Yesterday was our ride from Antwerp to Gent. A total of just under 60 miles road through some great countryside, nice bike paths, little villages, and some cobblestone roads that may have knocked a couple of CJ's fillings out. As Jeff has reported on his twitter: Bikes and cobblestone streets do not mix. Luckily, there were only a few cobblestones streets, and the rest were pretty nice paths.
We left our great rooms above the restaurant in Antwerp around 10:30 and biked through Antwerp - through the Diamond District, and although I was keeping my eyes peeled, we didn't see any dropped diamonds on the ground. Then we headed out of Antwerp and broke into a couple groups - those who wanted to sprint (not me...) and those who wanted to go at a more reasonable speed ;)
A little more than halfway to Gent Seth, Linda and I pulled up to a cute canal side cafe and saw Nathan, Lindsey and M.E. enjoying a sit down in the shade and a beer - so of course we were delighted to join them. Nothing like a nice beer break during a spectacular bike ride through the countryside in Belgium.
Keith and Ellie had taken the van and got us all checked in at our campsite so upon arriving to our site on the outskirts of Gent all we had to do was enjoy a well deserved beer at the cafe and a nice long shower. We were all completely new people :)
Dinner that night was an amazing spread of some wonderful risotto, sausages, bread, salad and various other snacks and our group claimed the picnic tables and had a pretty spectacular outdoor meal. Beer and wine was drunk, food was consumed, and fun was had by all.
After dinner a group of us went into the city center and went to a cool bar with live music. They were preparing for the big festival in Gent which is happening in a couple of weeks and a great band was playing - kind of a Gypsy Rock scene. We had some great beer, listened to some great music and generally had a great time!
wza out.
Experience plus jerseys share the same colors as Astana jerseys - awesome
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