......

The Dianna Weekly VII

2008-07-12T04:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Belgium,

Thought I should give you all a bit of an update.

Since my last blog I have done very little, on the Wednesday after the Belgium nationals I rode to one of Grant’s races in a nearby town, it was a really nice day, one of the hottest we have had here so far. I sat at a café and had a couple of beers and watched. Once Grant finished we jumped on our bikes and headed home, but I got a flat tyre about half way home so I started walking while grant rode home and got the car to come pick me up.
Thursday I didn’t do anything just a day at home, Friday I called home for Elizabeth’s birthday. Sweet 16. Saturday the weather turned bad and I got sick and it has been that way for a week. I have sat at home while it rained and rained feeling sick and horrible. It was quite cold too.
Last night (Friday) Grant and I decided to get out of the house and go into Gent for dinner as I was feeling better. We caught a lift in with Gregg on his way to work. We got in there at about five thirty and went for a walk around. Friday afternoons there is always a market on in Gent so we had a bit of a look through. We went to an all you can eat rib place that Grant found last time he was in Belgium. It was pretty cool. 12 Euros each. After dinner we went for a walk along one of the cannels and stoped for a beer. Then it was off to the train station. The train was late by fifteen minutes so we were worried we were going to miss our bus from Dienze to Olsene. We got to the bus station about five minutes before to ten thirty bus was due. We waited and waited and waited. No Bus. We gave up waiting and decided to get a taxi. We started walking into the middle of town to find the taxis. We stoped at a restaurant to ask were we would get a taxi. There are no taxis in Dienze. So here we are at eleven o’clock at night 7 km from home and no way to get there. And it looked like it was about to start raining again. Well we must have looked rather helpless as the owner of the restaurant came out and offered to drive us home. I was so relieved. So we jumped in the car and home we went. He dropped us at the church and we walked the rest of the way. We got to about three houses away and it started to spit rain. We got home and almost as soon as we walked through the door it pelted down rain. Very lucky people that day.

A couple of things have changed since my last blog. Grant and I have decided to stay a couple of weeks longer, so if we can change our flights we wont be back until the 14th of August. The other thing we have decided to do is go travelling for 12 days starting Monday. We will go to Paris for two nights then down to Bern in Switzerland for one night. Then take the mountain train to Innsbruck in Austria and then to Vienna for two nights. Next it is of to Prague in the Czech Rep. for a night before going to Fussen in the south of Germany for two nights. Then it is through the black forest on the way to Mainz for the night. Boat trip down the Rhine river then scenic train through the Mozzle region on the way to Luxemburg for the night. Then back to Brussels. When we get back from that, gent fest is on (big festival in Gent) so we will go to that for a couple of days and then if we get our extra time we are going to go to London for two days on our way to see one of Grants friends in the north of England. Then it is back to Belgium before flying home. Some how I think I will be home before I now it, doing all that is going to make time fly. Should end up with some great pictures though.
Well until next time
Lots of Love
Dianna

More beir.

2008-07-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

Can cadel win?

2008-07-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

I predict Cadel will strugle to win the tour. Did i tell you I went to school with him? Yup, true story. He has recieved lots of critisism for being a boring rider and never attaking. Which is true, he is not a daring rider. He rides conservatively. He is not a Marco Pantani. I think he feels the pressure to do something exciting and daring, as he has recieved lots of criticism. This season he is attacking more otften. Which is BAD. If he does that he is going to blow himself up. He needs to do it the boring way. Or no way. Last year in the tour he lost by 23 seconds. Cause he blew himself going over the limit trying to match attacks. He needs to ride at 99.5%, he does not seem to have a 101% like some other climbers. I dont have a lot of faith in his team either. I think he will come under attack from Valverde, who has a splendid team. Valverde won the Giro, so I dont know if he will be able to go the 3 weeks. Cadel should try to match him and wait for him to crack, at times he shows frailty. CSC have Sastre and the Shleck brothers, so I think they will work Cadel over. They only have to trick him to go in the red, and he will blow. And you can do that id you have 3 of the best climbers riding in an unselfish manner. There will be lots more random guys going for stage wins, so picking the attacks to mark and the ones to leave will be very important. I hope he can do it. If he doesnt do it this year, I dont think it is going to happen. If he has the jersey going to Paris, I'll be there for a nudey run.

I think Robbie Mac is a bit long in the tooth and is more interested in self preservation than sticking his neck out. I think Cavendish will dominate the sprints finishes, as his leadout train is strong. The green is interesting as Cavendish wont go the journey. Maybe big Thor, but he is pretty old. Maybe the green will be suited to Robbie, or even Baden Cooke if he can find some form again.

Bergs

2008-07-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

A berg is the flemish word for hill. Although Flanders is mostly flat, the Flemish Ardennes are a collection of bergs (like a range or ridge) that run in a thin line south of the Schelde river south of Gent. The Ardennes stretch from Kluisbergen, past Oudenaarde, Geraardsbergen and on to Ninove. The climbs are not long, but many are steep, up to 20% gradient. Most of the climbs are cobbled, and in addition to the bergs, there are other flatter sections of cobbles dispersed within the general area.

This area of Flanders is special as it contains the bergs that force the winning selections in the Spring Classics like the Tour of Flanders, Gent Wevelgem (to a lesser extent), Het Volk, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, E3 Prijs, and the Schelderprijs. These are normally raced in cold, wet conditions in April before Paris Roubaix. The riders train all winter in the freezing temperatures to be strong for these races. Thousands of fanatical people pack the bergs to watch the riders come by. The belgians live for this fortnight of racing.

If you dont know about these races, check em out on the web. For instance the Tour of Flanders (het ronde, the lap) is the most prestigious. It starts at Brugge and finishes 264km latter at Ninove. It is a "monument" of one-day racing , and it is rated alongside Paris-Roubaix, Milan-San Remo, World Championships and Olympics. The route of the Flemish Spring Classics all differ and sometimes change from year to year, but always include a combination of bergs from the Flemish Ardennes.

I live 40min by bike from Oudenaarde where the bergs are thickest. Ridning a berg is a spiritual experience for a bike rider, as you know the greats of the sport have trodden the same ground, in anger at 3 times the speed! Its nice to think Merckx and Boonen have come before. And its a good challenge to get up some of them. (Also home of Flemish bruin biers, my favourite).

Flemish tourism have set up 3 loops starting from Oudenaarde of 72, 80 and 114km. Each loop is different, and combined include all the bergs. I have been working away on the loops, doing more and more. They include:

72km loop:

Kluisberg 14.5% (sealed)
Knokteberg 13.3% (sealed)
Oude Kwaremont 11.6% mostly fairly flat with massive cobbles, very rough
Kruisberg 9% shaded cobbles, would be slipery.
Hotond 8%, sealed, right after the Kruisberg
Paterberg 20.3% Got up in the 39 x 25, was tough.
Koppenberg 19.4% The hardest one so far. Did it in the rain during a cyclosportif (mass participation ride). Not bad at the start, then the type of cobble changes from square to rounded and very slippery. Guys were spinning the rear wheel and falling everywhere. I got up, just. At least I can stil beat joe public even if Im getting a kicking in the races.
Steenbeekdries 6.7% Very long sector, not steep but over 1km long.
Taaienberg 15.8% Shaded, nasty tyre width gaps between cobbles to grab your tyres.
Eikenberg 10%. Not to bad.

The you drop downhill into Oudenaarde to finish. The 70km feels like about 200. I thought the Melbourne to Waranbool (299km) was hard, but het ronde would be 3 times as hard. I havent hit up the other 2 loops yet, but I will update them latter when I get over there.

Video of the Oude Kwaaremont, a berg in the tour of Flanders.

The Dianna Weekly VI

2008-06-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings From Belgium,

Well I have been rather busy since I last wrote, I’ll start at the beginning.
Friday I didn’t do much, just at home trying to organise what I will be doing for the rest of my trip.
Saturday Grant and I went to Ieper to see the Flanders Fields Museum and to visit some of the memorials to the WW1 soldiers. Grant got up and went for a ride first thing in the morning then we jumped in the car and drove over to Ieper. There was a market on in the Grote Market and a Volley Ball tournament as well. Ieper is a beautiful town, they rebuilt everything just as it was before the war, it was almost completely flattened. To look at it today you would think it was an original medieval town. Grant wrote a blog all about what the day was like so I wont repeat everything here, I’ll just say it was very moving.

Sunday was another day spent at home as it was Monday. Monday we did go for a long walk to a coffee shop and then back past the castle that is down the road.
Tuesday I was off to Brussels on my own for four nights. I decided it was about time I did a trip on my own so I booked myself a bed at a hostel there. At lunch time I made my way to Brussels and found the hostel, it was quite nice. The only bed available was in an all girls dorm with five other people. I put my stuff in my room then headed down to a nearby café where I sat down and had a couple of beers and read my book. After a couple of hours I was pretty tired so I headed back to my room and had a sleep. At about seven another girls came into the room and I woke up. I decided to make myself presentable and grab something to eat and head down to the hostel bar. There I met another Australian girl travelling on her own, Elise, from Melbourne. We got along quite well so we decided to see Brussels together. It’s a lot more fun when you have someone to talk to. We sat in the bar for a while longer and met another Aussie, this time a guy from Cobram. Small world. At about twelve we decided to call it quits and meet for breakfast in the morning.

Wednesday I woke up to the sound of a jackhammer at seven in the morning, not happy. There was construction work next door to the hostel.
I tried to sleep a bit longer but then I got up and went to meet Elise at about half past eight. Elise had already gotten up and gone for a run so I felt a bit lazy. Grant had decided to catch the train to Brussels for the day so after breakfast Elise and I headed in to town to have a look around before meeting Grant at the train station. We didn’t really have anything particular planned for the day so we headed to the info shop. Brussels is well known for comics and around the city there are heaps of building with comic strip art painted on the side of them so we decided to get a map of where all the comic art was and go for a walk around to find some. If you do the whole walk it take about four hours so we only did a little walk until lunch time. While we were doing the comic walk we stumbled upon one of Brussels most famous Tourist attractions Manneken Pis, a small statue of a little boy pissing. Every couple of months they change the outfit he is wearing in order to promote a cause. Once, he stopped pissing for a whole day to promote prostate cancer awareness. The day we were there he was wearing a police officers uniform and they were giving away free beer. I was not sure exactly what it was promoting but there was a police parade on in the Grote Market that day as well. After our walk we went and got lunch at a nice little Italian restaurant. Then we were off to see what else was around. After a while we decided to go to the comic book museum, that was really cool. Bet you didn’t now that the Smurfs (and Tintin) are Belgian or that Lady Smurf was created by Gargamel in order to cause trouble for the Smurfs. After the Museum Grant headed back to the train station and then back to Olsene, while Elise and I went back to the Hostel. I went and had a shower and freshened up before getting some dinner and meeting Elise back at the Hostel Bar. While at the bar we ran into the Aussie guy from Cobram and there was another Aussie guy with him, his name was Bob. Bob asked were I was from and when I said Deniliquin he said “Oh you’re a Deni Girl would you now Hugh Burnham?” And wouldn’t you know it, I do know Hugh, such a small world, apparently Bob worked with Hugh in Griffith.

Thursday Elise and I meet for breakfast again before heading into town. In the morning we decided to go to a flea market that the held every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, they had everything at this market, one old guy was selling keys, just boxes of old keys and old reading glasses. There was a lot a cool antique stuff there too, I could have easily spent a lot of money. After this it was back into the middle of town to go to the Galeries St Hubert a very expensive shopping mall. It’s very pretty, lots of marble, couldn’t afford to buy anything though. Next it was off to a chocolate store we had found the day before. They sold these shakes that had chocolate mixed with a really icy icecream and then a sauce of your choice (I got Raspberry) then cream and then chocolate sprinkles, this shake was one of the greatest things I have ever tasted. Once we had made ourselves suitably sick from eating such rich food we headed to the Brewery to do a tour of one of the only true Lambic breweries left in Belgium. Lambic is a style of Brewing that uses spontaneous fermentation, this means that the beer has no sugar left at the end and you have a very sour beer, almost wine like. I imagine it would go really well with a good sharp aged cheddar or a blue cheese, it is defiantly a food beer. The brewery also makes a cheese with the beer so Elise and I bought some to eat that night. The tour was good and quite interesting but I think the one in Bruges is better. After the brewery we went to get a fresh made Waffle ( I got one with caramel sauce), before making our way back to the hostel. That night we meet down at the Hostel bar to have dinner and eat our cheese. The cheese wasn’t what I thought it would be, but it was still really good. We were both really tried so we were off to bed at about ten thirty.

Friday was Elise’s last day in Brussels before going to Luxemburg so we went to check out the cathedral that was nearby. One of the best I have seen so far, the stained glass windows were the most detailed I have seen yet, they were just gorgeous. Following the Cathedral we headed off to get a coffee and have another look around the Grand place or Grote Market. By now it was almost twelve so Elise headed back to the Hostel to collect her stuff and get the next train to Luxemburg, it was a little sad to part ways but such is the life of the lone traveller. That was the one thing Elise said was hard about travelling alone, meeting and then leaving people and then having to meet new people and then leave them too, it is mentally exhausting. It was then off to the fine arts museum for me, where I spent the rest of the afternoon. The best thing in the museum it in the front entrance area. A giant globe made of beetles. It was the coolest thing, they also had a dress made in the same way.
After spending the last few days walking for miles my feet were killing me and I was really tired, off to the hostel for me. I grabbed some dinner on the way and went and sat in my room and read my book for the rest of the night.

Saturday, no jackhammer this morning, I love weekends. I had grand plans of checking out, leaving my bag in the lockup room and going out to the Dinosaur Museum, but it turned cold and started to rain so I gave up and just went home.
Sunday it was off to the Belgian National Road Race Championship in Knokke Heist on the coast. Only pro Belgian racers are aloud to enter. They had some big names there, most notably Tom Bonnen (Very nice rider, both in ability and looks). It was a really nice day, the sun was out and it was warm, it was windy though. It was strange to see so many famous riders that I have only ever seen on TV. We saw ourselves on TV several times. After the race it was back into the car and back to Olsene.
Monday. Today. I wrote this and did not much else.

Until next time,

Lots of Love

Dianna.

More style advice

2008-06-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

You Look Mah-velous: Cycling Style EtiquetteTuesday, June 24, 2008 6:37:05 AM PTby Josh Horowitz

Cpoied from Pez cycling News.

You could fill a library with all the rules in the unwritten book of cycling etiquette. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that bike racers don’t hit their prime until their mid 30’s. It takes that long to learn all the rules before you can really concentrate on riding strong! With the summer months and group rides aplenty, it’s time to take a scientifically-proven but tongue-in-cheek look at looking good on the bike… Billy Crystal and his alter ego Fernando Llamas said it best when he mugged, “It is better to look good than to feel good, dah-ling.” The cyclist’s version goes something like, “It is better to look good than to ride good.” We can’t all be world champions or even win the sprint on the local club ride, but at least we can look cool going off the back. Although I couldn’t possibly sum up every unwritten rule of cycling etiquette in just one article, below are the 13 most important rules to remember. Some will actually improve your riding, others will simply make you look good and the rest are just down right snobbish.

Helmets. Face it, helmets just aren’t cool. Nothing looks more pro than the tour rider cruising down the boulevard wearing nothing but a broken-in cycling cap. However, concussions and drooling out the side of your mouth are really lame, so wear your helmet. But for heaven’s sake, take it off when you walk into the coffee shop! Are you afraid of slipping and hitting your head on the counter? When worn, the helmet should be tilted as far forward on your head as possible and never at an angle. Cockeyed helmets are a sure sign of an amateur. To look cool, take off the helmet and slip on your cycling cap the moment you arrive at your destination. To look Euro-cool, make sure to always wear your sunglasses on the outside of your helmet straps so the television cameras can see the brand logo on the ear pieces. And please, no neon colored helmets! White is the only acceptable helmet color.

Legs. We’ve all been asked a million times, why do cyclists shave their legs? Our answers range from aerodynamics to massage to wound care. But we all know the real reason. It makes us look smooth (in more way than one)! So whip out the shaving cream and the Bic and mow the lawn. For the ultimate in cool, roll up the cuffs of your shorts for that extra 1/4 inch of tanning space. To look Euro-cool, always wear a pair of the ultra-cool Pez cycling socks. And please, no gym socks!

The Kit. Your jersey must match your shorts, which must match your arm warmers, which must match your socks. But under no circumstances should a replica pro team kit or a national/world champion kit be worn unless you’ve earned it. The only acceptable team kit is your own club kit. Retro wool kits are sometimes acceptable, but even that is iffy. To look cool if you don’t belong to a club or a team, wear a stock Castelli or Assos kit but don’t mix and match. To be Euro-cool, wear the kit of an obscure European amateur team, but only if you have a story about how you spent the winter riding with them in Majorca to go along with it. Please, no century jerseys (I’m going to take some heat on that one), nothing with cartoon characters on it and never, under any circumstances, go jersey-less. Especially if you are wearing bibs. * And a special note for women. As much as the guys on the group ride might like it, a jog-bra is not an acceptable substitute for a jersey. Wear the bra, but please throw a jersey on over it. It’s hot. You’re hot. But shorts and a jog-bra is just not.

iPods. I should say MP3 players, but let’s face it, an iPod is the only cool on-board music system. Of course legally, I have to recommend against wearing headphones out on the road, but since you’re going to do it anyway, here are a few guidelines. Never wear headphones on a group ride. Headphones on a group ride say two things. 1) You people are good enough to ride with, but not good enough to talk to or even listen to and 2) I’m not concerned with my own safety and I’m even less concerned with YOUR safety. There’s no faster way to become disliked by a group of cyclist than by showing up on a group ride with headphones, even if the music is off. To look cool, remember that the smaller the headphone, the better. No 1985 walkman ear muff headphones please. Ear buds are the only acceptable iPod accessory. To look Euro-cool, make sure you are listening to an obscure independent British punk rocker or electronic group. And please, no Kraftwerk!

Clipping out. Hard to believe, but this one actually deserves its own paragraph. One of the easiest ways to determine the experience level of a cyclist is to see how early they clip out before coming to a stop. A novice rider will clip out as much as a block before a stop sign or red light. A real beginner will clip out a block before a green light, just on the off chance that it might turn red by the time they get to it.To look cool, let the bike come to a full stop before clipping out. To look Eurocool, never clip out. Track stands are the only acceptable way to wait at a red light. And please, no basket-clips and no mountain bike shoes on the road bike! Wearing sneakers or mountain bike shoes on the road indicates that you intend to spend more time with your feet on the ground than in the pedals. You’re a cyclist, darn it, not a pedestrian!

The Friday Ride Hero. Although getting dropped on the hard Saturday group ride isn’t cool, there are actually more ways to look un-cool on the easy Friday recovery ride. The best way to look un-cool is by pushing the pace over 19 mph or by doing your intervals off the front of the ride. Friday rides are for recovery and socializing. You’re not going to impress anyone by ramping up the pace. Unfortunately, messing up the pace is just as easy to do on the hard group ride and this is where things get really complicated. Sprinting at the wrong moment, setting the wrong pace up a climb or pushing the tempo at the wrong time can draw just as much scorn as pushing the pace on a recovery ride. Get to know the etiquette of a group ride by doing it at least two or three times before even thinking about getting to the front.To look cool, show up to the Friday ride with a cup of coffee from an independent bohemian coffee shop and sip on it throughout the ride. To look Euro-cool, skip the coffee and blueberry muffin after the ride in favor of an espresso and a croissant. And please, never order any drink that has whip cream spilling out over the top of the cup. You didn’t ride hard enough to burn off 20 grams of fat and 600 calories.

Group Ride Etiquette. Have you ever seen a pro team on a training ride? Side by side, shoulder to shoulder, quietly zipping along. Then, there is the club ride. You actually hear it before you see it. Slowing! Right Side! Stopping! Rolling! Hole! Then you see it. 25 riders spread out over an entire city block, three, sometimes four, wide. Weaving, swarming cars, running stop signs. Keep your group ride cool with the following four rules of thumb. 1) Never ride more than two abreast. 2) Never allow more than six inches distance between your front wheel to the rear wheel of the rider in front of you. 3) Maintain a distance, no more than 12 inches from your shoulder to the shoulder of the rider next to you. 4) It only takes one person to call things out. This should be the person at the front of the pack. Ideally, a little point of the hand is all it takes to indicate obstructions or turns. It shouldn’t take two dozen people yelling at the top of their lungs to make a ride run smoothly. To look cool, keep the group tight, wheel to wheel and shoulder to shoulder. To look Euro-cool, only ride with other cyclist wearing the exact same kit. If this is not possible, make sure there are no more than three different kits in the pack and that there are at least three riders wearing each kit. And please, never swarm cars at stop lights or steer a large group of riders through a red light. It’s just not cool.

Carbon Wheels. Carbon wheels are for racing! Never under any circumstances should they be brought out on a training ride. Training wheels should be strong and heavy with lots and lots of spokes. Carbon wheels say to the group, I’m not strong enough to do this ride without my $2,000 feather weight wheels. If you have the money to tear up a carbon wheel set on the road, then you’d be better off spending it on a coach who will get you fit enough to keep up with the group ride on regular training wheels.To be cool, ride with Bontrager flat proof tubes. They’re about four-times as heavy as regular tubes and they just about double your rolling resistance. To be Euro-cool, don’t tell anyone you’re riding with them. It’s enough to know for yourself that you can keep up with those weenies even on a 22-pound bike. And please, no deep dish carbon clinchers. Carbon wheels are race wheels and clinchers are for training. Tubulars are the only way to go on your carbons.

Ornaments and Accessories. This one is simple. No stuffed animals or figurines mounted to your handlebars no matter what it signifies to you. No mirrors on your helmet or your glasses. No reflector strips taped to your bike. No giant flashing lights (LEDs are ok). To look cool, ride without a saddle bag. Put one small tube, a tiny pump and a tire lever in your middle back pocket. To look Euro-cool, ride without a saddle bag and with nothing in your pockets. This is cool because it means you must have a team car following you with all your supplies. And please, don’t plaster the stickers that came with your shoes or your glasses all over your bike unless your sponsorship contract with those companies specifically dictates that you must.

Cat 4 Marks. Otherwise known as a chain tattoo, this is what we called them back in the day before Category 5 existed. Nothing gives away a rookie faster than a black streak of grease on their calf. The experienced rider can actually get through an entire ride without rubbing up and down on their dirty chain.To look cool, CLEAN YOUR CHAIN! To look Euro-cool, take your chain off once a week and soak it in degreaser along with the bearings from your bottom bracket and your headset (you old timers know what I’m talking about). And please, it’s one thing to get grease on your leg. It’s another thing to get it on your hands, your jersey, your face!

Shorts. MEN: there are many rules regarding shorts. First of all, they don’t exist. Forget about them. The only acceptable garments to wear are bibs, no exceptions. But please, throw out your bibs when they start to wear out. Enough anatomy is revealed by the skin tight Lycra, we don’t need to see a transparent butt panel. And this may seem obvious, but the jersey goes over the bibs!To look cool, wear bibs, enough said. To look Euro cool, wear bib knickers or even bib tights. And please, don’t wear underwear under your shorts!

How to Dress for Weather. If the temperature is below 60 degrees Fahrenheit, you must wear knees or better yet, full leg warmers. If you go out of the house in 50 degree weather with bare legs, it doesn’t mean you’re tough, it just means you’re an idiot. In the summer, no matter how hot it gets, you must never wear a sleeveless jersey. Tan lines are the proud mark of a real cyclist. If you must get some additional ventilation, cut a vertical line along the inside seam of your sleeve with a pair of scissors. Not only will this help you stay cool, but it says, “my sponsors give me so many jerseys, I don’t mind wrecking one.”To look cool, if you need to keep the sweat out of your eyes, wear a cycling cap, not a sweat band or a bandana. To look Euro-cool, just don’t sweat. And please, no arm warmers with a sleeveless jersey!

When to Dress. Believe it or not there are a whole bunch of rules regarding when to get dressed for a race or a ride. In general, the less time you spend in your chamois, the cooler. If you are riding to the start, you should get dressed just before you leave the house. Don’t eat breakfast or walk the dog in the morning in your full kit! The neighbours think you’re goofy enough for cycling as it is! If you are driving to the start and it is less than a 45 minute trip, it is ok to wear your bibs under a pair of regular shorts, but not your jersey or your gloves and especially not your helmet. Also, make sure the suspenders on your bibs are hanging down, (preferably on the outside of your street shorts) and not over your shoulders. If it is longer than a 45 minute drive to the start, you must bring all your cycling gear in a cycling specific duffle bag such as a Specialized or Rudy Project bag. Brown paper bags or shopping bags are never acceptable. To look cool, wrap a towel around your waist when you change. Changing skirts are practical, but not very cool. To look Euro-cool, make sure it’s a white, thread bare towel taken from the cheap motel room that you and five teammates crammed into at your last stage race. And please, no bare butts in the parking lot. Once again, we see enough through the skin tight Lycra. Once last time, if you can’t ride good, you might as well look good. And please remember, I don’t write these rules, I only live by them.

Racing

2008-06-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for the race updates, they are the "May" sections. Click on "May" and scroll down to below the beer reviews. Many people are not finding it.

Flanders Fields.

2008-06-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

The other day we drove over to Ieper (Ypres). This is the historic centre of some of the most desperate fighting of WWI. This area of Western Flanders/northern France was where the allies halted the German advance south through Belgium on their way toward capturing Paris. The two sides dug in, and traded hostilities for the rest of the war. Around Ypres, there was a bulge in the line (Ypres Salient). This attracted the attention of generals on both sides, each of which saw it as the location to break through and flank the enemy. Thus massive resources were poured into the area. Thousands of lives were lost charging each others trenches.

We went through the Flanders Fields museum. This was a very moving experience, and took a good few hours. Australia lost at least 60, 000 men in Flanders. two thirds of our men were killed or wounded. Australians were almost always sent to the front line. The museum claimed they were the finest soldiers, but lacked discipline. At one point New Zealand had 10% of its population involved. Around 126,000 Germans died here.

We went to the Menin Gate. This monument towers over the city, on the Menin road. On it are depicted the names of those who died but were not recovered or given an individual grave. And that was just in the Salient. The number of names is staggering, especially the area that is taken up with Australian battalions. There was a Private G.A. Webster in the 9th Battalion Australian Infantry.

We took a drive through the county side, and visited some of the graves, memorials and cemeteries. They are all over the landscape, there are hundreds of them. The largest and probably most well known is Tyne Cot. We spent quite a bit of time here, just shuffling around slowly. I just sat there on the grass in the middle of all the graves and though about all kinds of things. Id just finished reading "Somme Mud", a diary of an Australian soldier in WW1. Now I was in the place in the book, and the towns in the book were all around. Zonnebeke, Poperinge and the Kemmelberg. The sites of the battles that the same soldier was in. Now, it is a peacefull place with rolling hills and farms. I found it was very emotional and humbling. I didn't choose to sit in the cemetery, I had to sit.

We visited the Kemmelberg, the large berg (hill), large for Belgium, that overlooks Ypres. It was the "high ground" and was fought over fiercely as it overlooks Ypres. During the war, every single tree was destroyed. After the war it was replanted with birch and other trees. Now, it is covered in fairly thick forest. We drove up the cobbled climb that takes you to the top. It is the same climb used in the Tour of Flanders and I think Gent Wevelgem.

On the way home, we really didn't talk much. It was just a day for thought and reflection. The Belgians were launching hot air balloons, which was really beautiful. An experience not to forget. Id much rather come here and do a day like that than seel out the flashy tourist attractions.

Creatures

2008-06-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Flanders seems pretty devoid of animals. Not surprising considering the population density, lack of habitat and the world wars. I saw a squirrel the other day, which was the first one I'd ever seen. He was too fast for a photo, as he was crossing a highway and intent on not being run over.

An interesting thing was the hedgehog I found. I had seen hedgehog roadkill before, but here was a live one stuck in a fences. A live one, except that it was dead. Oh well. If I didn't tell you, you'd think he was alive eh? Maybe not, his wheels are not working.

Also cool was the ring-necked pheasant I saw. These are in the bushy areas, have seen a few, but they are quite wary. This one was inquisitive, so I took a happy snap of him. The Antwerp zoo had lots of cool animals, but not really any native ones.

Cyclist Code of Conduct.

2008-06-20T01:58:00.000-07:00

It is important not to look like a hubbard if you are a cyclist. Everyone from Deniliquin, except for Butch, plus certain riders from Brisbane must read and take note. I would also add that when other riders can see your ass-crack through your niks they need to be thrown away. If the pockets of your jersey are dragging on your rear tyre, then sorry, it is also time to throw it away. Lance Armstrong is not cool. If he is your cycling hero, you are new to the sport and/or need to learn much more about the sport. Find out about Jaques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Marco Pantani, Fausto Coppi, Sean Kelly, Joop Zoetemelk, Rick van Steenbeergen, Rick Van Looy, Lucien Van Impe, Johan Mueseuw, Miguel Indurain, Mario Cipploini etc etc. Campag is cool, shimano is not. Do not wear flouroescent kit, ever. No ankle socks. No hot chocolates at the cafe. One smart kit is better than 5 sets of flogged out kit. Smarten yourself up a bit, and you will have more respect from the cycling and non-cycling community. Maybe.

********* -THE OFFICIAL EURO CYCLIST CODE OF CONDUCT- *********
Created by Dom Guiver and Mike Flavell

1. Image and style shall be your primary concern. When suffering, one must focus first on maintaining a cool, even composure, and second on performance. Winning races is an added talent, and only counts if said euro cyclist wins with appropriate style.

2. Training is based solely on feel, while racing is to be guided by sensations and instinct. The Euro Cyclist will never accept tried or tested scientific training methods.

3. You shall NEVER, under any circumstances, wear plain black spandex bibs (shorts, regardless of colour are BANNED) or any team kit containing non-prominent Logo's. Shorts will extend approximately 2/3rds of the way down the upper leg and will contain a compression band at the bottom distinct in colour. In NO CONDITION shall they extend any further!

4. Legs will be SHAVED year-round. ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS. Certain hair removal creams are endorsed only on a case-by-case basis. One shall never show up to a race (large or small) with ANY AMOUNT of stubble visible on legs.

5. A prominent line where your kit ends and where your tan begins is essential to your image. Artificial tanning is BANNED. The tan SHALL reflect the level of training commitment.

6. The Socks must extend no less than 2cm below the main bulge of your calf muscle, and shall never extend further than 1cm past the primary calf muscle bulge. All socks SHALL BE WHITE in colour with prominent logo placement.

7. Cycling shoes must contain at least 80% white! The following exceptions apply…i) Colours combinations such as world cup stripes, or Olympic gold where title has been EARNED.ii) Shoes which are custom-made for specific riders by companies endorsed by this group. These shoes will be accessible to the particular cyclist only, and shall follow the preceding rules.8. If white cycling shoes are not available where you reside, white booties with prominent logos shall always be worn. When booties are worn, socks should protrude approximately 7 centimetres above the ankle, and shall always protrude at least 1.5cm from any booties worn.

9. Your bike frame must contain 2-4 colours IN ADDITION TO WHITE. All colours are acceptable as long as they combine tastefully. In addition to this, wheel selection must also match frame and fork.

10. You shall race only on Bora’s or Lightweights. Fulcrum Racing One, Corima Aero+ or Zipp (404’s or 202’s) wheelsets are considered stylish enough to be used as training wheels ONLY. Regardless, Ceramic bearings shall be used at all times on both training and race bikes.

11. ALL wheels shall be equipped with tubulars, regardless of your ability in gluing them.

12. Ridiculously stylish eyewear (see endorsed products list) is to be worn at all time without exception. Glasses are to be worn over helmet straps at all times.

13. Hair shall be kept neatly short, and matching helmet shall be worn (again with prominent logo placement). Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES shall a clashing helmet colour be worn with your euro kit. Helmets are not to be worn when venturing indoors at any time. It is, however, acceptable to wear your helmet while outdoors on a patio. (see rule 34)

14. In RARE cases, it has been deemed acceptable to have long hair. In this event, hair shall be neatly slicked back in maximum euro-styling, and helmet SHALL NOT be worn. It is IMPERATIVE rule 12 is followed in these special cases.

15. When riding, sans helmet (with short hair), a team issue cycling cap (white in colour), shall be worn. The bill shall remain in the downward position at all times. Cycling cap can be worn forwards or backwards to coincide with specifics of current hairstyle. During spring training, cycling toques shall be worn at all time in place of caps.

16. Kits will always be freshly washed, and one shall ALWAYS have applied a subtle quantity of eau de toilette (cologne). It is, AT ALL TIMES, FORBIDDEN to ride in an unwashed kit, as it is extremely detrimental to your image.

17. Saddles shall be white in colour only and will be manufactured in Italy or France. Exceptions shall be made in the following cases… i) Saddles containing WorldCup Stripes or Olympic Gold when EARNEDii) Italian Flag colour combo when rider is ITALIAN (born in Italy)

18. Handlebar tape is required to be cork as well as being WHITE IN COLOUR. Bar tape will be kept in pristine white condition. This state shall be achieved either through daily cleansing or frequent replacement. These jobs will NEVER be performed by the cyclist as you must maintain your image.

19. All stems must be a minimum of 120mm and a rise of no higher than -10 degrees. Stems shall be positioned no more than 0.5cm above the top of the headtube. ALL stems shall ALWAYS be oversized, made out of ALUMINUM, and airbrushed in kit/frame colours.

20. A rider will ALWAYS have liniment applied to his legs before appearing in public.

21. Facial hair will be restricted to (at maximum) a goatee, and even this is discouraged. Moustaches, beards, or any combination thereof are EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED in all instances. Stubble is, however, advisable in virtually ALL euro-situations. It is important to note: this DOES NOT apply to the legs!

22. Campagnolo shall be THE ONLY acceptable componentry and is hereby deemed superior to ANY Shimano product in ALL circumstances. You are expected to have nothing less than an ENTIRE campy grouppo. Crank substitutions are NOT permitted. There is a case by case exception for SRAM RED.

23. You shall NEVER, under any circumstances, acknowledge the presence of a cyclist riding a bike costing less than €2000 in a public place. This could be severely detrimental to your image.

24. You shall NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, associate with triathletes. It is FORBIDDEN to have any number inked onto your body before a race.

25. Any physical activity, other than cycling, is STRONGLY FROWNED UPON. This includes any form of running or swimming and their derivatives (this includes walking). The ONLY TWO other sports with a recognized degree of euro are Cross Country skiing, and long track speed skating.

26. MTB gloves are FORBIDDEN in all instances. Cycling gloves will be slick, white (in accordance with kit), and have minimal padding. Padding will be beige or white in colour. Wearing NO GLOVES is entirely acceptable and encouraged. In the case where said euro cyclist is wearing a leader’s jersey, special gloves will be made to match the colour of the jersey while blending the team kit colours simultaneously.

27. In a circumstance where any cyclist (or triathlete) ever displays aggression or disrespect towards you, you are required to ride up uncomfortably close and slap them in the face with your team issue gloves.

28. In the event a motorist disturbs your ride, you shall proceed to ride up beside the car, form a clenched fist and bang the boot of the car while doing your best attempt to sound irritated in Italian. Wild arm/head movements are strongly encouraged to enhance the apparent rage.

29. you shall NEVER rearrange your package while riding. Adjustments regarding seating/hanging comfort are to be done in private in order to preserve image.

30. ABSOLUTELY NO FORM of seatbag, frame pump, mud guard or mirror shall come within 2 meters of your bike.

31. Gearing is restricted to a titanium Campy Record 11-23 cassette with a ABSOLUTE MINIMUM of 42-53 up front. You shall never be seen pedaling at a cadence over 90rpm in case it detracts from your calm/smooth factor. The use of 25t cog is acceptable in special training circumstances.

32. ALL BIKES shall feature personalized nameplates next to your home country’s flag located on the top-tube within 10 cm seat-tube ON ONE SIDE ONLY.

33. Pedals MUST be either Look or Time. No other pedals are to be considered. (as always, ANY form of Shimano product is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN).

34. Coffee is a necessity and as such must be consumed strong (ie. espresso) on a patio in Italy in full kit, it shall be drunk black. Sugar is STRONGLY FROWNED UPON. The only milk present shall appear frothed on top (if at all).

35. All podium shots (pictures) shall be taken while wearing your team kit and appropriately matching casual euro shoes (such as puma's). Socks shall remain within the guidelines above. You are expected to display an appropriate degree of bulge while receiving kisses/trophy.

36. All pre and post-race activity will be conducted under a gazebo (this includes massage, interviews, and looking fantastic) leaving you in reasonable distance of the Euro-sun to top up your enviable tanlines or pose for photo’s.

37. Post-race, you shall be tied to your mobile phone, receiving endless calls from your attractive euro-girlfriend or important ad executives concerning modeling contracts. This will be done under the protection of the post race gazebo.

38. Team bikes will be built up so that they violate the UCI weight limit, in order that weights might be attached to the frame to demonstrate its superiority and lightness.

39. Motivational music during training shall consist of late 90s house or deep-trance hard-style German techno hereby known as 'euro beats'. NO EXCEPTIONS.

40. Naked black ALL CARBON water bottle cages (manufactured by ELITE CAGES) will be used on ALL BIKES. Exceptions include….i) Special edition 24k gold cages are acceptable in certain cases such as photo shoots, prologues or where colour coordination dictates. Ex. Gold Cage with Olympic Gold/white team kit.

41. Water Bottles shall be referred to solely as "Bidon's" and shall have a volume NOT EXCEEDING 500ml. Bidon's will always be matching of team/kit colours. It is NOT ACCEPTABLE in ANY CIRCUMSTANCE to leave bidon's on bike more than 10 minutes post ride OR while transporting bikes via bike rack.

42. A gold pendant on a very long, thin chain bearing some form of religious icon is STRONGLY recommended for mountain races.

43. While soloing in for a victory, you will ensure your jersey is FULLY ZIPPED and ALLIGNED, so all title sponsors are clearly visible. You shall then smile and flex your arms while pointing skywards. The projection of ones fatigue is EXPLICITLY FORBIDDEN IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.

44. When appearing in a photo spread for sponsor’s products, you have the option of appearing fully nude, in your team kit, or in full Brioni 3 piece suits (nothing else). Smiling is prohibited in these instances.

45. When appearing in documentaries, you must be seen walking around the hotel in your kit at all times. It is also recommended that you constantly be eating something in front of the cameras.

46. When asked "how are you?" while riding you must proceed with one of the following...-Complain about coming off a sickness.- Explain you're peaking for bigger races later in the season- Mention that this is a "recovery ride"-That you are on the tail end of your daily 6 hour training ride

47. If you feel the urge to relieve yourself during a race, you shall gracefully meander to the back of the pack, seat yourself sideways on his saddle, and pee into the sunflowers. It is your duty to ensure that no camera crew catches the act, for it could be detrimental to your image. Under no circumstances shall you dismount from his bike to urinate.

48. When climbing anything with a gradient above 20% and lasting over 8 kilometers, you are required to fully unzip your jersey and let it flutter freely in the wind.

49. When dropping out of a race, you shall avoid the embarrassment of entering the official broomwagon and will instead wait for the team vehicle. When asked the reason for dropping out, you shall cite mechanical problems or oncoming sickness as the reason to avoid any bad speculation in relation to your fitness.

50. If in doubt, the euro cyclist shall mention in an interview that his pollen allergies are acting up, and that he’s not sure that he’ll win the Giro this year. In this situation, remember to note that the sensations are otherwise good, and that eventually you’ll win a beautiful stage.

51. Team-building motivational camps will be held annually in the off-season. These are to place team members in as ridiculous a setting as possible. Photos will be widely reproduced to demonstrate team cohesion.

52. During the pre-race medical checks, star riders of each team are STRONGLY ADVISED to play doctor with each other while shirtless. Photos taken must strive to be as HOMOEROTIC AS POSSIBLE.

53. In order to avoid the harsh European winter, you shall:i)flee to the warmer climes of Mallorca/South Africa/Canary Islands/etc.ii)“train the mind, body and soul” with Kreitler brand rollers

54. In the event of a crash, no matter how badly you have injured yourself, you shall proceed to mummify yourself with fishnet gauze. The act of gauzing oneself is looked upon with respect by other Euro Cyclists because it is a statement of commitment and strength of character to continue racing when injured. White Gauze is the norm, but world cup striped gauze and or national colors may be worn on select occasions depending on the rider.

A few things about Belgium

2008-06-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

There are a quite a few unique/bizarre/special things I have seen about the place in Belgium so far.

1. They have over 750 biers, specialise in chocolate, frites (fries), pastries and waffles. There is a chocolate museum, frie museum and numerous bier museums. There is chocolate flavoured beir. I have not found frite flavoured beir, but thats not to say it does not exist. National dish is steamed mussels and frites.

2. The Belgians do not do coffee well. Even the cafe's only have filter coffee. This does not match an espresso in any way shape or form. Be fearful if you try to order a mocha or cappachino, you may get anything from a chocolate thickshake to a cream pie. They really have no clue. Best left to the Italians.

3. A Pissing child seems to be a popular statue, and it can be spotted here and there. They also seem to like gnomes in their gardens.

4. They respect cyclists. If you hit one in a car, there is a public lynching. You can walk around in the city in your cycling kit, go in the supermarkets and no-one looks at you strange, or bashes you.

5. By the bike paths, every now and then, they have a large net like a fishing landing net, but the gape is about 6 foot wide. You throw your rubbish in there as you ride by and they come and empty it.

6. The weather is crap. Summer is random. Winter is cold and miserable, but not high enough for useful snow. Better to live somewhere with snow fields.

7. Belgians are pretty boring. Not particularly social, except for the cafe culture which would put Melbourne to shame. Not very excitable. Do not understand satire, sarcasm, piss taking, slang. They finish sentences with huh. As in " you need to do more training huh?" "you were not strong today, huh". They are short tempered, and when something is not going smoothly, they blow up.

8. "Mullets" are cool.

9. Much care is taken with food, even snacks. Fast food outlets are uncommon, and I presume under tight regulation as there are only 2 McDonalds in the whole of Gent. Presentation is very important.

10. Recycling is well developed and penalties are very high.

11. Speeding and drink driving are not tightly regulated. Unless you are doing something dangerous, random or unusual, you are unlikely to be stopped.

12. Everyone wants to know about Australia. Most people wish they could move there. Many people are trying to move there.

13. Many of the buildings touch. Backyards are uncommon. Most housed have a basement and attic/loft. They make far better use of space than we do in Australia. We are very wasteful and consume to much of everything.

14. Fuel is way more expensive here, so don't whinge. Scooters/vespers/small motorbikes are very common. Everyone rides a bike. Public transport is very well developed and almost always (apart form strikes) runs on time.

15. They like markets. Fish market, flower market, clothes markets, bird market, bike markets, general markets, flea markets, book markets, antiques market.

16. Every Sunday, a meat truck comes to the kerkplein (church carpark) near our house. The meat truck is a mobile rotisserie. It cooks then sells chooks, sausages, ribs, etc. I give it a thrashing every Sunday morning.

17. Flandrians were barbaric. They used to love to torture prisoners and at the castle in Gent they display many implements that they developed in order to torment. A public beheading was quite the social occasion.

18. Some of the buses are electric and follow the tram routes.

19. Belgians do not like the french. Nobody likes the french. France is great, except for the french.

20. The cows are very large and ripped. I think they would test positive. I wonder if I should be eating some grass.

21. Smoking is popular. Filthy.

22. The tap water is ordinary.

23. They still have "all you can eat" at Pizza Hut. Clearly, they haven't heard I was coming. They have been punished, pizza hut will close in Belgium's as a result of my consumption. Like it almost has at home.

24. You can get a beer at McDonalds.

25. They are fascinated by vending machines. They are everywhere, even out on the canals on the bike routes. Yes, you can get a beer. No problem.

26. The air traffic is quite ridiculous. Up to 17 commercial aircraft can be spotted an any one time. Mmm, breath it in. The air quality can be quite poor. Lucky it is windy.

27. Each town has a massive church, which likes to ring its bell every hour and often on the half hour. This ceased to be funny after the first day, especially when you live 50m from one.

28. Public toilets are few and far between, and mostly you will expect to pay 10-50 euro cent. Same in the other countries we've been.

29. Wind farms common. Really I cant understand the fuss. They don't look too offensive. They don't appear to make any noise. They only kill very stupid birds. So, we will be selecting for smart birds, therefore helping the bird population to become smarter and more successful. But then we will have a problem when the birds attempt to take over the world. So we will have to feed them aspro's to control them.

30. When the sun comes out, everyone seems to frequent a cafe. They seem to suddenly have no jobs. When it is wet, suddenly the place is deserted.

The Dianna Weekly V

2008-06-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Belgium,

Well the weather has not been too good here so I haven’t done much over the last week and a half, it has rained most days and is quite cold. Saturday and Sunday I spent getting over the previous two weeks, everything just caught up with me and I was so tried all I did was write my blog and watch TV. By Monday I was sick of being in the house but I was still kind of tired so Grant and I went into Deinze for the afternoon, which is only 7km away. As you may or may not know, in Belgium lots of places close on a Monday so half the shops where closed, but there where plenty still open. I found a great little shoe shop that is pretty cheap so I think I will go back soon to get a couple of pairs of shoes. After we looked around for a bit we stoped and had a beer and a “snack”, their version of a snack was two ham and cheese sandwiches covered in bolognaise and cheese, it was enough to feed a small family. After this we went for a walk around the town and then back to Olsene. Holly had her brother and one of his friends staying for a few days and when we got back they were all out the back talking, eating chilli (Texas style) and having a beer, so we sat down and had a beer with them, next thing I know it is well after twelve and I have had far to many beers so it was off to bed for me. One more good thing about Belgium beer is that it doesn’t have the same preservatives or additives that Australian beer has so you feel just fine when you wake up in the morning.

Tuesday as I was feeling rather chipper I decide to go the Bruges with Holly, Gregg, Nick (Holly’s brother) and Ryan (Nick’s friend), so we all jumped into the car and drove over to Bruges, once there we walked around to find somewhere to have lunch. We ended up across from the half moon brewery, which is where grant and I did the tour. We ordered lunch and a beer. Grant had decided to ride over to Bruges as apart of his training and typical of grant he turned up at the same time as the food, so I shared my meal with him which was fine because as usual the Belgians had given me enough food to feed an army. After lunch Holly and the boys went to do the tour of the brewery, and grant headed home, as I had already done it I decided to go for a walk, I got lost. If you are going to get lost though Bruges is a good place to do it, it is such a beautiful place. Luckily I wasn’t lost for too long Bruges isn’t that big. So after walking around for an hour I made my way back to the brewery to meet up with everyone, during the tour they met some backpackers and one was from Perth, so we had a bit of a chat about Australia and travelling in Europe. After about an hour we headed into the middle of Bruges to have a look around, it is so pretty there. Then we ran into a couple of Holly and Gregg’s friends so we decided to stop and have a beer with them. By now it was getting late so we headed home. Pizza for dinner, then out the back for a beer. While out the back the boys started a conversation about all the stupid things they did as children and teenagers, this gave Gregg an idea, he wouldn’t just tell us his story he would give a demonstration. Now as I am well aware that there are a number of teenagers reading this blog I will refrain from give details on how to do this, but I will tell you it involves wax and a large fireball, or should I say large mushroom shaped fireball. After a few more stories and a couple more beers it was off to bed.
Wednesday was another quiet day at Olsene, the weather was not to good.

Thursday I was off to Oudenberg with Grant for another bike race. We took the car. This was funny, although we did have a GPS navigator there were road works which the navigator was unaware of, so we got lost a couple of times but in the end we got were we needed to be. It was cold and raining and generally unpleasant, Grant was doing well in the race and I thought we were in for a good result when grant just sits up in front of me. He got a flat tyre. Not happy.
Friday Grant went for a ride first thing in the morning then after lunch we drove over to Oudenaarde it go to the Tour of Flanders Museum. When we got there we stopped at a little beer café in the centre square for a beer and then off to the museum, it was a great museum, at the start you get to choose a famous cyclist and then as you go through the museum you follow their story of the tour, I chose Eddy Merckx it was really interesting. After the museum it was back to the beer café for a couple more beers before heading home.
Saturday was more rain so I didn’t do much that day.

Sunday we meet up with a friend of Grants from Echuca, Mick Teggelove, he’s also a cyclist, although not so much anymore, he lives in Belgium now as his girlfriend Ellyn is Belgian. Mick picked us up from Olsene and we drove to their home town, out the other side of Oudenaarde. We had I little look around town and stoped at their local for a couple of beers then off to another place where every one eats peanuts and then drops the shells on the floor, apparently it helps polish the floor or something, but unfortunately this place was closed so we went to another. Then it was back to their place for some pancakes, really good pancakes too. Once full and on a bit of a sugar high we headed back to Olsene. On the drive back the weather had cleared up and the sun was out, so typical of the Belgians they jumped into action to make the most of the sun and all the hot air ballooners were out in force, it was a lovely site I think there would have been maybe a dozen balloons in the sky.
Monday I started to write this blog but I was really tired as I had had a terrible nights sleep so I got half way through and stopped, and that was my whole day.

Tuesday Grant and I went over to Antwerp again to have a look around, it is one of Belgium’s largest cities so I think it will take a few trips before I have seen everything I want to see. It was a lovely day, one a the few nice warm days we have had lately. Central station drops you straight into the Diamond district so we started the day by looking in the windows of some of the more than 180 diamond shops in the area. It is incredible how pushy some of the sales people are, if they see you look in the window they come out and try to make you come in, occasionally I would point at something to show grant and they would be straight on you and pick it up and try to get you to come in and have a closer look. Wow there is some nice stuff there though. I found a beautiful brooch shaped like a flower with red stones on the outer tips of the petals and then going into yellow in the centre with the colour of the stones changing progressively. After what I am certain felt like forever to Grant we went to Pizza Hut for the buffet lunch, as predictable, Grant ate more than his fare share of pizza. Once we were done here, we went for a walk around the city, we didn’t really stop and go into anything we just enjoyed the atmosphere and walked around. Come about half past five we had had enough and it was back to the train station and home again.

Wednesday we were off to De Panne on the coast for a bike race. There is another cyclist staying here now and another comes on Friday. Peter was the first to get here, he is from South Africa. So Grant, Peter and I caught the train to De Panne which was a bit of a pain because the buses were on strike and I didn’t know so I almost missed the train. On the way over we meet a guy who does a website called meninsport.com and he was also on his way to the race, he is an amateur photographer, if you check out the website you may find some pictures of Grant. I will let Grant tell you all about the race. We had to walk two kilometres from the race back to the train station and as there is only one every hour we didn’t want to miss the next train, so I power walked the whole way back to the station, the boys had their bikes so they just slowly peddled along side. We got back to the station and onto the platform just as they were blowing the whistle, but we still made the train.

Thursday, today. I finished writing this blog and then went into Dienze and brought two pairs of shoes at that shoe shop I told you about, they were pretty cheap so I was happy.
Anyway until next time,
See ya
Lots of Love
Dianna
p.s. I added more photos to my last blog so make sure you check it out.

Non-Belgian Beers

2008-06-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

Germany.

Becks. Ordinary.

Sweden.

Norrlands Guld. Interesting in that it is brewed from Corn. The taste is similar to regular beers, I wouldnt have picked it. Standard sort of beer. Ordinary.

Denmark.

Tuborg. Denmarks most popular beer. Pretty plain. The darker beer is the Tuborg Classic which has much more taste.

Finland.

Koff. The most popular finnish beer. I found all finnish beers very similar, all easy drinking, lacking flavour and bitterness. Get em in ya.

Lapin Kulta. Similar. Thirst quencher only. Good to drink while you try to fix your crappy cyclist tan in the finnish sun.

Olvi. Similar. Same Same. Smooth, no taste, no bitterness.

Olvi Tumma. Olvi Dark. Althought I prefer darker beers, this was like the other finnish beers in that it was very safe, nothing sharp about it. Not bad though, just not memorable. Bring on the Flemish browns.

Karhu. The bear beer. Same same.

Sandals. Similar again. Back to belgium in search of fine beers. Its not that the beers are bad, they are just plain. I seem to prefer Belgium biers which are more complex and flavoursome.

New Zealand.

Mac's Lager. New Zealand beer consumed in The Aussie Bar in Helsinki. A strange situation. Not a bad drop. More substance than the finnish beers.

Australian Beers.

Gave them a try as was over the weak Finn beers. Plus, it was the aussie bar, so...

Coopers Sparking Ale. Nothing special. Not bad.

Tooheys New. Actually not bad, would go again.

Tooheys Extra Dry. Too weak, no taste.

England.

Newcastle Brown Ale.

Spot on. Commercial beer, but I rate. Creamy and smooth, but easy to scoff down.

The Dianna Weely IV

2008-06-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Belgium,

Well this weeks blog is a little late I know but it is for good reason. We went to Finland and stayed a little longer then we had planned so I didn’t get to my blog on time. We left on the Monday at 6:05 am and arrived in Stockholm at 6:05 am on Tuesday, then got the ferry that night and arrived in Helsinki on the Wednesday morning, long trip, but as they say life is about the Journey not the destination. One good thing about getting older is that grant and I only qualified for a first class Eurail pass. I highly recommend first class train travel in Europe as it was wonderful. We were served breakfast on the first train to Koln and we had our own little room, then much the same from Koln to Hamburg. The train from Hamburg to Copenhagen was interesting. As Denmark is largely just a group of Islands the train must either go over a long bridge or in our case board a ferry. It was incredible, our train (only about four or five carriages long) drove into a ferry (with us in it). tThe ferry then took us to the next Island. The whole trip was about 40 minutes. While on the ferry we did have to go up to the top of the ferry as no one was allowed to stay on the train. Then it was on to Copenhagen and then a night train to Stockholm. I think maybe I got five hours sleep on the train.

We woke up in Stockholm. I felt so sick I thought I was going to die. I could hardly move, a combination of poor sleep and motion sickness I think. So we got off the train and we found MacDonald’s and got some breakfast then Grant went to find a chemist to get something to make me fell better, about two hours later I was good to go.
Stockholm is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We spent most of the day in the old city around the Royal Palace. I just loved it, it was warm, friendly, clean, pretty, it was just really nice. One surprise to me was that I had been told it was expensive but I found it to be quite reasonable, between us went spent less then 100 euros and that got us breakfast, morning tea, a big lunch with a beer each, a 1 hour boat tour, some souvenirs and then some more food and a couple of beers before we got on the ferry, so all in all I thought it was good value (especially considering how much Grant eats). The boat tour was awesome and I got loads of good photos to show everyone back home.

At about 3pm we headed to the Ferry to go to Helsinki. We travelled to Helsinki on a Viking Line Ferry. If anyone ever gos to Scandinavia I highly recommend you do the Ferry ride from Stockholm to Helsinki as it was the best part of my trip so far. It was so beautiful. As you leave Stockholm the coast of Sweden is surrounded by thousands of small islands that the boat must weave its way between. We sat up on the sun deck for as long as we could. Eventually it got too cold and windy. We then went and sat in the bar at the back of the boat facing out the window drinking wine and sitting in awe of the view it was just so beautiful. At eight o’clock we went to have the Buffet dinner. I don’t think I have ever seen Grant eat so much in my life it was almost disgusting. Once we were done there went outside to watch the sun set which takes an incredibly long time when you are that close to a pole. Then it was off to bed.

We slept-in on the boat and the cleaners came just before we were ready to leave, everyone else was already off the boat, woops. Niko met us at the terminal and we headed back to their apartment. Karolina had gone to a nearby town that morning so we decided to hire a car and drive there to check out the town and pick her up at the same time. The town was called Tampere and it is the farthest north I have ever been in my life. It’s a cool town, it was built between two lakes and has a rapid running through the middle of it. It is quite a big city but you don’t feel like your in a big city because it is full of trees. That is one really good thing about Finland there are so many trees in the cities, it is like they were built in the forest without destroying it. While we were there we climbed to the top of a lookout, the view was spectacular, I couldn’t believe how much forest there was, for as far a the eye could see it was lakes and forests. That is another cool thing about Finland, the Lakes, there are so many of them. This is why Finland has the best tap water in the world, better then any bottled water I have ever had, and because the lakes are cold the tap water is already chilled for you. The drive back was lovely, we went the scenic way past all the lakes and forest and some farming land. We saw giant european hares and two elks.

I have decided I might live in Finland in their summer then Australia for our summer and just keep swapping back and forth. Another cool thing but Finland is that in summer it doesn’t really get dark. The darkest it got was about the same as twilight at home, you could easily go for a walk at midnight and in the middle of summer the sun doesn’t go down at all.

When we got back to Espoo, that’s were Niko and Karolina live, we were absolutely stuffed so we went to bed early, and Thursday we didn’t do much. We went for a little walk to the local shopping mall and back and in the afternoon we went for a drive with Niko and he showed us were Kimi Raikkonen lived, and around Espoo a bit. (Near Kimi was Mika Hakinens parents, Henri Tioven (rally driver) and JJ Lehto (ex F1) and other motorsport celebs.

Friday we went into Helsinki and out to Suomenlinna, the old Fortress Island. The fortress was used to defend Helsinki for hundreds of years, it was even used as a prison for the Russians during the war. The island is no longer used to defend Helsinki however the island next to it is still an operating military base. While we were on the island two large cruise ships went past, this was pretty cool, as the gap between the two island is barely wide enough for the ships to fit. Typical of Grant he decided to moon the second boat as it went passed, so I am sure his lily white bum will appear in many peoples holiday snaps. (At least it is a decent bum. Ed.) We had a couple of beers sitting on top of a terrace on the island, they had Fosters umbrellas I thought that was funny. Once we were done we got back on the ferry and back to Helsinki were we went to the Aussie Bar, it was funny and a little typical of what you would expect, beach theme, postcards every were, snakes hanging from the roof etc. It was kind of nice to see some Australian stuff though. After a couple of very expensive Tooheys we headed back to Nikos.

Saturday I slept in while Grant went for a ride with Niko, then we both went into Helsinki to the museum of Finland. It was really good they had a section about Finland in the stone age, iron age and current. It was a really good way to find out about Finland. After the museum we met up with Niko and then piked Karolina from work then headed home.

Sunday I went into the market in Helsinki and bought a couple of souvenirs. As Sunday night was our last night in Finland we decided to have a Sauna, there really good, you feel a bit tired straight after it but later you feel pretty good. Every house has a Sauna.

Monday Grant got up and went for a training ride and then we headed off into Helsinki to have one last look around before getting on the boat to head back to Stockholm. This time we travelled with Silja Line, the boat was quite a lot bigger and had much better shopping, it like the duty free shopping at the airports. The ride was good but it is not a spectacular as going the other way because there not as many islands along the Fin coast.

Tuesday we caught a morning train from Stockholm to Copenhagen were we had about three hours to fill in so we did a quick double-decker audio bus tour of the city. The tour stopped at the Little Mermaid, a statue which inspired Hans Christian Anderson to write the story The Little Mermaid. Apparently she has lost her head twice and her arm once. After the bus tour we stopped for a Danish beer and then back to the train station and on to the train to Koln. The train was cool as we got a complementary wine, our own shower and toilet, however I still had a terrible nights sleep. (Schniedbrett in German means cutting board).
Wednesday we finished our trip back to Olsene and did absolutely nothing for the rest of the day as we were so tired.

Thursday I didn’t get up until about 1:30 and by then the day was half over so all I did was go the supermarket and hang out at home.

Friday I went to Amsterdam. Holly has a couple of friends from Canada visiting and they wanted to see Amsterdam so we all went there for the day. We got there at about ten and went to the Anne Frank house, most of you would have at least heard of the book even if you haven’t read it. Anne was a Jewish girl living in Amsterdam during the Second World War. Anne and her family were in hiding for two years during which time she wrote a diary with the intention of publishing a book after the war. Sadly Anne died in a camp not long before her sixteenth birthday. Her father survived the war and published her diary exactly as she wrote it.
Next we were off to check out Amsterdam’s famous red light district and “Coffee” shops, but I wont tell you any more about that as this is a G rated blog. Later in the afternoon we went to the Van Gough museum, they have the largest collection of Van Gough paintings in the world. They also had a couple of Monte and a Picasso, it was really exciting to see so many famous paintings, although they didn’t have some of Van Gough’s more famous paintings. By now the day was coming to an end and we had to get back to Ghent to pick up Holly’s brother and his friend who are coming to stay for a few days. After all that we got home quite late so I was off to bed.

Well now you are up to date again. Sorry about the lateness.

Bye

Lots of love

Dianna

The Dianna Weekly III

2008-05-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Belgium,

Well I didn’t end up finishing last weeks Blog so I will start from where I left off.

Thursday both Grant and I were off to Bruges pronounced ‘bra ha’ roll the R. Bruges is super touristy, and has one of Belgium’s greatest assets, the beer museum. It is in an old brewery which is still operating and has been for over 150 years. We did a tour of the old brewery, they have a new one now, this was one a the best things I have done so far, it was really interesting and getting a free beer at the end made it even better. We were told the secret to why Belgium beer is so good, they use a lot of hops which is closely related to, you guessed, the marijuana plant. After the beer museum we were of to Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady) to see a wonderful little marble statue Madonna and Child by Michelangelo. The only one of his works to leave Italy during his lifetime. It is lucky to still be at the church as it was stolen by the French during their occupation of Bruges at the end of the eighteenth century and again by the Germans in 1944. But it came back both times. It is a really good little statue it is just a shame about its setting. It sits on a rather ugly eighteenth century alter. I think it would be better in a more simply setting so as that the statue was the main focal point. After this we headed off to our next point of call, the chocolate factory, which although good was not as good as I thought it would be. We read a lot about the history of chocolate, saw some cool things made out of chocolate, watched a chocolate making demo and got some free chocolate. By this time we where pretty hungry so we grabbed a late lunch and the headed back to the train station and back to Olsene.

Friday I had the day off thinking that I was going to France Saturday for one of Grants races but they cancelled it that afternoon so I didn’t end up doing much Friday or Saturday as I hadn’t planned anything.

Sunday I did go to France with Grant for a race, a road race, I will let him tell you about the racing, but I will tell you about the watching. I drove around in the team car following the race and sometimes over taking the race (Belgians are crazy drivers). It was pretty cool lots to see I even got some good photos of Grant racing. The French county side was rather pretty too, although not that different to here. It was a pretty big race they even had a helicopter following it. Any way once that was done we headed back to Olsene.

Monday we were back to France for another race, this time it was a short Kermess. Grant didn’t do to well in this one. It was horribly cold too so I didn’t enjoy it either.

Tuesday, oh Tuesday. We had decided several days earlier we would travel to Antwerp and stay there a couple of nights so I had already booked a hotel room and we couldn’t cancel without losing half our money. Anyway we went to catch the bus from Olsene to Deinze to catch the train, we missed the bus. We decided to walk to the next bus stop to fill in time as the next bus was not for an hour. We found a good little coffee shop and stoped there for a while, the people who owned it couldn’t believe we were from Australia they wanted to talk all about it. After this we went back to the bus stop and the into Deinze, only to discover that the trains were on strike that day. We decided to bus it into Ghent and see if there was a way to get to Antwerp from there. Once there we couldn’t find any buses that were going to Antwerp. The info desk was closed due to the strike so we asked the cops if they knew of a way to get there, we really didn’t want to lose half our money one the hotel. The cops said there was a way but it would take a lone time, we thought ok a Belgian long time for travel isn’t that long we will give it a go. After a total of more than eight hours travel we arrived at the hotel, I think it would have been a lot easier to just forfeit the hotel money, but we really didn’t want this to defeat us.

Wednesday we went to the Antwerp Zoo, this was really good, had a lot of fun there. They have some really good animals and a hand full of Australian ones. My favourites were the Aardvark, totally cool animal, the bears and the tigers as well as a very strange nocturnal monkey/possum thing that has long arms and legs and can climb just about anything. Grant really liked the Pink Flamingos (maybe there is something he needs to tell me). After the Zoo we went to the Diamond Diva show, this was a display of jewellery worn by royalty, famous people and the ridiculously rich. They had the necklace worn by Nichol Kidman in Moulin Rouge, Grace Kelly’s engagement ring, Posh Spices wedding Crown, and loads of other pieces, there were just so many Diamonds. Thursday we headed back to Olsene and then did nothing for the rest of the day. Friday was a day off so not much happened.

Saturday I went to Knokke Hiest to see the International Photo Festival. It was amazing, they had the world press awards display, the international wildlife photo competition and a gallery full and photos by Frans Lanting who is a very well know landscape and wildlife photographer. He had quite a few photos taken in Australia on display. This was one of my best days so far, I recommend you Google Frans Lanting and check out some of his work.

Well today is Sunday and I am watching the Monaco Grand Prix (in French) while I type this, so you are all up to date. Tomorrow we head to Finland and on the way we will spend a day in Stockholm. I am so excited. Tell you all about it next week

Talk to you later
Lots love
Dianna

The Dianna weekly II

2008-05-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Belgium,

Well its time for another update to my weekly Blog.

Sunday we went into Ghent for the weekly markets, we didn’t get to all the markets (they have quite a few) but we did go to the flower market and the book market. The flower market was really good. You wouldn’t believe it but the first flowers I laid eyes on were bottle brush, it was quite strange to see them there it was nice it reminded me of home. So many beautiful flowers, the best were probably the orchards. At one end of the market they had a stall selling oysters and white wine, and in the middle they had a band playing. The whole thing was really nice. After that went walked to the second hand book market but they were mostly in Dutch so I didn’t buy any. The book market runs along the cannel so we followed it into the centre of Ghent, by this time I needed to go to the toilet, so we ducked into McDonalds were I discovered a lady sitting at a table just inside the entrance to the toilets, apparently you have to pay to use the toilets there. What a job, imagine being the person who sits in the toilets collecting money from people who want to go to the loo, I can’t imagine there is much job satisfaction in that. Anyway after this we headed up to the Irish pub that Greg and Holly work at. Holly was working so we thought we would stop in for a drink. We sat there for a while and had a beer each and did some people watching, there were a lot of tourists out. Once we were completely relaxed and even a little sleepy we decided to force ourselves to stand up and head off to Het Gravensteen aka the Castle of the Counts. First built in 1180, I say first as it has been damaged and repaired a number of times, the castle is pretty old school, it has holes around the outside wall for pouring boiling oil onto any attacking armys. In one of the rooms is the guillotine with its original blade which has actually been used to behead people, that was a bit icky. They also have another room full of items used for torture, lets just say the people of Ghent were not very nice to prisoners.
On of the best parts of the castle was the view from the top, not bad. All up it was a pretty cool castle. Next stop lunch. McDonalds. Not the best place for lunch but it was quiet upstairs, so quite that grant decided to go to sleep. After having something to eat we decided to head back to the Irish pub were I had the Rochefort Trappist one of the strongest beers I have ever had, it took me at least 30 minutes to drink it. Greg was at the pub waiting for Holly to finish work so we all decided to head up to Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant, or the bierhuis (beer house). The Bierhuis has over 100 biers available and is set along side the cannel. This is were we had the peach bier, which is so far my favourite fruit bier. We sat here for a while and just soaked up the atmosphere, it was warm, the sun was out, the beer was cold, lots of people around, it was just lovely. Sadly we did have to leave as Holly was about to finish work and we had to pick her up. Once we had picked up Holly we headed home for the day as it was after seven.

Monday was a pubic holiday so everything was closed and I just spent the day doing a few things at home. Tuesday was much the same, I spent the day at home sorting out our upcoming trip to Finland, as well as what I was going to do for the rest of the week.
Wednesday I decided to head back into Ghent and check out the art museums. First I went to S.M.A.K the Contemporary art museum which to be honest with you I was not a fan of. I’m not the biggest fan a contemporary art as it is but this place just seamed to have a really low quality of art. I have seen plenty of contemporary art and while most of it I don’t like or enjoy there is a lot that I do, so I don’t think it is just me. Anyway after this disappointment I went across the road to the fine arts museum. Here my faith in Belgian art was restored, even the modern art was of a high standard. This place is huge and it probably took me a good few hours to go through the whole place. I will spare you the step by step tour and just give you the high lights. Maybe the best part was when I actually laughed out loud in a very silent museum at the sight of a painting entitled “idiot by a pond”, not sure if a laughed more at the name or the painting, apparently they did have a sense of humour in the fifteenth century. A couple of other highlights included paintings by Rubens (1577 - 1640), Bosch (1450-1516) and Rogier van der Weyden’s Madonna with Carnation (1399 - 1464), and the eighteenth century tapestries displaying scenes of the Exaltation of the gods. The oldest painting I saw was painted in 1300, making it 708 years old but I can’t remember what it was called. A few hours later and with some rather sore feet I had managed to visit every room in the building. Outside to the café now for some food and a beer. This is where I had the elephant beer in the very cool glass shaped to look like an elephants trunk. Once my feet had recovered I set off for the plantarium were they have a very large assortment of plants from all over the world. I didn’t spend too much time here as I knew grant would want to come here, so I figured I would see most of it when he was with me. Home time.

Well it is getting late here so I think I will do the rest of this weeks update tomorrow
Lots of love
Dianna

Engineering, Transport, etc.

2008-05-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

Canals.

As this area is pretty flat, the flandrians have developed canals for transport. It is imposible to tell a river (Schelde, Leie) from a canal as the banks have all been formalised with concrete and structure. Rivers in other regions, especially the more rugged far-east are more natural. The canals are quite dark with tanins, and often quite polluted with rubbish. They seem to have fish as I have seen old blokes fishing, and they have swans and other water birds. As the canals approach a city, they branch off into smaller canals that run through the city buildings, reminiscent of what you might expect to see on the TV if you were watching a movie about Venice, especially in Brugge.

Some of the bridges are hydraulic and lift to allow the barges under. You must wait.

Large barges move rubbish, materials for recycling, concrete, cars, building materials and all sorts about. Thus, there are fewer trucks on the roads. Often, there are docks with loaders and escavators on the canals to load on the gear.

They have Locks every so often on the canal to control the water level. The barge goes in, then they either drop or raise the water level and on her way she goes.

On a sunny day, recreational craft come from everywhere. There is a large marina at Dienze, about 6km away and another huge one in Gent. The belgians crave the sun. Repltilian, they emerge from everywhere and promptly scorch their pasty skins (say in David Attenborough voice).

When the belgians want to reclaim some land, they drive these tall metal beams into the river bottom with a pneumatic or hydraulic ram on an escavator, then pump out the water and backfill. I saw this in action on a ride to Kortrijk.

Driving and Cycling.

Driving and cycling is on the right, steering wheels are on the left. Takes 5 min to get used to it. What takes longer is remembering where on-coming traffic is coming from, ie you give way to the left not right as at home. Easy to ride into the roundabout on the right, look right like at home, then get flattened from the left. Luckily, the drivers are very cycle-tolerant and very patient. Sometimes. Which is lucky, as everyone rides. Kids, little old ladies and all and sundry. The law does not obsess about drunken driving and speed limits. Stay right Di.

Air traffic.

The air trafic here is astounding. I guess Heathrow, Brussels, Frankfurt and Paris airports are all reasonably close by. Belgium is home of the UN and a neutral country so I guess the airspace is pretty safe. The greatest number of planes I have seen at one time so far was 17 when I rode up to Oudenaarde. Im sure I can break the record if I can find a good vantage point.

Cobbles.

Cobbles everywhere. Enough said. One joker even counted every cobble in the Paris-Roubaix cycle race.

Some have special names.

Belgian Bier Reviews (updated)

2008-05-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

Romy Pils. Pilsner. 5.1%, 3oC. Di's first bier in Belgium. Too light in flavour. Very clear. Easy drinking thirst quencher. Cheap bier, <2e. id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204021505554100546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oJ4LAInRaac/SDhl_LoLsUI/AAAAAAAAALs/_3cTXaQiYro/s320/romy.JPG" border="0">
Ename Dubbel. Recognised Abbey Bier. 6.5%, 6oC. Brewed near Oudenaarde. Flavoursome, roasted malty dark bier. Caramel flavours. Bitter enough. Still my favourite bier. Made with well water. Store in the dark.

Adriaen Brouwer. Flemish brown. 5%, 6oC. Oudenaarde bier. Di's 2nd bier. Smooth and rich, very nice. Caramel flavours, malty. Also cheap, <2e.>

Ename Tripel. Abbey bier. 8.5%, 6oC. Very strong, almost wine-like. Dryer than most. Not bad, spicy aftertaste. Leave the sediment in the bottle.

Black Hole. Premium Lager. 5.6%, 3oC. Clear colour, easy drinking thirst quencher. Cheap average beer. Nothing special.

Belle-vue Cherry Bier. Fruit bier. 5.1%, 3oC.Traditional lambic. Probably belgiums most popular fruit bier. Cherry flavour noticeable, but not overpowering. Refreshing, easy to drink. Still very beer-like.

Leffe Brown. Brown Abbey bier. 6.5% 5-6oC. Nice, malty dark bier. Bit creamier than most other browns. Dry finish. Enjoyable.

Westmalle dubbel. Trappist dubbel. 7%, 8-12oC. Another dark, I was looking forward to it but was a bit disapointed. A bit too dry, wine-like. Had another one another day, was much nicer. Depends on what you have just eaten. Leave the yeast in the bottle. Sharp dry finish.

Rochefort Trappist. Dark trappist. 11.3%, 12-14oC. A bad boy, it will sit you back in your seat, 11.7% alcohol. To pour correctly, the last 1/10th must be poured separately. You can see the yeast floating about in it (see photo). The alcohol strength overpowers any taste. An effort to finish, wouldnt have another. Thick and rich. Di ordered it and finished it, but was an effort. The figure 10 refers to the malt density, not the alcohol content. Lacks taste.

Duvel. Specialty bier. 8.5%, 6-10oC. One of the better pale biers. Leave the sediment in the bottle. Sweet taste, with nice bitter aftertaste.

Orval. Trapist bier. 6.2%, 12-14oC. Sediment poured seperately. Complex bier. Very dry aftertaste, leaves the roof of the mouth grippy. Distinct taste. Served slightly warmer than most. Not a favourite.

Barbar. Strong blond. 8%, 5oC. Supposed to have honey flavour, but not really evident. Di liked, I found the aftertaste filthy. Consumed in a pint-pot.

Chapeau Peche Bier. Fruit bier based on Lambic. 3.5%, 6oC. Was very sceptical, but found it to be an absolutely fantastic peach bier, very refreshing.

Chapeau Frambois. Fruit bier based on Lambic. 3.5%, 6oC. Rasberry bier. A bit too tart.

Rodenbach. Flemish Red-brown. 5.2%, 6oC. A blended bier, very distinct taste. Acidic and dry, but slightly fruity. Very memorable.

Brugse Zot Blond. Ale. 6%, 7oC. Consumed at the Brewrey of the Half Maan, Brugge. Leave 1cm of sediment in the bottle. Nice and light, fruity.

Brugse Zot Dubbel. Dubbel Ale. 7.5%, 8oC. Leave the sediment. Very nice roasted malt taste.

Tongerlo Blond. Recognised Abbey bier. 6%, 9oC. Served with or without the yeast sediment. Extreme smoky flavour, like eating ribs. Creamy taste.

Tongerlo Bruin. Recognised dark Abbey Bier. 6%, 11oC. Creamy, smooth, soft brown. Very nice. Easy drinking.

Kasteel Bruin. Regional brown bier. 11%, 12oC. Thick, rich and creamy. Strong. Strong barley taste. Very ornate glass.

Hoegaarden Wit. Witbier. 4.9%, 2-3oC. Very fresh and crisp. Fruity taste with a floral aftertaste. Complicated taste with honey and herb flavours. Quite different, very nice. Easily available in Australia.

Stella Artois. Pilsner. 5.3%, 3oC. Belgiums biggest export bier. Very ordinary. Cheap though.

Leffe Blond. Recognised Abbey bier. 6.6%, 5-6oC. Very strong coriander and herb flavour, floral taste. Very different and complicated. Di hated it. It could grow on me.

Kwak. A strong fumey bier. Served in the most bizzare glass, needs and has its own special stand as the glass is bulb-shaped. Malty taste, with aniseed and honey flavours.

Carlsberg Elephant Beer. Actually a Dutch bier brewed in Australia. Di liked it. Tasted like a regular bier. Interesting glass, ordinary bier.

Steendonk Brabants Witbier. Witbier. 4.5%, 3-4oC. Similar to Hoegaarden, but maybe a litle smoother, with less flavour. Still has strong herb and floral taste, strong coriander.

Geuze St. Louis. Gueze. 4.5%, 5oC. Very complicated. Acidic, creamy, sweet and sour. Hard to describe, very complex. Very tasty, fruit flavours.

Campus and Campus gold. Strong dark and blond. 7% and 6.2%. Campus tastes like a flat coke that has been brewed. Sort of like what bundy on tap feels like, but beer-like. Pretty flat and easy to scoff down. Campus Gold was similar, only like it was brewed from lemonade or lemon squash. Strange duo.

The Dianna Weekly

2008-05-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Belgium,

Well the trip over went without a hitch, although it would have been a lot nicer in business class as there is NO space in economy. I did get a window set the whole way though so that was a plus. The best part of the flight was flying over the interior of Australia, you get a real appreciation of just how vast and empty the country is. Our flight left at four in the afternoon which meant we got to chase the sun most of the way to the coast and then watch it set over the desert. That was a real thrill.

We have been here a few days now so here is the trip so far. Saturday, we flew into Frankfurt at about six in the morning, Germany looks just as I expected from the air, all these small villages doting the landscape. We then jumped on a flight to Brussels, which was a really quick flight at just 40 minutes. Then we collected our luggage and caught the next train to Ghent and then through to Dienze were Greg and Holly picked us up from the train station and we headed to Olsene. Greg and Holly are the people we are staying with, Greg is American and Holly is Canadian they met in Belgium a couple of years ago when Greg was racing and Holly was travelling, they’re married now, they seam pretty cool. Anyway by this time it was lunch and we were cactus, all up we had been travelling for over 30 hours. We did manage to go for a bit of a walk, very strange, the combination of jet lag and foreign country made for a bizarre experience. In bed by 8 o clock.

Sunday we went for a ride down the cannel for about an hour and had a look around Olsene, it is a very small town but every thing is very close so you don’t have to walk far for anything. There is a large church about 100m from the house we are staying in and the bell chimes on the half hour and the hour, even at three in the morning. The walk was about all I could manage and was in bed by about seven o’clock still suffering from jet lag.

Monday we went to Oudenaarde to sort out grants racing licence and meet the team boss. It was a beautiful day so we started with lunch and a couple of beers in the market square opposite the town hall, which is one of the most beautiful building in Belgium. If the beer here are any indication of the rest of the beer in Belgium I think I will enjoy myself. Then we went for a walk to the bike shop and met Luc the team boss, he seams to be a very energetic person. All went well with that and grant now has his Belgium racing licence. Then we went for a walk through the park, there are these trees here that have the most beautiful white flower. The tree grows to about 30m and has a full round canopy, but the flowers grow in little groups shaped like Christmas trees all over the tree. By this time we were pretty tried and headed home (still not over the jet lag).

Tuesday I went for a ride around the area to find out were the supermarket and that type of stuff was, then stopped at a local café for a beer. A fruit beer, which is refreshing but a little strange, tasted a bit like a cider. Wednesday we went into Ghent for a look around. Absolutely beautiful, I could spent days just sitting in the town square. There are loads of things to see, and I will get to them all but to start with we went to Saint Bavos Cathedral. This has to be the best Cathedral I have ever been in, there are more painting in this building then you could poke a stick at. The main attraction here is The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, painted by Van Eyck in 1432. It is not the nicest painting I have ever seen, but the fact that it is still around is incredible considering its history (it was almost destroyed a heap of times during the religious wars and WW1 and WW2. Next stop was the Belfry, which grant made me walk up in stead of getting the lift. Only four flights of stairs, but they were narrow and steep. The view is incredible, you can see all of Ghent from up there, well worth it. After the belfry we went to get some lunch were I tried my first cherry beer. Interesting. I could see myself drinking a cold cherry beer in summer, its strangely nice. After lunch we walked along the cannel to find the post office, then back on the tram to the train station and back to Olsene. At about 2:30 grant headed off to his first race which I will let him tell you all about.

Thursday, well not much happened Thursday. Just a bit of lounging around.

Friday Holly and I went into Ghent for the flea market but we got in there a little to late and missed it. It finishes at lunchtime. So instead we went shopping and the had lunch before heading off to have a look at Saint Nicholas’s church. Not as grand as Saint Bavos Cathedral but still very nice, a lot of marble work in this one. After that we headed home. Saturday I went to a race with grant, it was only 9 km away so I rode the town bike. It was only grants second race so he didn’t do to well but he did do a lot better then his first race.

Well that is all for now I will send another letter next week,
Hopefully I will be able to keep it as a weekly thing.
See you later

Love Dianna

Recent times

2008-05-12T03:44:00.000-07:00

A bit of an update I suppose is well due. Finished work in late February. Commercialisation of our project was delayed numerous times, the final time it was due to commence in November 2008. A year late! So, they just couldn’t keep bridging me to the next date and the next with 3 month contracts, so they couldn’t really keep me there any longer. We had 4 key stakeholders in the commercialisation project. 3 were committed, 1 was inexplicably non-committal. The grant money was on the table, we were all set to have something to show for 6 years of research. I really don’t know if the project will ever get off the ground now as several important people have ceased employment within the project companies and there are fewer motivated people left to drive the project forward. In addition, the commercialisation funds will be retracted if they are not used. It was a disappointing way to finish.

I don’t know if I want to be involved in the project or aquaculture for a while. Its decreased my confidence in people and organisations and their ability to grasp concepts, think big and display corporate courage. My next direction will be one in which there is less need to rely on others and one in which I assume a greater level of responsibility and control. Then I know things will get done properly. However, I did build lasting relationships with some of my colleagues. They came to rely on me and I them. This should hold me in good stead in the future as several of them are key players in the industry, should I choose to return to it. Working in an isolated area in a challenging location and climate teaches you plenty about yourself and makes you stronger.

So, that era ended. During the demise of work, I decided to plan to return to Belgium and have another crack at the racing there. I was conflicted about the decision, but the demise of my employment made it opportune. You’re a long time in the workforce and a long time dead. Got to live the dream. Time to take the control back, and do exactly what I need to do. It didn’t make a lot of sense to some people, but that just made me more determined. Sometimes you have got do your own thing and do it your way. Before time passes you by. My leave payout would provide a springboard for me get over there and Di had always dreamed of travelling Europe. It seemed like an opportune time for the both of us. Plus, she wasn’t about to let me wander off again after 3 months on her own last time. The decision was made. The tickets were bought so it was locked in early before cold feet or common sense or job offers could derail the opportunity.

The last 2 months has seen us packing up our house at Wakool and putting our stuff in storage. We moved into Deniliquin into Di’s parents second house with Di’s sister. Di was still working, but I had to find some part-time work for March and April, which presented an interesting challenge. Anyone who says there is no work out there or is unemployed is pulling your leg and kidding themselves. I knocked back 3 fulltime jobs in the first week! Fulltime work was not what I was after. I needed something part -time as I had some serious training to do. This was the scenario: 4-6 hours a day would be nice, indoors if possible, in the middle of the day, for 7 weeks, nearby, something interesting, not too strenuous, time off to train in the morning and/ or afternoon, also need 10 days off for brothers wedding, plus a weekend for friends wedding, and some other days for training camps at Mt Beauty and Bendigo.

In the middle of a drought, rising interest rates, share market downturn, credit crisis and looming recession? Oh yeah, and meal breaks every 2 hours! Surely not too much to ask?! Enter good friend who owns a gym, with one of her employee’s injured! She needed a helper! Problem solved. Within walking distance of house, early morning and afternoon shifts, plenty of time to train. Free use of gym in spare time, fitness advice when required! Man, couldn’t have designed a better job if I tried! Early morning starts though. Lucky? Maybe. I don’t really believe in luck, I believe you attract good positive things if you project good positive things. Most people don’t understand. It doesn’t mean that if you think Porsche, Porsche, Porsche every night one will appear in the driveway the next morning. You still have to put ideas and plans into action, and if you want it bad enough and take the correct path, you can have it. You do what others wont or dont. Be motivated and show initiative. So why is there a line at Centre-link every second Thursday?

The gym.

I felt very privileged, and threw myself into the gym job with much enthusiasm. The best thing was working under a person with a very progressive way of thinking and being around positive motivated people and learning new things. Most of the people were into goal setting and hard work and positive thinking. People that don’t bitch and moan and think they are the victim. This helped a lot when the training got really hard. It also helped counteract the negativity of other persons around me, you know the kind, everybody knows one. Someone who thinks the glass is always half empty. Although I was mostly doing odd jobs, personal training has been an area of interest and its possibly a direction that would be interesting to pursue in the future. The public are starting to realise that heath has a cost. You are going to pay some hard-earned either way: for good health or bad health. Gym fees or doctors fees. A bike or a hospital bed. Some stretching or a trip to the chiropractor. It is definitely a choice. The people in the gym seemed to have worked it out. I didn’t see any signs of vanity there, just people investing in their health for the benefit of themselves and their family (and the taxpayer) and Id put myself at the service of people like that in an instant. It was a cool job.

Other recent activities included attending 2 fantastic weddings, my brother’s in Brisbane and a some good friends in Moama. Both were inspiring days and both had elements that I’d like to experience on my wedding day. One day. When someone will have me. Todd’s wedding clashed with Murray’s 30th, the two best days of the year! We had to miss the party, bummer. Did some good things in Briso like killing toads, 4wding, fishing for Bass and the like.

The bass, the toads, the wedding.

We also had a clearing sale of our old junk. The rest went to Vinnies or to the dump. I didn’t have much funds to do a big race program, so concentrated on doing a training camp with my cycling team at Bendigo and two more in Mt Beauty with a good mate. Di did some focused research on travel tips, destinations and started to hatch her plan. Some solid kilometres in Brisbane were put together before the wedding while the weather was ordinary at home. Then I got a bit rattled by a virus that had some very disturbing symptoms. While not enough to flatten me, the glands were all up, had the sweats then shivers, resting heart rate was through the roof and I needed 12 hours sleep each night. It was a sort of chronic condition that lasted 10 days, and really felt like a relapse of Ross River that I had at Uni. Id already had glandular fever a few years ago, so it wasn’t that. I racked the bike for a week, and hit the sleep, vitamins and fresh food hard. Also tried some Chinese medicine. Got a blood test, but by then I was getting on top of it. Probably was pushing a bit hard. On the flip side it should leave me with some immunity for a while. Generally, I get sick every 6 months, so hopefully I’ll be strong for a while.

With one week to go, Di sold her car. Her plan for years was to pay it off and then sell it to fund an overseas trip, and when she sold it, it really hit home that her dream was to become reality. I sold the Datto and some parts. This was interesting as the guy that bought it is a current driver in the former Holden Precision Driving Team, now owned by Toyota. Id been watching this team on several occasions at the Coffs Harbour Show back in the day. What a cool job. He also plans to open the “Stuntman and Daredevils Hall of Fame” near Junee sometime in the future. He had a motorbike “Globe of Death” in his backyard as well as some cars and jumps and ramps for training. He is able to drive a car on two wheels easily, and has a practice car for this. He fly’s out to a show on Friday, does the driving displays, then fly’s home on Sunday or Monday and has the week off. Nice work, if you can get it. Imagine: “Hey mate, what do you do?“ “ I’m a stuntman”. Cool.

We picked up our tickets. Got some Euro’s and 2 Eurail passes. These allow us 15 days train travel anywhere in Europe. Packed up our gear. Cleaned up the bike, let the tyres down and we were ready. As we were only allowed 20kg luggage and 7kg carry on each, we had to audit the clothing situation pretty severely. The bike in the bag with 2 sets of wheels was 20kg, so that was me full up! I stuffed some gear in the camera bag and laptop bag (free items) and filled up my carry -on bag with cycling gear. Into Di’s bag went my 3 pairs of jocks, 2 t shirts, a pair of track pants and one pair of shorts. I wore the heavy things like jeans and jacket. From last time I knew what was needed and what was not, and all of this stuff I was not planning on bringing home. We will be living in a house (not backpacking where you need more gear) with a washing machine, and the Belgians have shops after all, so why cart the kitchen sink. Di threw some things in, also keeping it tight as she had some serious European retail therapy planned and wanted some space!

I had done plenty of endurance training and lots of strength. Managed to get the weight up to 79kg, by adding about 4kg of muscle. Very difficult when you are doing big kms, had to eat 250g protien everyday. Resting heart rate, power output, body fat, core strength, equipment and anything else I can measure suggests I will be a better bike rider that last time. Last time I went, I had done 30 days of racing before I went, as was going well from the 3rd race until the 6 week mark where I started to get too strung out. This time I have raced about 5 times in 2008. So, its going to take a little while to get race fit, but I should be able to hold form longer. The first 5 races aregoing to hurt. Last time I went with the goal of “doing well” which wasn’t a real goal as it cant be quantified. Did I meet the goal or not? No one can say. I guess I did well! This time the goal is to win 1 kermis (100-120km circuit race, usually 5-8km loops). Everything is going into that.

Then all was at the ready. Time to make it happen.

Playing it safe.

When you have a digger the day before your wedding. Oops. Legend.